It Was Never Fake
EASTON
It’s a bad day.
They’ve all been bad, but this one is worse. I slept maybe two hours. I made two coffees again and poured one out.
I've got my first skate back with the team tomorrow, and I should be doing just about anything other than standing in my kitchen at two in the afternoon, staring out the window at absolutely nothing. But that's exactly what I'm doing.
I should be in the gym. I should do some form of exercise. To warm up. Get ready for practice tomorrow. But my body isn't willing to be anywhere but back in bed.
My stomach growls, and I stare at the coffee machine again.
One more cup wouldn’t hurt. But even that seems to be too much work. I stay in place.
Three weeks. That’s how long it’s been since she left. And one week. One week since Mason asked me to wait. It’s been the longest one week of my entire fucking life.
The doorbell rings, jolting me out of my thoughts.
I glance toward the living room.
Nobody rings my bell. The team texts. My mother has the code.
For half a second I think it’s a delivery, but I don’t recall ordering anything. I almost don’t go, but then it rings again.
I push my annoyance aside and head for it. I open the door.
Riley is standing on my step.
Everything in me stops. My hand’s still on the door, and my brain has gone completely white, because she’s here, on my step, wearing a red sundress, with her hair down, and a small bag hanging on her shoulder.
I look at her without blinking because it’s too good to be true. I’ve imagined this so many times in three weeks that for a second I’m sure I’ve finally lost it and started seeing things.
“Easton,” her familiar soft voice sails into my ears.
She’s here. She’s really here.
I don’t wait another second. I close the distance. I wrap my arms around her and lift her into the air, carrying her into the house.
The moment the door shuts behind us, I drop her, but I never release her. I hold her firmly, pressed flush against me like she’ll disappear at any second if I let her go.
I press my nose to her hair and inhale greedily, needing all of her.
I don’t know why she’s here, and I don’t want to know. All I want is her. To keep her here.
“Riley… sweetheart,” I murmur against her hair.
Her arms are firmly wrapped around me, and that gives me some semblance of hope.
My heart is palpitating wildly, and I know she feels it. It’s the only sound around us. And I don’t give a damn how vulnerable it makes me look.
I have my woman here. In my arms. That’s all that matters at this moment.
“Easton…” Her voice comes out muffled.
“Yeah, baby…”
I finally pull away to look into her eyes. Those deep green eyes I’ve missed so much.
“I know everything,” she says, and for some reason, my heart drops. I don’t know what to expect next.
“I found out about Maya before you released the confession. I already know you were being blackmailed the entire time I lived here…” Her eyes are filling. She sniffles to hold the tears.
“And I know you went to Mason. That you went to my brother, told him the truth, asked for his blessing, and he told you to wait, and you listened, because of course it’s what you’d do. Anything, as long as it makes me comfortable.” She smiles through the tears.
I don’t know if it’s good or bad. So I open my mouth to explain, but she shakes her head. My mouth closes.
“The night I left... I didn't want to.” She shakes her head. “God, Easton, I would never leave you. Never.”
She draws in a shaky breath. “Preston… he was here. He came, two hours before you were supposed to be home. He knew you’d be away at that time. I returned from the gig, ready to welcome you home, and he was here.”
She glances at the sofa. “On the sofa. He’d bought the video from Maya. She sold it to him, and he came here and played it for me. Told me that if I didn’t walk out the door with him right then, he’d release it while you were still on the ice in Detroit.”
My legs weaken, and it’s as if my ears are ringing.
Sudden rage hits me in the chest. My face must have changed because the expression on her face changes to worry. She grabs my arm as if she’s scared I’ll do something crazy.
“I went with him. I couldn’t tell you, because if you knew, you’d have gone after him, and he’d have posted it anyway.”
Her voice breaks. “I couldn’t be the reason your whole life ended. So I left the note. I called it fake. I’m so sorry, Easton. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you with it. I’m sorry I decided for you.”
I can’t speak. Everything I built my whole grief on for three weeks, all of it just dissolved, and I’m standing here too stunned to speak.
“There’s one more thing.” She swallows, and her hand goes to the strap of her bag before she pulls out a folded piece of paper.
Something about the way she’s holding it makes my stomach tighten.
I wait.
“I...” Her breath catches. “I-I’m pregnant.”
For a second, the words don’t make sense. I frown at her, waiting for my brain to catch up, and then it does all at once.
My eyes widen. My mouth falls open. The blood rushing through my ears becomes so loud I can barely hear anything else.
Pregnant. Riley is pregnant.
She’s carrying my baby.
Our baby.
My gaze drops instinctively to her stomach even though there’s nothing to see yet, and something happens inside my chest that I don’t have a fucking name for. It’s too big, too sudden, too much.
“Our...” My voice breaks, and I have to swallow before I can try again. “Our baby?”
She nods quickly, tears already shining in her eyes.
“Our baby,” I repeat, because apparently those are the only two words I know anymore.
This time, she smiles.
And fuck me, that smile nearly brings me to my knees.
I’m going to be a father.
Riley is going to be the mother of my child.
There’s a tiny piece of both of us growing inside her right now, and suddenly the entire world feels different. Bigger somehow, while at the same time narrowing down to the woman standing in front of me and the baby I can’t even see yet.
Then the worst realization hits me.
Christ! I almost missed this. Missed our baby.
My throat is tight with welled-up emotions. I hug her again, tighter than before, if possible. I bury my face into her neck, and she holds me.
“God… baby, I almost missed this. Almost lost you and our child. I’m sorry for not coming sooner. For not coming for you when I came home, and you were gone. I should have…”
“Hey…” She taps my back lightly. “Don’t say that. None of this is your fault. And it’s all in the past now.”
I pull back to stare into her eyes.
I can’t believe she’s mine. All mine.
“Christ… you’re so sweet.”
I cup her face and lean in. I pause just before our lips can touch. I want to kiss her. Desperately, but I don’t know if she’s ready.
She doesn’t wait for me to decide. Her lips crash against mine.
The groan I let out is almost embarrassing, but I don’t care.
I’ve missed her so much. Missed kissing her, having her in my arms.
“I love you, Riley. Sweetheart, I love you so fucking much, it hurts.”
“I love you.” Her response comes in a small voice.
I tilt her face up until our eyes are locked. “Say that again, baby.”
“I love you, Easton. It was never fake for me. I love you, and I want all of you.”
I kiss her again. Not rushed. It’s soft and passionate, like I can’t get enough, and hell, I can’t.
My stomach growls with hunger pangs, and she laughs. That disrupts us.
“When was the last time you ate?”
“Doesn’t matter, baby. You’re here now.”
I try to kiss her again, but she’s not having it.
“Come, let’s get you dinner.” She tries to head to the kitchen, but I don’t let her.
No.” I shake my head. “You're officially banned from my kitchen.”
She snorts.
“I'll hire a private chef. A housekeeper too. Tonight we'll order Chinese, because I know that's your favorite, and then we're going to bed.”
I cup her face. “And after that, I'm never letting you out of my sight again, Riley.”
She laughs and the sound hits me right in the chest.
I kiss her again because once simply isn't enough.
***
The food arrives half an hour later.
We eat on the floor in the living room, out of the cartons, because neither of us can be bothered with plates. She has more than I expect her to. I keep watching her eat, still not quite believing she’s here, that she’s real or any of this is happening.
“You’re gonna stare a hole through my head if you look any harder,” she teases, and that makes me smile.
I reach for her and pull her into my lap, ignoring the mess all around us.
“God… I missed you, baby,” I whisper into her neck, and she squirms against me.
“I missed you too…”
Her fingers cup my cheek, caressing my stubble.
I need a bath. That decided, I move her to the sofa and begin cleaning the mess. She tries to help, but I don’t let her. When I’m done, I carry her up the stairs into the bedroom.
“Need a shower. Don’t sleep off.” I steal a kiss, and she nods.
By the time I’ve showered and come back, she’s already in bed. In one of my shirts. Something in my chest cracks clean open at the sight of it.
It’s another reminder that she’s back. That I have her again.
I get in behind her and pull her back against me. She fits perfectly, like always.
For a while I just hold her. My arm over her, my face in her hair, the weight of her against me after weeks of an empty bed…
“I thought I lost this,” I say into her hair. My arm tightens around her. “Promise me. Whatever happens, whatever comes at us, you don’t leave. We do it together.”
She turns in my arms until she’s facing me. Her hand comes up to my jaw. “I promise.”
I press my lips to her temple, and drag in a deep breath, filling my lungs with her scent.
“I missed you in this bed,” I murmur. “Missed all of it. Missed you so fucking much, sweetheart.”
She doesn’t answer with words. She just leans in and kisses me. I don’t let her go. I kiss her deeply, savoring every little whimper from her, the taste of her, and I can’t stop. Not when her hands are on my shoulders, and she’s climbed onto my torso, straddling me.
“Baby…” I whisper against her lips, knowing I won’t be able to hold back if we don’t stop.
“Shhh…” She places a finger on my lips. “I want you…”
She doesn’t need to say the words twice.
My hands find her waist, and I roll over until she’s underneath me, legs wrapping around my waist to hold me in place. That makes me laugh. She smiles too, and she looks so beautiful like this.
Underneath me. Hair sprawled across my pillow, my t-shirt rolled up to her waist, leaving her bare to me. Eyes glinting, and pupils dilated with need.
I let my gaze roam down her body, and the sight leaves my cock pulsing with need.
I missed this…
My hand grabs her waist, squeezing, and I lean in, taking her lips for another kiss. I know I’m going to spend the rest of the night worshipping this body.
This body that is carrying my child. Our child.