Chapter 12
CHAPTER
TWELVE
ADELINE
“This baby is never coming out, I swear.” I’m in the teachers’ lounge, staring at my enormous belly.
“You’ll just have to sleep with him,” Sami says. “Doctors say it’s a method to spur on labor.”
“I’m not sleeping with him.” I look around, thankful we’re the only ones in here so far.
“Come on, he’s been living with you for weeks. Have you had one of those ‘just out of the shower’ moments where you watch the water drip down his body and all you can think of is how you want to lick it off of him?”
“Jeez, Sami, go get laid,” Isla says.
Sami ignores Isla’s biting comment. “No close calls? Almost kisses or intimate touches? A little tango in the doorway?”
I laugh at Sami. She’s a lover of romance, like me. “He moved in to be nice because of the press. But as attractive as he is, I don’t want a guy to love me because I’m having his baby by accident.”
Isla rolls her eyes. “She still believes in fairy tales.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” I frown across the table at her.
“Nothing.” Sami pats my arm. “Nothing at all. You wait for that fairy tale, but in the meantime, screw your baby daddy to start labor. There’s no harm, and you can’t get pregnant again. Win-win.” She sips her iced coffee, grinning at me.
“Ugh.” I lower my chin to my chest. “My forehead can’t even fall to the table because of my belly, and you want me to sleep with him,” I whine. “I’d prefer he remember sleeping with the thin version of me, not the one with a swollen belly and stretch marks.”
“Definitely not a good plan. Have you ever thought about sleeping with Henry? He’s into you.”
I stare open-mouthed at Isla, then Sami. “She’s kidding, right?”
“He’d be gentle and sweet, and he’s always liked you. I bet he’d even take care of you after the baby’s born, and boy wonder takes off to chase pussy.”
“Isla!” Sami yelps. “He’s done nothing for you to judge him like that.”
Isla rolls her eyes. “Can I remind you that you never slept with the real Damon Siska? You slept with someone who pretended to be him.” She shakes her head, leaning back in her chair, drinking her coffee. “You protect him like you have a connection to him.”
“I’m not protecting him because I feel like I slept with him. Jeez, Isla, you’re a real joy-killer. I’m protecting him because he’s here. He’s living with Adeline, painting the baby’s room, making dinners, driving her to and from work. He’s doing everything a boyfriend would do.”
“Except fucking her.” Isla arches an eyebrow.
I pretend her comment doesn’t sting, even though it’s true. “That would just complicate everything. I’m not a hornball, guys. I can go without sex.”
I wish I felt as strongly about that as I did when Damon first reappeared in my life.
It’s been so hard lately not to let my mind wander back to that night and how good it was between us.
Sometimes late at night, especially when he rubs my feet, I want to broach the subject.
Or the other night, when he massaged my shoulders and his long fingers slid down the front of me, teasing the edge of my bra, it was all I could do not to adjust myself so that he’d “accidentally” touch my breast.
The teachers’ lounge starts filling up, so I struggle up out of my chair to head back to my classroom.
I don’t particularly feel like being social right now but I have no choice for the rest of the day.
We’re heading over to the high school with our classes to see where they’ll be going to school next year.
“I’ll catch you guys later,” I say, walking out of the teachers’ lounge toward my classroom.
I’ve always enjoyed the fact Sami and Isla are opposites.
Sami is similar to me and loves everything to do with romance, while Isla is jaded when it comes to love.
It made for interesting conversations and allowed me to always see both sides of an issue.
But right now, I need the advice of a person who has been in this position.
I always thought I’d marry some guy who swept me off my feet, but instead, I got knocked up by a professional football player during a one-night stand.
When the time comes, I head out to the front of the school where the buses are waiting. Shortly after, the eighth grade classes file out of the school and onto the buses.
“Hi, Miss Morgan,” Lucy says as she steps onto the bus stairs. “I can’t wait to go to the high school. So many cute boys.” Her eyes flutter, and she goes to her seat.
“Boy crazy,” Henry whispers, coming in behind her.
“We were all run by our hormones at that age though, weren’t we?” I say, sliding into the seat next to him. Sami and Isla are on the other bus.
“I think some of us still are.” He eyes my stomach, and I tilt my head, barely holding back my scowl. “You’re telling me you were thinking with your head when that little miracle was conceived?”
This is the first time he’s directly mentioned my decision to sleep with Damon last August. He’s always taken the pitying approach to my pregnancy, saying how sorry he felt that I’m in this situation and offering to help me with anything I might need.
“It was definitely hormones, but it’s turning out okay.” I wrap my arms around my stomach as if I’m shielding my baby from hearing that her daddy probably didn’t even know her mommy’s last name the night they got together.
“Yeah, I saw him at the girls’ basketball championship. He always looks at me like he wants to rip my arms off and feed them to me.” He chuckles as if he couldn’t care less.
That’s a tad dramatic.
“I’m sure that’s not it.”
“Believe me, the guy doesn’t like me. And I know that because once you’re at his side, he gets a smug look on his face like he’s won.”
There’s absolutely no way I’ve been missing all of this, but I’m not in the mood to argue about it, so I decide not to engage.
“Like once you went over to him that night and you were all giddy with laughter, he’d pin me with an amused stare.”
“We’re not a couple. We’re just trying to figure out this co-parenting thing.”
The bus finally starts, which I’m thankful for because I’m getting annoyed. Late pregnancy has apparently made me hornier and more temperamental than usual.
“I’m not blind. He’s worked his magic on you.
If you think he’s changed, I’m here to tell you, as a man, men like that don’t change.
Sure, maybe now, maybe even for a bit after the baby is born, but he’ll get restless, and he’ll be done with having his wings clipped.
He’ll want to spread them wide again and fly to where and who he wants. ”
Well, thank you for your opinion, Henry. Firmly, I say, “We’re not a couple and don’t intend to be. As long as he’s a good father, that’s all I care about.”
Lies, all lies, but Henry doesn’t need to know that. I already found myself thinking about the what-ifs the other day before I forced myself to get a grip. What the heck was I thinking? Damon Siska is not the guy you double down on.
I don’t engage Henry in conversation for the rest of the short trip to the high school.
As the kids file out of the bus, he stops me before we enter the building. “I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just… it’s frustrating when guys like that give girls like you the wrong idea. It’s unfair to everyone involved.”
I yank my wrist from his hand. “Thank you, Henry, but you really don’t understand our relationship, so I’d appreciate you keeping your opinions to yourself.”
I hurry after my class, and we file into the auditorium so the principal can talk to us before we head off on our tour of campus.
The kids are behaving, and the tours are going well. Thankfully, we separated from Henry’s class once we were finished listening to the principal. If I’m lucky, I’ll get my class on another bus and not have to share with him again. The audacity of that man.
“Here’s our field house.” The senior leading the tour stops just inside the big track area with four basketball courts in between.
“Miss Morgan, it’s Damon Siska,” Lucy exclaims, raising her hand. “Damon!”
I turn in the direction she’s yelling, and sure enough, there’s Damon in a pair of dark shorts and a sweat-soaked shirt with no sleeves.
He’s running sprints with who I’m guessing is the trainer he hired.
He mentioned something about his trainer having found a place to work outside today, but I was in a rush getting out of the vehicle this morning, so I wasn’t really listening.
“Oh man.” Sami comes over to my side. “Just so you know, every teacher here is thinking about him naked and driving into them. Even the guys.”
I lightly push her shoulder.
“Seriously, look at him.” Her eyes are wide.
The trainer blows the whistle and must notice us and tells Damon. He pulls out his earbuds, glances over, and his eyes find mine.
“See him look at Miss Morgan? I told you. They’re in love,” one girl says behind me.
Damon says something to the trainer and jogs over, his attention on me the entire time. “Hey.” Then he looks at the group of kids. “Hey, guys. Doing a tour, huh?”
All the girls make a sound I can’t quite decipher but it sounds a lot like swooning, and the boys all nod.
“How about I jump on your back and see if you can run that sprint for extra conditioning?” Sami says.
I shake my head at her. “You remember Sami from the baby shower?”
There’s a hint of amusement in his eyes. He’s probably remembering that she’s the one who thought she’d slept with him only to find out it was someone pretending to be him.
“Yeah, hey,” he says, putting his hand out but then retracting it. “Sorry, I’m a sweaty mess.”
“We can see that,” Sami says with almost a purr in her voice.
“Introduce us, Miss Morgan!” someone shouts, and I feel my cheeks heat.
“Hi, kids, I’m Damon Siska.” He takes it upon himself, giving me a reprieve.
“My mom says you knocked up Miss Morgan,” one kid says.
My eyes widen. “Okay, should we continue the tour?” I say to the senior whose vision is zeroed in on Damon’s ass at the moment. Great.
“My dad said it’s called a one-night stand.”
“My grandma said she’s jealous of Miss Morgan to have a hunk like him in bed.”
I plead with a higher power to get these kids to stop.
“Are you going to marry her, Damon?”
“If so, are we invited to the wedding?”
“Oh jeez.” I become flustered, my face feeling as though it’s on fire now. “The tour is continuing over in the field house. Let’s let Mr. Siska get back to his training session. We all want the Grizzlies to win, don’t we?”
“I’m a Green Bay fan actually,” a boy says.
“They suck. Go Grizzlies.” A boy approaches Damon with his fist in the air to bump.
Of course, Damon fist bumps him.
“See you later, everyone say goodbye to Mr. Siska,” I announce loudly enough that I hope they all hear my teacher voice.
“Bye, Mr. Siska.”
I wave to him, and he smiles, looking as if he’s trying to keep from laughing, before waving and running back to his trainer.
On the way over to the field house, I caught a few comments from some of the students.
“My aunt said he’s going to break her heart,” one girl says.
“Yeah, my mom said he’s not the type who changes his spots,” another girl adds.
Isla comes over to my side. “Well, that was a shitshow.”
Sometimes I just cannot handle her, and now is one of those times.
“I think it’s like a movie. Who doesn’t dream of marrying a professional athlete, especially one as hot as Damon Siska? I want to be Miss Morgan when I grow up,” a girl says at the back of the pack with a group of friends who all nod in agreement. “I’m going to follow him on social media.”
“Great, now you’re giving these girls demented dreams.” Isla approaches the girl, lecturing her about making a life for herself and not relying on a guy for happiness.
Somehow, I refrain from punching Isla in the nose. I’m not sure if I’d rather ride back with Henry or Isla. They’re both on my shit list now. Maybe I’ll be lucky and be with Sami.