Under My Skin (Skin Deep) (21 page)

Chapter 24

Two Months Later

“NO! Aw, come on man…Grady…No, no, NO!”

I ran toward the kitchen and stopped in the doorway, unable to help the laughter that bubbled up and burst free when I saw my big, strong, hotter than sin fiancé standing by the French doors leading outside to the back deck, scowling at the squirming bundle of damp black fur he was holding in his outstretched arms.

Grady came to live with us about two weeks ago, and he was growing like a weed already. Now, the funny thing about how we got him…well, let’s just say that Doug got really friendly with the black lab he had been chasing. The black lab, whose name turned out to be Diva- apparently she was one- and her owner, who figured out the baby daddy by following the dog one day when she got out again, showed up on Emma’s front porch with a basket full of wriggling little yellow and black bodies, saying she didn’t want to give all the puppies away without at least offering pick of the litter to Emma and Luke.

By some lucky strike of fate, I just happened to be at Emma’s house hanging out with her. When Doug, faced with eight, yes EIGHT, little versions of himself and his little doggie lover, sat down on his haunches and howled, two of the pups had immediately sat up and began howling/yipping right along with him. One of them was a little yellow pup who looked like his father. His name is D.J., which stands for Doug, Jr. He’s very happy living in his new home and takes great pride in driving his father nuts. The other one was my little black pup. I couldn’t resist him- he was just like his father…and who doesn’t love Doug?

Jackson
turned and I saw the reason for the scowl. A rather large wet spot spread out across his stomach, the saturated material of his shirt sticking to his skin. Jackson glared at me for laughing and, as he stomped by me, deposited the pup in my arms as he went to change. I followed, grabbing the towel hanging on the back of a kitchen chair to dry him with, cradling the solid weight of the dog and cooing to him as he sweetly licked my chin and I dried him off.

“Awww…poor baby must have had to go so bad…didn’t you take him out?” I asked, knowing I was egging him on but I just couldn’t help it.

“Woman!” Jackson warned. “Yes I took him out! You think I don’t know how to handle a damned dog? We were coming in and he pissed all down the front of me when I picked him up!” He scowled at the puppy again, muttering, “Little bastard.”

“Hey!” I shouted, shielding the puppy’s ears with my hand as I cradled him to my chest. “He has a mom and a dad! Don’t call him names!” I giggled at
Jackson’s exasperated expression and tipped my face up to receive the chaste kiss he planted on my lips.

He sighed and rubbed the top of Grady’s head good-naturedly. “You about ready?”

I nodded, grabbing my sweater with one hand, still holding the pup with the other. Jackson took him from me and I wrapped my sweater around my ever-expanding waistline, smoothing my hands down the full curve of my belly. It seemed like the moment I hit my second trimester, I just popped, looking like I was smuggling a small basketball under my shirt. I shoved my feet into a pair of boots, shaking my head when Jackson double checked to make sure they didn’t have a heel on them.

I rolled my eyes and he just shrugged. He was so protective of me and, not that I would have anyway, but he didn’t want me wearing ‘insensible’ (his word, not mine…I swear we’d gone back to the stone ages because of this pregnancy) shoes in the snow.

Christmas was right around the corner, roughly two weeks away. We were going to Luke and Emma’s house tonight for a Christmas party. We’d had a blast at the Halloween party (not quite as much fun as the last one) and Thanksgiving was a hoot, but we’d decided to combine Christmas and our new tradition of the “Adult Slumber Party.” Of course, this time it wasn’t going to be a drunken one…at least not for me and Emma.

I took Grady back from
Jackson and bundled him up in his little doggy sweater (don’t judge me) and carried him out to Jackson’s new SUV while Jackson followed, his arms overflowing with board games and our overnight bags. He loaded everything into the vehicle and went back inside to get the cake box, one of the most important items of the night.

When we got to their house, Luke and Brandon came out to help
Jackson grab everything while I took Grady inside. We were greeted by a yellow blur that sped past me through the door and out into the snow, where he promptly laid down at the bottom of the stairs. Doug woofed once and I swear he was smiling the most smug smile I’d ever seen. I saw why when D.J. ran out the door and skidded to a stop at the top of the stairs, too afraid to go down them. He sat down and barked, howled, and whined his discontent until Emma came out with a long-suffering sigh and picked him up, kissing his little head.

Shaking our heads at the dogs’ antics, we went inside and put the puppies into a gated off area Emma had set up for them. It was one of those octagonal play yard things that worked perfectly for keeping them out of trouble...most of the time.

The guys came in, followed by Leah and Chloe who had just gotten there.

I turned to Emma asking, “Well? Did you find out?”

She nodded, her eyes sparkling. I clapped my hands excitedly and she squealed, both of us giddy with anticipation.

Once everyone had gotten there for the party, including my parents, Emma’s parents, Jenna, Noah and the kids, and Calland and his new…whatever she was…Katie (at least this one had a decent name rather than Buffy), Emma and I stood up by the kitchen counter, waving to get everyone’s attention.

When it got quiet, Emma said, “Welcome to the second annual Adult Slumber Party, Pregnancy-Friendly Edition!” Everyone laughed and she continued. “Well, first off, we just wanted to have a get together because honestly, I have the best friends and family on the face of the planet and I don’t need any other excuse to have a get together. But, Allie and I had so much fun with the last slumber party that we wanted to do it again and Christmas time just sounded perfect!”

She paused dramatically and turned it over to me without another word. I nodded at Jackson and Luke who came forward and stood beside us,
Jackson holding the cake box we’d brought and Luke holding a big cardboard box. The cake box and the box Luke was holding both had huge question marks decorating them and I could hear Emma’s mom getting extremely excited as she realized what we were about to do.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so secretive but Emma and I wanted to do this together and surprise all of you. I went to the doctor last week and Emma went yesterday and we found out what we’re having. Neither one of us even knows what
the other is having yet…and it’s been driving us crazy!”

Everyone was fidgeting, smiling, and laughing, and there were tears beginning to make appearances, as well. I pointed a finger at Jan and my mom, scolding them jokingly, “No crying allowed!”

We motioned everyone into the kitchen to crowd around the table and I took the cake out of the box, sitting it down in the center of the table. It was decorated with little pink and blue question marks on top of white icing, but the surprise would be revealed as soon as I cut into it.

Luke sat the box he had in his hands down beside it, but didn’t open it. Instead, he taped a sign to it that read, ‘We’re Having A:’, and stepped back, letting Emma come stand beside me. I was curious to see how they were going to do this because she hadn’t told me anything. She handed me a knife and grabbed the top lid of the box.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I cried, waving my hands.

She flinched and cautiously removed the knife I’d forgotten about from my hand, laying it down beside the cake. “What?”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and moved her behind the cake, sliding over to stand behind the box. “I want to be able to be really surprised along with everyone else,” I told her. “So you do mine and I’ll do yours.”

She grinned at me and nodded, picking up the knife she’d just laid down.

“Okay…one…two…three!”

Emma cut a chunk away from my cake as I ripped the lid off her box and we both squealed with happiness and everyone began shouting and cheering and jumping around as everyone saw that the inside of my cake was blue and the balloons that popped up out of Emma’s box were pink.

We turned to each other, jumping up and down and hugging, crying all over each other before we were grabbed and passed around to everyone, receiving hugs and kisses and enthusiastic congratulations as our men clapped each other on the back like they’d done something special. Well…I guess they kind of did!

A little while later, after we’d all eaten pizza and cake and Emma’s parents had taken Jenna and Noah’s kids home with them and my parents had taken their leave as well, we were sitting at the table engaged in the most intense game of Monopoly I’d ever been party to in my life. It wasn’t too long before me, Emma, Jenna, Noah, Chloe, Katie, and Jackson were out, leaving Calland, Luke, and Brandon fighting for the win. Leah had already tapped out and left, mysteriously claiming that she had a date.

“Oh, yeah! Pay up, bitch!” Brandon crowed as Luke landed on Park Place.

“Dude! Seriously, did you need the third hotel on there?” Luke groused, counting out his money. “I don’t even have enough to pay you!”

Brandon laughed evilly, rubbing his hands together in glee. “Then give me all your property and your money, too!”

“I don’t even have anything left! Asshole, you took it all last turn!” Luke was glaring, knowing that
Brandon was going to tell him he was done.

“Then you’re out, baby!”
Brandon shouted, dancing in his chair.

After Luke was cut, it was short work for
Brandon to clear out Calland and Jackson, claiming the title of winner. He stood, fist pumping the air and strutting like a peacock around the kitchen.

That pretty much was the theme for the night as we played game after game with the same results.
Brandon would win, dance around and rub it in our faces, and then we’d challenge him to a different game, each of us hoping to be the one to take him down!

About the third game, Jenna had produced an over-sized bottle of wine and she, Chloe, and Katie killed it in no time. After three glasses, Katie was becoming quite eager to get Calland alone. At least that’s what it seemed like when Calland started jumping in his seat, fidgeting like crazy while trying to fend her off.

We were halfway through a game of Trivial Pursuit when he pushed back from the table yelling, “Jesus, woman! How many fucking arms do you have? You’re like a fuckin’ octopus!”

Katie, too far gone on the wine (lightweight, geez) could do nothing but giggle, looking up at him from under her lashes. She was trying to be coy and bat her eyelashes at him but the result was just laughable. She looked like an owl
, eyes round and huge while she blinked exaggeratedly, her whole face scrunching up every time she did it.

We were snickering at her, and then…well…right there in front of everyone, she reached out her hand and molded it over Calland’s crotch, gripping it through his pants and beginning to rub over it. Calland let out a weird sound, somewhere between a choked gasp, a painful cry, and a pleasure-filled moan, his eyes rolling back in his head before he grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away, face flaming red.

“We’re, uh…we’re gonna go now!” Calland stammered, pulling Katie to her feet, bundling her into her coat, and pushing her out the door, hollering his goodbyes as he slammed it shut behind them.

After a beat of disbelieving silence, we all cracked up, laughing until we were holding our stomachs with tears running down our faces. When the laughter finally died down, we continued our game until it was after midnight, Jenna and Noah had left, and Emma and I were yawning like crazy.

Jackson finally stood as I finished another jaw-cracking yawn. “Alright, that’s it. Bed time!”

I nodded, smiling up at him. “Oh! I forgot my body pillow!” I whined, the thought suddenly popping into my head.

I heard Jackson sigh and he shook his head. “Well, I guess we’ll just go home. I mean, it’s not like we live far away…we could have walked over if it weren’t for the snow.”

I stuck my tongue out at him childishly, laughing when he didn’t say anything, just raised an eyebrow. I turned to tell Emma and Luke goodnight and bumped into Brandon, who I didn’t realize was standing behind me.

He opened his arms and I stepped into them, hugging him goodbye. He kissed the top of my head and released me, moving past me to clap Jackson on the shoulder and do the half-assed man-hug thing that guys always do.

Ever since
Brandon had come back from L.A., things between us had gotten easier. It still hurt sometimes, more in the beginning after he’d broken it off than now, but we’d talked over everything in depth when he’d gotten back, both of us being completely candid with each other. It helped a lot, lessening the ache, mending our friendship, and we’d even come to the realization that yes, we loved each other, but neither of us was able to say with absolute certainty that we had been in love. Not the way we should have been…

I wouldn’t change a thing, though. Not one bit of it, because now I can honestly say that Brandon and I are closer than we’d ever been, and he’ll always have a special place in my heart and in my life. I will say that I pity the next woman to take him on because she’s going to have a formidable enemy in me unless she proves herself…and is strong enough to realize that the bonds we’ve formed…between ALL of us, Emma, Luke, and everyone else…are unbreakable.