Game Changer (12 page)

“Girls are weird,” Aiden chuckled.

“You love girls, especially me,” I teased.

“That I do,” he said with a kiss to my nose.

When we got home, both Kira and Ethan were waiting by the door anxiously. I nodded once and was immediately attacked by both of them.

“Don’t hurt them!” Aiden sounded concerned, which was cute since I was only a month and a half along. If this is how he was acting now, eight months from now was going to be comical.

“Honey, I’m not as fragile as you seem to think I am.”

Kira got down on the floor and started talking to my tummy, telling both fetuses how much fun they’d have together. It was cute, really. After a minute, she stood back up and grinned, “You know, this really explains why your boobs were so sore when we were trying on bras the other day.”

I snorted a laugh, “No that has nothing to do with it,” I joked but I didn’t dare go into further detail about what Aiden and I had done the night before. My brother was standing only a few feet away after all.

“I say we go out and celebrate,” Ethan said, putting one hand in the air like we were going to vote on it. Aiden raised his hand and I rolled my eyes.

“I think they’re trying to get us out of the house as much as possible before we’re too hideous to walk the streets.” I whispered conspiringly to Kira, who played along.

“Yeah, I mean, we’re cute now, but who will love us when we can’t even see our feet anymore?” Aiden and Ethan apparently couldn’t tell we were joking because both looked frightened.

“I’ll love you,” they both practically shouted at the same time.

“You say that now,” I said teasingly, and we both started mock pouting. It didn’t last long because we were soon laughing too hard for them to take us seriously anymore.

“That was mean. See if I love you when you’re fat now,” Ethan scowled.

My jaw dropped and I practically yelled “Rewind!”

Kira’s hands were already positioned on her hip for yelling and I stepped between them.

“What you meant to say was that ‘see if you’ll love her when she’s larger, but still so incredibly beautiful that you’ll be happy she’s your wife, which she will be when she’s larger.” I said slowly, staring him down.

He nodded solemnly, realizing his mistake. He nudged me aside and pulled Kira into his arms, “Sorry baby, you know I think you’re beautiful no matter what, and that I will always love you.”

He kissed her softly and she obviously forgave him.

Chapter 18

I turned to Aiden, who was watching in amusement. “So dear, where are we going for dinner?” I was trying to get our focus back to what started it all.

“Somewhere.”

“That’s informative,” I scoffed.

“It’s a secret…” He said elusively, which only served to annoy me.

“Come on, just tell me,” I sighed, “How am I supposed to pick out what to wear if you don’t tell me where we’re going? What if I put on a pair of boots and you take me on a boat. That happened once, remember?”

“How about I go pick out your outfit with you?” He offered, a glint in his eye.

“Aiden Swift, I know that look.” I warned.

He just smiled innocently and whispered something to Ethan before he followed me upstairs.

As soon as the door closed behind us, his arms were around my waist and he was pulling my lips to his. I kissed his mouth lightly before putting my hand on his chest.

“As much as I really want to do what we are headed for, I was too nervous to eat before we left and I’m incredibly hungry now.” I said, feeling a tiny bit guilty.

He sighed, accepting defeat and sat on the bed with his back against the headboard.

“Show me some outfits,” He commanded playfully, pointing to my closet.

I walked over and looked through a few things blindly, grabbing the first thing I could, it was a dark blue dress that went to my knees.

“No, too fancy.”

I grabbed a silky top and he immediately said no.

“Well then, what am I supposed to wear?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

With a smirk, he came up behind me and started shifting things around in the closet, looking for something specific.

“Aiden Swift, if you knew what you wanted me to wear, why didn’t you save me the trouble and just pick it out from the start?”

He shrugged. “I liked watching your backside when you were looking for stuff.”

I blushed and smiled, finding his honesty cute. Soon enough, his arms were full of clothes and I raised my eyebrows.

“All of that?” I asked, not sure what we were going to do that required a long sleeved shirt, a hoodie, jeans, boots, mittens, hat, and my jacket.

“It may be November, but you get that we are in Houston, Texas, right? I mean, it doesn’t get below sixty in the dead of winter. I really need all of this?”

“Yep,” he said, then started looking around my room then turned towards me with a scarf in his hand.

“Aiden, what are we doing?” I asked, whining slightly. I hated surprises.

He smiled his idiotically charming smile and rested his hands on my hips, “Baby, I promise you’ll enjoy it.” He kissed my nose. “Now, get changed.”

“Fine.” I sighed. As I was changing, my thoughts drifted all over the place until they landed on yesterday at the mall. “Oh, come look.” I said, going over to the chair in the corner and picking up the bag from build-a-bear. I held up the monkey Kira had picked out for Sobri the other day.

A huge smile took over his face as he gently held it in his huge hands.

“This is cute.”

I couldn’t help but to smile with him. I stood beside him and his arm wrapped around my shoulders as we looked at the stuffed animal, thinking about all of the promises that simple inanimate object held. Our child would play with that in less than nine months. The thought was astounding.

We both looked at each other and met for a soft kiss,

“We’ll make this work Emily, I know we will.” Aiden said confidently. His caring voice made me feel like melting.

I rubbed his cheek and nodded, “I know.”

We finally got downstairs and I realized that Ethan and Kira must have gone to their house to get changed, “Are we just meeting them there?”

“Yep, now let’s get going,” he said, holding his hand out for me.

“You are so pushy sometimes.”

“You bet I am,” he said as he playfully patted my ass and walked me out the front door.

Like a gentleman, he opened the truck door for me and helped me in. He was suddenly holding me like I was some priceless antique that would break upon impact, it was adorable.

He drove us to the mall of all places.

“You had me dress up like this to go to the mall? Seriously?”

He chuckled. “We aren’t going to the mall.”

He drove past and eventually turned into the sports bar just off of Wortham Drive. I’ve drove by the place probably a million times in my life, but I hadn’t ever been inside before.

We got inside and found a booth, we both sat on the same side and ordered drinks and an appetizer as we waited for Ethan and Kira. They arrived shortly thereafter, Kira looked so adorable in her skinny jeans, sweater and very fashion forward jacket. She always had an amazing sense of style.

“Hey Chica!” She greeted, sliding in so she was across from me. The guys ended up on the outside.

For the next few hours, we sat, drank, and laughed. Kira and I had water and the guys had sodas -- although I’m sure they really wanted beers. We all had burgers that made us groan with delight at the first bite.

Afterwards, Aiden drove us while Ethan took Kira to wherever we were going. We came up to an area that was lit up like a Christmas tree. The lights were shining so brightly since it was already seven and it got darker faster in the winter. We were at a skating rink.

“Aiden!” I groaned, wrinkling my nose.

“What?” He asked, giving me an amused look.

“I can’t skate!” I exclaimed, pointing to the rink.

“You can’t skate?” He asked, sounding shocked.

I shook my head and bit my lip. He got out and walked around to help me out, “Then it looks like you’re going to learn tonight.” He said, taking me into his arms and setting me lightly on the ground, only he didn’t let me go.

I rested my hands on his chest and tried to make my eyes as round as possible, attempting innocence, “What if I’m not any good at it?” I asked.

“I’ll be so embarrassed. So will you, I mean, Aiden Swift having a girlfriend who can’t skate,” I teased.

He shut me up with a kiss.

“First off, I don’t care what other people think. Second, you won’t suck with me as your teacher.”

He was so confident, unfortunately he’d never had me as his student.

“Fine, but either way this goes, you owe me some hot cocoa afterwards,” I said sternly. He just grinned cheekily and nodded, tugging me to the ice.

We stopped at a little kiosk to get our skates and I couldn’t help the disgusted look on my face. I really hated skating. “Come on Emm, smile for me. You look like you just drank curdled milk.”

I instantly covered my mouth with my hand, fighting back an intense wave of nausea. “In the future, never say that again.” I warned once I could open my eyes again.

“Sorry.” He laughed. I narrowed my eyes and smacked him lightly on the arm. Under his thick sweatshirt he probably didn’t even feel it. I saw Ethan and Kira already on the ice, they both used to skate all the time, and now I wish I had joined them once in a while.

People started coming up to Aiden and asking for his autograph, which gave me the chance to try figuring out the stupid skates. How was I supposed to tie them? Were they like boots?

“Here baby, let me.” Aiden said, crouching down in front of me to tie them.

I had to smile when I imagined our child sitting in my spot as he tied their laces. I couldn’t stop myself from cupping his face in my hands and leaning in for a kiss. He kissed me back without hesitation, and his hands never stopped tightening my laces. Talk about multitasking.

“What was that for?”

“Nothing.”

We slowly walked towards the ice and I gripped his arm, “I can’t do this,” I said hastily as I tried to turn us around.

“Emily,” He said slowly, giving me a warning.

“Don’t you ‘Emily’ me. One of us isn’t exactly a professional athlete who can do everything, Aiden.” I snapped, not out of irritation, but out of nervousness.

He put his hand on my face and rubbed my cheek with his palm, “I promise nothing bad will happen.”

I sighed and nodded, then gripped his hand as we headed towards the entrance and onto the ice. He stepped out first and turned around so he was facing me and holding both of my hands. “Alright, now take a slow step onto the ice and try to keep your foot still,” he instructed.

I did as I was told but my foot suddenly slipped a little and I jerked my whole body and shrieked, ending with both of my feet on the ice and my arms around Aiden’s body, hugging him as closely as possible. I was laughing as hard as I ever had with my head on his chest. He was laughing too, rubbing my back.

“Well I think it’s safe to say I’m a natural at this.” I said, giggling the entire time.

“No doubt babe, now maybe we could try to actually move,” he said as he slowly made me loosen my viselike grip on his body.

He bent slightly to look into my eyes, “Are you really ready now?”

I nodded and held onto his hands as he skated backward and pulled me along. After about five minutes of getting used to that, he told me to lightly let my feet glide out and push. It went way smoother than I expected it would.

Soon enough, I was skating on my own and only holding Aiden’s hand. I definitely looked like a beginner, but I felt proud.

As much as I didn’t want to stop, all of the water at the restaurant was running straight through me, “Aiden, I have to go potty,” I announced, getting odd looks from the people beside us.

He laughed and helped me turn towards the exit, both of us stopped dead in our tracks at what we saw standing there; well actually Aiden had to pull me to an actual stop.

“Are you allowed to be on skates that soon after having a baby?” I whispered to Aiden.

His hand tightened around mine and he guided us over, attempting to keep us on the opposite side of them.

He had to lift me over the ridge to get me off of the ice. It felt weird to walk now. When we looked up, my stomach sank.

“Well look what the cat dragged in.” Brittney crossed her arms in front of us. “Looks like home wrecking whores don’t know where they belong… in the bed.”

“Excuse you?” I said, stepping forward. Aiden held me back by putting a hand across my chest and moving me in behind him.

“If you ever call Emily a whore again I’m going to tell the world about the way you tried to trick me with the baby.”

“What’s it matter to you? That’s all she is, isn’t she?” She took a territorial step forward.

“Not even close. And for the record, there was no home to wreck. I’d broken up with you before I even met her,” He said, running a hand down his face. I held the hand he still had behind him and used my other hand to rub his back.

“Oh, you mean the note? That didn’t specify anything,” she argued.

“Yeah, the note. I’m pretty sure that ‘I know the baby isn’t mine, we’re through…” it speaks for itself.

I had trouble not laughing at her outraged screech. I figured we’d had enough of the talking and were done, so I tapped his arm lightly.

“Aiden, I really have to pee now, can you help me with the skates?”

He nodded thankfully and we both moved to go around Brittney when she grabbed me by the sleeve and pushed me back, causing me to lose my balance and fall on my butt.

Aiden’s eyes widened in fury as he helped me up. I held onto him, moving him behind me this time. Brittney spoke before I could, “She’s just a child Aiden, I mean look at this. You’re helping her with her skates, picking her up when she falls. Why not just raise my child, it would be the same thing?”

My jaw dropped and I stepped forward, smiling internally when I realized I had a good several inches on her.

“First of all,
you
cheated on him, so it’s time to move on. It’s clear that he already has. Secondly, I’m not a child, a whore, or you, so I think he’ll be perfectly happy with me. Leave us alone now or I’ll have you arrested for harassment.” I warned before grabbing Aiden’s hand and pulling us away.

We finally made it over to where our boots were, “I’m sorry about that. I really didn’t want to talk to her, but I hate her.” I said, giving Aiden an apologetic look.

Instead of answering, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me with a passion I hadn’t experienced yet, it was like fierce relief.

“I’m sorry she said those things to you, but I was never able to threaten her with anything viable. I’m glad you took a stand, and that you think I’m worth standing up for.” He whispered, crushing me to his chest.

I smiled softly up at him. “After everything we’ve been through, I’ll always fight for you.”