“Say what?”I was still a bit dazed from Claire’s confession. “I told you to sit down. But you insisted on standing,” she said as we stood in the living room. I came home and thought that I’ll bring her something that I made this afternoon. It was the best Bouillabaisse that I'd ever made and she was a fan of French cuisine, so I brought it home in between class.“I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.”It was as if she’d rehearsed the speech as she said it, over and over again.We were going to be parents.I was going to be a dad.Shit!“Great,” I said as I lifted her up and hugged her. Fuck, I wish that I was taking acting classes and not culinary, because I was fucking panicking, but I didn’t want her to worry. I wasn’t going to run away from this, but it was a little much to take in. I never thought of becoming a dad, so something like this being sprung at me out of nowhere would obviously be a shock.It was definitely my responsibility, and I really wanted to be with Claire,
The first day of my new job was coming up. I was so fucking scared. I was going to be a fucking chef at the Old Blue Tavern. Dad and I used to eat there when I was a kid. It was under new ownership now, after it had gone downhill, but I wanted to bring it back to its glory. Make it into a place where I would want my family to come and enjoy. I smiled. My family. Me, Claire, our little Richard, named after my dad, and the new little one on the way. Now, all I had to do was make it perfect.For the first time in my life, I had a purpose and I didn’t feel like the bad apple anymore. If anything the complete opposite. As if for once I could look in the mirror and feel proud about who I was and what I was going to do with my life. This was all new to me, but it filled me up with this crazy warm feeling and I knew that it had everything to do with Claire. Whoever said that love was made for fools, had obviously never been in love. “You coming in here, big boy, or are you going to make me w
“Wake up, Claire,” Rogue murmured in my ear, shaking me awake. “If you don’t get up now you’re going to be late, you know? You’re starting your new job today!”I groaned as I struggled out of my drowsiness. We’d gotten married over the weekend and today was my first day as the new Assistant District Attorney. Rogue had even been considerate enough not to keep me up late last night and he’d done everything with Richard, our nearly two-year-old who we named after his father, including getting up with him at one a.m. This second pregnancy was only a bit less than a couple of months along, so I wasn’t showing yet, and it hadn’t gotten in my way, though I’d still had to report it when I went in for my interview for the ADA position. I had been told it wasn’t an issue, though, and seeing as I had gotten the job, it clearly hadn’t been.Funny how I had been pregnant when I started working as a public defender and now, I’m pregnant again starting as the ADA. I was determined though, to do my
I lay on the bed, on my side, with pillows stacked around me. It was close to the baby’s due date, so I’d taken my maternity leave. The strain on my body was a lot greater than what I had imagined it would be, even with it being baby number two. The closer to the due date I arrived, the heavier my body felt. Rogue had pretty much confined me to bed rest until our daughter arrived. He took on the role of care giver, when he wasn’t at work, taking care of both Richard and me. When he was away at the Old Blue Tavern, Mom would be here helping me when I felt like I needed to move around to alleviate some pressure.I was being pampered, and even though it got annoying at times, I loved it.“How are you doing?” Rogue asked, walking into the room.We’d had breakfast a while ago, and he’d left to wash the dishes and do some other chores around the apartment while I rested on the bed. He’d put Richard in his playpen in our room so he could see me. I had my eyes closed, though I wasn’t sleeping
Sometimes, my mom had a way of just winding me up and getting me into trouble. I was one of the top associates at my law firm. On my way to being a partner. I had worked fucking hard to get where I was. I certainly didn’t have the title babysitter written on my forehead. Yet, that was what my mom had roped me into. Babysitting my stepbrother.He’s older. So, he should have known better.The problem was that didn’t stop him from acting like a big kid. He had problems with drugs, gambling and women.Why women problems?Because instead of chasing women that were single, ones that he could actually hook up with, he had an addiction to only go after the ones that were taken.Oh, and they weren’t taken by just a simple jealous partner. No, he had a death wish by chasing mobsters and policemen’s wives. He always chose the partners that could kill him and get away with it. His gambling problem would have been manageable if he had money to throw away. But like most gamblers, he didn’t have
I should’ve called Claire and told her that Kathleen was picking me up. But, Claire was so damn uptight. How we were going to live in the same house was beyond my comprehension. She talked to me like I was fucking stupid most of the time. Just cause I’d been in the joint. I wasn’t dumb. Besides, I hadn’t had any pussy for years. It felt like a fucking lifetime. The last thing I wanted to do when I got out was listen to Claire set down the rules on her place while I was as frustrated as hell. Shit, it made sense to call Kathleen and have her pick me up.She would feed me.Not only my stomach, but my cock too.I just needed to stop at the diner to satisfy one appetite before she satisfied the other. Kathleen had no idea what being in jail for three years meant. I couldn’t jerk off without some guy getting the wrong idea, so guys like me kept themselves to themselves and never thought about sex.I used to fuck morning, noon, and night, it was hard. It was fucking difficult. One time I
Mom said that Rogue had lost his way and if anyone could put him on the straight and narrow, it had to be me. I wished I had that much faith in him, but I just didn’t. She tried every emotional blackmail in the book to get Rogue to live with me.“Your father would be so proud.”“For the first time since you’ve been a lawyer, you can really help people.”Mom wasn’t happy that I’d decided to join a firm and not the public office like Dad had. Dad had prosecuted a guy whose wife had decided to blow my dad’s brains out after the trial. She didn’t even get life after confessing that she had done it. Just a simple stint in a mental hospital for a little while and she was out. Like there was nothing wrong with what she had done.The only man that had ever truly loved me was gone.The bitch broke my heart and the public office crushed my world. She was walking the streets as if she had done the best thing in the world. I would have thought that the public office would have done more to prot
I wanted to say something. Anything to break the fucking ice. But the thought of my dad dying just brought it all home. I shook my head as we got into the elevator. Not only because I felt like I was on the way to the funeral home, but because I couldn’t bear the silence any longer.That was when my phone started to buzz. As the doors closed, it stopped. I didn’t need to look at it to know that there could only be one person calling: Kathleen.“Have you lived here long?” I turned to ask Claire. I was moving in with her whether we both liked it or not. We would have to get along. Small talk seemed to be the only way to break the ice.That was when it dawned on me that I would be staying in this block. I remembered thinking as we drove through downtown that Claire’s apartment would be most likely on Hoover Avenue.Not sure why I thought that?After all, we were practically strangers. Since she graduated from law school, we had never seen each other. Well, part of that was because I had