For His Honor (13 page)

“You’ve clearly grown accustomed to living your life under a microscope,” her mother said. “I don’t begrudge you that. But our family is different. We’re just regular, normal people.”

“Red is a normal person too, Mom.”

Her mother put up a hand. “I’m not trying to start a fight, Nicole. I was just shocked to hear you quit your job. Did something happen? Were you being treated unfairly?”

Nicole sighed. “No, it’s not that. But you know Red…he’s no longer with the company.”

Her mother eyed her. “You mean he was fired.”

She saw Red smirk a little.

“He was let go because of some really difficult circumstances in the global economy.”

“Well, I suppose it’s all too sophisticated for a bumpkin like me, but I recall reading that he was fired by his board of directors. Do I have that right?” her mother said, looking at Red.

“Yeah, that’s very much true,” Red agreed, sounding totally at ease with her questions.

Nicole’s mother looked at her. “And now you quit, to what purpose?”

“Red’s starting a new company and I want to work there with him.”

“You’ll be working together?”

“Yes.”

Her mother shook her head. “Nicole, really. I’m sorry, but how much of this am I supposed to just sit back and shut my mouth about? I want to be supportive—“

“Then be supportive. It’s easy.”

“Well I can’t support something I know is wrong. These tabloids are going to absolutely destroy you, honey. Can’t you see what’s happening? And now you’re going to become his secretary at a new company, living off his wealth, completely beholden to him in every way—“

“Mom, this is not a conversation I’m going to have right now.”

“Barb,” her father began.

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to simply shut up when it comes to my only daughter’s emotional well-being. Red, you must see what kind of position you’ve put our family in—“

Red tried to speak, but Nicole stood up.

“It’s not just your family anymore, Mom. Red and I have our own family to think about now.”

“Two immature people trying to get married and fight the world do not make a family make.”

“Three people. There’s going to be three of us,” Nicole said, holding up three fingers. “I’m pregnant, so you better figure out a way to get with the program, because Red is going to be around for a long, long time.”

In the stunned silence that followed Nicole’s outburst, there came the sound of keys rattling in the lock. And then into the apartment came Danielle and Kane Wright, laughing and talking. They turned and saw everyone sitting at the table.

“Sorry to intrude,” Kane said. He was dressed in his typical dapper suit, his hair perfectly coiffed.

“We thought you’d be done by now for sure,” Danielle said. “I mean, you told me you guys were eating between six-thirty and seven.”

Nicole just laughed. This night could not possibly get any worse, she decided.

“It’s fine,” she said. “Please, come in, make yourselves at home.”

Red glared across the table at the man who’d stolen his company. He didn’t say a word.

Kane smiled affably back at him. “Anyway, it’s great to see you both again.”

***

“Thank god that’s over with,” Nicole said, as she stood at the window and watched her mother and father drive off. They’d insisted on staying at a Motel 6 all the way back on the highway, even though Red had offered to get them a room at a really nice Holiday Inn just a couple of miles down the road.

“It could have been worse,” Red told her, putting his hands on her hips and kissing the back of her neck as she continued staring outside.

“Not really.”

“That’s true, it couldn’t really have been any worse. But it seemed like the right thing to say just now.”

She turned and put her arms around his shoulders. “I’m sorry I freaked out and told them about the pregnancy.”

“The good thing was, your mother really didn’t have much to say after that. I think you actually stumped her.”

“True.”

They kissed for a long time. Red’s lips pressed greedily against hers, and he cupped a hand over her breast.

“Thank god Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum took off,” Red said, after they broke off.

“Don’t call Danielle that,” she said, secretly kind of glad he’d said it.

“Don’t worry, she’s Tweedle Dee. He’s Tweedle Dum.”

Nicole laughed. “That’s messed up.”

“Tweedle Dum is the insulting name. Tweedle Dee is harmless.”

Kane and Danielle had departed soon after stopping in. They’d gone out to “hit the local bars” together, offering to meet up with Red and Danielle later on if they’d wanted.

Nicole had politely declined, saying how tired they both were and that they still had a long drive back to Connecticut ahead of them.

“Do you think Kane Wright is really okay hanging out in Brooklyn at the local dive bars?” she said. “I thought he was more into the trendy Manhattan Michelin restaurants. Nobu and places like that.”

“I have no idea what Kane Wright actually enjoys. The guy doesn’t have a genuine bone in his body. He’s probably doing whatever he can to make Danielle think he’s a regular, down-to-earth guy.”

“Sort of like you’re doing with me.”

“No, I am a regular, down-to-earth guy but sometimes I pretend to be a rich businessman.”

“Sure.”

“Can we get out of here now?” he asked, taking her by the hand.

They cleaned up the mess from dinner and left the apartment, heading to Red’s car.

Nicole felt happy again, even though the night had been a complete and utter train wreck. She’d unburdened herself by telling her parents the happy truth. What was there to hide, anyway? Nicole wasn’t about to be ashamed of the fact that she’d gotten pregnant out of wedlock.

The important thing was that she and Red were in love and going to be married.

They were starting their own family and Nicole didn’t intend to let anyone make her feel ashamed about it.

Red drove through the streets of Brooklyn, heading for the highway to take them to Connecticut. He was driving much slower, Nicole realized.

“Someone took the lead out of your foot,” she said, smiling as he slowed to a full stop at a stop sign. The old Red would have done a rolling stop and then darted out the moment he saw the coast was clear.

“It’s funny how light my foot feels now,” he said, leaning forward and looking both ways before continuing on. “Maybe when the kid graduates high school I can have the led weight reinserted.”

“I’m glad we were together tonight,” she said, after a time. “Now we’ve both met each other’s crazy parents and dealt with the insanity up close and personal. Did it make you have any doubts about going through with this whole wedding fatherhood package deal?”

Red glanced at her. “No. It did make me have doubts about whether I want your mother giving a toast at our wedding, though.”

Nicole giggled. “I’m going to sneak a couple Valium in her drink and knock her out so she can’t say a peep during the reception.”

When they got on the highway, Danielle looked at Red. The way he’d been with her all night being so patient, so loving—she felt like he’d become a new person. She loved him for trying to be who she needed right now, but part of her worried that he’d also resent her for forcing him to change too much, too fast.

“I hope you really want all of this,” she said.

“What would make you think otherwise?”

“Red, when we first met you were taking random women back to your secret apartment and doing god knows what to them. Now you’re spending your evenings eating roast chicken with my parents from upstate New York.”

He chuckled. “But I’m with you. That’s the difference.”

“I just want to make sure you don’t feel trapped, bored, stifled by this new life.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I want you to take me to your naughty apartment,” she told him. “I want you to do whatever you want to me.”

“You’re my wife now,” he said. But she could hear some eagerness in his voice just the same.

“So what? I still want all of you—I don’t want this to change what we had with one another. I like it when you take me to your apartment and have your way with me.”

He glanced at her again, and she saw the change in his expression. “We don’t need to go to the apartment. It’s not about that.”

“What is it about?” she asked. Already, she could feel herself getting wet.

The car slowed and pulled off to the side of the road. It was dark and late enough that only a few cars passed by them now and again.

He looked at her. “Get out of the car.”

“What?”

“You heard me, Nicole,” he growled.

Nicole opened her door and got out into the cool, dark night air. She was wearing a knee length dress with a light sweater over it. She crossed her arms and shivered as a car flew past them, its headlights briefly blinding her before leaving her in shadow once again.

The car door opened and closed, and then Red was coming around the car towards her. “I’ve wanted you so fucking bad all night,” he said, and then he was kissing her forcefully, pushing her against the passenger door. His hands groped her chest and pulled her bare breasts out of the top of her loose dress.

Suddenly he was sucking her nipples as she lay back against the automobile.

Another set of headlights glared against the car—could they see what was going on? She wondered—and then shot by, leaving them in private darkness.

His lips and tongue were hungrily sucking at her breasts, eagerly stimulating her erect nipples.

She moaned, closing her eyes as he lowered himself to his knees and hiked her dress up so that he could gain access to her warm, wet mound.

Before she knew it, he was buried in her hot entrance, his tongue pushing inside and licking her folds.

Nicole cried out as he stimulated her clitoris.

His hands slid up and down her bare thighs, then grabbed her hips and pulled her into him so that he could lick her deeper still.

She couldn’t take much more if it.

Another car raced by, the sound of its engine eclipsing her rocking, screaming orgasm.

And then Red was standing up and kissing her and she could taste herself in his mouth and she loved it. She loved his sexuality, his insistence, his intense desire for connection and heightened sensuality.

“I want your mouth on me,” he whispered in her ear, pulling her hair and then licking down her neck.

Now it was Nicole’s turn to drop to her knees on the hard concrete of the breakdown lane. Red unzipped his pants and then she stuck her hand into the hole in his silk boxers and tugged his erect penis out, holding the thick shaft in her hand. She stroked him once, twice, three times, felt him shudder in her grasp.

She could smell oil and gasoline and dirt from the road as she leaned in and placed her lips delicately on the head of him.

Red moaned. “I’ve been thinking about your lips on my cock all night,” he rasped.

She took the opportunity to suck him fully into her mouth now, pressing down and down until her lips were at the very root of his shaft. Then she slid back up and sucked his head again. It was slick with pre-cum.

Nicole began quickly sliding her hand up and down on his shaft while she sucked the tip of his dick.

His whole body was shaking now. “I’m about to cum.”

She sucked faster, but he pulled back. Nicole looked up at him, wondering if something was wrong.

“Stand up,” he commanded.

She got to her feet, and he spun her around, his hands on her hips, taking control now. He pulled her dress up again, and a moment later he’d slid himself all the way into her pussy from behind, quickly stroking into her.

His hands on her breasts, fingering her nipples while she pressed her hands against the window of the car—Red fucked her hard and fast on the side of the road.

She had another rip-roaring climax and then so did he, thrusting into her, pulling her tightly against him, his lips brushing her ear. “I love you,” he whispered.

***

The next morning, Red was getting a tennis lesson from some top-ranked pro that Nicole had never heard of, while she ate a wonderful Nutella filled crepe that Chef Roland had made for her.

Everything had just been magic between them last night and this morning, and Nicole was humming a song to herself as she literally ate the crumbs from her meal.

Outside it was another beautiful, sunny day. Nicole was thinking about all of the days in front of them, all the adventures they would share while starting their family and going through everything that journey entailed.

The thought of having a child was terrifying and exhilarating all at once, and it made every detail of the morning feel crisp and somehow more real than anything had ever felt before.

Nicole’s senses were alive and thrumming, her body was full of energy. She thought about Red and smiled like a girl having her very first crush.

It was almost as if their bond was so strong now that nobody could compete with it—their love was everything and it eclipsed the rest of the world.

After eating her crepe, Nicole went onto the veranda and sat with her laptop, looking at possible wedding venues. Last night, while lying together in bed, kissing and laughing and talking, they’d both agreed that the wedding date should be soon—probably within the next two months.

Nicole didn’t want to be showing very much at her wedding. Already, she could imagine the various headlines that would appear in the tabloids when the story broke that she was pregnant.

But she was learning to let go of her need to control the story, to let go of caring what a bunch of random people she didn’t even know thought about her life and her relationship with Red. In fact, Nicole wasn’t sure she even cared what her own mother thought, let alone the readers of a tabloid newspaper.

She was pregnant and she was engaged, and very soon, she would also be married. And being married sooner rather than later was about taking that final step with one another. Nicole couldn’t wait to declare her love for Red and to watch his eyes as he said the words back to her.