The 2014 R.L. Mathewson Chronicle Collection (10 page)

            As she settled more comfortably on top of him, he continued to gently massage her breast as his other hand reached up for her neglected breast and gave it the same attention, working his thumb over her nipple until it was just as hard as the other one. Haley placed her hand down on the mattress beside his head, shifting her weight onto the one arm while she moved her hand between them and wrapped her hand around his erection. She gave it a brief squeeze that had him gently sucking her tongue in appreciation before she moved her hand in a smooth stroke up until she was cupping the tip in her hand.

            “
Fuck
,” he gasped loudly as she tightened her hold around the tip, her hips rolling forward causing his cock to become enveloped between her wet slit.

            She smiled against his lips, clearly enjoying the hold she had over him and he let her have it. He stayed still, fighting the need to put her back against the mattress and fuck her until she screamed his name and squeezed every last drop out of him. If she had been any other woman, he would have done just that, got what he wanted and left, but this wasn’t just any woman.

            This was his little grasshopper, the love of his life, his soul, his life…..

            His wife.

            “I love you, Haley,” he said, sliding his hands up her chest so that he could cup her face in his hands, his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks as he brushed his lips against hers. “I love you so damn much.”

            He felt her smile against his lips, felt her lips tremble as the first tear rolled down her cheek when his thumb brushed it away.

            “I love you, too,” she whispered back, releasing her hold on him and kissing him for a minute before she shifted her hips, rolling them forward and then pushing back until the tip of his erection pressed up against her core.

            Slowly, she pushed back, taking him inside her inch by excruciating inch until he thought he’d die. Finally after what felt like hours, she was fully seated on top of him. Just when he thought that she’d move and put him out of his misery, she pulled back just far enough so that she could look at him, her hair falling down around them.

            She worried him bottom lip as she looked, well, squinted down at him.

            “What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, running the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip.

            “You know this is forever, don’t you?”

            Chuckling, he used his hold on her to pull her down for a kiss.

            “It damn well better be.”

Three Months Later…….

            “Did everyone study last night?” he asked, glancing up from his desk to catch every student in his class nodding enthusiastically.

            “So, you’re ready for a pop quiz?” he asked, biting back a smile as their expressions turned to horror.

            “Yes?” came the collective answer.

            “Liars,” he said, chuckling as he stood up and went to the chalkboard.

            “Why don’t we review everything to make sure that we’re all clear on the material?” he suggested, shaking his head with a chuckle when he caught their relieved sighs.

            “Let’s start with the-”

            “Excuse me,” Haley said, drawing his attention immediately to the back of his classroom where she was poking her head in the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but could I talk to you for a minute?”

            “We were just about to have a review,” he said, glancing at the clock and noting the time. There was only twenty minutes of class left and his students desperately needed this review if they had any hopes of passing the pop quiz that he had planned for tomorrow. “Can it wait until after class?” he asked, hating to put his wife off, but he knew that Haley would understand. He also knew that she’d let him know if it was something that couldn’t wait.

            “Oh,” she said, pushing her glasses up her nose as she worried her bottom lip. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry,” she said with one of those adorable little smiles that he loved.

            “I’ll see you in twenty minutes, sweetheart,” he said, ignoring the snickers from a couple of jocks.

            She nodded absently as she agreed, “Okay, twenty minutes.”

            He went to pick up the chalk again, but paused when he noticed that she hadn’t left, but instead now stood a little further in the classroom, worrying her hands in front of her as she shifted anxiously.

            “Is everything okay?” he asked, frowning when he realized that his wife was nervous.

            “Huh?” she asked, looking as though she’d forgotten that he was in the room. “Yes, yes of course it is.”

            “Okay,” he said softly with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Then I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

            “Twenty minutes,” she repeated with a firm nod even as she continued to worry her hands together.

            He reached for the chalk again only to pause when he once again noted that his wife had moved further into the room. For a minute he watched her continue to wring her hands together and worry her bottom lip.

            “Are you sure that everything’s fine?” he asked, gesturing for his students to turn around and face the front of the class.

            Haley smiled, a real smile that instantly calmed him. “Yes, yes of course.”

            “Good,” he said, starting to return his attention to the chalkboard when her next words made him pause.

            “It’s just that…..,” she started to say, only to let her words trail off.

            “It’s just that, what?” he asked, moving to step around his desk and move towards her.

            She shook her head and with another smile said, “It can wait until later.”

            And with that, she finally turned around and headed for the door. Not really sure what to make of her visit, but not really concerned, he turned around and-

            “It’s just that I’m pregnant and I wanted to tell you.”

            -tripped over his own feet and stumbled forward. He was forced to slap his hands against the edge of the desk or fall flat on his ass as his mind raced to make sense of what she’d just said.

            “W-what?” he asked, not really sure that he’d heard her correctly.

            “I just wanted to let you know that I was pregnant and to let you know that we needed to stop at a store on the way home tonight and pick up some milk,” Haley said brightly while the class stared at her in utter shock as he struggled to catch his breath.

            He felt himself nod, not really sure why he was doing it, but he felt that he should be doing something.

            “Alright,” Haley said, brightly, “I’ll see you after class!”

            And with that, she finally left the room just as his legs finally gave out. He held onto the desk for dear life, still struggling to comprehend the words that had come out of his wife’s mouth.

           
Pregnant?

            Haley was pregnant.

            They were having a baby.

            A baby, they were having a baby because Haley was pregnant.

            He’d gotten Haley pregnant.

            She was having his baby.

            They were-

            “Are you alright, Mr. Bradford?” someone asked, a boy or a girl, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he was definitely not okay.

            “D-do you need anything, Mr. Bradford?” someone else asked.

            The response was instant, years of Bradford survival taking over in that moment of crisis. “Food, I need food.”

Phone Calls

           
“You’re early,” Connor snarled as he threw open the front door to glare at them.

            “And you’re naked,” Jason noted, his lips twitching with amusement as the man simply continued to glare at them.

            “And obviously very excited to see us,” Trevor added with a wink.

            “If you’re not up here in the next minute, I’m starting without you!” came the teasing words from their favorite cousin from somewhere in the house. Judging by the way Connor licked his lips and the way Connor Junior jumped in anticipation, Jason realized it was going to be a very long time before his cousin got her ass out of bed and took care of their dietary needs like a good cousin should.

            “Go away,” Connor said, already shutting the door in their faces.

            “What about breakfast?” Trevor demanded, reaching out and slapping his hand against the door to keep it from shutting.

            “Don’t fucking care,” Connor snapped, shoving the door shut in their faces and judging by the sound of it, locking them out.

            “Well, that was rude,” Trevor said with a heavy sigh as they continued to stand there, staring at the door and waiting for Rory to magically appear and feed them.

            “It was, wasn’t it,” Jason agreed as he waited another minute or two, enough time in his opinion for Rory to distract Connor properly before he reached into his pocket and pulled out the key that he kept for just such an emergency.

            “You’d think they’d be happy to see us,” Trevor muttered conversationally as Jason unlocked the door and headed inside.

            “The least he could have done was to offer to feed us while we waited,” Jason said as they headed for the kitchen, praying that his cousin had gotten a chance to do some decent food shopping this weekend. The last time they were here to give Connor and Rory a hand with their project, they’d damn near starved to death.

            “Jackpot,” Trevor said, grinning with satisfaction as they stepped into the kitchen and spotted the grocery bags overflowing with food covering every available inch of counter space and a good portion of the kitchen floor.

            “This should hold us over until Rory can make us breakfast,” Jason mused, snatching a family size bag of chips from the bag next to him and leaned back against the kitchen counter, relaxing while he enjoyed a light snack.

            “Thanks,” Trevor said, snatching the bag of chips out of his hand.

            Without a word, Jason snatched it back.

            For a moment, the two of them stood there, eyes narrowing on each other one second and in the next, they had each other in a headlock, willing to do whatever it took for the right to devour the bag of chips that had since fallen to the ground.

            “They’re mine!” Trevor snapped, tightening his hold and forcing Jason to do the same as he declared, “I had them first, asshole! They’re-”

            “Should we answer that?” Trevor suddenly asked, his hold loosening slightly as they both stared at the telephone ringing loudly and no doubt disturbing the couple upstairs, who probably wouldn’t appreciate the interruption and would most likely take it out on the two of them by starving them.

            “It’s not even seven o’clock,” Jason muttered in disgust, double-checking the clock on the wall as he wondered who in their right mind would be bugging someone this early on a Sunday morning.

            Then it hit him, Rory’s father had taken the baby for the weekend to give the couple a break and he could be calling because something happened. Trevor obviously reached the same conclusion since they both shoved each other away and raced for the phone, praying that the baby was okay.

            Jason managed to grab the phone and answer before the fourth ring. “Hello?” he said, shoving Trevor away as the nosy bastard leaned in closely to listen.

            “
Hello
,” an overly cheerful woman responded, “
I’m looking for Mary Williams
.”

            Frowning, Jason explained, “I think you have the wrong number.”

            “
Mary doesn’t live there
?” she pushed, still sounding unnaturally chipper.

            “No, she doesn’t,” Jason said, rubbing the back of his neck as he was forced to watch as Trevor bent over and swiped up his bag of chips with a shrug, obviously realizing that they were dealing with a wrong number.

            “Oh, well, I’m sorry for bothering you,” the woman said brightly just as Jason hung up on her.

            “Those are my chips, you thieving bastard!” Jason snapped, gesturing with the cordless phone at the large bag of chips that Trevor was making a show of devouring.

            “I don’t see your name on them,” Trevor said with a careless shrug as he continued to eat what should have been Jason’s snack.

            Just as he was about to throw the phone at Trevor’s head, it rang again. With an annoyed sigh, he answered it after the first ring, wondering just how many times this woman was going to call looking for Mary before she got the hint.

            “Hello?” he snapped as he swatted away the now-empty chip bag that Trevor had balled up and threw at his head.

            “
Don’t hang up. This is a call concerning your credit card
,” the computerized man’s voice announced.

            Curious, Jason leaned over the counter to look at the caller ID. Unknown Caller, the small LED screen read. Trevor reached over and scrolled to the last call to find the same thing listed and kept scrolling. There had to be at least four-dozen Unknown Caller and Blocked missed calls in the history from the past two days alone, painting a picture that had Jason and Trevor grinning hugely.

            Looks like they’d found something to entertain themselves with while they waited for breakfast, Jason realized with a content sigh as he grabbed a box of Twinkies from a nearby bag as he once again leaned back against the counter and got comfortable.

            “
We are calling because we would like to lower your interest rate. This is the last time that you will be receiving this offer. If you don’t act now, this offer will expire
,” the computerized voice warned as Trevor grabbed a box of Ring Dings and settled in next to him so that he could listen.

            “
Would you like to lower your interest rate
?” the computerized voice asked.

            “Yes,” Jason said, knowing the only way that he was going to be able to pull this off was if he kept a straight face.

            There was a slight pause before the man on the line continued, obviously deciding that Jason’s admission was good enough for the automated system. “
Please hold and I will connect you with the next representative
.”

            “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jason said absently as he opened a Twinkie and shoved it in his mouth.

            “
Good morning
,” a man said after a brief pause and a
click
. “This is John. Whom may I ask do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

            “Clark Kent,” Jason answered, slapping Trevor’s hand away when the bastard tried to steal one of his Twinkies.

             “
Well, Mr. Kent
,” John went on to explain in a concerned tone, “
I’m calling because it appears that you’re paying a higher interest rate on your credit cards than you should. We’ve been trying to contact you for some time now so that we could lower your interest rate and get your payments down
.”

            “Really?” Jason asked around a yawn as he turned around and searched through the bags until he found a box of chocolate chip cookies.