“Too much information, guys,” Derek chuckled as he staggered out of the kitchen. “Night pop, night bun.”
“So beautiful,” Kyle mumbled, stroking my belly with his nose and lips. “So incredibly, fucking beautiful…”
I groaned and Kyle’s head jerked back.
He stared up at me, wide eyed, and looking completely freaked out.
“Your stomach just kicked me.”
“He’s kicking,” I chuckled and stepped back, pushing my top back down.
“He kicks?” Kyle shook his head, and moved towards me, falling off the chair in the process.
Running his hand over my bump, he looked up at me. “Since when has he been kicking?”
I took his hand and placed it low on the left side of my belly. “With a few weeks. At first it felt like butterflies, but he’s kicking good and strong now. Can you feel it?”
Kyle nodded eagerly, and pressed his ear to my stomach. “Does it hurt you?”
“No, it’s nice. It’s comforting.”
Pulling his face back, Kyle stared up at me with a strange expression.
The blue of his eyes darkened.
“Marry me?”
“Come again?” I shook my head, to clear my thoughts. He couldn’t have asked me that.
“I asked you to marry me,” he hiccupped, staggering to his feet. “Fucking marry me, Lee.”
“Okay,” I said, stepping around him, heading for the hallway. “You are obviously drunk; I’m going to forget you ever said that.”
I climbed the stairs quickly.
I reached my bedroom door when Kyle stumbled onto the landing.
“Are you going to?” Kyle slurred as he crawled towards me on his hands and knees.
I begrudgingly turned around and helped him up.
“Am I going to what?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist. “Jeez, Kyle, why did you do this to yourself? You can barely stand.”
Stepping away from me, he leaned against the wall. “Are you gonna marry me, princess?”
“Don’t talk stupid,” I snapped. “This is not the time to have this conversation.”
Shoving away from the wall, Kyle staggered towards the bathroom.
“It’s never the right time, for you,” he spat. “That’s the fucking problem.”
“Sleep it off, Kyle,” I growled.
Heading into my room, I slammed the door shut and locked it.
*****
Lee
Mike’s penthouse apartment was situated on the top floor of a swanky apartment complex, twenty minutes from the hill.
I sat on his couch, in the open plan kitchen/living area and gazed out the large window.
I briefly wondered how Mike paid for this place on his wages, when he answered my thoughts aloud.
“This was my grandfather’s place,” he said, passing me a glass or orange juice. “Kyle inherited the bulk of his estate, but grandpa left me this apartment.”
“Thanks for this, Mike,” I said gratefully, taking the glass.
I’d walked to his apartment building, and was exhausted. I took a sip of my juice, swallowing quickly, quenching my thirst. “And you really don’t have to explain about your family, to me; it’s really none of my business.”
Mike nodded, and released a deep breath, sitting down next to me. “Hey, that’s my niece or nephew in that belly of yours; you’re family now, too. You got that?”
I nodded, smiling.
Mike returned my smile.
“Good,” he said, poking my shoulder with his. “So, how’s my infamous brother treating you?”
“Uh,” I groaned. “The little that is said about Kyle and me, the better.”
I hadn’t seen Kyle since his drunken marriage proposal. He probably wouldn’t even remember asking me. He’d been wasted.
“I came here to get away from all the drama for an hour. Tell me something juicy.”
Mike chuckled and brushed his blonde curls back off his forehead. “You know the girl I’m seeing, well, I think I’m really starting to fall for her.”
My eyes bugged, and I twisted round to face him. “Spill the beans, Romeo.”
“There’s not much, that I can say,” he muttered, not making eye contact. His cheeks actually blushed. “She’s very private about our relationship, but I care about her, Lee. She’s…amazing.”
I searched his face, for the secrets I knew his voice was hiding.
He squirmed under my scrutiny.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he said, clearly uncomfortable.
“What aren’t you telling me, Mike?”
Mike didn’t have a chance to respond, as a key turned in the front door of his apartment, and in walked a glamorous middle aged woman, in a tailored, soft pink, trouser suit, with the shiniest blonde bob, I’d ever seen.