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Chapter Six

AJ didn’t have a chance to explain. Sam and Howie came pushing through the crowd as I stood glaring at him.

“Hey, there you are. Where were you?” Howie asked.

“I had to take a piss,” AJ said cooly. He slid his sunglasses on, masking the lie.

“That must have been one long piss,” Sam said. “We’ve been looking for you for awhile.”

AJ waved carelessly. “Eh, I was around. Where’s Brian and Kev?”

“Kev pulled out his back bull riding,” Howie explained. AJ broke into a grin.

“Damn, must suck to be that old.”

We headed out to our cars. Initially AJ had driven down with Howie and Leigh. Brian had come down with Kevin and Addy. Liv and I had come together; Sam had driven himself. I had given Liv and Leigh my car to drive back after they were done shopping. I pointed to Sam’s rental.

“Hey Sam would you mind riding with Howie on the way back?” I asked. “AJ and I have some business to discuss.”

“No we don’t,” AJ said, iciness creping into his voice.

“Oh, I think we do,” I said lightly.

Sam looked between the two of us, frowning. He looked over at Howie. Howie shrugged.

“I don’t mind. Let’s go. I want to beat rush hour.”

Every hour’s rush hour here,” I pointed out. Howie gave me his Robert DeNiro look. Sam tossed me his keys. I rolled my eyes and opened the passenger door. I stared directly at AJ.

“After you.”

AJ looked like he was going to argue, but seemed to think better of it. He slid in and I slammed the door.

I didn’t say anything until we had gotten onto the Interstate.

“Alright,” I said. “Talk.”

“I have nothing to talk about,” AJ said coldly. He was slumped down in the seat, his face turned to the window.

“Well if you have nothing to talk about you won’t mind if I tell Rochelle the funny story of you stumbling out of a coat closet with another girl.”

AJ’s head whipped around. “You can’t do that. That’s against bro code.”

I glanced over at him. “Bro code goes out the window when you get married.”

“Wow. When the hell did you turn into Brian?”

I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I glanced back at the road. I’m not the best driver; it’s probably not a good thing to take my eyes off the road for too long.

“Brian freakin’ tells Leighanne everything. It’s pretty sad that we couldn’t even announce we left Jive without her beating us to the punch.”

“Listen, I know Brian gives new meaning to the phrase TMI, but…wait…this isn’t even about Brian and Leighanne. What the fuck were you thinking?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Well you sure as hell better try,” I said. “Because you know I have a big mouth and I’m about this close to punching you for being such a dumbass,” I said. I pinched my thumb and forefinger together and shoved them in his face. AJ sighed.

“I’m just sick of this baby stuff. It’s ruining what monkee and I used to share,” AJ said bitterly. “She’s obsessed. And there’s just so many rules. We used to do it anytime, anyplace. Now she gives me this monthly calendar like I have to have an appointment to sleep with her. And it’s not like I can just pop in a porno and whack off the rest of the month. Hell, I can’t even go in our hot tub because she freaks out that I’m killing off all my boys. I’m sexually frustrated man. I don’t even care about having a baby anymore. I just want my life back.”

“Well, it can’t be easy for Rochelle,” I said. It was hard to empathize; I had never been in his situation. I mean sometimes I thought if I just looked at Liv that I could knock her up. In fact, that was currently number three on my list of secret superhero powers.

“I know it’s not easy for her. You don’t have any idea how hard it is for me to watch her go through miscarriage and miscarriage. I just want to lay down and die.”

I would have felt sorry for him if I still didn’t have the pink lipstick on my finger.

“So you thought the best way to fix this was to go fuck another girl in a closet?”

“We didn’t fuck. She just gave me a blow job.”

I sighed. “J, don’t you think you and Rochelle need some counseling or something?”

“I’ve tried to talk her into going to talk to someone. She’s in denial,” AJ’s face lost some of its defensiveness. “Nick, I just needed to get this out of my system. It won’t happen again. This is just between the two of us, right?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. I felt like I was stuck in a hell of a situation. I was definitely not a saint; I had done my fair share of cheating back in the day. But, being married and cheating just seemed to be in a completely different category. Even thinking about cheating on Liv made my stomach turn.

But then again I had known AJ for a long time; he was like a brother to me. And if I was being really truthful, I didn’t want to be the one to tell Rochelle. Women kind of scare me sometimes.

“Nick?”

“It can never happen again AJ,” I finally said. “If I even hear---“

“It’s not going to happen again,” AJ said forcefully. “I love Ro. Just please, tell me you won’t say anything.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I won’t say anything,” I finally said.

“Thanks, Nick. I owe you one.”

He owed me a hell of a lot more than one.

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“I can’t believe you guys rode a bull for twenty bucks. Wait, I take that back. I can so believe you did that.”

I had dropped AJ off at his apartment and then drove back to my condo. Liv was already home. Brooke was in her high chair and Liv was trying to get her to eat some baby food. She wasn’t having much luck. I pulled up a chair and filled her in one the parade and the party. I left out the part about AJ in the closet.

“So is Kevin okay?”

“I don’t know. Brian promised me he’d call once he knew anything.”

I took the spoon and jar from Liv and turned to Brooke. She looked at me like she was seizing up an enemy. A baby food feeding enemy.

I gave her one of my hundred watt smiles. “Mmm, this looks yummy,” I said, holding up the jar. It was some type of vegetable medley that looked like dog diarrhea. I pulled out a spoonful.

“Watch the airplane Brookey,” I said. I made propeller noises as I whirled the spoon around in a circle. She never took her eyes off the spoon. I went in for a landing. She clamped her lips tightly together, shaking her head.

“Open up, it’s yummy,” I said. I backed up and then pressed the spoon against her lips again, but she wasn’t budging.

“Do we have any mashed carrots?” I finally asked. Liv shook her head.

“Nope. She ate the last jar before we left Tampa and I didn’t have time to go to the store.”

Brooke began to kick her legs, looking triumphant. I stared at her thoughtfully.

“Do you want to feed yourself?” I asked. I handed her the spoon. She stopped kicking and studied the spoon. Her fingers wrapped around the handle.

For one moment I actually thought she was going to feed herself. She brought the end of the spoon to her mouth. The mashed up food was still sitting there. Then as if thinking better about it she threw the spoon and started to laugh. The spoon hit me right in the forehead; brown gunk slid down onto my nose. A few drops landed on my lips.

I thought I was going to be sick. It was the worst tasting shit I had ever tasted in my life.

“Oh my god,” I gasped. I grabbed the spoon and ran into the kitchen. I flipped backwards and turned on the faucet. The gunk ran off my face. I opened my mouth and just started swallowing mouthfuls of water.

“It’s not that bad,” Liv said. I stood up, my hair and face soaking wet. I grabbed a dish towel.

“Oh really? Have you eaten that stuff?”

“Well, no…but…”

“Trust me. It’s bad.”

I wiped my face and hair with the towel and tossed it next to the sink. Then I went over to the refrigerator. I opened the door and rooted through our stuff. There wasn’t much, but anything had to be better than what was sitting in that jar. I stood back up with a jar of applesauce in my hand.

“Let’s try this again,” I said, sitting back down. Brooke watched me carefully as I unscrewed the lid and dunked a fresh spoon into the sauce. I pulled the spoon out and began another airplane ride. When I got to her mouth, she kept her lips together but I saw her sniff. Her lips parted and I stuck the spoon in.

It was probably the cutest thing I had ever seen in my life. For a second she looked really confused, then I saw her tongue working at rolling around the sauce. As the sweetness hit her tongue she broke into a huge smile and her whole body practically bounced with happiness. She swallowed and looked back at me with her big blue eyes. She opened her mouth wide.

“And we have success!” I said happily. I looked over at Liv. She laughed and shook her head.

“You’re like the Cesar Milan of babies,” she said. I had no idea who Cesar Milan was, but it sounded good. I leaned over and kissed her softly. She smelled like an orange. I suddenly have the strongest desire to suck the juice out of her.

“What are you wearing?” I whispered. I drew her lips in for another tropical scented kiss.

“Leigh and I hit the perfume counter at Macy’s,” Liv explained as I drew away for a breath. “It’s called Rendezvous.”

I set the jar of applesauce down on the tray of Brooke’s high chair. My hand snaked into Liv’s hair as my head dipped towards her neck. I inhaled greedily before taking the delicate skin between my teeth. All of the blood in my body seemed to rush south. I took my free hand and moved Liv’s palm onto my lap. Just the slightest pressure had me foaming at the mouth.

“Nick,” Liv said breathlessly. She pulled away. I stared at her in hazy confusion.

“What?” I said. My eyes fell to her breasts. Her hand cupped my chin and turned my head. I had forgotten about Brooke. She had used my distraction to her advantage.

The applesauce jar was lying on its side. Her hands swam through the sauce, scooping up watery mouthfuls. Applesauce was everywhere; in her hair, on her eyelashes, dripping down her chin. She was babbling to herself, no doubt congratulating herself on the good meal.

Liv stood up and scooped Brooke up out of the seat. Brooke let out a little diva-licious cry, her arms trying desperately to reach the sauce. Liv looked over at me with a smile playing on her lips. I loved her patience. It took a real woman to put up with a baby and me.

“I’m going to give princess a bath. If you clean up this then maybe after we can continue what we were doing.”

I knew that maybe. That maybe meant that I was going to get lucky.

“Sure thing,” I said. Liv headed to the downstairs bathroom with Brookey. I yanked open the cleaning supplies closet and armed myself with paper towels.

It was a small price to pay to get some booty.

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“He’s walking like Quasimodo but he’s going to be fine,” Brian told me. “We just got back to L.A. Kev had to lie down in the back like a mannequin the entire way.”

“Did you hit every single bump on the way back?” I asked as I headed to the bathroom.

“Well…not every one,” Brian said with a laugh.

“Is he going to be able to come to the studio tomorrow?” I lifted the toilet lid.

“He said he’ll be there. Wait. What’s that noise?”

I tilted my head so that I wouldn’t drop the phone. “I’m peeing.”

Dude I don’t want to hear you peeing. Why couldn’t you have put me on hold like a normal person?”

“That’s too much work,” I said. I flushed and headed to the sink.

“You’re a sad, sad man Carter. Be at the studio at ten tomorrow, okay?”

I washed my hands and reached for my tooth brush. “Kay.”

“Good night.”

“Pleasant dreams,” I said sweetly. I hung up and set the phone on the corner of the sink. I jogged in place while I brushed my teeth. Liv walked in and brushed up behind me as she reached around me for her hairbrush.

“Why is it that almost every time I see you brush your teeth you’re naked?” she said with a laugh. I spit out in the sink and wiggled my brush under the water.

“Well it makes sense if you think about it. This way if I spit toothpaste on myself, I don’t dirty a shirt.”

Liv rolled her eyes. “Only you would think about it that way.”

I grinned. She was dressed in a soft pink nightgown that floated flirtatiously around her ankles. I loved her ankles. They were the same ones that had been wrapped around my neck about an hour ago. I kissed her softly and took the hairbrush from her hands. She stepped in front of the mirror and I began to brush her hair out gently. Her eyes fluttered closed.

I took the opportunity while she wasn’t looking to stare at her reflection in the mirror. Her cheeks were tinged with pink in a perfect rosy glow. The rounded tops of her breasts peeked out of the deep rounded curve of the nightgown. The fabric pressed taunt against her growing belly. I took my free hand and rested it over the bump. She smiled.

I couldn’t help but think about AJ and Rochelle again. I tried to think about how life might be different if Liv and I were going through what they were. Would I cheat?

At any other time in my life, the answer would be yes. But I took it as a sign of rapidly developing maturity that I now couldn’t imagine being with anyone but Liv. My needs would always take a backburner if they got in the way of Liv’s happiness.

“Did you feel that?”

I paused in brushing. “Feel what?”

Liv didn’t have to explain. Underneath my palm I felt the telltale sign of a little foot kicking. I smiled.

It was hard to think dark thoughts when something so amazing was happening right beneath your fingertips.