44. 44

44

Ember

E than was pushing it, but I stood by my man, because that’s what women in love do, right? He was supremely confident, or at least that was what he was projecting, but I could feel the tension in his arm around me.

I knew his trap wouldn’t work, because I saw through his bravado, and I saw Blaze as he clocked it. Blaze knew this was real between us, so he was supporting us the only way he could right now. If we needed to run though, I knew he’d help us with that too.

“Okay, so Em and me, we’re getting married, and we’re having a baby,” Ethan said first, and both of my dads froze, their jaws dropping.

“You’re pregnant? You already got her pregnant?”

Ethan tightened his arm around me.

“We haven’t tested yet, but I’ve been working on it. I’m sure you guys know all the tactics for this, since you’re clearly fucking obsessed with procreation. Nobody has five kids just for the hell of it.”

“Maybe we’re just really careless when we fuck,” dad Gray said, making me want to gag. Nobody wants to hear about their parents and sex in the same sentence.

“So Em’s mine, and we’re staying together, is what I’m saying. We’re going to have a family, and we’re going to be staying here until we figure out how we’re going to get money coming in again. I have some ideas, but they’ll take time. Until then, I’m sure you’ll make sure we have food and stuff, so your little girl doesn’t starve.”

Dad Dory rested his hands on his hips, glaring at Ethan like he’d just said something worse than the 'marriage, babies, keeping me' thing. How was that worse?

“You’re not even able to support our little girl right now?”

“Well, on account of her and you fuckers getting me blacklisted as a teacher, and losing everything, no, I can’t fucking support her right now, but I will. You’ll agree to these terms, or I’ll take her and disappear, and none of you will see her again. You won’t even know if she’s alive or dead, and you’ll have to explain to Wilma why she won’t be seeing her only little girl again.” Bastard, but he’d just hit the right note with my dads. Mum would be devastated, and they wouldn’t want to be the cause of that, and they knew it. Fists clenched, eyes narrowed, and no bluster came out of their mouths, because he’d won. He’d beaten my dads at their own game.

“Funnily enough, Em said I’d need to set something on fire to keep you distracted enough to win this, but I don’t need to do that, do I, Gray? We understand each other. I’m like you, only now you have to accept a guy like you being with your own daughter. Does that eat you up inside? Does it make you wonder what I’ll do to her, because you know you’re a twisted asshole who’d mistreat his woman?”

“Listen here, fuckhead-”

“We accept your terms, but we have a few demands of our own,” dad Dory spoke over dad Gray, and the glare he got from my other dad suggested he’d answer for it later.

“I’m listening,” Ethan said quietly.

“You make sure we always have an open line of communication with our daughter, and you make sure her mother gets to see her often. You keep her safe, and you make sure we know if there’s anything she needs at any time. If you get her pregnant, we get to be present in the baby’s life too.”

Ethan rested a hand on the counter, dangerously close to those wires, which we both knew were no real threat to either of us. Or any of us. Blaze noted it too and rolled his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. He was just here to back up our dads, or at least as far as they were concerned, that was why.

I had a feeling he was here for me more than them right now. If anyone could help me keep them contained, it was him. Blaze was their firstborn, and a chip off all the old blocks, and they were more likely to listen to him than me.

“Say I agree to your additional terms, what does that mean for me and the two of you?”

Dad Dory hesitated, and glanced at dad Gray, who snorted.

“Well, you’re really not our type, Ethan, but thanks for the offer. Besides, if you cheat on our baby girl, we’ll have to do really terrible things to you.”

I nearly giggled, but the fact that he was joking was a good sign.

“I think he means what will things be like between the three of you. Like can we just drop all the threats and stuff now, and be a family? It’s not like you’ll be able to keep us apart, so can we just settle the fuck down and act like adults?”

My dads exchanged one of their infamous looks, and dad Dory sighed.

“Depends on if there’s any coffee on the go. Do you know how fucking little sleep we had last night?”

Blaze covered his ears.

“Really don’t want to hear it, dad.”

Ethan

SOMEHOW I SURVIVED YET again, and suddenly we’re pouring coffee, and passing mugs to them, like we’re all just hanging out. Blaze reached over and pulled the wires out of the way, and his dads rolled their eyes at each other.

“Knew it was a bluff,” Gray said, grabbing a seat on the sofa, and dragging Dory down beside him. Blaze took one of the armchairs, and I dragged Ember into the other with me, up on my lap where she belonged.

“So we’re cool then?” Both dads looked at me rather sternly.

“Look, do we like you? Sometimes. Do we trust you? Nope. Does our daughter love you? For some fucked up reason, yeah, so for now we’re cool. You hurt her though, and all bets are off,” Gray said, managing to look even more threatening when he smiled than when he scowled at me before. It sent a little ripple of ice down my spine.

I had no doubts that they’d fuck me up, given half a chance, but I wouldn’t let it come to that. Ember was mine, and we were going to make many little fucked up babies to add to the Cross family. She’d be an Erickson though, with me, and so would our children.

“So when’s the wedding?” Blaze asked, grinning lopsidedly at us. “Dad knows how to get this shit fast-tracked. He managed to set it up for me and Anneka within two days.” He was pointing at Dory, who groaned and nodded.

“Yeah, I know a guy at the council. I can get it arranged.”

“Uh… he hasn’t asked me yet, and I want a damn ring,” Ember blurted, turning to glare at me, like I was the bad guy. They were pretty much arranging our wedding without either of our involvement, so why the hell was it my fault?

“Babe, your family are on board, you’re at least halfway pregnant, and we both want each other, so I say we just let it happen.”

“I don’t think you can get halfway pregnant, man. Pretty sure it’s fully up the duff, or nothing,” Gray said, tilting his head at Dory, who just sighed.

“Don’t start him off on this crap. I swear, he has the weirdest thoughts about this stuff. I thought I was the breeding obsessed one, but he’s way worse.”

“Ew, dad.” Dory ignored his daughter, who looked adorably scandalised as she pressed her face against my chest, and shook her head slowly. “Make him stop.”

“I remember the day we were checking if Wilma was pregnant for the first time, and we made her do three tests, and he was like ‘let’s find out how many babies we’re having’. Typical Gray, that is.”

Ember was making gagging sounds now, so I pressed my hands over her ears, as I asked my next question.

“How long did it take to get her pregnant the first time? I want a baby like yesterday, and we’ve been fucking a lot.”

“Uh you’re covering the wrong fucking ears there, Former Teach,” Gray said, looking mildly disgusted. “Don’t go thinking we’re over you fucking our daughter where we could see you, either.”

“Ugh, he did what?” Blaze asked, practically facepalming. “You have to do this shit discreetly, man.”

“Can we please focus, so I don’t have to bleach my fucking brain too?” Dory asked, focusing back on me again.

“I think it was about a month or six weeks when we tested and she was pregnant, so you should definitely start testing any time now. We’ll get some tests delivered.” He ran a hand over his beard.

“Look, I know we’re sitting here like friends now, or family, but I swear, this is a tentative arrangement, and one false move from you is the deal breaker. Prove to us that we can trust you to keep our baby girl safe, and that can change, but you started out like an asshole here, and that’s the only reason we’re trusting you. You did what we would have, and as much as it pains me to have that happen to our little girl, we know real love can grow from situations like this. If she ever changes her mind though, we will do whatever it takes to get her away from you.”