I’ll admit, I feel a little guilty for being a jerk when we were eating. I know, I need to get my shit together if we’re going to survive this little arrangement. And I should probably work on forgiving her. Hell, after the last two weeks, I was convinced I could forgive her. I drummed up this crazy-ass idea that the three of us could find a way to be a happy family.
Perfectly stupid idea. One that I would have gone on about half-cocked until my brain finally caught up and I put my foot in my mouth earlier. It was a shitty defense move to keep me from making any lead way with her.
As long as we stayed mad at each other, my head and my dick wouldn’t crave her, right?
Wrong.
I still want her. Fuck, do I want her. The lust between us is hard to ignore.
It’s likely even stupider that I’m entertaining the idea that we could fuck. Without working anything else out.
Before any of that can happen, I know I need to apologize. So, like a puppy with my tail between my legs, I ball up and knock on her closed bedroom door.
“Everything okay?” she asks nonchalantly.
“Yeah. He’s still asleep. I just… shit. Okay, look, I’m sorry. For being an ass earlier.”
KJ waves a hand in the air and shakes her head. “It is what it is Rhys.”
Not even stopping to think, I grab her hand and pull her into me. She lets out a gasp, I plead with my cock not to harden, but it’s too damn late for that. My lips crash against hers, and it takes everything for me not to push her back into her room and on to her bed. “Its. Not. Okay.” I punctuate through more kisses before she pulls away from me.
She’s looking at me with a yearning in her eyes, and I’m trying to catch my breath.
What the fuck was I thinking? Damnit. I can’t do this with her.
The stark reminder of why I shouldn’t cries out from the other room. She lied. My head screams. She kept him from you.
Why couldn’t she have just told me the truth?
We could be together right now. I wouldn’t be walking away with a case of blue balls.
We’d be living together, raising our boy together.
I’ve been here for a few hours, and I’m already dreading leaving on Sunday afternoon. I don’t want to be the ‘every other weekend’ dad. I want to be the ‘here everyday’ dad. The one who shares in all the little things.
I’m right back where I started. With my head a jumbled mess.
Picking Reid up from the playpen in the living room, he grins and lets out a loud fart that makes me laugh. Leave it to my boy to bring a smile to my face.
“Oh, dude, that wasn’t a fart was it,” I wince and fight back a chuckle. I’m pretty sure he just shit on me. “Come on, let’s get you changed.”
I don’t know what the heck is going on, but I feel warmth and wetness seeping into my clothes as I walk into his room. When I lay him on the changing table and look down, I realize he wasn’t giving me the warm and fuzzies. Oh no, this kid has really shit and pissed on me. I’ve never seen anything like this.
He’s not done yet either, before I can even start to undress him, more explodes out the sides of his diaper and all over the changing table. This must be some sort of payback for something. I’m being punished. I know it.
Maybe he’s mad that I’ve been gone for two weeks. Whatever it is, I got his message loud and clear.
With one hand on his tiny body, I survey the drawers on the changing table for something to wrap his body in long enough to get him to the bathroom so I can clean us both up. KJ might kill me for this, but all I see are clothes and blankets, so a blanket it is. I’m really out of my element here, but I’m stubborn and not about to ask for help. I won’t admit defeat. Nope, I’m going to handle this. I’ve totally got this, or so I keep telling myself.
I’ve got us both in the bathroom, and I turn on the water to warm. Glancing at my own clothes again, it’s clear we both need to get clean. Debating this for a few seconds, I decided it might be best to attempt a shower.
It sounded like a great idea in my head, but as I stand under the warm spray with a screaming baby in my arms, I realize, it probably wasn’t. He’s pissed, wiggling, slippery and not interested in anything I’m saying. There’s no convincing Reid that we’re okay and just getting cleaned up. In fact, he gets himself so worked up that he shits, again, all over me.
“Okay dude, this isn’t working.” I hit the plug that shuts off the shower and sets the tub faucet running instead. I reach out of the curtain to grab his bath seat that KJ showed me to use the last time I was here – no small feat with Reid in my hands. And I nearly jump out of my skin when I spot KJ standing there. A girlie scream that I’m really not proud of escapes my mouth as my heart settles back in my chest.
“What the hell are you doing to him, Rhys?”
I might have kissed her earlier, but I quickly duck back behind the shower curtain now. “I’m trying to clean the shit off of me, and him. He’s not exactly making it easy.”
She lets out a laugh before she composes herself, “He hates the shower, Rhys.”
“Figured that out already, but thanks.”
“Hand him to me, I’ll clean him up. You worry about yourself.”
“I got it,” I push back. Stubborn as a mule.
“Rhys, give me the baby. Wash yourself off while I tend to him. Sometimes ya gotta know when to wave the white flag.”
“I’m not surrendering but, just this once, I’ll let you help,” I chuckle as I try to hand over Reid while remaining mostly hidden behind the curtain.
KJ calls me out on it too, “Quit acting like I’ve not seen it before. Hand me, Reid.”
She’s right, and well…I’m too worried I’m going to drop him otherwise. KJ wraps him in a towel and walks out, shutting the door behind her.
About the time I reach for a clean rag and the baby wash, I realize one other important detail – my clothes, along with the rest of my stuff in my duffle bag, is sitting in KJ’s office where she’s put me up. I smell powder fresh as I wrap a towel around my waist and contemplate my next move.
I could open the door, attempt to get KJ’s attention and nicely ask her to bring my clothes. Or, make a run for it, into the other room.
Making a run for it seems like the best plan when I open the door and notice that KJ’s bedroom door is shut again. I’ll have plenty of time to make it down the short hallway and into her office space where my bag is waiting – without incident.
I slide in and shut the door with seconds to spare. I can hear KJ talking to Reid as she walks past.
As I slip a tee shirt over my head, I mentally calculate the score so far today. I managed to piss her off by being a dick, kissed her, she saw me mostly naked, and I barely streaked across the hall in nothing but a towel. This is clearly going great.