Chapter 4: Boundaries

Previous

 

I wake up with a blonde head on my chest. It’s definitely not Lafayette. I haven’t told him about the baby yet, but I need to. Our schedules are a little opposite, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get his attention. I don’t know how he’s going to feel about sharing the apartment with a baby. This place has three bedrooms and I’ve been letting him use the spare as his closet/storage space since I have the master bedroom, but that’s going to have to change.

 

Plus there’ll be baby toys all over, swings, cribs, breast pumps… Not stuff that he considers to be mood enhancing. We’ll have to figure something out. I like living with him. He’s clean and he pays his bills on time. I can’t ask for much more than that.

 

I do, however, push the sleeping giant off of me so I can go pee. Lafayette’s biggest downside is his crush on Eric. He can never say no once Eric gets those eyes going.

 

I pee, brush my teeth and wash my face since I feel oily as fuck. I pull my hair back in a messy knot and then go back to my room. Eric’s flat on his back and snoring softly. He’s also got morning wood.

 

Since I’m not above torturing him, I climb up on the bed and straddle him. I’m wearing sweatpants and I haven’t shaved in three days, so he’s not going to be getting any right now.

 

“Northman.” I poke his belly.

 

“Hmm?” he grunts.

 

“Wake up.”

 

“Five more minutes,” he mumbles.

 

Okay.

 

I roll my hips. Eric’s hands fly up to stop me.

 

“You’re not being fair,” he says without opening his eyes.

 

“Then get up.”

 

“I’m up.” He thrusts his hips up against me, rubbing his morning wood along my slit.

 

I groan involuntarily and quickly climb off of him before I get hungry for something other than food.

 

“Good, because I have things to do.” I’m working from home today just to try it out. Plus yesterday suuuuucked. I had to leave after lunch because I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

 

“Do them. I don’t need to be awake for that, do I?” He finally cracks an eye to look at me.

 

“You can go sleep at your place.” He got his sneak thief cuddles in.

 

“What if I want to spend a little more time with Butterball?” he asks seriously.

 

“You mean his neighbors to the north?” I get off the bed and go to the closet for a pair of chucks.

 

“No. My baby and his mother,” he replies. Eric sits up, rubbing his eyes.

 

“Now’s not a good time. I have a few errands to take care of and then I have work to do,” I say as I take a seat on the edge of the bed to put my shoes on. I want to go to Barnes & Noble to pick up a couple of books some of the women at work recommended.

 

“I can take you,” he offers.

 

“Thanks, but I’m fine.” I like walking. I definitely need the exercise with Butterball on board.

 

Eric sighs and moves so he put his shoes back on. His hair is sticking straight up on one side.

 

“Are you going to have any free time between now and when the baby is born?” he mutters as he slips on his left shoe.

 

“I don’t know, maybe,” I reply sarcastically. “What’s your problem? It’s a goddamn Tuesday morning, Eric. I should be at the office, so you can quit acting like we had plans and I’m blowing you off.”

 

“Can you come with me Sunday to Mom’s?” he asks instead of answering me.

 

“Can’t. I made plans to have my Dad and Jason over for brunch,” I reply. My mom died four years ago after a quick and dirty battle with brain cancer.

 

“What about Saturday? I want to make sure you can go before I make the plans with Mom.”

 

I sigh heavily. I have Saturday plans too.

 

“Why don’t you invite her over on Sunday and we can tell them all at once?” I suggest.

 

“Okay,” he nods. Eric stands up to stretch, his fingertips can damn near graze the damn ceiling.

 

“Look, I don’t want to be fighting with you, but until the baby is born I obviously have sole custody and you can’t just sneak in here anytime you want because you’re “visiting” the baby,” I tell him.

 

“You didn’t have a problem with it when I was sneaking in to visit you before you got pregnant,” he reminds me. “It’s the only time I get with you, Sookie. I’m not sneaking in for anything other than spending a little time with you guys. But if it’s all of a sudden that big of a problem, I’ll see you Sunday.” He tries to fix his hair as he heads toward the door.

 

“You are such a teenage girl!” I call after him.

 

“See you Sunday!” he calls back once he’s halfway down the hall.

 

I roll my eyes. He has a terrible habit of saying one thing but doing another or behaving a way that betrays the things he says. It makes his words meaningless and then he gets mad at me for calling him on it. I end up being the asshole because I actually say what I mean and mean what I say. I’m not sure how that happens, but it does. It’s really fucking annoying.

 

I grab a jacket to wear over my thermal shirt and tuck my cell phone into my purse. I catch a northbound bus and then transfer to the train to go toward the Loop. The streets are busy, but the store isn’t too bad. After a few minutes of browsing a good looking guy with golden-brown eyes and a store name tag on approaches me. Preston is his name.

 

“Do you need help finding anything?”

 

“Oh, no, I’m just looking for now,” I smile. I’ll get to the pregnancy books eventually.

 

“Alright, let me know if you need anything,” he smiles back and then turns to straighten up the books closest to him.

 

He’s cute. Probably about six years too young for me, but still cute. I also notice that he doesn’t stray very far from me as I move along the stacks, browsing through the titles. When I look his way he just happens to look back at me. I smile and he smiles back before I pull a Stephen King book from the shelf in front of me and read the back.

 

“If that’s the kind of book you’re looking for we have more titles a couple aisles back…” Preston says. He’s a lot closer than he was a fee seconds ago.

 

“Oh yeah? I’ve been on a Stephen King kick lately.” Bullshit. I haven’t had time to read a book in… way too long.

 

“What was the last one you read?”

 

“Misery.”

 

“That’s a good one,” he nods.

 

“What about this?” I hold up The Stand.

 

“If you have the time, it’s another good one. Not quite as good as Misery, but worth the read.”

 

“Good to know,” I nod. The book is crazy long.

 

“Are there any other books you’re interested in?” He’s straightening books without looking at them.

 

“There are, actually. I’m really here for books about pregnancy,” I admit.

 

“For a friend?”

 

“For me.” We’ll see if he’s interested enough to keep sniffing around a potentially pregnant woman.

 

“Ah… aisle 14, right before the children’s books,” he directs me.

 

“Thanks,” I say with a smile. I guess that answers whether or not he’s interested. If he was he would have walked me over there, I’m sure.

 

“You’re welcome, and congratulations,” he nods.

 

“Thanks,” I say again. I put The Stand back on the shelf and go over to the aisle he mentioned to look for the books I was told about.

 

I find a few of them and decide to do Eric a favor. I text him a picture of the books I’m buying so he can read them too if he wants. Then I head for the registers to pay for the books.

 

“Find everything you were looking for?” Preston asks when he meets me at the register.

 

“Yep, I’m all set.”

 

“Good,” he nods as he starts to ring up the books. “Do you have a rewards card?” He’s all business now.

 

“No, I don’t but I don’t buy a lot of books,” I admit.

 

“Understandable.” He pulls his keys out of his pocket and scans his own, applying a four dollar discount. “Baby gift,” he winks before giving me my total.

 

“Thanks,” I say and swipe my debit card for him.

 

Preston slides the books into a bag and hands them over the counter.

 

“Have a good day, Miss Stackhouse.”

 

“You too, Preston.” I pick up the bag and halfway to the door I stop.

 

I’m sure Preston isn’t the last guy who is going to lose interest in me because I’m pregnant. Girlfriends are enough drama for most guys, but a girl who has a baby daddy? Even worse, a baby daddy like Eric? John Travolta in Look Who’s Talking comes to mind.

 

I blow out a breath and go back to the pregnancy books. I find one called Dad’s Pregnant Too! that seems like a good option. So I grab that and another copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I can be nice sometimes. It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with Eric, but we’ve never really had boundaries before. We’ve always gone from friends to couple and back again fairly seamlessly. It’s fine for us but that would be really confusing for a kid.

 

We might as well get used to setting limits now. I know Eric doesn’t like being told no and I know he has a problem accepting things that are beyond his control, but he better get over it. The baby is going to run our lives for a while. Well, mine for sure. We’ll see how involved Eric really is after the baby’s born.

 

I pay for the books and then walk to the nearest subway station and wait a few minutes for the next Blue Line train to catch a connection to the Red Line. All told it takes about twenty minutes to get across town to a stop three blocks from Eric’s apartment. I pull my keys out and let myself in. Eric lives in a converted duplex on the first floor. He’s got a nice porch out back that’s good for grilling on.

 

I go in through the kitchen and set my bag of books on the table. He’s got a spacious eat-in kitchen, but there’s only one bathroom in the place. There’s a bedroom off the kitchen to the right and the living is straight ahead. Eric’s bedroom is off the living room. The apartment is quiet so I kick off my shoes and tip toe into the living room. From there I can see through the open doorway. Eric’s lying on his bed, eyes closed and his big hand moving up and down his solid shaft.

 

Oh… Ummm… Okay…

 

Look the other way! Do not watch him jerk off! Sookie. Stackhouse. Stop. It.

 

My feet start to carry me toward him instead…

 

EPOV

 

Alcide bringing up that Sookie/Summer session has my mind going. I was about to shower after I woke up again and decided to take care of my new morning wood. I figure without Nora, or Sookie, I’ll need to take care of myself. My hand is moving slowly up and down my shaft, brushing my thumb over my tip every few strokes. My vision has Sookie lying back on a couch with her legs spread wide while Summer is bent over with her delectable ass in the air as she sucks on Sookie’s clit. My hand starts to speed up slightly when I hear my bedroom door creak. The only person that has a key is Sookie so when my eyes crack open the land on her. She looks transfixed by the sight before her. I don’t know if I want to say something to break her from her trance or continue.

 

I continue.

 

My hips start to rock back into the bed before thrusting up to meet my hand. My fantasy shifts to just Sookie, stripping for me and climbing on to bounce on my dick. I don’t know if she’s going to help or continue to watch, or maybe figure out she’s watching and flip her shit. Lately, that seems like the most likely option. I still have to say something. I can finish in the shower if she freaks out.

 

“Like what you see?” I purr in a low, throaty sex voice. I rub my tip, dragging my pre-cum down to help lubricate my hand.

 

“Shhhhhh…”

 

I smirk and shift on the bed to give her a better view. My balls are hanging between my spread thighs and my cock is pulsing in my hand. Shushing me rarely works since I like to talk during sex, but I’m trying to keep my comments to myself. I speed up my hand, letting out a low growl. I can see her nipples stiffening. I can only imagine what’s going on between those sexy fuckin’ thighs. I pull my hand away to lick my palm, giving myself a little more lube since I didn’t get up to grab anything.

 

“You’re welcome to help,” I grunt as my hand moves even faster. Since I have company I might as well make it quick.

 

“I think you’ve got it,” she says softly. Her thighs rub together subtly.

 

“It would feel so much better if my dick was surrounded by that warm, wet pussy,” I breathe as I motion for her to come closer. I don’t expect her to but it’s worth a shot.

 

“Keep dreaming,” she snorts. She doesn’t move from the doorway but Sookie does shrug out of her jacket.

 

“Believe me, I am,” I pant. My eyes stay trained on her tits. It’s not going to take much more to make me cum. “Fuck, I want to touch you so goddamn bad, Sookie.”

 

“You mean these?” She lifts her shirt and takes her bra with it, flashing her tits at me.

 

“Yes,” I breathe. I’m sure she can see my cock pulsing. “I want to taste them. Your nipples are so fuckin’ hard. Is this turning you on?”

 

“They’re sensitive right now you know? If my shirt brushes up against them just right it makes my insides turn to jelly,” she tells me.

 

“Bring ’em here, Sookie. Let me lick them. I promise to be gentle.” I’m so, so fuckin’ close.

 

“Nope, they’re fine right here.”

 

“Mmm, you’re fuckin’ evil,” I grunt. “Watch.” My hand goes faster. I can feel my dick twitch and pulse in my hand. It only takes a few more strokes and I lose it. I cum with a deep grunt, shooting up, so it comes down on my hand and stomach. Fuck. That felt good.

 

“That’s sexy,” I hear her say. To my surprise I feel her lick my hand, cleaning up some of my release.

 

“Not as sexy as that,” I pant, brushing her loose wisps of her hair back with my clean hand.

 

She moves closer to my head and says, “I’m sorry I was bitchy this morning. I know you were trying to do a nice thing.” She even gives me a sweet little kiss.

 

“Thank you,” I reply quietly. “I don’t want to fight with you, Sookie.”

 

“I don’t want to fight with you either but we have to have boundaries, okay?”

 

“Let me shower and we can talk, unless you have somewhere else to be.”

 

“No, I don’t. Actually I brought you some books.”

 

“Thank you,” I smile. “Stay.” If I don’t get up now I’m going to want to attack her when my cock inevitably gets hard again.

 

I don’t wait for her response. I climb off of the bed and go to my bathroom. I don’t worry about closing the door since Sookie just lick cum off of my hand. I’m sure she’s fine seeing me shower. I try to make it as quick as possible, letting out a shiver when I wash my sensitive cock. As soon as I’m done I dry off as quick as possible. I can see Sookie sitting up on my bed against the headboard with a couple of books. I dry off and stop at my dresser on the way back to get a pair of sleep pants. It’s still fairly early so I don’t have to be out of the house for a while.

 

“Alright, whatcha got?” I ask as I take a seat on the bed next to her.

 

“Here.” She hands me two books about pregnancy.

 

I flip through them quickly. I’ll read them probably starting tomorrow. I’m sure it’s a lot of good information, which I totally appreciate. Sookie doesn’t do sweet things like this often.

 

“Thanks, you didn’t have to,” I smile.

 

“You’re welcome. If you don’t want to read them I can take them back but you mentioned you wanted to read the same books as me so…”

 

“I do. Believe it or not, I’m interested in this baby, Sookie. I’m going to be a father and I may be a shitty person, but I want to do this right. I don’t want to fuck this up. I have one job now and that’s to make Butterball a decent human being.” I’m sure she doesn’t believe me when I tell her I want to be involved.

 

“I know you’re interested in the baby. That’s why I brought you books.”

 

I reach over to take her hand and ask, “What boundaries are we setting?”

 

“I think sneaking into each other’s apartments has to stop. Wouldn’t that have confused you as a kid if your dad sometimes stayed over, but mostly lived somewhere else?” Sookie asks.

 

I sigh and drop my head back. I hate this.

 

“I wanted to be close,” I say quietly. “Not just to you, but to the baby. I know you have sole custody of the baby until he or she is born, and that’s the only way I can be close. I don’t imagine you’re going to come over and let me cuddle with your belly when you start to get bigger, are you?”

 

“I’m sure we can work something out but there’s a difference between having dinner together and you climbing into my bed in the middle of the night. I’m sure you can see that,” she says.

 

I reluctantly agree. “I won’t crawl into bed with you anymore,” I pout. “I don’t think the rest has to stop. We can still call each other regularly. Nora’s gone so you don’t have to worry about her putting a cramp in our relationship.”

 

“Eric, I never said we couldn’t still be friends,” Sookie says. “I’m saying that a kid isn’t going to understand why it’s easy for us to be casual about stuff. Just for the record, I’m not counting out the possibility that maybe someday we could get our shit together and be a responsible couple instead of a couple of immature fuckups. For right now, though, I think we’d be better off focusing on getting used to the idea of being parents because it’s a huge challenge.”

 

I hear every word she says, but I focus on being a couple again one day. I lean over and take her by surprise when I plant a hard kiss on her lips, making her gasp.

 

“Sorry,” I whisper when I pull back. “You’re right; we need to focus on Butterball.”

 

“I’m glad we agree,” she nods. “So I’m not going to come over here anymore without calling.”

 

“I was fantasizing about you,” I wink.

 

“I don’t want to know,” she laughs.

 

“Mmm, I wouldn’t tell you anyway,” I chuckle. I get serious for a moment and say, “I love you, Sookie. I couldn’t imagine going on this crazy ass baby adventure with anyone else. I think we’re going to fuck up a few things, like I’m sure I’ll put a diaper on backwards once or twice, but we’ll work this out.”

 

“I think we’ll be fine. We can figure it out as we go. Assuming your mom doesn’t steal Butterball.” That’s highly likely.

 

“I told Alcide,” I tell her. “Maria didn’t tell him, which is a huge shock.”

 

“Yeah, he got fucked up in Michigan over the weekend and flirted with some chick at the vineyard, so he’s surfing the couch right now,” she tells me.

 

“That explains why he turned down a Bunnyranch bachelor party,” I snort.

 

“You two can cornhole each other here for free,” she laughs.

 

I playfully smack her thigh as I laugh with her.

 

“You know Mom is going to start planning our wedding as soon as we leave your place on Sunday, right?”

 

“Yeah, but I’ll let her know you’re going to have Al stock up on manliner, take some guitar lessons and then elope–”

 

I cut her off when I attack, pinning her down to the bed. My fingers go on attack, tickling her ribs.

 

“Not funny, Stackhouse,” I growl.

 

“Then why am I laughing?” She’s fuckin’ cackling.

 

“Because you have a fucked up sense of humor,” I reply, moving my tickles to her side.

 

“And you have a mancrush on Dave–”

 

My hand clamps over her mouth to stop her blasphemous accusations and I reach down to tickle that spot on her inner thigh that makes her squeal. I seriously don’t know who started this myth and why everyone thinks it’s a fact.

 

Unfortunately, tickling her inner thigh also makes her leg jerk and I get kneed in the balls.

 

“Motherfucker!” I gasp and fall back, cupping my balls. This is why she’s fuckin’ evil.

 

“Ohmygod are you okay?” Sookie leans over me. “That was an accident, I swear.”

 

It takes a moment to catch my breath. “It hurts like I a motherfucker,” I pant. “It feels like you just ripped my colon through my fuckin’ asshole. I think I might be dying.” I’m not even joking.

 

“I’m sorry,” she frowns. “Do you want some ice… or a beer?”

 

“Nuh uh,” I shake my head. I grab her hand and rest it over my cock. “Just caress.”

 

Sookie looks at me suspiciously. “A gentle handjob will help?”

 

“No, just a gentle caress,” I reply. It’s over the pants, but it’s helping a little.

 

The suspicious look doesn’t fade, but Sookie’s warm little hand moves slowly and gently along my shaft.

 

Because I’m an opportunistic ass, I tilt my head to press my lips to hers in a soft kiss. I pull her hand off my my cock so I don’t get hard. It would hurt like a bitch if I did get a hard-on now.

 

“Thank you,” I whisper against her lips.

 

“You’re welcome,” she whispers and doesn’t pull away.

 

I reach up to cup the back of her head. My tongue flicks out to lick her bottom lip before I suck lightly. I love kissing Sookie. I’m a little sad I won’t get to do this whenever I want anymore.

 

Her lips part for me and her tongue sneaks out meet mine. She’s careful not to put any pressure on my crotch, but she does lean into me some as the kiss deepens. I tug her hair tie out of her hair so I can run my fingers through it, holding her close as our tongues begin a familiar dance.

 

I reach down with my other hand to pull her thigh over my hips. I doubt I’ll be getting hard any time soon, so this is purely a make out session that I’m not sure I want to end. I begin to rub her outer thigh, slowly moving in toward her core. I’m sure she’s still wet from watching me jack off and the selfish part of me wants to make her cum so I can see that gorgeous look on her face.

 

Sookie reaches down to stop my hand and gently breaks the kiss. “Eric, no. We can’t…” she says quietly.

 

“Okay,” I whisper back. I tilt my head up to give her one more soft peck. “We should leave the bedroom.”

 

“I should probably get going. I do have work to do,” she says.

 

I don’t want her to go. “Alright,” I say as I sit up, taking her with me. “Want me to take you home?”

 

“No, that’s okay. I don’t mind the train. I have my books to read anyway,” she says.

 

“You know when Butterball gets bigger I’m going to get a little cavemany and drive you around, right?” I get off of the bed and do a little shimmy to shake my balls around. They’re not as sore.

 

“I may take you up on that when the third trimester hits. We’ll see how much water I retain,” she says. Sookie picks up her discarded jacket to put it back on.

 

“You know that’s always been an option, right? You can ask for a to ride any time you don’t want to take ghetto train.” She knows I usually don’t have to be to the bar until four unless it’s delivery day and I’m there at ten in the morning.

 

“I don’t mind the trains I take,” she says. “The Orange Line, however…” Sookie shivers and cringes. It does usually smell like piss.

 

“You don’t take the Orange Line then. I’ll take you anywhere the orange goes. It’s the least I can do since you’re incubating my monster.”

 

“Deal. I’ll text you when I get home so you know we’re okay.”

 

“Thank you,” I smile as I walk her toward the door. I reach down to rub her belly. “I’ll see you later, Butterball,” I tell her tummy.

 

“I’ll be stopping for hot chocolate and bacon cheese fries on the way home. Will you tell the kid to lay off the fried shit? He doesn’t listen to me.”

 

“Butterball, be nice to Mom, please,” I plead. “If he doesn’t listen I can start picking you up before I go to the gym.”

 

“We’ll see. I might start going to this prenatal yoga class one of the girls at work recommended,” she says.

 

“Alright, let me know,” I shrug. “I’ll see you Sunday if not sooner.” I lean down to give her a quick peck.

 

“Okay. See you later.” Sookie slips her shoes on and grabs her bags off the kitchen table before she slips out the back door.

 

It’s going to be hard and different changing our relationship and setting boundaries. All I can hope is that we figure out how to make this work. Sookie has always been the girl I gravitate to. She’s always held a special spot in my heart. Hopefully, we can figure out how to be together one day and make this weird little family whole and solid.