Page 33 of Only for Tonight (Only For #1)

twenty-six

Jaxon

I feel her tremble beside me and I hold up my hand.

“Okay, enough,” I snap, not caring anymore about how my tone sounds.

“I know this isn’t how you thought this conversation would go.

” I look at Ralph, then look over at my father, who is ready to jump in if need be.

“But we are going to do this calmly.” I look at Ralph. “It's a surprise to you, I’m sure.”

“You can say that again,” he scoffs at me.

“But this is where we are and we’re dealing with it together.

” I slide my hand in hers to stop her from shaking.

When I look down at her, I see her head is down, looking at her shoes and I turn to her.

I put my finger under her chin to lift it so I can see her eyes, a lone tear escapes from the corner of her eye and is slowly rolling down the side of her beautiful face.

“It’s going to be okay,” I whisper to her, not caring that our parents are watching us.

My only concern right now is making sure she is okay.

They can unleash whatever they want on me, but they will not be doing it to her. I will not let that happen.

“Promise?” she asks me and I move my hands to hold her face, her eyes searching mine.

“Absolutely,” I assure her and she smiles and I don’t give a shit what they say, this is right, “not.” Before I kiss her softly, whispering in her ear, I declare, “We’ve got this.”

“Okay.” She looks up at me and I kiss her nose before turning back to our parents.

My father is smiling at me with so much pride, it’s what I needed and I didn’t know I needed. My mother and Candace both wipe tears from their eyes and then I look at Ralph, who is staring daggers at me. “I’m sorry this isn’t how you thought it would go.”

“That is the understatement of the year.” He shakes his head.

“In all honesty, it was unexpected. But sometimes the best things happen when you’re least expecting it.” I put my hand on her hip and squeeze it.

“When?” Ralph asks, holding on to the chair in front of him with both hands. “When did this happen?”

I share a look with Ariella, who I’m sure doesn’t want to come right out and tell them exactly when this happened.

“I’m thirteen weeks pregnant,” Ariella shares and shock fills his face.

I think she is going to let it go at that and let them do the math, but she’s nervous, and when she’s nervous it’s like everything comes out. “It was at the party.”

“At what party?” Ralph asks and then his eyes go big. “At that party? The Dallas party?”

“At that party,” Ariella mumbles.

“You guys have been dating for three months and never told us,” Candace says softly. “Why wouldn’t you just tell us?”

“Well,” Ariella starts, “it wasn’t like that, exactly.” Ariella tells them of the weeks following the party from her first time in LA when she showed up on my doorstep to our trip to Palm Springs last week.

“A baby,” my mom says, clapping her hands excitedly, then looks over at Candace. “We get to plan a baby shower.” Ariella and I share a look now, knowing that the hard part of the conversation is past us.

“Our story is unconventional, but it’s ours.

” I look at her and then back at Ralph. “You know me. You know the man I am, the boy you watched grow into a man. You even helped take care of me in some ways, so you know I’m going to take care of her.

” I bring her to me and she wraps her arms around my waist. “I’m going to put her and the baby before me, because that’s the kind of man my father”—I look to Evelyn—“my parents raised me to be.”

“You fucking better,” Ralph cuts in. “You fucking better.”

I nod at him, wondering if that is somewhat his approval of the situation or not.

“We don’t know what the future holds,” Ariella says.

“We’re navigating it the best way we know how.

But we’ve got a foundation that is strong because of you guys, so we’re already starting off winning.

” She looks up at me. “Don’t you think?”

“So that’s why you’re moving to LA?” Ralph asks her and she nods.

“That is half the reason why I’m moving to LA,” she admits. “I mean, he can’t just up and leave, and I refuse to keep this child away from him. Plus, I’ve come to really love it out there.” She looks up at me. “So we are having a baby and moving in with each other.”

“Wait a second.” Evelyn holds up her hand and then turns to my father. “Why aren’t you more shocked?” He stares at her, his eyebrows pinching together. “You are oddly calm.” She stands up and puts her hands on her hips. “Why is that?”

“Well,” my father replies, “there is no one better than Ariella, so it’s a win for us.” He shrugs and puts his hand on his chest. “There is nothing to say.”

She glares at him and folds her arms over her chest. “Manning,” she says his name.

“I have something,” I offer, pulling my phone out of my pocket.

“It was taken a couple of weeks ago.” I’m trying to get the showdown between my parents over.

The last thing I want to do is for Ari’s parents to find out my father kept the secret from them, and for them to turn on him.

“It’s the baby.” I press play on the video and the sound of the heartbeat fills the room.

Our mothers come over to look at it as Ariella goes to her father.

“Sorry, Dad,” she says, and I hand my phone to my mother in case I have to take her out of here.

“I—” He shakes his head. “I just want to protect you.” He holds her face in his hand. “It’s my job to protect you.”

“It’s time for me to make my own mistakes.” She shrugs and I hear her voice quiver, my heart sinks at that word, knowing that it’s not a fucking mistake. Unintended sure, but mistake, this is not a fucking mistake.

“A baby is not a mistake, it’s a blessing,” he states and takes her in his arms and I relax.

“Manning,” my mother says, “do you not want to see this video?”

“Yeah. Of course.” He nods his head, stepping forward. “I can’t wait. What is it?”

“Oh, shut up,” my mother hisses. “You knew our son was having a baby and you didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t know exactly that,” he rebuts.

“What did you know exactly?” She looks at him.

“I knew they were dating,” he lies out of his mouth and she gives him a “sure” look.

“Listen.” He holds up his hands. “Ariella was dehydrated,” he starts the story and everyone looks at her.

“She was in and out of it, and he was freaking the fuck out.” He looks over at me. “So he called me to calm him down.”

“I wasn’t freaking the fuck out,” I counter and he looks at me. “Okay, fine, I was freaking the fuck out. She threw up for twenty-four hours.” I shake my head.

“Why didn’t you call us?” Candace looks at Ariella, then back at me, her voice is filled with hurt. “You should have called us.”

“I’m sorry,” I say to Candace, who now has Ralph beside her.

“We were only going to tell you guys after she got past the twelve-week mark because of her maybe miscarrying. When I was in the hospital, I didn’t know who else to call.

The last thing I wanted was to let you guys down,” I say honestly.

“Not only was she pregnant with my child, but I wasn’t even taking care of her properly. ”

“Hey,” Ariella says to me, “it’s no one’s fault that I ended up in the hospital. It was just the way it goes.”

“But she’s fine now?” Candace asks and Ariella goes over to her.

“I’m fine.” She smiles at her. “It’s all good. The baby is fine and my jeans don’t fit anymore.” She glares over her shoulder at me. “But it will be fine.” She hugs her mother. “No more secrets and no more hiding. If anything happens, Jaxon is going to call you or I’m going to call you.”

“You have my word,” I tell them both. “Listen, I would love to stay and have lunch with you guys”—I walk to Ariella—“but I haven’t seen her in four days.

She’s going back to New York tomorrow, and I’m headed back home tonight.

I won’t see her for, I don’t know how long.

” I look at Ralph. “So, I’m going to go and spend time with her and my child. ” I hold out my hand to her.

“Our child,” she corrects me before kissing Ralph’s cheek and then coming over to me.

“Dad,” I call his name, “keys.” I hold up my hand and he tosses me his keys. “Ralph, Candace, I look forward to you guys coming to visit us in LA soon.”

“You can count on it,” Ralph says to me, and I don’t know if he’s warning me or not. “You better take care of her.”

“You know I will,” I assure him with my head high and my shoulders back.

“And not that anyone cares,” she adds, “but I’ll take care of him also.” She slips her hand into mine and we walk out the door. “We’re not going to your parents’ house to have sex,” she quickly states. “They all think we are going to have sex.”

“I don’t care. Literally could not give a fuck what they think we are going to do.” I push her against the car. “I have a room ready at the hotel five minutes away from here because I knew you wouldn’t come back to my house.”

“Wow, you really think I’m that easy.” I reach down and grab her ass in my hand, pulling her to my cock. “My father has cameras all over this house, Jaxon.” She pushes me away from her. “Now, it’s been a while and I’m getting needy.”

“Then get in the car,” I hiss between my teeth and rush around the front of the car. “I have four hours and I plan to spend most of it inside you.” I wink at her.

* * *

Four hours later, we’re pulling up to the private plane lot with her beside me, holding my hand.

We spent the whole afternoon in each other’s arms. I hate that I’m going back home without her.

Hate it. When I pull up beside the plane, I kiss her hand as I turn off the car and get out, watching her do the same.

“Are you sure we can’t just hire someone to pack up your stuff for you?

” I ask her as she stops in front of the car and I take her in my arms. “Then you can come back with me.”

“Jaxon, I need to go back to New York and organize things.” She puts her hands on my chest. “You’ll survive.”

“How long do you think it’s going to take?” I ask her, secretly hoping she says one day.

“I don’t know, a couple days…a week, max.”

“A week?” I hiss out. “Absolutely fucking not.” I shake my head. “You have three days or else I’m coming back to get you.”

“You don’t have time to come all the way back to New York to get me.”

“I’ll send my father with your father,” I warn her and she laughs. “It’s not going to be the same without you,” I admit to her. “Who’s going to hold your breast to make sure it doesn’t run away?” I joke with her as she laughs.

“I will keep an eye on them if they try to escape,” she assures me and gets on her tippy-toes. “Now, you have to go.”

I bend my head and kiss her for as long as I can before I let her go.

“Hurry home to me,” I tell her as I walk toward the plane.

“Get out of here.” I motion with my chin as she walks to the driver’s side of the car.

“Text me when you get to your dad’s house.

” I don’t say home because her home is now with me.

“I will,” she says, getting into the car and I watch her drive away before stepping into the plane. I sit down, looking out of the window as we take off.

Walking into the house is daunting and I feel like my left limb is missing. I see little things of hers all over the house and I smile when I think about her being here.

The next day the alarm wakes me up and I turn it off, seeing that she texted me two hours ago.

Aphrodite: Made it to New York. Text me when you get up. Good news, none of my breasts ran away.

I laugh as I text her back.

Me: Morning, baby, when are you coming home?

I toss the blankets off of me, getting up and going to the bathroom and then getting dressed to head out to practice. I see she hasn’t texted me back when I walk into the locker room. “Hey,” I say to Kirby who is beside me, sitting down drinking a pre-workout drink.

“Everything okay?” he asks me and I look around the locker room, seeing it’s just the two of us.

“Yeah, went to Dallas and had to tell my parents my girl is having my baby,” I admit to him and smile as his eyes go wide.

“Shut the fuck up, seriously?” he quizzes, his face beaming.

“She’s three months,” I say, hoping he hears the pride in my voice. “She’s packing up her stuff and moving to LA.”

“You look happy,” he notes and I get up.

“More than you know,” I tell him and he holds up his hand so I slap it and then snap it back. “More than you fucking know.”

“I’m going to hit up the bikes,” he tells me, walking away from me and heading to the gym.

For two hours we work out side by side before I head back to the locker room. Finding it empty since it’s a skating optional day, I grab my wallet and my keys and head out to my SUV when my phone rings.

I pick it up and see it’s an unknown caller. “Hello,” I answer, thinking it might be Candace calling me. I open the door and get inside.

“Is it true?” Tiffany wails into the phone, and I want to kick myself for even answering. I blocked her a couple of weeks ago and now she’s calling me from someone else’s phone.

“Is what true?” I look around, ready to strangle Kirby for telling Angela.

“Is she having your baby?” she asks me and I huff out. “This is bullshit, that was supposed to be me,” she whines and the blood drains from my body at her words.

“What the fuck are you saying?” I ask her, my hand holding the phone so tight I think it’ll shatter in my hand.

“What the fuck do you think I’m saying?” she snarls, her voice dripping with venom.

“You were dragging your feet committing to me, so I took matters into my own hands.” I feel like I’m cut off at the knees.

“The box of condoms you had in your side table.” My head spins the longer she talks, and then her words all start to make sense. “That was supposed to be my baby.”

The phone falls from my hand and the only thing I can think is how the fuck is this happening to me? I sit down, the bile creeping up my throat, the guilt hitting me. With one decision I changed not only my life but Ariella’s, and she had no control over it. “It’s because of me she’s pregnant.”