Unexpected Romance (11 page)

"If
I can't touch you, can I touch myself?" His hard-on would kill
him in five minutes. He’d hadn’t been so desperate to be
inside someone since he was a teenager. Usually after a couple of
sexual encounters the excitement faded. With Tonya he couldn’t
seem to get enough.

"I
want to feel you inside me."

Hell
yes. He practically leapt for her. "Wait. Just a finger,"
she said. Then she smiled. "I've been crazy for this since I go
into the room. Fuck me, Chris."

He
lowered himself over and buried himself in her. His mouth sealed over
hers.

With
all the foreplay and her inner muscles clenching him, he only lasted
a few thrusts. He groaned as he laid his head next to her ear. "You
teased me for too long."

"That
was the point," she said.

He
looked at her, feeling as if his heart might burst. He didn't say
anything. He couldn't say anything.

He
slipped out of her and reached for the condom. A cold shower of
reality rained on him. "Oh fuck," he whispered.

"What?"

He
couldn't say anything except, "Fuck," five more times.
"I've never done that before. Never fucking done that." He
rolled away from her. "This is all my fault. I lost control and
I never even thought." He grabbed his pants.

"What?"

"No
condom," he said, shoving his legs into his pants.

"Oh
shit," she whispered. She slapped her hand on her mouth. "That
did feel extra good. They say it's better."

"First
time, I've had sex, ever, without a condom."

"Me,
too," she said in a tight voice. "Throw me my pants."

He
passed them over and she dug into the pockets. She pulled out her
cell phone. "And your calling whom?"

"Checking
the calender." She tapped at the screen. "All right, we are
fairly safe. I'm nowhere near ovulation."

"That
means?"

"There
is almost no chance I'd get pregnant from that. We should be okay."

"Fuck,
I'm sorry. I can't believe that happened."

"I
didn't think about it either. It's not all your fault."

"It's
always my fault. I know better. I was taught better. Damn. That was a
good move." He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his hand
through his hair. Then he looked at the alarm clock on the bedside
table. "We need to move if we are going to eat before I fly
out."

"Right,
we should get going."

He
wiggled into his pants and he looked down at her, as if part of
himself were lying there on the bed.

Tony
glanced up from her book when the phone rang. Please don’t be
Chris, please.

Nicole
answered it. “Hello? Jessa? Sure, can I tell her who is
calling? Just a minute.” Nicole left the room, she returned
empty handed. “Do you know who Rory Lincoln is?”

Tony
shook her head. Jessa had pined after Colton all summer, but he
seemed indifferent or clueless. For a while, his lack of attention
seemed to make the girl want him even more. Tony could relate. She
thought a quick, clean break from Chris would be best for her heart.
Instead, she spent an inordinate amount of time crying over him.

“
Me
neither, but maybe this means she’s over Colton.

“
You
knew?” Tony asked, pretending she was reading her textbook, not
almost crying about losing her one night stand.

“
I
knew. Corey wanted to help her, but I said no. I also told him he
wasn’t allowed to tease her about it.”

“
She
told me back in the spring. Poor girl, watching her try to catch his
attention nearly broke my heart this summer.”

“
I
dunno how he managed to not notice. Neither did Tanner.”

“
He’s
so busy with the girl of the week, I don’t know if he noticed
anything.”

“
He’s
not so bad that it’s a new girl every week, every month.
Tanner, the ladies man. I’ve tried to talk him into slowing
down. He’s going to burn out between school, work, football and
all the girls.”

Tony
frowned. “I hope he’s just trying to find what he likes
and not trying to impress someone else.”

“
Me
too.”

Tony
put her eyes on the paper, but stared at the white between the words.
She wondered how many women Chris had slept with since returning to
B.C. She sighed deeply.

"You
okay?" Nicole asked.

Tony
pulled her mind out of her book. "Sure, why wouldn't I be?"
Because, since Chris had left she'd felt as if a piece of her were
missing. After the first few weeks, she forced herself to stop moping
about the house. She still moped in private.

"Just
checking," Nicole said.

They
had talked about it to death in the weeks after Chris left. Tony was
tired of talking about him, and now she was tired of not talking
about him. She was exhausted from the mental energy of thinking about
him constantly.

"You
liking school?" Nicole’s change in topic was a relief.

Tony’s
first semester had started a few weeks before. There was a chance it
would be her only semester.

"Nervous,
more likely."

"Must
be why your stomach is so upset."

Tony
didn't dare look up. "Probably. Maybe I caught something."
She yawned and closed her book. "Think I might take a nap."

"Right
after you go pee again, huh?" Nicole said.

Tony
had no choice but to look this time. Her sister-in-law looked at her.
Point blank. Tony knew she knew. She wanted to run away and deny it.

"Have
you seen a doctor?"

Tony
felt hot then cold. There would be no denial today, as she'd been
trying for almost four months to deny what was going on in her body.

She
stared at Nicole, trying to devise a plausible denial. She was right,
there was none.

Tonya
burst into tears.

Nicole
rushed to hug her.

"I
didn't know I was when I was ignoring him. I thought he'd want to get
back to his usual life when he returned to Abbotsford. there was no
reason to prolong things by texting and calling each other. By then I
was late. And a month went by, and I was still late."

Nicole
stroked her hair. "Have you told him?"

"I
have a dozen drafts saved on my phone telling him in different ways.
When I try to hit send, I always chicken out."

"Did
you use protection?"

"We
did, except the last time, the day he left. We got caught up in the
moment. But my cycle calendar showed I was far from ovulation."

"Things
can happen, in the moment. Never mind, what's done is done."
Nicole grabbed some tissues and handed them to Tony. Them she pulled
another from the box and wiped her face.

Corey
came whistling into the room. "I'm heading to work. Dryland shit
today." He stopped and stared at them. "Might not be a good
time to tell you that Chris was signed this year for us. He's got a
place in the city."

"Has
he been in town long?" Tony asked, lifting her eyes.

"A
week, or ten days. I put off telling you because you finally looked
perked up. I thought with the fall semester, we could put it behind
us."

Nicole
looked at Tony. Then she looked at Corey. "Let's leave your
sister, and let her have a moment of peace. I'll come kiss you at the
door. Paige will be annoyed."

Tony
thought about running from Nicole's prying eyes, but she needed
someone talk to. Now that it was out, she felt relieved.

Nicole
returned. "So have you seen a doctor? I'll call mine and you get
an appointment right away. I can give you some prenatal vitamins too,
if you need some."

"I
have some, I've been taking those anyway. I have a bottle in my room,
I take them before bed. They don't seem to bother me too much then."

"Telling
Chris… I won't pressure you to say anything. He does need to
know eventually."

"I
know, I was hoping for later."

"He's
in town. We can get his address easy enough if you'd rather tell him
in person."

"What?
Drop a home pregnancy test in his mailbox and let him wonder for a
few days?"

She
saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Shit! Corey had come back
into the house and he looked pissed. "Truck problems?" she
asked, innocently.

"I
assume
he
is Chris." His voice was quiet.

Nicole
stood and moved toward him. "Corey, I've only known for a few
minutes. Sit and calm down for a minute."

"Is
that why you haven't talked to him all summer? I thought after
screwing you all spring, he'd be out of your system. And now this.
Does he know and he won't man up? I'll kick his ass." His voice
got louder with each word.

"I
stopped talking to him long before I knew," Tony said quietly.

"Corey,
you'll wake Paige."

"No,
I won't. I'm going to practice, I can kick his ass there too."
Corey headed for the door. "See you in a couple hours. If things
go well for me.

Nicole
and Tony looked at each other. "I'll go tell the kids upstairs
to watch Paige for me. You grab the keys and I'll meet you in the
car,” Nicole said.

"All
right. Fuck, I hope we can catch up before Corey does something
stupid and hotheaded."

"I've
been waiting for that since I met him. On the way there, he's likely
going to calm down and realize he's not kicking anyone's ass. I gotta
talk to Jessa.”

Nicole
went upstairs as fast as she could. Tony grabbed the keys for
Nicole's van and her car, not sure which they would take.

Chris
couldn't believe he was back in Calgary. He'd thought about moving
back all summer. But since Tony wasn't replying to text messages or
taking his calls, he decided to return to Kelowna and lick his wounds
there, while exercising his ass off so he could make training camp
and finally be on the team. Be a superstar.

He
pulled on his red, spandex shorts. Dryland training, which wasn't as
exciting as being on the ice.

The
door burst open and everyone looked at it. Corey Porter stood there,
breathing heavily as he looked around the room.

Chris
knew he should find a way to sink into the woodwork.

His
former landlord, came over and grabbed him with a fist full of his
shirt. "You not only took advantage of her, you ruined her
life."

"Whose
life did I ruin?"
Tony's
? When she refused his calls, and
stopped answering texts, it had felt like his life was over. After a
few weeks the feeling dulled, but it never went away completely.

"Tony.
I told you to stay away from her. I said that you weren't good enough
to lick her feet."

"She’s
a grown woman. I asked her to come to dinner, I never demanded she
come to bed. She asked me all on her own." Chris cringed and
looked around the dressing room. Everyone was staring at them,
rightfully so. "If you take your hand off me, we can go to the-"

The
door banged open again. "Sorry everyone," Nicole Porter
yelled. "Corey Porter let go of him, right now."

Tonya
ran to them and Chris thought his knees would give out from relief.
He felt a step closer to whole again. Several bodies from the office
came into the dressing room to investigate.

"What's
going on?" someone asked.

"Wish
I knew," Chris yelled back.

"Family
matter," Nicole said.

Chris
took Tonya's hand. "What's going on?"

She
pulled her hand back and Nicole looked them. "Maybe we can go
somewhere private," Nicole said. She looked at the
administrators. "Can we use an office?"

Someone
nodded and Nicole ushered Corey ahead. Chris and Tonya followed.

"What's
going on?" Chris asked when they were shielded in the office.

"She's
pregnant," Corey yelled.

"What
does Nicole's pregnancy have to do with anything?" Chris asked,
looking from face to face, trying to get answers.

"Not
her. Tony. You got Tonya pregnant."

"Shut
up," Tonya yelled, finding her voice at last. Everyone turned to
look at her. She stepped back. "Shut up," her voice was
quieter now. "It isn't your job to protect me. It isn't your job
to tell people my private business. I'm a grown-up. I know you missed
all the teen years, when I needed protection. Back off."

Chris
felt his world narrow to Tonya. He wanted to grab her, to kiss her,
feel her, celebrate. "You're pregnant and it was me? It's mine?"

"You're
the only one I've been with. Ever. I can't prove that. If you want-"

Corey
stood straight again. "You'll be a stand-up guy and do the right
thing."

"Of
course." Chris felt offended by the accusation. He looked at her
belly, wondering if he touched Tonya's belly he would feel sensations
coming from within. He didn't know how many weeks she was. She didn’t
look any different than the last time he saw her. His mind spun too
fast for him to mentally calculate the time since he’d seen her
last.