Page 112 of The Blessing

chapter 41

fake empire

Resting my head on Ronnie’s tits, I take a deep breath and try desperately to will away the anxiety that’s overwhelming me. My girl runs her fingers through my hair and hums a song quietly. She’s doing her best to avoid the elephant in the room: meeting her fire chief father tomorrow. I don’t know what my deal is, but I can’t help but feel incredibly negative about it all.

“Trev?” Ronnie asks, pausing to see if I were asleep or still reeling. “Trevor, it’s going to be fine. You’ve been apprehensive about this whole thing for the past few days; give it a rest already. Babe, I swear, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

I nuzzle my face against her tits and sigh. Maybe I just need to distract myself. Losing myself inside of her usually works. My thoughts must be written all over my face because Ronnie giggles at me before wrapping her arms around my torso. She holds me snugly against her.

“Maybe I can think of a way to ease my anxiety,” I say as I slide up her body to kiss her lips.

She giggles out of shock before moaning as I play with her bottom lip. About half an hour later I’m feeling sated and less anxious; my mind is far from the issues awaiting me tomorrow. Maybe that shit won’t go as poorly as I’ve been imagining. I have had quite the lucky streak lately. I definitely don’t want that streak to end when I finally come face to face with her dad. He sure as hell isn’t going to be thrilled I asked her to marry me without his consent but fuck it. I’ve never done anything the conventional way, so why start now?

A chill runs up my spine as I feel the rays of sunlight filtering in through the cracks of my blinds, stirring me awake. I feel around for Ronnie. When I come up short I open my eyes to find her getting dressed. My eyes then drift to the alarm clock which is perched on my bedside table, and they widen in surprise once I see it’s just after five o’clock in the morning. What the hell is she doing up so early on a holiday?

“Babe, what the hell? It’s early. Come back to bed,” I say, patting the empty spot beside me.

She chuckles as she steps into a pair of yoga pants. “I can’t, Trev. I have to start baking my pie. I should’ve done it last night, but someone”—she gives me a pointed look—"was distracting me.”

“You didn’t mind the distraction at the time.”

“I still don’t mind last night’s distraction, but it just means I have to get started a little bit earlier than I originally planned.” I pout at her, making her roll her eyes in return. “That’s not going to work again, and you know it. I’m already behind enough as it is. You want my dad to be in a good mood, don’t you? Well, he’s not going to be too keen about anything if he’s hungry.”

I don’t know whether she’s pulling my leg or not, so I drop the whole puppy dog act and collapse back against the mattress in defeat. The pout worked for me last night when I had a raging hard-on. Ronnie wanted to bake one of her pies and I wanted to fuck. Thankfully, I got my way. I’m sure my act looked foolish to her. However, when I began thrusting inside of her, I was completely blissful, not caring how I looked moments before.

“Well, if you think it’ll help my chances with your father—then you should probably get to baking, babe.”

Before she leaves the bedroom, she turns to say, “Trev, he’ll like you. Why don’t you try to go back to sleep? Get your mind off things.”

I nod before cozying up in the blankets. Considering how fucking wired my nerves are, sleep is fucking hard to come by. I lay in bed for a while, staring at the ceiling while trying to clear my mind. I finally give up and decide to seek out Grey. I slip on a pair of pajama pants before trudging out of the bedroom and down the hallway to his room. I hear music and decide to check it out before seeing to my son. I find Ronnie in the kitchen, swaying her hips to a song playing on the radio. She’s completely oblivious to anything except baking. I can’t help myself. I admire her sexy ass for a few moments before I turn back down the hall and continue to Grey’s room.

Hearing someone coming toward him, Grey begins to cry and fuss in his crib. Luckily, I’m quickly at his side to pick him up and soothe him before his crying turns into a giant tantrum. Now that he’s getting a bit of attention he’s wide awake and ready to get moving, so I do my best to quickly change his diaper and get his onesie back on before he wriggles out of my hands. Chuckling at his enthusiasm I place him on the carpet, then I sit down at his side. He quickly crawls across the floor toward his toy trunk that’s full of stuffed animals. He chooses a few to drag back to his seat next to me. He struggles with two large stuffed animals—one a bear and one a purple dragon—before deciding to bring them to me one at a time. When he goes back for the second animal he stands and attempts to walk with it back toward me; but that plan quickly goes south and he lands on his ass. Thankfully, he’s become a good sport and is quick to get back up and try again.

After a few more tries, he finally reaches me. It’s moments like these which have me surging with pride. I can’t believe my little guy is growing up so fast! It feels like just yesterday when I held him for the very first time, and now he’s walking and saying his first words. I don’t know what I’ll do when he strings together his first sentence. It’ll be fucking incredible. I can already tell that he’s going to be extremely smart. Way smarter than I could have ever hoped he’d be. He impresses everyone he meets; sometimes I wonder if I have something to do with that. However, I’m sure most of this just comes naturally to him because Dean was pretty much perfect, after all.

Grey stands up to run back to grab another toy and trips. Before I can reach out to catch him, he falls right on his face and begins to howl in pain. He fell on the thick rug—thank, God—so I know the damage can’t be too bad. However, that doesn’t keep me from practically having a heart attack.

“Fuck, buddy!” I curse, cuddling him protectively in my arms. “Fuck, are you okay?” I know I shouldn’t swear around him—and I’m kicking myself for doing so—but I can’t help the words as they slip out. His fall has me shook up.

Grey answers with a cry and buries his face into my neck. I gently pull his head back to get a good look at him; breathing a sigh of relief when I realize he’s perfectly fine. I trace his face with my fingertips, and the sensation calms him down in no time. When he’s feeling better he looks up at me with wide, curious eyes and gives me a small smile. I smile back with a profound sense of relief now that I know my son is okay.

His smile grows wider and he reaches up to touch my face as his mouth begins to move. It looks like he’s trying to pronounce the letter “f,” which instantly has me fucking nervous. What if his next word is “fuck”? How fucking awkward would that be? Especially with family coming over in a few hours. It would be so embarrassing. I make a mental note to stop cursing around him because he’s definitely not big enough to know those words.

“Dada!” he finally squeals with a smile before he kicks his feet until I let him back down onto the floor to play.

An hour later, I decide I better get Grey ready for the day. Ronnie told me various times how Eden likes to just drop by early and unannounced. I don’t want her to arrive finding Grey and I looking as if we just rolled out of bed. I run a bath for both of us because I’m still too fucking exhausted to bathe him and get him dressed, then get ready myself. This makes things so much more manageable. I add some of that bubble bath shit Ronnie loves before getting him out of his onesie and stripping out of my own pajama pants. I settle into the tub with him safely in my arms.

He splashes the water around him and laughs as he plays with all of the bubbles. Although I’m still half-asleep after the restless night I had, I smile as I watch him. He’s so fucking energetic and it’s pretty damn funny to watch. He twists and turns in my arms until he finally giggles and places his head on my chest. I’m glad he’s giving me a break today because washing him is usually a nightmare for me. I love to watch him have fun, of course, but it’s impossible to get anything done when he’s a ball of fucking energy.

“Dada! Dada!” he exclaims as I begin to wash his hair.

Since he’s so calm, I play with his hair and give him a Mohawk before he pushes my hand away and smiles before saying, “No!”

I roll my eyes at his new word and smile back. “‘Yes.’ Can you say ‘yes,’ Grey? ‘Yes,’ ” I say, over-enunciating the word for him.

“No,” he giggles at me before his interest returns to the bubbles.

I finish cleaning him up before I quickly wash myself. I want to look good for Ronnie’s dad. I want him to think I’m the perfect match for his daughter. Well, “perfect match” might be a stretch; I’d just settle for him not hating me. I wash my hair and even fucking condition it before I finally feel like I’m clean enough. As soon as I finish I have to fucking laugh because I can’t believe I’m still so nervous about this. He’s just a man, Trevor. So, what’s my deal, then? Well, he’s not “just a man,” he’s my future father-in-law. I know I can’t keep thinking this way. If I do, I’ll probably lock myself in the bedroom and never fucking leave. I sigh, leaning back and relaxing in the lukewarm water while watching Grey as he continues to play.