Chapter 34

LAYLA

The steam enveloped me, the hot water coursing over my body as I lifted my face to the spray. I grabbed my sponge, squirting some soap on it before I lathered up my breasts and belly.

My hand slipped between my legs, my fingers seeking out my clit. I had never masturbated before I met Briggs.

But he had lit the fire inside me, awakening the sexual creature buried beneath layers of childhood scarring. It was a week since he had been inside me.

We’d barely spoken since I stormed out of his bedroom that first morning after he returned from Louisiana.

I gave up trying to get off, tears pouring down my cheeks while my body ached for him.

~If he really loved you, he wouldn’t keep you a secret. He’d be shouting it from the rooftops. Actions speak louder than words.~

I was so lost in my heartbreak that I didn’t hear the bathroom door open. When the shower curtain slid open, a cool blast of air shocked me out of my trance.

I whirled around, a scream escaping my throat before I realized it was Briggs.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but I need to talk to you alone.”

“And you need to be naked to do that?”

“Well, no,” he chuckled. “But I didn’t want to get my clothes wet.”

“Oh.”

“I’m so sorry, Layla. I’ve been such a selfish asshole, and now I’ve fucked up everything. My daughter is gonna hate me. And I can’t lose you. I love you.”

“You’re not gonna lose me, Briggs. Every relationship has bumps in the road. We just have to figure out how to navigate them. Together.”

“I have no fucking idea how to handle this situation with my daughter.”

“She’s a great kid. Very easygoing. I think she’ll be okay with us being together.”

“I doubt that very much.”

“I need you, Briggs.”

“I’m right here.”

“I need you inside me,” I whispered. “Before you came in, I was trying to get myself off, but I’m not very skilled.”

He stepped closer, his cock bumping against my stomach. His lips found mine, engaging me in a hungry kiss as he backed me into the wall.

I locked my arms around his neck, holding on tight as he hoisted me up until I could wrap my legs around his hips.

I cried out when he entered me with a deep thrust, grunting as he pumped in and out of me while I clung to his shoulders. His thrusts were hard and fast, his eyes squeezed shut.

I knew he wasn’t going to last. He lowered his mouth to my chest, sucking my nipple.

“Put your leg up on my shoulder,” he panted, squeezing my ankle.

“Don’t drop me.”

“I’ve got you, baby.”

The new position let him go deeper, his giant cock hitting my cervix. My pussy spasmed, my walls clamping down around him as a powerful orgasm ripped through my pelvis. As his geyser erupted inside me, he shuddered.

“Fuck, Layla!” he groaned, with his face buried between my breasts, throbbing cock still lodged deep inside me. “Your pussy feels so good.”

“Layla!” Kyla shouted through the bathroom door. “Are you almost done?”

“Fuck,” Briggs slid out of me, lowering my feet gently to the floor. “We need to talk, Layla. There’s something you don’t know.”

“I’m going to be a bit longer!” I yelled.

“The babies are crying!”

“They probably need to be changed!”

“Well, yeah! It smells like a barnyard in here. All three of them dropped a deuce!”

“I better go help her,” I whispered. “She doesn’t know how to change a diaper.”

“I really need to tell you something.”

“What?”

He sighed heavily. “Go take care of the babies. But come to my room as soon as Kyla goes to bed.”

“I can’t, Briggs. Mary isn’t here. She’s spending the night at her church friend’s house, remember? She was going there after her doctor’s appointment.”

“I’ll come to your room.”

“Okay. But Kyla’s a night owl. You’re gonna have to wait until at least midnight. And she gets up at six.”

“How does she function on that little bit of sleep?” he asked, shaking his head. “I’ll sneak up. Don’t you worry.”

“Okay. I’ll keep Kyla occupied in the nursery while you get dressed.”

***

“How are you ~not~ gagging?” Kyla moaned, lifting her T-shirt to jam her nostrils and mouth.

“I’m used to it,” I laughed. I fastened the tabs on Jerome’s diaper and snapped up his sleeper. “Two done, one to go.”

She held out her arms. “You can come to big sis now that you smell clean.”

I scooped up Harris, laying him on the changing table. “Oh, buddy! That’s rank. What did you eat?”

“You’ll make a great mom someday, Layla.”

“Maybe.”

“If I ever decide to have a kid, and that’s a big ~if~, I will adopt. There’s no way I want to push a kid out of my twat and stretch it all to hell. Not to mention getting fat. No thanks.”

***

“Oh man,” Kyla groaned, flopping down on the sofa. “Babies are a lot of work. No wonder Dad hired two nannies.”

“We still have to bathe them and give them their bedtime bottles,” I informed her.

“How long will that take? I have plans.”

“An hour probably.”

“I’m FaceTiming with some friends back home at eight.”

“I can get your dad to help me, or Sonya.”

“Oh good,” she laughed. “I’m gonna head up to my room if you don’t need me. I’ll come to your room after my FaceTime, and we can hang out.”

“Um, I’m pretty tired tonight, and I’m on baby duty. I’m probably gonna crawl into bed with a book after I get the boys to sleep.”

“I don’t mind. We could lie in your bed together and read.”

“She said no, Kyla!” Briggs yelled from the kitchen. It was the first time I’d heard him speak sternly to her since she arrived.

He wandered into the living room, scooping up a fussing Jerome from the floor. “What’s the matter, buddy? Are your brothers picking on you?”

Harris and George let out matching squeals of excitement, their tiny hands swinging at the various toys hanging from their gym.

“Why were you eavesdropping, Dad?”

“I was doing no such thing. I was in the kitchen, and I happened to overhear your conversation with Layla. That’s not eavesdropping.”

“Is too.”

“I’m not gonna argue with you, Kyla. We already hashed this out on the boat. I don’t feel like having the same argument again.”

~Whoa. When did Briggs go all ~Dad~ on Kyla~?

I fully expected his next words to be ~my house, my rules~, or something to that effect. Not that I ever had a dad to say those things to me; or a mother, or anything remotely resembling a parental authority figure to keep me in line.

But I watched lots of sitcoms, imagining what it would be like to grow up in a normal family, with two parents who loved me.

“I’m eighteen. And you didn’t raise me. So you don’t get to start telling me how to live my life now. It’s too late for that.”

“As long as you’re living under my roof, you have to follow my rules.”

I was barely able to smother the giggle.

“This has nothing to do with household rules, Dad. It’s about who I am. You don’t get a say in ~that.~ I didn’t choose it.

“And you should understand that better than anyone. If you don’t stop giving me a hard time about it, I’m going to tell your mothers about you.”

~This was getting good. What were they fighting about? And why was Kyla threatening to rat him out to her grandmothers?~

“Go ahead. I can guarantee you they’ll side with me. And it’s not about ~that~. I have no problem with it. It’s the other part of it.”

“You don’t have a say in that either!”

“Actually, I do. Layla is ~my~ employee. She is a member of my household staff. Stay out of her bedroom!”

~Huh? Their fight had something to do with me? Was this what Briggs wanted to talk to me about?~

“This isn’t over, Dad!” Kyla yelled before stomping up the stairs.

“I’ll help Layla with the babies,” Sonya offered. “Go talk to your daughter, Briggsy. You need to get everything out in the open.”

“She needs some time to cool down. Telling her the truth right now will just make things worse.”

“The longer you wait, the worse it’s going to be.”

“I’m gonna go work out,” he said. “I need to be alone for a bit.”

***

I tried to stay awake to wait for Briggs. But when he didn’t show up at midnight, I turned out my light. Maybe he had changed his mind about coming to my room.

I was too tired to talk anyway. We’d probably end up having sex instead. And considering how keyed up he was earlier, it wouldn’t be gentle lovemaking.

My bed was so comfortable. I’d grown accustomed to Egyptian cotton sheets and luxury pillows. What if I had to go back to living in poverty? It would be worse than before.

When I was living in the trailer park, I was used to sleeping on threadbare, second-hand sheets from the Goodwill—conveniently located a block from Dorset Meadows.

And I hadn’t known then what it was like to sleep on a mattress that didn’t have springs poking into my back.

I would sleep over at my best friend’s house a lot, but her bed wasn’t much better than mine, especially when two preteen girls tried to fit into a twin bed.

If I married Briggs, I’d never have to live like that again. He said he loved me, but what if he decided our relationship was too complicated? Could I still work for him? If we broke up, he’d probably decide it was best if I left.

I drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep. Briggs was so quiet, I didn’t even realize he was in my room until he was sucking on my nipples.

He kissed down my belly before burying his face between my legs. So much for conversation, and sparing my vag a hard fucking. I’d be limping again tomorrow.

I kept my eyelids shut, enjoying his insatiable tongue laving my slit. He pushed my knees apart, spreading me wide open.

He started fingering me gently while teasing my clit with light flicks of his tongue.

“Oh, Briggs!” I moaned, thrusting against his fingers.

“~Briggs?~

I screamed, sitting bolt upright in bed.

Kyla rose up from between my legs, glaring at me as she wiped away my juices from her mouth.