Chapter 28 This Is Us

Nico

I picked Allie up the next morning, arriving while Gracie was still eating breakfast. Allie was still upstairs getting ready when I got there, taking extra time with her hair and makeup, according to her mom.

"I'm running a little late, honey!" Allie shouted down the stairs, apparently having heard my voice.

"No rush, Sunshine. I'll keep our princess company, maybe try to work on more song lyrics," I called back to her.

I'd been trying to teach Gracie the lyrics to various songs, many of them from Alex's playlist as he'd requested. She had a good sense of rhythm and a sweet little voice, but her grasp of the actual lyrics wasn't quite there yet. Allie had been teaching her "We Will Rock You", and she was OK on the main chorus, and had the clapping and stomping down. She got a little off-track on the verses though and was convinced that Freddie Mercury was "kicking your cat all over the place" Apparently, that made more sense than "kicking your can" in Gracie's mind.

"Would you like some breakfast, Nico? There are pancakes, or I can make you something else if you'd prefer?"

I smiled at Allie's mom. "No thanks, Colleen. I appreciate it, but I grabbed a muffin and a banana before I left the house this morning. I will get a cup of coffee though. Where do you keep your mugs?"

She pointed, and I opened the cabinet she indicated, selecting a mug that had a picture of a man on it, with duct tape covering his mouth. It said, "Silence is golden but duct tape is silver" . I chuckled. Either it had been a gift from Allie, or she got her love of funny mugs from her parents.

After Gracie finished eating, Colleen took her upstairs for a bath before they left for their outing. They were going to go to Build-a-Bear. I was pretty fucking happy to be missing that little adventure. Once was enough for me.

As soon as they left the room, I nodded toward the patio door. "Uh, Steve, could we talk privately for a minute?"

He looked up from his Kindle in surprise, then grabbed his coffee cup and followed me out to the deck. We sat down, and I shifted nervously in my seat. Shit, if the guys could see me now, they'd never let me live this down. I glanced down at my own cup of coffee, wishing like hell it was a glass of whiskey.

"Everything OK, son?" he asked, his expression was one of curiosity mixed with concern.

I nodded, "Yes, everything's fine. I just wanted you to know how I feel about Allie and Gracie. What my intentions are, I mean."

His eyebrows rose in surprise, and a slight grin lit his face.

"I love Allie. I'm in love with her, and I want to marry her. I want to adopt Gracie, if Allie's OK with that, and I want to have a family with her, more babies I mean, and get a dog, maybe, or a cat even." I said in a rush, feeling my face flush. I was such a fucking idiot. That had gone so much smoother in my head when I rehearsed this speech in my shower this morning, and there was nothing in it about goddamned dogs and cats, for fuck's sake.

His smile widened at the end of my verbal spewing, and I got the distinct impression he was trying hard not to laugh at me. Fuck my life.

I took a deep breath, and before he could say anything, I said "Let me try this again. I am totally and completely in love with Allie and consider Gracie to be my daughter already. I would like your blessing to ask Allie to marry me and make her and Gracie mine officially."

Steve laughed outright at that and shook his head at me. "Son, you've got it bad, don't you?" At my rueful nod, he continued, "Colleen and I talked about this already, and we both know how much you love our girls. As long as you give me your word that you will love them and keep them safe in your world, you have our blessing."

I looked him straight in the eye as I responded, "I will love them and protect them until my last breath, you can be sure of that." He offered me his hand, and I shook it gratefully. Shit, now I just had to remember how to breathe.

I noticed movement in the kitchen and looked through the patio door to see Allie filling the tea kettle. I excused myself, and left Steve to drink his coffee and ponder what a fucking idiot his future son-in-law was.

Allie turned to smile at me as I came in, and I walked over to take her in my arms for a quick kiss. I stepped away and looked her over from head to toe. She was dressed in her favorite jeans - they showcased her killer ass, so they were my favorite, too - and a dark green silky looking top that clung to her tits and made my mouth water. Her hair was a tumbled mass of curls that I itched to run my fingers through, and she had on more makeup than usual, especially something on her eyes that made them look even more vibrant green than they normally were.

"You look gorgeous this morning, love."

"Thanks, do you think it's OK for the video? I put on a little more makeup because I didn't want to look washed-out on camera." She looked nervous, and I hated that this was putting her on-edge.

"More than OK, Allie. You take my breath away, but then again, you always do."

She gave me a soft smile and leaned in to kiss me. Before I could pull her close, I heard Steve opening the patio door behind me, so I stepped back.

"Morning, Daddy," Allie said, giving her father a beaming smile.

He walked over and kissed her cheek, "Good morning, kiddo. You look especially nice today. I'd better go up and get myself ready. I was informed by your mother that we're taking Gracie-girl to that damned bear place at the mall," he grumbled good-naturedly.

I snorted a laugh. "Have fun with that," Allie said. He shook his head and went upstairs, muttering to himself about the women in his life.

As soon as he was out of sight, I hauled Allie in my arms and swooped down on her mouth, needing a real kiss from my favorite girl. I wrapped my hand loosely around her throat, feeling her pulse beating wildly under my palm as I deepened the kiss. I loved holding her like that. It had quickly become my one of my favorite things in the world.

We broke apart when the need to breathe became paramount, and I settled my hands on her ass, sliding my fingers into her back pockets as I held her close. "Are you ready for this, Sunshine? I talked to Lana on my way over and gave her an overview of our plan. She's on board with it."

I didn't mention that she and Michael haven't had much luck getting that fucking comparison video taken off the internet. Cease and desist letters were sent to every social media platform, news outlet and blogger posting it, citing copyright infringement for unauthorized use of the song, but as soon as they complied and took it down, it would show up posted somewhere else. It was like a fucking game of Whack-A-Mole. Knock one down and another one pops up. I'd had texts from all the guys, plus Scott, Dean and James, all wanting to know what was being done about it and checking to make sure Allie wasn't too upset by it. I knew she was, and I knew she didn't want to talk about it. She thought we should just ignore it but fuck that. I was planning a little video of my own if it wasn't resolved soon.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Gracie should be down in a second, and we can say goodbye and head over to your place."

"Our place, Sunshine, our place."

Twenty minutes later, we were in my car heading back home, where Allie had once again laid her head in my lap as we got within a few blocks of the house. There were five paps out there this morning, the same faces I'd been seeing for days now. We got into the garage undetected and made our way into the house.

"Where do you want to do the video?" she asked.

"I'm thinking in the sound studio. We already show that room when you do your candid shots and videos that you post during rehearsals, and I don't really feel like exposing any more of our private space to the nosy-ass fuckers."

"OK. Have you given some thought as to what you'd like to say"

"A little. I think we just wing it. We'll record it, and re-record if needed until we get it right.

We walked into the small seating area in the studio, and I sat down on the sofa while Allie turned the lighting on that she typically used for videos and grabbed the laptop she kept down here. She powered up the laptop, and pulled up the webcam video feature, before setting it on the coffee table in front of me. She propped it up on a stand so that it would be at the right height, sat down next to me, and made sure we were centered in the frame of the camera.

She took a deep breath and looked at me for support. I nodded and wrapped my arm around her, and she clicked the "record" button.

"Hi everybody. I'm sure most of our fans recognize the beautiful woman here with me, Allie Donovan." I squeezed her closer to me "As many of you know, in addition to being one of my very best friends, Allie has also been our band manager's kickass assistant for the past four years. She keeps all of us in line and takes most of the behind-the-scenes pictures and videos and shit that you see posted to our various social media platforms. Now for those of you who haven't seen the news over the last few days, I can confirm that Allie is much more than my friend. She's the woman I love, and I'm beyond fucking happy to tell you that she loves me back."

I looked at Allie while I said that last part and gave her a big grin when she blushed and ducked her head for a second before looking back up at me. I gave her another squeeze and dropped a kiss on her temple, before looking at the camera again.

"I've been in love with Allie for a while now, and I'm the luckiest bastard on the planet now that I know she loves me, too. We're planning a life together, one that includes raising her daughter Gracie together. The media scrutiny has been pretty fucking intense for the past few days, and we get it. We understand that you guys are curious, " I paused, taking a second to collect my thoughts.

Allie interjected at that point "And we love the support we've gotten from each and every one of you."

"Yes, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support. You have no idea how much that means to us. I would like to ask a favor though. Please, remember that we are people, just like you, and we do need and value our privacy, especially during such a special time for us. Thanks guys, we appreciate your understanding. Love to you all and be kind to yourselves and each other."

I reached forward to stop the recording and blew out a breath. "Well?" I asked, turning to cock a brow at Allie.

"Play it back, and then maybe we should send it to Lana before we post it?" she suggested.

It sounded fine to me, and Allie was happy I'd kept the cursing to a minimum, by my standards anyway. We added a few still photos, captioned "This is Us". One was a photo of just Allie and me that Matt had taken a couple of months ago. In it, I was sitting on the sofa with Allie, trying to teach her some cords on the guitar. Allie was smiling up at me as I had one arm wrapped around her left side to place her fingers on the frets correctly, and the other covering her right hand to show her how to strum it.

Another picture was one my mom took last fall when we took Gracie to the pumpkin patch. I was crouched down helping my princess pick out the perfect pumpkin, while Allie stood off to the side with my Nonna, both of them watching us with wide smiles on their faces. The last one was of just the three of us at our last movie night with the guys here at the house. Tony had taken it and sent it to me. We had all been snuggled up on the sofa, Gracie sound asleep on my lap, Allie tucked up under my arm, my head resting on top of hers as we watched the last of the movie. That one had been the photo on my phone's home screen for the last month or so.

We sent the video and photos to Lana and Michael to get their opinion, and then decided to wait to actually post it until later in the day once we knew Allie's parents and Gracie were back home. We didn't want to take a chance that anyone would recognize our princess while she was out building a new bear.

"I love the pictures we chose," Allie said as we made our way into the kitchen to get some lunch. We threw together some sandwiches and took them into the media room along with chips and drinks, deciding to watch a movie while we ate. After a little while, I stretched out on the sofa and pulled Allie in front of me so I could cradle her in my arms. I quickly got distracted by nibbling on the curve of her neck, then sliding my hands up over the soft skin of her belly, to cup her tits. I really wanted her bra out of the way, but that wasn't an option the way we were laying, so I settled for cupping and squeezing those luscious mounds over the top of the material. I laid one leg over the top of hers, giving myself some traction to gently grind my cock against her ass. I moaned softly in her ear as I moved.

"You feel so fucking perfect in my arms, sweetheart."

She smiled and ground her ass against me while arching her back. "I need your hands on me, Nico," she said in a low sexy voice.

"They will be, Allie. My hands are going to be all over you in just a minute." I sat up behind her and vaulted myself over her body to stand in front of the sofa, stripping off my T-shirt and whipping off my belt in the process. As I flicked open the button on my jeans and lowered the zipper, Allie was sitting up and throwing her shirt off, reaching behind her to unclip her bra. As soon as the straps were loose, I dragged them down her arms and threw the bra behind me somewhere, dropping to my knees in front of her to take her nipple in my mouth. I reached up and cupped her other tit, squeezing that nipple between my thumb and forefinger, rubbing, and twisting gently. She gasped, and threw her head back, wrapping her arms around my shoulders to hold me in place.

"Oh God, I love your rough hands. The callouses and ridges feel so damned good against my skin." Years of playing guitar had taken its toll on my hands. They carried permanent callouses, no matter how much care I gave them. I'd never given much thought to how they felt against sensitive skin, but I was fucking thrilled that Allie liked it so much.

I tugged gently on her nipple, earning another earthy moan from my girl before switching to the other. She was writhing against me, arching her back to push her tits closer to me, and I gladly accepted her invitation. I sucked harder, tugged harder, nipped and flicked harder, until she was begging me to let her come.

"What do you need, love?" I asked hoarsely. I stood up to strip off my jeans and boxers, as Allie shimmied out of her jeans and panties. I sat on the sofa and pulled her over me to straddle my lap. I grabbed both tits, and cupped them, loving the way they spilled over my hands. I wrapped my lips around the left nipple and sucked hard, leaving a purple mark on her skin that I knew I would fucking love seeing for the next few days. I let go of her tits for a second to grab her ass with both hands, pulling her tightly against me. I lifted my hips up and rotated them, grinding my cock against her wet core.

"Oh, fuck, you feel so good, Sunshine. Keep grinding that sweet pussy against me, yeah, just like that. Oh, yeah, so good." I groaned, letting her keep up that rhythm while I resumed playing with her perfect tits.

Allie increased her speed, swiveling her hips and grinding against me in a rise and fall motion that was gonna drive me out of my goddamned mind.

I could feel my balls drawing up tight, and the tingling building at the base of my spine and grabbed Allie's hips to still her movements before I blew my load.

"I need to be inside, Allie."

"Yessss," she breathed out in a low moan. I lifted her slightly, centering her over my straining erection, then pulled her down sharply on me as I thrust my hips up. I grunted as my cock slammed home, drawing a sharp inhale and a gasp from Allie.

"OK?" I asked, praying like fuck I hadn't hurt her.

"Feels soooo gooood," she moaned. I prayed for control as I forced myself to hold still while she writhed and undulated her body over mine. Her big tits were swaying with her movements, and my eyes were locked on them. Allie pressed her hands against my shoulders to give herself some leverage as she continued driving me crazy, raising and lowering her hips, working herself on my cock like it was her own personal stripper pole. With each upward stroke, her muscles clenched, squeezing and milking my cock until I couldn't take it anymore. I clamped my hands around her hips tightly enough that I would probably leave fingerprint bruises, holding her in place while I powered up into her, over and over, grunting with every forceful thrust.

Allie loved it, if her moans were any indication, and God, I loved the sounds of us together. With a stuttering gasp, her body tensed, pussy clamping down on me as she flew over the edge, taking me with her. With one final slam into her, I came deep inside her, my body jerking with each wave of pleasure that washed over me. Allie was slumped against me, her body limp and shaking as she came down from the intense high of her release. I was panting, struggling to remember how to breathe, my mind unable to process even that most basic function.

After a few moments, I felt Allie shifting as if to get up, and I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. "Don't get up yet, Sunshine," I whispered. "Let me hold you for one more minute."

She chuckled weakly and rested her weight on me again. "I'm not sure I have the strength to move anyway."

"That's fine. I'd be happy to hold you forever."