Forever Kind of Guy (9 page)

Gretchen laughed and looked at Stefan
. He wasn’t laughing. “Laura we will talk later, do I have time to talk to Stefan alone?”

Her best friend glared at her, but finally nodded. “Fine you have ten minutes before we need to be in the courtroom, so you two have five minutes
, and Gretch, we will be talking about that night after.” Laura glanced at Stefan’s sister and motioned for her to walk with her. “Let’s go find a vending machine, I need some chocolate.”

Stefan watched his sister and Laura walk away,
and then turned his attention back to her. He raised an eyebrow as he waited for her explanation.

Gretchen bit her bottom lip
, but kept her eyes on his. “It was almost a year ago. Robert and I had been fighting for weeks. I was—,” her voice broke and she wanted to kick herself. What she was going to tell him would change the way he looked at her. She took in a deep breath and continued. “I was pregnant, I had a miscarriage and Robert started drinking. He blamed me. He said that I should have taken more care of myself and his baby. He slapped me, and I hit the wall. I blacked out and woke up the next day on the floor with the maid asking me if I needed help. I left him that night, and never looked back.”

As she spoke his face turned to a dark red. “There’s more, what aren’t you telling me?”

She wondered h
ow the hell he knew her so well.
It must be the cop in him,
she thought. She looked down because she knew this would be the breaking point for him. “I can’t have children. The doctor told me that I would continue to have miscarriages that my tubes are damaged.” She brought her eyes up to meet his, and he was staring at her. “Robert was right. I’m damaged and you deserve to be with someone who can give you children.”

Stefan took her by surprise and wrapped his arms around her pulling her to him. “You aren’t damaged, and I never want to hear you say
that again. You’re going to have to give me some time. You’ve just told me something I need to think about.”

She understood that, because children had been something she had always wanted.
“I understand, Stefan. I really do. And I will understand if you want to end what we have.”

He lifted her chin with his finger, and glared into her eyes.
“I didn’t say that. I want you Gretchen. Nothing will ever change that.”

She nodded, and moved away from him
. With him that close she couldn’t think straight.

“Come to my place tonight
. I want to cook for you, and then we will talk about everything.” He brushed his lips against hers, and she sighed against him.

S
he would have to tell him she was stupid for thinking they could be just friends that had sex, now she believed that was impossible. “Okay, but I know that Laura is going to want to talk about it, and I need to tell her everything.”

He nodded, and smiled at her
. Laura and Britney came back laughing, and Stefan beamed at his little sister.

Gretchen turned around and tried to smile, but Laura narrowed her eyes.

“You don’t get to smile at me, I’m really mad at you. Let’s go and get you divorced.” Laura grabbed Gretchen’s hand and pulled her away from Stefan and his sister.

The judge made the hearing short
, ordering Robert to sign the papers right there in front of him, Gretchen was finally a free women. She could tell that Laura was pissed off, because she wouldn’t talk to her, besides telling Gretchen to meet her at her place.

Robert tried to talk to her as
she was leaving, but she told him no and looked around for Stefan. She didn’t see him or Britney. Her heart dropped a little, she walked out to her car and headed to her best friend’s house to get bitched at.

Laura had got
ten a good amount of money for her, and she didn’t fight her about it. If she wanted to, she could move, and she was thinking about it. She’d glanced at her cell phone as she’d gotten into the car and noticed she had one text message waiting for her. She had just enough time to check it. It was from Stefan. It only contained his address, and as she read it, she knew it wasn’t far from Laura’s apartment.

* * *

Stefan frowned at his little sister. She didn’t want to go home because their father would overreact, and she didn’t want to cause anymore drama. He’d told her she could stay one more night, but he needed to talk to Gretchen.

“You know I like her, you better treat her right. There is something about her that seems a little damaged.”

He’d already figured that out when he met her on Christmas. He didn’t complain because Amy had just broken up with him and he needed to forget her with someone else. He had with Gretchen. “I want to, but she doesn’t want a relationship.” He crossed his arms against his chest, and watched a slow smile form on his baby sister’s pretty face.

“So…you two just bump uglies.”

His eyes widened, and he felt his mouth drop open. Britney was only seventeen, but when he was her age he had already been with two of his girlfriends. “I’m not talking about this with you,” he said and arched an eyebrow.

S
he just laughed at him. “Stef, I’m not a baby anymore. I have had sex.”

“Stop talking now.” He felt his face growing hot.

“Just saying. And I know you have feelings for Gretchen and I know you are happy. Amy broke you and I was terrified I wouldn’t get my favorite brother back, but she is bringing you back. Tell her how you feel. Girls like to know, they don’t like to guess.”

He shook his head. He did
n’t know what to do about the woman that was becoming a part of his heart. Britney was right, Amy had broken his heart, and he never thought he would find someone he cared about again. He knew that Gretchen couldn’t have children and a family was all he wanted, even if he had told her that he wasn’t a forever kind of guy. “I don’t know. It’s more complicated than you think.”

She rolled her eyes.
“You are the one that’s complicated.” With that said she turned around and headed to the guest room.

H
e knew he was complicated, but wondered if he could spend his forever with Gretchen.

Chapter Nine

Gretchen knocked on her best friend’s front door, and waited. She was worried that Laura would be pissed off and she wouldn’t blame her. She’d kept some big things from her and she’d done it because she was ashamed.

Laura answered with a glass of red wine in her hand
s with a glare. “Get your ass in here and start talking!” Laura moved out of the doorway allowing Gretchen to enter.

She walked toward
the couch and sat down. Laura sat across from her, and took a sip of wine. Gretchen looked down to gather her nervous thoughts and prepared to tell her oldest friend about that night. “It happened almost a year ago. I was pregnant and had a really bad miscarriage. Rob started drinking and blaming me, he slapped me at first and I tried to walk away, but he wouldn’t let me. He grabbed my arm and yanked me back to him, I thought he pulled my arm out of socket, but thank God he hadn’t. He shook me, telling how it was my fault that I lost his baby, and that I should have taken better care of myself. He punched me hard in the face, and I fell to the floor. I passed out and the maid found me the next morning. He’d passed out upstairs. I left him that day.”

Gretchen looked up and saw that her strong best friend was crying. “Oh my God you went through hell and I was nowhere around. Why didn’t you t
ell me? I would have helped you!”

Gretchen smiled and stood up. She crossed the room
to Laura and wrapped her arms around her. “Because I needed to heal before telling you, Laura, I know how much you hated Rob. There’s more, though. I can’t have children. Well, the doctor said it would be nearly impossible.” Her doctor had actually told her that if she wanted children, she would need to see a specialist, but it would only add a fifteen percent chance to having a normal pregnancy.

“I want to kill him, I really k
now people that will handle him,” Laura said as she pulled away from her.

Gretchen smiled and shook her head.
“No, I wanted to be done with him and I wanted him out of my life. Thanks to you I have that and five-hundred-thousand dollars.”

Laura arched an eyebrow at
her.

Gretchen knew she needed to get back on her good side. “Look
, I know I’m the worst best friend ever, but I love you and I promise from this moment on to never keep anything from you.”

A slow malicious smile lifted
Laura’s face. “Well since you’ve just promised to tell me everything…how about we start with Claus? And how is the fuck buddy thing working?”

Gretchen sighed,
but sat back down next to Laura on the couch. She turned to her and shook her head. “Well the whole friends that just have sex thing didn’t work out too well. I like him a lot and I’m scared. I’m afraid that now that I’ve told him how weak I am, he will be gone. I can’t have kids and he comes from a big family. I have a feeling he wants one too, even though he says he’s not a forever kind of guy, and I can’t give that to him.” She closed her eyes, because all of the feelings she felt for Stefan were finally coming up to kick her in the ass.

Laura took her hands, but Gretchen
didn’t open her eyes. “Gretch, you are worth fighting for and you might be able to have kids. You don’t know for certain. And even if you can’t, there is always adoption or you can get a surrogate.”

She
opened her eyes, and smiled at Laura. “This is why I love you! You get me and love me no matter what.” Gretchen grinned at her, and Laura shrugged.

“Well I am loveable.” Laura winked at her
.

S
he laughed and squeezed Laura’s hands. “That you are.” Gretchen stood up, but turned to face her friend. “I need to go to Stefan’s. He is making me dinner and wants to talk.” She wasn’t looking forward to talking to him. He already knew most of what had happened and she feared next would most likely come the break-up.

“You know I like Stefan. H
e has brought back your glow that has been missing and you smile again. I wasn’t sure about you two at first because he has heartbreaker written all over him.”

Gretchen smiled because she knew the real him
, well kind of. She was scared of getting hurt, and Laura was right he had heartbreaker written all over him. “I will keep that in mind,” she said and walked to the front door.

It took her fifteen minutes to get to Stefan’s apartment, and she got herself ready for whatever he was going to say.
But she knew one thing, she wouldn’t allow herself to be tied down to him yet, it was just too soon.

She raised her hand to knock on the door, and it opened
before her fist could meet the wood.

Britney’s beautiful face appeared in the opened doorway. “Gretchen!” she said and
wrapped her arms around her.

She pulled away from the teenager and smiled.
“Hey Brit, how are you doing?” She noticed that the bruise under her eye was darker than it had been when she’d seen her earlier.

Britney shrugged, and looked down. “I’m mad and confus
ed. I don’t know why he did it. I know how to take care of myself. Having older brothers they made sure I knew how, but when it came to him, I couldn’t fight back.”

Gretchen felt her heart break
ing for the girl, she seemed so strong, yet shattered at the same time. Gretchen walked into the warm apartment and closed the door behind her. She didn’t think about taking Britney into her arms, she just did it, and the young girl cried on her shoulder. She looked over Britney’s head and saw Stefan watching them with tears in his eyes. She just rubbed Britney’s back as she cried.

“It will get better, but would you like me to show you how to cover it up? It will help with the people whispering.” Gretchen asked and Stefan’s youngest sister nodded against her chest.

Britney looked up at her and smiled. “I’ll be in my room. I have some of my make-up here.”

Gretchen grinned, and patted
her purse. “I have all of mine. I never leave home without it. You never know when you’ll have a girl emergency.”

Britney laughed a
nd turned around to walk toward the three doors at the end of the hall.

Gretchen
turned her attention to the man who took her breath away. He was wearing a white apron around his waist, and he was smiling at her. “Thank you for that, I haven’t seen her smile since I brought her here last night.” He went to her, and quickly wrapped her in his arms pulling her against his hard chest. “She didn’t want to be alone at home, so I told her she could stay here.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tighter to her.
“She should stay with you. You make her feel safe.”
You make me feel safe
, she thought, but didn’t add. She moved her head so she could look at him. He was smiling down at her, and she forced herself to step away from him. “Do you need my help with dinner?” She stared into his hazel green eyes.