Chapter 8

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SPOV

“I’m Sookie, what’s your name?” I ask Jake. He’s an adorable little guy with his rosy cheeks and his hair sticking to his head.

“Jake,” he answers.

“It’s good to meet you, Jake,” I tell him then I look to Eric and say, “He’s really too cute for words.”

“He has his moments,” Eric smirks. “You ready to get going, buddy? I’m making spaghetti for dinner.”

Jake nods and holds his arms out toward Eric. I reluctantly hand him back to his father.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” I ask, confirming our plans.

“Yep. If something comes up I’ll let you know,” he says. “Does four o’clock work for you? I have class in the morning.”

“Yep, that should be fine. I can walk you out if you want. Clearly we’re busy,” I say sarcastically and motion around the empty store.

“Yeah I’m shocked none of your customers have complained about us monopolizing you,” Eric agrees and sets Jake on his feet so he can walk out of the store.

“Oooh, look how cute he is on his little legs,” I coo. I want to pick him up and snuggle him again.

“Just wait until he’s running away from you. He’s like a little cockroach,” Eric says.

Jake reaches up to hold Eric’s hand and he stares up at me with curious eyes. I need to walk them out now. I almost can’t handle the cuteness.

“Come on,” I say and start walking toward the door. I go to open it and Eric gets it with his go-go-gadget arm. I step out with Jake hot on my heels and Eric right behind him. I walk with them all the way to Eric’s Jeep and wait for him to put Jake in his car seat. “See ya later, Jake,” I wave when Eric is done buckling him in.

“Bye, bye, Soo,” Jake replies with a wave of his own.

Eric closes the door and I tell him, “I think I’m already in love with that little guy. His pictures don’t do his cuteness any justice.”

“Another one bites the dust,” Eric chuckles. “If you call later and I don’t answer it’s because I’m power washing marinara sauce off the boy… or the walls… or the ceiling.”

“Okay,” I giggle. “I’ll just text you when I get home and you can call if you’re not knee deep in red sauce.”

“Works for me.” Eric leans down and gives me a kiss.

“Drive safe,” I tell him when he pulls back. I take a step back and watch as he opens his car door.

“Always,” he smiles at me and climbs in. I can hear Jake singing to himself in the backseat.

In order to avoid climbing in the car with them I wave at Eric and take a few steps back. When he closes the door I wait until he drives off to go back into the store. Seeing Jake makes me want to get home to my baby girl and snuggle with her.

The rest of the night goes the just as slow. We have one customer between the time Eric leaves and the time we close. Ugh. I’m ready to get out of this place.

When I get home I send Mrs. Fortenberry home and Joey and I go through our normal routine. It’s a little later so I give her a bath. She talks my ear off about her evening with Mrs. F while I just smile and ooh and ahh at the right times. After her bath I dress her in her pajamas and we go out to the living room so we can watch a movie. Eventually she falls asleep on my lap around nine-thirty. I take her into bed and I remember I forgot to text Eric, so I do.

Me: Sorry! I’ve been home for a while. Just put Jo to bed.

I don’t expect to hear back from him right away so I go into my bathroom and run a bath. Other than the nights Sam takes Joey this is my only real me time. Instead of texting back, Eric calls me.

“Hey, you,” I answer with a smile as I sink down into the tub.

“Hey. All quiet on the western front?”

“Yep, she passed out watching The Princess Bride. It’s her favorite. I just took her to bed and I’m relaxing in the tub now.”

“So you’re naked and wet. My favorite combination.”

“Indeed I am, if only I had a sexy man to share in my naked, wet time,” I sigh.

“If I didn’t have the boy here I’d drop by, but he’s been asleep since eight.”

“Oh, I know, and I would do the same if I didn’t have Jo. Talking to you is good enough,” I smile. “I like the sound of your voice.”

“Mmm… then maybe I should say dirty things to you,” he says and I can see him leering at me in my mind.

“Not if I can’t have you to help me out when you turn me on,” I tell him. I know I can do plenty on my own, but it’s always more fun with Eric.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had a do-it-yourself happy.”

“Of course I have,” I giggle, “It’s just better when I have someone else to give it to me.”

“Well of course it is,” he chuckles. “You wouldn’t need me if that wasn’t true.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. What do you have in mind, Eric?” I ask him softly.

“Right now I’m thinking about how slippery you must be,” he admits.

“Yes, sir, I am very slippery,” I tell him and move to rest my hand on my stomach. “What about you? Where are you at right now?”

“I’m lying on the couch,” he says. “And I’m not slippery.”

“Too bad,” I smile. However I do remember lying on top of him on the couch and how good his body felt under me. “I just got in the tub, so I will be here a while.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep, turned the water off just before you called.” I shift in the water and I’m sure he can hear it splashing.

“How was the rest of work?”

“Boring. We had one customer after you left. The only good thing was we were able to get out early after we closed. How was spaghetti?”

“Messy, but he got more in his mouth than on his clothes this time.”

“That’s good. Mrs. Fortenberry said she got Jo to eat brussel sprouts. I think she cooked them in bacon, which is a trick I’ll have to try sometime.”

“Well bacon makes everything better,” he says.

“Very true,” I snicker. “When I got home I could smell the bacon and I was a little jealous I didn’t get any. I’ll survive though.”

“I’ll have to make spaghetti for you. I put crispy pancetta in my sauce.”

“Sign me up for that. I used to put pepperoni in mine, but I stopped when I got pregnant and cared more about what I put into my body.”

“I’ve got something else you can put in your body,” he snickers.

“Hmm, like what? You seem to give me alcohol when we hang out, is that it?” I ask.

“It’s definitely something stiff.”

“Can you give me a better description?” I ask. I can take a guess, but I don’t want to be wrong.

“It’s thick and long, and the more I think about you being naked and wet, the harder it gets,” he says in a husky voice.

“Oh yeah? And what would you do with it if you were here naked and wet with me?” I purr and start rubbing up and down my stomach.

“I’d rub it through your slit to tease your clit until you demanded that I fuck you.”

“Mmm, that sounds like a lot of fun,” I tell him. “Is there anything you would like me to do…”

“You should play with your nipples,” he tells me. “And imagine my cock sliding deep into your tight, sweet little cunt.”

I slide my hand up my stomach and so as he says. I begin to tug on my nipples and I move up so they get hard in the cool air.

“Mmm, that feels good, baby. My nipples are very hard right now,” I moan.

“Good,” he purrs. “Can you imagine how hard they would be if you were bouncing on my cock while I played with them?”

“Yes,” I say softly, “My pussy is clenching just thinking about it.”

“Tell me how wet you are,” he says, and I hear a door close on his end. “Could I bend you over and fuck you hard right now if I wanted to?”

As he’s talking I slide my hand down to my center and I easily slip a finger inside of myself.

“Oh, God, yes,” I breathe. “I have my middle finger inside, but I wish it was you.”

“Me too, baby,” he purrs. “I would much rather be with you than Rosie and her slutty sisters.”

I giggle softly and say, “I promise to give you what Rosie can’t as soon as I can.”

“And I’ll give you what your fingers can’t.”

“Really?” I moan as I slide a second finger in and begin pumping them in and out. “My fingers feel really good in my hot, wet pussy. Even under water they’re sliding in and out with ease.”

“That’s good, baby.” I can hear him stroking himself now too.

“Do you want to know I’m rubbing my clit with my thumb, imagining it’s your long, hard, thick cock?” I start moaning a little louder for him.

“I can see your pussy stretching to take my cock,” he groans. “And your fingers digging into me while you slide down my shaft until I’m buried deep inside you.”

“Oh God, baby, that sounds so fucking good,” I pant as I add a third finger, trying to imagine his thickness in me. “I can feel it,” I moan, “I want it so badly, Eric.”

He growls and asks, “Can you feel me grabbing your ass and pounding into you?”

“Mmm, yes,” I say as I speed up my fingers. “I want it harder, baby. I need you to make me scream.” I know I can’t scream with my daughter in the house, but I’m far enough away she can’t hear heavy moans.

“Maybe I need to pull out and put you back on your hands and knees so I can fuck you from behind. My dirty girl likes being spanked,” he says.

“Yes she does, and she likes feeling your hips slap into her and she loves how deep you get. I want it deep,” I tell him. “I have three fingers pumping in and out of my pussy… fuck… it’s so good, baby… so… good.”

Eric groans and I hear his hand speeding up. “I’d hold your hands behind your back and fuck you until I couldn’t move anymore, Sookie.”

“Do it, cum hard for your dirty girl,” I pant as I can feel my own orgasm approaching. The slapping of his hand moving up and down his shaft, and the heavy panting tell me he’s close. “Imagine you’re cumming deep and hard inside of me… oh… fuck!”

I cum hard on my fingers imagining my pussy is contracting around his cock. Eric lets out a strangled noise and then he groans and grunts, so I assume he’s cumming.

“If I was with you right now I’d lick up your mess,” I whisper and I gently remove my fingers.

“If you were with me the condom would have done it for you,” he pants.

“Let me rephrase that. The next time we’re alone I want to lick your cum off of your dick. Is that more clear?” I ask him. I’ve only given him one blowjob and I want to give him more.

“Crystal.”

“Good. Would you like me to let you go so you can clean up? If not, I don’t mind holding.”

“I’ll take you with me.”

“Okay,” I say and I get up from the water. I want to stretch out on my bed while I talk to him. “I’m about to get into my jammies. I’m going to put you on speaker,” I warn. I hate it when people don’t warn me I’m being moved to speaker phone.

I pull the plug and start to dry off. I can still hear him moving around when I pull on some sweats.

“Feel more relaxed now?” Eric asks.

“A lot more relaxed, yes.” I slip into an oversized t-shirt and take him off of speaker so I can go check on Joey. “How about you?” I ask as I step out of my room.

“Absolutely,” he says.

“Good.” I peek into Joey’s room and she’s still sleeping soundly. “And my princess never stirred. She looks so peaceful,” I say quietly as I close her door almost all the way before returning to my room.

“They’re always deceptively sweet while they’re sleeping. I kinda hoped that Jake would snore like Mr. Beefy in Little Nicky.”

“Why on earth would you want that?” I giggle and stretch out on my bed.

“Because no one would believe it was him making that noise.”

“You’re silly. I would just be worried and run my baby to the doctor to make sure she didn’t suffer from sleep apnea or something.”

“Nah, it’s a cool party trick sort of thing,” he says. “Now if he slept on a radiator and growled like the devil was in him, I’d be worried.”

“Such a man,” I say.

“I leave the hovering over him to his mother.”

“I do the same thing,” I say. “You saw me when Jo was getting ready to go into the jungle gym.”

“Must be a mom thing.”

“Probably,” I shrug, even though he can’t see me. “Sam lets her do whatever she wants to do. It makes me crazy.”

“I don’t blame you. I don’t hover like Aude, but we have the same rules and same bedtime stuff. It just makes life easier.”

“Sam knows the rules; he just likes being a dick. When I get her back it takes almost two days to get her back to her normal routine without an argument.”

“It sucks for you but he’s really fucking Joey over by doing that,” Eric says with a hint of anger.

“Believe me, I know. If it wouldn’t devastate her I wouldn’t let her go with him anymore. Plus he’d take me back to court for visitation and then the whole fiasco would start all over.”

“I’m sorry he’s such a dick.”

“Thanks, but you aren’t the one that had pity sex with him. I’m an idiot for doing it, even though it gave me my little princess. Believe me if I could pick her father I would go with Brad Pitt, he seems to like hanging out with his kids.”

“Well hopefully he’ll get his shit together and grow up,” Eric says.

“Hopefully,” I agree. I look at the clock and see it’s almost eleven. “Should I let you go? It’s getting late and I know you have class tomorrow.”

“Yep, I do and Jake will be up before six so I should probably pass out,” he answers.

“Okay, let me know when you’re ready to go to the park tomorrow,” I remind him.

“We should be good to go at four, but I’ll text you later.”

“Goodnight, Eric.”

“Goodnight, Sookie,” he says and then hangs up.

I plug my phone into the charger and roll onto my side. I have to work a half day tomorrow, but I should be done by the time Eric is out of school. Maybe we can take the kids to dinner together. Hopefully they like each other.

***

Eric and I agree to meet at a small park between our houses at four. I told Joey we are going to see him again and she’s been happily bouncing around in her seat since. She didn’t talk to him a lot at Jungle Jim’s, but she talked about nothing but him for two days after and she keeps asking me when we’re going to play with him again.

When we pull into the parking lot Eric and Jake are already out of their car. Eric is leaning against his Jeep and Jake is running in circles on the grass. He’s still so stinking cute.

“Eric!” Joey exclaims as soon as she sees him.

“I told you we were on our way to meet him. Mommy doesn’t lie to you,” I remind her. When dealing with a three-year-old lying and omission are not quite the same.

“Do you think he wants to go on the slide with me?”

“You can ask him,” I say and turn off the car.

“Okay.”

She unhooks her harness and climbs over the seat so she can get out of the driver seat with me. I set her down, expecting her to run and say hi to Eric, but she wraps around my leg again when I get out of the car.

“She’s really excited to see you,” I laugh as Eric walks over to us. Jake is running at us now too.

“I can tell by the way she’s clinging to you,” Eric chuckles, and bends down to scoop up Jake.

“I think your height intimidates her,” I tell him. I pick her up so she’s closer to his face and she finally smiles.

“Hi, Eric,” she says quietly.

“Hello, Joey,” he replies. He tosses Jake up in the air and catches his squealing son before turning him to face us. “Jake, do you remember Sookie?”

Jake nods and says, “Hi, Soo.”

“Hi, little man,” I smile.

“Mommy, why does he call you that?” Joey asks me.

“He’s still learning, honey, can you say hi to Jake?”

“Hi.” She leaves it at that and starts to squirm. “I’m ready to play.”

“Jake, can you say hi to Joey?” Eric asks as he puts Jake down again.

“Hi, Jo,” Jake says with a toothy grin.

“Should we let them go?” I ask Eric as I set Joey on her feet.

“Sure,” he says.

“Come, Jo.” Jake holds out one of his hands to Joey.

She looks up at me and I say, “Go, have fun. You’ve wanted to do this all day.”

“Okay,” she smiles up at me. Jake is almost as tall as Joey and as they walk off I want to start taking pictures, but I don’t. Instead I take Eric’s hand and we follow behind them.

“So far, so good,” I say as the kids start running.

“What he lacks in language he makes up for in athleticism,” Eric says. “We’ll work on getting him to say your name correctly.”

“He’ll figure it out sooner or later. Does he say cookie?”

“Sort of.”

“There you go; it’s not just my name. Kids usually have trouble with it, because they can’t say S’s. He has that much, which is already a step in the right direction.”

“Yeah, he’ll get there, but it won’t hurt to coach him on it. I brought sandbox toys and some snacks for the kids,” he says.

“You read my mind. I have snacks too,” I smile and pat my bag. “Juice boxes as well.”

“Jake’s still better with a sippy cup unless he’s sitting at the table, but he’ll need a bath tonight anyway.”

“He has to learn some time,” I shrug. “I still make Jo drink at the table. She gets distracted too easily and she’ll either spill or lose them.”

“Yep. We’re working on it,” he says, and comes to a stop at the edge of the playground.

“If it’s not too much to ask, can you ask Joey to go down the slide with you? She wants you to take her, but I don’t think she’ll get up the nerve to ask,” I request as we watch them climbing all over the toddler playground.

“I can do that,” he says.

I nod to the big kids jungle gym and say, “You’ll fit better on that one and she would feel like she was at an amusement park if you take her on it.”

He smiles and waits until the kids get closer before he says, “I need someone to help me go down the slide. Do you want to help me, Joey?”

Her face lights up and she looks amazed that he read her mind.

“I can help you!” she yells and starts running over to us, with Jake hot on her heels.

“Me too, Daddy!” Jake yells.

“Joey’s turn first. How about you go on the swings with Sookie?” Eric suggests. He holds his arm out and Jake grabs onto it so Eric can lift him up like he’s doing bicep curls.

“Okay,” Jake giggles as he goes up and down.

“Come on, buddy, do you want to swing or do our own slide?” I ask Jake as I reach out to take him from Eric.

“Swing!” His legs kick when Eric lifts him again.

“Alright, Jake, go show Sookie what a good monkey you are,” Eric says as he puts Jake down.

Immediately I have Jake trying to climb up my leg.

“You need some help, tiger?” I laugh as Joey walks over to Eric and holds up her hand for him to walk her over to the big kid slides.

“Yes please,” Jake says.

Eric takes Joey’s hand and leads her to the other side of the playground.

I bend down to pick Jake up and I walk over to the baby swings to slide him into them. We’re facing the slides so I get to see Jo as they go down them. She’s having trouble going up the jungle gym though. I trust Eric to help her up safely.

“Are you ready to go?” I ask Jake and I pull him back so he’s chest high to me.

“Go!” he yells, his legs kicking wildly.

I let go and a squeal of delight fills the air. When he gets back to me I give him a soft push. I’m scared to push him too high because he’s so young. Jake puts his head back and laughs as he goes back and forth.

A whistle from the other side of the playground gets my attention. Eric and Jo are ready to go and waiting for me to watch. I give them a little wave to let them know I’m watching as I keep pushing. Eric holds onto Jo as they start to move down the slide. My baby girl squeals and there’s that Christmas morning smile again.

My heart aches when she smiles like that.

“Mommy, Mommy!” she’s yelling as she starts running toward Jake and me. “Did you see? It’s so high! I got to go on the big slide!” She’s still yelling when she reaches me.

I manage to keep pushing Jake and I smile down at her. “I did see, sweetheart. It looked like a lot of fun.”

“It was. It was better than the slide that went into the balls!” Of course it is.

“Maybe I can go with you next time,” I offer.

“No, only with Eric.”

“Looks like you have a new girl,” I wink at Eric.

He sighs and says, “It was fun while it lasted, Toots.”

“Indeed it was. Maybe Jake will still hang out with me,” I sigh and notice he’s getting higher than I’m comfortable with. I take a step back so he can lose a little altitude.

“Just offer him snuggles and he’s all yours,” Eric says. He looks down at Joey and asks, “Wanna try the monkey bars next?”

“Yes!” she answers and starts jumping up and down.

“Okay, but they’re kind of far so you’re going to have to fly there. Put your arms out,” Eric instructs.

She puts her arms out and looks back at me.

“Eric is a good pilot, sweetie,” I assure her.

He lifts her so he’s got one hand under her stomach and the other under her thighs and she’s parallel to the ground.

“Fly safe,” I tell him.

Eric winks at me and then moves Joey through the air like she’s a squealing, pink airplane.

“Jake you wanna keep swinging?” I ask him.

He nods and smiles at me.

“I like swings.”

“Me too, buddy,” I agree and I push him again so he can get back on track.

 

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