Page 29
Somebody To Love – Justin Bieber
Declan
“T hree bedtime stories seem excessive,” Addie whispers as we tiptoe out of Nora’s room and into the hallway. She finally fell asleep on my shoulder after the third story I made up, and I’m excited to get more alone time with Addie.
“I have a hard time saying no to her,” I admit sheepishly.
We work in tandem to clean up the mess from the after-dinner activities. I would have never suggested making slime if I knew it would get everywhere.
I think it’s in my hair.
Addie tidies up the living room, and I clean the remainder of the dishes. When she passes, I squeeze her ass, and when she drops a cup into the sink, adding to the dishes, she leaves a lingering kiss on my cheek.
It’s domestic, and I fucking love it.
When she finishes, she wraps her arms around my waist and lays her cheek on my back. “Tell me something no one knows about you,” she says.
“I really like birds. Sometimes I can sit for hours in the sunroom and wait for birds to land on the feeder.” Her body shakes mine with laughter. “I have an anonymous Facebook account and I’ve joined groups about Pacific Northwest birds.”
“No!” she gasps.
“Oh, yes.” I squeeze her hand, then return to the dishes. “Your turn.”
She hums. “I used to kiss my Justin Bieber poster every night before I went to bed, and I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to our wedding.”
I spin, faster than lightning in her hold. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.” She grimaces, “I would write ‘Adeline Elizabeth Beiber’ in all of my notebooks and would read fanfiction where he saw me at his concert and decided I belonged to him.”
Wordlessly, I take her hand and drag her to the basement. She tugs on my arm and protests the whole way, but I shove her into one of the large movie theatre seats and flick on the projector and karaoke system in the back.
“Today is your lucky day,” I say as I set up. This machine saw a lot of use during the offseason when my friends were all away and I had nothing else to do. It just so happens the last owners had a daughter who also worshiped Justin, so I know the words to every single song.
And now I’m going to serenade the shit out of my girlfriend.
“Is this my surprise?” she asks, perched at the edge of her seat with thinly veiled amusement
“No.” A cocky smile tugs at my lips. “This is your dream come true, baby.”
Her eyebrows crunch, and I take position, head tilted back, microphone in the air, and a hand on my hip. When the first note hits the air, Addie screams, leaps from her seat, and then scrambles back.
I hit the first ‘ohh’ perfectly.
Somebody To Love plays in the background, the words displayed against the back wall with the projector, but I don’t need the words, and I shimmy and shake around my makeshift stage.
I sing, trailing my hand across her shoulder as I move around her chair.
She squeals, clapping when I turn my back to her and shake my ass. My dance moves are shit, but I put my whole body and soul into the song. Her laughter is hearty as I continue to sing, moving closer to her until our lips are inches apart.
I hold the microphone between us.
“Is the one I’ve been waiting for out in the crowd ?” I call out.
Addie waves her hand in the air, fully invested in the bit. “She’s right here!”
I drop a kiss to her lips, then finish the song with flair—I throw my arms out and bow deeply.
When I rise, Addie launches from her recliner and into my arms. She giggles loudly as her legs wrap around my hips. Her eyes are the most beautiful shade of hazel—a forest of green and brown I could spend the rest of my life exploring.
“Where did you learn that?!” she screams, an excited, slightly manic smile overtaking her face. “Do you know more? Are you opposed to taking your shirt off while you sing the next one?” She fans herself, then whispers, “I’ve never been so turned on in my life.”
I kiss her temple. “I’ll sing for you every night if that’s what you want. The machine has every song he’s ever written.”
“It has Beauty and the Beat ?” She slides down my chest. “Got another microphone?” I hand her a microphone, and it’s like she turns into a brand new person. She shakes out her hair and pops a pose, like she’s Lizzy McGuire singing in the Colosseum. “Hit it, baby!”
Uh…Alright.
The music begins to play, and it becomes glaringly obvious where Nora got her flair. Addie steals the show, singing both Justin and Nicki’s parts, leaving no room for me to join in. Not that I mind. She’s electric as she sings and dances—joy and excitement pour out of her.
She hits Nicki’s verse, and before I can comprehend what she’s doing, she rips down her pajama shorts to moon me. “ Buns out! ” she screams, shaking her bare ass, right before she points at my dick and yells, “ Wiener. ”
Well, if I weren’t already madly in love with her, that would have done it.
I stare in a lovestruck daze as she wiggles her shorts back up and bounces around, dancing wild and free, singing without a care in the world. When she finishes, she lands in my lap and presses a sloppy kiss to my lips.
“The last few months with you have been the happiest of my life,” she admits, eyes crinkling at the corners from her wide smile.
“Do you want your surprise now?” I ask. Her gaze drops to my dick with a hungry look in her eyes.
“Is it wrapped in a bow?” Her tongue darts out to coat her lips, and I have to swallow a groan when her hips grind against me.
“Adeline.” Her name on my lips borders on begging, but she gives me a cheeky smile and takes my hand.
After a few breaths, I guide her into the sunroom and onto one of the large wicker patio couches. Her gaze is wary as I pick up the gift bag hidden in the corner.
“You didn’t need to get me anything,” she says shyly as I place the bag in her lap.
In our time together, I’ve learned Addie and Nora’s love languages. Addie doesn’t care about the value of an item based on its tag, but on the sentiment behind it. A bracelet could cost a hundred grand, and that would mean nothing to her, but if you told her it made you think of her, then it means the world.
Nora’s a child, and she’s fond of things . As many as she can get.
Gingerly, Addie tugs the purple tissue paper out of the bag and pulls out the sketchbook and pens I bought her. Her doodle still sits in my locker, and her talent in drawing is evident. It deserves to be nurtured.
A timid smile appears on her lips, and she sets it down on the cushion beside her and rips open the envelope. Her gasp is the only sound in the room besides the thudding of my heart in my ears.
Her head lifts, and tears pool on her waterline. “Thank you.”
She clutches the voucher for art classes tightly in her grip.
“It’s valid for three different classes,” I explain, “They offer different art mediums. You could paint, sketch, make pottery, whatever you’re interested in.” Her lower lip trembles. “And you don’t need to worry about Nora. I got her classes too, but for children. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” she parrots, eyes sparkling at the mild word vomit. She pats the seat beside her, and when I sit, she burrows into my side. The quiet between us is a comfortable, vulnerable thing, and if every night of the rest of my life was spent this way—dinners full of laughter, putting Nora to bed, quiet moments shared with Addie—then I would die a happy man.
“My parents made a reservation for Sunday night,” she says. Her head rests on my shoulder as she looks out into the backyard, the last rays of sun morphing into shades of orange and pink as it disappears beneath the horizon.
“I’ll be there.”
I drag a palm along her hip, up and down, with the hopes it will soothe her nerves. The tension in her shoulders melts the longer we sit, and when she’s fully relaxed, I ask, “Do you want to make a game plan?”
“Huh?”
“We decide where the line is, and if they cross it, then we leave.” She nibbles on her lip, and I cup her face between my palms. “No relationship with them is worth sacrificing yourself.”
“I don’t want to cry,” she admits softly. “If that happens, we go.”
I nod. “We go.”
Addie yawns deeply, and her breathing begins to slow as the night sky darkens and the air cools. Her heat wards off the chill, but after fifteen minutes, she’s fast asleep, snoring softly at my side.
Mooning someone really takes it out of you, I guess.
I scoop her off the couch and into my bedroom. She barely rustles when I pull the linen covers over her, but when I return from the bathroom, she’s starfished out on the bed, consuming as much space as possible. Her arm pats the space around her, and when she comes up empty for whatever she’s looking for, her eyes crack open.
The only light in the room filters from the bathroom, where I watch her from the doorway.
“Declan?” she calls out, voice raspy.
The realization strikes me. She was searching for me.
“I’m here,” I say, flicking off the light and crawling into bed beside her. She crawls atop my chest and drops her whole body weight on top of me.
“Much better,” she sighs, falling back into a deep slumber.
Her steady heartbeat sends me into a restful sleep right beside her.
I’m woken up by a small finger poking my cheek.
Addie is curled beside me, her copper hair fanned out over my face and the pillows, and Nora’s head hovers inches away from mine, her sleep breath acting like smelling salts, and waking me right up.
“Is everything okay?” I whisper as I scan her for any injuries. She’s clutching her sea otter stuffed animal tightly to her chest, and her curly hair is matted against her head. Sleepy eyes meet mine.
“I want to sleep with you and Mommy,” she whispers, eyes flickering to Addie while she snores.
Wordlessly, I slide to make room between Addie and me, and Nora crawls over me to burrow into the space. Her knee lands in my gut, and I have to muffle a groan.
She nestles into my side, and I pull the covers over her. “Better?”
“Mhm.” I find a comfortable position when she says, “I love you.”
I place a kiss on the top of her forehead. “I love you, too, Nora. Goodnight.”
It’s not until sleep begins to drag me under—a heavy fog over my mind—that Nora responds with words I convince myself I imagined. “Night, Daddy.”