Chapter 25: Chapter 25

NICOLE

HETEROPATERNAL SUPERFECUNDATION, that's what the doc had explained and upto now I still couldn't grasp anything.

Old me would have laughed at my situation, at the odds of my life turning into the telenovela I used to watch on Telemundo.

New me however was terrified to the core. Lucas was Connor's father and he knew about it and he wanted us back. The thought of going back to him irked me worse than drinking pickle juice.

My hands brushed Connor's hair while Jr snored to my left. How did things go so downhill?

How did my life end up like this? And my sons. God knew things had changed so drastically.

Lucas was a monster and I'd be a fool if I let him get close to Connor or Jr for that matter.

The car we were in moved at a slow pace and I watched the trees swing at a carefree tempo and at the moment I envied that.

I envied the freedom the barks of wood had. Swinging with the breeze, doing whatever the fuck they wanted.

But this was freedom right? What I had at the moment was freedom but it sure didn't feel like it.

"You slept with him the minute you stepped foot outside my apartment"

Callan had asked me in front of three guys from B&A.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, I shamefully admitted it. There was no use lying especially when the doc had explained superfecundation occurred when a woman had one or more sexual partner during one oestrus cycle.

So like a knife jabbed to my heart, I had spoken words I regretted,

"I slept with Lucas Hawkins when I left you"

And his reply. So fierce and laced with so much hatred, he'd said,

"Great. We were never a thing anyway"

Two days later the words echoed through my ears like a broken record.

My eyes rising to meet the tank of a man driving the car like his life depended on it, I asked,

"How do you know this will work?"

The air so thick I could cut it, his vibrational voice rocked all the hairs at the back of my neck.

"It will work because I'll be with you"

I'll be with you

My heart pulsated and I tried to slap myself with a dose of reality but I couldn't get myself to forget everything this man made me feel.

Each and every spot he'd kissed that night. His hands owning my body, his teeth doing things I didn't think were possible and his lips so hard and yet so irresistible I lost myself in him.

I wished for that.

I craved that and damn it I wanted it even though it was impossible.

"The kids they can't know that–"

"They are my kids. Both of them"

My eyes turning glossy, my voice tuned to a low.

"Thank you"

"Don't thank me yet. Living together doesn't mean I've forgiven you Nicole. I'm doing this for them, so that they can have the normal life I didn't get to have", he clarified loud and clear.

"I never meant for this to happen. When I found out I was pregnant with Jr, I went to look for you and—"

"Lost your way?" He seethed and my anger went up in watts.

"I found you fucking another woman"

He didn't say a thing after that.

Tireless hours of driving and the escalade made a solitary climb up a forest of oak trees. Up front stood a town house, with floor length windows, sliders acting as doors and a well trimmed hedge around it, I held my breath staring at our new home.

Pulling the car to a halt in front of the house, Callan stepped out the vehicle while I woke my boys up.

"Is that our new house?"

"The one Uncle Jay said was big and filled with so many toys?"

"Uncle Jay?" I asked humorously.

"Uncle Jason", Connor grinned and I suppressed a smile.

I knew the B&A men had interacted with the kids but I didn't pin them as the uncles' type of men. Especially Jason Bates who'd once tried to teach me how to throw a grenade incase of danger.

"Are we going to live with him?" Jr asked pointing to the man who had his grip on the Glock assessing the surrounding area of the mansion.

"I don't like him, mommy. He's scary"

And he was scary when he was mad. But underneath all those muscles and the new ink inscribed on his body, he was sweet, protective and a gentleman when he wanted to be.

"Listen to me, that man out there will do anything to protect us. He loves you two so much. He'd never hurt you, you hear me?"

"Why? Is he our uncle too? Is he like Uncle Blaze? Uncle from another mom?"

I laughed at that before caressing their little cheeks.

"He's your dad. Your real father", I mentioned fighting the urge to shed tears for keeping atleast one son from Callan.

"Will he beat us when we ask him questions?" Connor asked and a tear escaped my eye remembering how short circuited Lucas was.

Losing his temper to the kids. Yelling at them. Wanting them to stay still in one place without talking or doing what kids did.

"No baby. Callan would never hurt you. He'll be a good dad to you two so be nice to him, okay?"

"Okay", they both said in unison and we all looked out the window at the man headed our way.

Opening the door, Callan spoke,

"The coast's clear. Come on"

And I stepped foot outside with Jr and Connor running out fast.

"Hey. No running!" Callan warned.

Jr didn't stop as his little feet scurried to the door. Connor stopped midway, glanced back and said,

"Sorry. Callan"

Seconds later he too was running to the door and Callan lifted a brow at me.

"I hate that name"

Smiling, my heart filled with warmth, my eyes met his.

"It will take time before they learn to call you dad"

"How much time?", he asked scratching the back of his neck awkwardly and I found the sight rather appealing.

His shirt clinging to his muscles like another layer of sunscreen, his muscles contracted and my mouth watered.

"It's an adjustment for sure but they'll learn to tell the difference between you and Lucas"

"I fucking hate it when his name bounces off your lips"

My arms closing in on themselves, I turned to face him squarely.

"I made a mistake with Lucas and I understand you'll never forgive me for it but I just wanna say. I never felt anything for him"

His heavy musk invading my nostrils, his body closing the bridge between us, I felt his breath fan my forehead. My throat parched, my heart pulsated, my palms became sweatier with nervousness.

Six years and I'd never been aroused like I was at the moment.

"But you still have it in you to defend him?"

He provoked and I held my ground.

I was defending his ass from Lucas. Trying not to start a war that would lead to bloodshed I didn't need in my life.

Opening my mouth to say something, Callan cut me off.

"The woman you saw me fucking? I fucked her to get you off my mind. To erase the fucking fact that you were in my bloody system and in my bloody thoughts. You want to know how that went?"

I didn't want to know the answer after what he'd just revealed. Did he—he loved me?

"Don't do this"

"Ask me how it went, Nicole?"

"Callan—"

"Ask me!" He growled.

"How did it—"

"I've never fucked another woman since then because believe it or not my sorry ass is still hung up on the woman who got married to another man and kept my bloody kids away from me"

His warmth dissipated and I was left standing in the middle of the pebbled ground trying to grasp the breath I didn't know I needed minutes ago.

"Me!"

"Me!"

"How about both of you?" Callan's distant voice sounded and I wiped the tears that threatened to pop from my glands again.

With the boys in his arms, he hoisted them up to the code thingy by the door.

"Four Seven", Jr input the code.

"One Seven", Connor finished and the smile on Callan was wider than the Grinch on Christmas.

He gazed back at me giving me the look of 'are you coming in or not?'

I followed walking to the door and inside the mansion.

Featuring 26-foot-high ceilings and an eye-catching rotating sculpture by the foyer, the mansion was every bit spacious as it looked on the outside.

Placing the kids down, Jr and Connor ran to the living room and I twirled in awe my heart leaping at everything.

A glamorous sweeping staircase stood in the vaulted entryway leading to the plush lounge complete with a stunning marble fireplace. Moving further into the house, I gawked at the chef-style kitchen, not forgetting the beautiful dining room and a mini bar complete with LED strip lights.

"Berkeley owns all of this?" I asked, taking a step on the swirling staircase.

"No", he paused taking a look at the kids who were already upstairs, "I do"

"Ooh"

"Mommy can we live here? Can I play with the toys?" Connor asked, grabbing a GI Joe action figure from the bedroom that had way too many toys.

"It's all your buddy. Do you know how to play video games?" Callan asked taking a couple of game pads from a nearby drawer.

"No", Jr answered his question.

A smile lighting up his face, Callan sat on one of the spiderman themed beds handing one pad to Jr and another one to Connor.

"You are in luck. I'm a gaming champion"

The sight overwhelming, I walked down the hallway checking out everything before I stopped at the last room opening it.

With bland gray colors and little decor, I presumed the room to be Callan's. A black duffle bag on his bed, I brushed my fingertips on it's zipper contemplating whether budging in to his room like this would auger well with him.

Opening the bag, a black t-shirt being the first thing that came to sight, I pulled it out shamelessly smelling it.

I'd be lying if I said his scent wasn't hypnotic. Musky, spicy and so erotic, all I wanted to do was…

And as shameless as it was, I had his shirt between my jean clad pussy squirming against the fabric, moaning and thrashing against the tension. The kids would be out any moment trying to look for me but at this moment, in his very room all I could think about was me, Callan and all the Kama Sutra techniques we could try on the bed.

The thought of him pinning my hands above…

"Nicole"

Startled, letting go of his shirt so far, I glanced at the dark eyed hunk of a man leaning against the door frame with a smirk.

Oh boy! Living with him was going to be a lot harder than I expected.