AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Valentine’s Day Bonus 2
1 All for One, All for Love
Rob
The texts have been relentless all day. I take that back. They actually started last night, around seven west coast time. I’ve gotta give them credit though. They’re committed. In their own weird way, I think they were trying to give me a heads up with enough time to still make something happen, obviously aware of the time difference between us.
Sunlight streams through the windshield, making it feel easily twenty degrees warmer than the air temperature. With the windows down, a steady breeze blows through my hair, almost soothing enough to mimic the motion of my favorite fingers. The Lady’s engine hums as I put her through her paces along the 101, heading north from San Diego. Even with my sunglasses on, the glare coming off the Pacific Ocean nearly blinds me on certain turns. This scenic highway is as dangerous as it is gorgeous.
Because I’m all too aware of my responsibility to make it home in one piece, I have my phone set to read incoming texts aloud. The robotic female voice makes me smile. I might make this a permanent setting on all Mike’s and Alex’s texts. There’s just something inherently amusing about a disembodied voice announcing the latest wager is a new sports car.
I flex my fingers around the warm leather steering wheel. No Maserati could ever compare to this old Mustang. Every square inch of this car bleeds memories. Pops’s aftershave only lingers in my mind, but the scent of Evie’s perfume is very real. As is the sway of her black lacy panties dangling from the rearview mirror. A compromise—so I could keep them with me nearly all the time without risking sanctions from the NFL if they were ever discovered on my person during play. My teammates gave up trying to get that story out of me years ago. A few rumors about an unknown mistress still circulate in the locker room, but anyone who really knows me doesn’t buy into them.
And the ones who do? Screw ‘em, Evie says.
We don’t answer to anyone but each other. We know the truth, and we also enjoy this little secret between us.
Every time her beautiful blue gaze lands on this black lace, her pupils dilate, her cheeks blush, and she licks her lips. I get to add the scent of her lust to the smell of old leather in this car. On the rare occasions we’re alone and have time, she gets to leave handprints everywhere she can reach.
It’s a win for everyone.
That hasn’t happened in months. Not because of lack of interest but because she’s just too big to maneuver over the gear shift and straddle me. She was certifiably pissed the first time it happened. Me? My smile was so wide, it nearly shattered the side windows. On both sides of the car.
Sure, she threatened to make me sleep on my old couch that night when I released a peal of delighted laughter, but she saw reason when we got home. I delivered exactly what she was craving. With a few modifications. Multiple times.
The second time it happened, she was much more chill about it.
An incoming text alert precedes the sound of Alex’s new female voice. “He’s going to screw the pooch, Mitchell. I know it, and you know it. Just give up now.”
“You wish,” a slightly different but still feminine voice reads the response from Mike.
“He can’t win,” female Alex insists. “She’s pregnant. Logic went out the window when he knocked her up.”
“You’re wrong,” female Mike argues. Of course, he does. It’s their thing. I’ve given up trying to stop it. “He’s covered for every holiday as long as she’s pregnant. Maybe not all women work that way, but Evie’s always wanted to be a mom, and he made that happen.”
I snort, knowing no one can hear me. I didn’t do anything but very willingly donate sperm as often as possible. Evie had all the hard work of giving us this chance, and she suffered through the pain like a champ. Mostly.
I thought not being able to do anything to ease her suffering was hard while she recovered from her surgery. During her labor with Robbie? Hard flew right out the window. There was nothing quite as exciting yet debilitating as watching my wife labor to give birth to our first child. The only thing I could do was be there. Every ounce of agony that crossed her face, every drop of blood spilled was hers to bear alone. All I could do was watch, wipe tears away, let her nearly break my throwing hand, and…pray.
“She was rational the first time.” A new text from Alex filters in from the speakers. “She’s like a loaded canon for round two. There’s no telling what will set her off. She cried over a damn gum commercial she found online from a few years ago.”
“And you know about this how?” The text from Mike reads.
“Because she fucking called Amira about it and made her watch the damn thing, and then Amira got all pissy with me because I didn’t think it was that great!”
That gets a real laugh out of me. It’s true. Evie cried for days about that commercial. It was cute—don’t get me wrong, but Alex is right. Her hormones are out of control with this pregnancy. Gone are the days of extra-horny, glowing, the-world-is-our-oyster pregnant wife. She’s been replaced by over-worked, over-stressed, already-mom-of-a-rambunctious-preschooler wife.
I wouldn’t trade a second.
I use voice commands to get them both on speaker phone. As entertaining as their running commentary is, listening to their back-and-forth texts is still a bigger amount of distraction than I’m comfortable with.
Once everyone has acknowledged they’re on the call, I lay it on the line. “How long have I been married now?”
“Nine years,” they chime in unison.
The rest of the world would answer eight, but these guys know me better than nearly everyone else on the planet. They’ve been there in my darkest days, my lowest lows, and always challenged me to be a better man. Just like they’re trying to do now.
But I have an ace up my sleeve.
