13. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Marshall
April 1 — Second Trimester — 13 Weeks 2 Days, Lemon
“ G et your ass in gear, pretty boy! Boat’s gonna leave without ya.” My rig boss calls out.
He’s an ass, and I can’t wait until he retires. However, he keeps the crew in line mostly because he puts the fear of the Goddess in our 60-person crew.
Which you have to respect.
But ‘pretty boy’ drives me up a wall and down the stairs.
The only person on earth I let call me names are the people I’m fucking. That’s it.
Womanizer.
Player.
Playboy .
Ladies’ man.
Daddy.
Toy .
Now, Elsie Snow is the only one I want to call me anything. She can call me however she likes. I’ll still fuck her ‘til I take my last breath.
Which only makes going back to work after eight days of incredible sex even more impossible.
Since our night at the club, Elsie’s pussy has kept my dick busy every free moment in her day. We’ve fucked in every room of the apartment when she’s home, in her office when I brought her lunch one day, and in the backseat of my truck on a side street when we were headed to the grocery store. She’s even taken to letting me sleep in her bed because it means easier access to my cock.
The words ‘I need you.’ get my dick standing at attention faster than a bullet out of the barrel of a gun.
That woman’s cunt has me by the balls, and she knows it.
“Pretty boy! You payin’ attention?” The boss yells.
“Fuckin’ hell. I’m comin’, ya tool!”
“Not for 28 days, you aren’t, pretty boy.” He laughs as I approach him, which only makes me want to punch him in the face more. “Sky’s not clear enough for a ‘copter to get us out there. Workboat’s gonna take us this time.”
“I know. I got the email, too.” I roll my eyes.
“Pretty boy can read? I’m shocked.” He laughs but seems to recognize my sour mood and changes his tone. “Just givin’ you a hard time, kid. Com’ ‘n. Grab ya shit and get on board before Cap blows a line. 90 minutes to departure. Got it?”
“Sure thing,” I grumble, grabbing my bags from the back of my truck.
We make our way onboard the boat, which will take us on a 16-hour ride to drop off the crew shift change and supplies for the rig. It’s God awful early, and I don’t want to be here—I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Elsie because she was still asleep—but it’s part of the gig.
The ship is massive, with all the room for cargo, but the cabins they give us to bunk in are smaller than a horse stall. I can touch both walls standing in the center of the room.
It doesn’t take long for me to make my way through the ship and find my cabin. Once settled in, I collapse on the bed to pass out for a quick nap before we ship off, and someone comes to find me and give me a task to do.
I settle into the bed, and relaxing comes surprisingly quickly despite the ship’s noise.
Just as I am drifting off - BANG - BANG
A loud banging on my cabin door wakes me.
Much to my annoyance, the banging doesn’t stop, and I struggle out of bed.
“I’m coming!” I grumble, pulling open the door leading to the hall.
When I open the door, I’m greeted by the sight of a grumpy-looking Captain and…
“Elsie?” I ask.
“Hello.” She says with a little wave.
I look to her right at the other woman standing before me.
“Captain,” I say tentatively.
“She yours?” The Captain asks with a frown on her face.
“Uh. Yeah.” I stutter at the intimidating woman.
“Well, she’s quite persistent. Demanded to be let on board and threatened every crew member I sent down to deal with her until I came to handle it myself.” Cap says, glancing over at Elsie with a look of almost… respect? “I like her. ”
“Thank you,” Elsie says, her voice confident at the Captain’s acceptance.
“That said… whatever your business is?” Cap snaps, turning on the heel of her boot. “Wrap your shit up quickly. Then get off my ship.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Elsie says.
“You’re welcome!” The Captain calls back, then turns over her shoulder with a small smile. “And congratulations.”
I look after the retreating woman, stunned. “What does she mean, congratulations?”
“I told her.” Elsie shrugs, shouldering her way into my cabin. “Well… maybe there was a little fib involved.”
“Told her what exactly?” I ask.
“The baby.” She says simply. “No one would let me on board. I think she originally came down to tell me to fuck off, but I asked for a moment of her time and told her.”
“You said you fibbed, though…”
When she bites her lip, I have to resist the urge to pluck it free and replace the snap of her teeth with my own.
“Well… I kind of told her a little story about how I suspected and just had an appointment to confirm I’m pregnant.” She pauses. “So, I asked to come and see you because I didn’t want to wait a month until you’re home, and I didn’t want to tell you over video chat while you’re on the rig.”
“Elsie Snow… did you beg for me ?” I ask, my voice lilting up at the end.
Her brow furrows in a way that makes her look less menacing and more adorable than anything .
“Oh, don’t look so shocked,” she says, turning to face me as I stand in the doorway of my tiny cabin. I really did need to see you, so I did what I had to and got on board.
I eye her suspiciously, knowing there’s more to the story.
“I feel like you did something more than just tell her you’re pregnant,” I say skeptically.
Elsie looks at me with a twinkle in her ice-blue eyes.
She’s always beautiful, but there’s something about seeing her display genuine joy and mirth, or in this case, a healthy mischievousness, that makes her even more stunning than she usually is.
“I may have also bribed her…” She says with a smirk.
“Bribed?”
“Yes.” She states.
“Bribed, how ?” I ask, perplexed.
Elsie shrugs and pushes into the cabin with me so I can close the door behind her.
“She’s wearing an engagement ring but no wedding band.” She shrugs. “I simply offered to pay for her honeymoon as a thank you.”
My jaw drops. “You what ?”
“You heard me.” She says, plopping herself down on the bed next to us and waving off my shock. “Moving on. I probably don’t have much time before they throw me overboard.”
“Right.” I sigh, still astonished she’s here at all. “What did you need to tell me so desperately that you couldn’t just call?”
“Not tell you.” She says, setting down and opening up the large tote she had thrown over her shoulder. “Give you.”
“Give me,” I repeat.
“Yes.”
Reaching into her bag, she pulls out a small stuffed animal .
“A dragon,” I say, completely confused but taking the stuffed animal from her outstretched hand anyway.
“Yes.”
“You brought me a dragon.”
“Press the paw.” She says with a rare smile, her voice gentler than usual.
I find that one of the paws has a heart-shaped pad instead of a circle like the other. Shifting the soft toy in my hand, I press down on the paw.
From the dragon comes a soft, rhythmic murmur that has me freezing in place. My gaze shoots up to Elsie, who has a broad smile on her face.
“Is this what I think it is?” I ask.
“Depends on what you think it is.” She says, her smile shifting to a soft grin.
“That’s my little girl’s heartbeat,” I reply.
“Marshall.” She scolds. “We don’t know that it’s a girl.”
“I do,” I say confidently, looking down at the dragon again. “That’s the heartbeat. El latido de mi peque?a ciruela azucarada.” My little sugar plum’s heartbeat.
“Yes,” Elsie says softly. “I thought you would want something from that appointment to remember them by. Since you’re going to miss the next one.”
“Yeah. I…” I choke up, holding back the tears that want to come up. “Thank you.”
“You’re gonna be gone a lot during my pregnancy.” Her voice turns more distant. “You’ll miss a lot.”
I nod, thinking of the milestones and moments I’ll be gone for. Doctor’s appointments and pregnancy symptoms. First kicks and sleepless nights .
For the first time, I realize how hard this is going to be.
I like my job, and plenty of people on rigs have families, but I don’t think I ever thought about how hard it would be to be away from them for so much of the year.
“I wanted you to have something of them to keep with you.” She says. “A little reminder for you.”
For the first time since I started working on rigs, I don’t want to leave.
“Thank you, Elsie,” I say softly, trying not to choke up. “This means a lot.”
“You’re welcome.”
I put the dragon on the bed by my pillow and reach for Elsie’s hand.
“Let’s get you home before someone actually does try to throw you overboard, okay?”
“Yeah. Of course.” She says, gathering her bag and tossing it over her shoulder again.
Together, we walk through the ship in silence. When we reach the ramp for her to exit, I squeeze her hand and pull her into me so she’s looking up at me.
“I’m going to miss you, I think,” I murmur.
“Me… I…” She stops herself, and her gaze drops from my own. “I know.”
“Elsie. It’s okay to say you’re going to miss me.”
“Please, don’t. Don’t make this hard.” She interrupts. “Just let me leave, and I’ll see you in 28 days.”
“Okay. Okay.” I say, pushing a lock of hair that’s escaped back behind her ear .
We stand there for a moment, just taking each other in, and I’m grateful when she doesn’t flinch away as I lean down to place a kiss on her forehead.
“28 days,” I promise.
“28 days.” She repeats.
Then she turns to walk down the ramp back to shore. I wait until she’s solidly on land, and when she turns back, I give her a little wave of goodbye.
She doesn’t return the gesture, but that’s okay.
When I return to my cabin, I pick up the dragon she gave me and press the paw.
The little murmured heartbeat fills the space, and a smile forms on my lips.
“28 days, peque?a ciruela. I’ll be back for you and your mom in 28 days.”