Shattered Pieces (Emerald Lake Prep #3), page 9
“Sooo, it's your first sleepover, how ya feeling, guys?” Charlie asks, jumping on the spare bed next to Emmy, who is staring at Ben, Oliver, and me with this gorgeous grin on her face as she watches us crowded around Mel, who is in Oliver’s arms right now.
“Excited.” I say. “I’ve seen what you guys do on the camera feed, I got this.”
“Listen to this.” Charlie says with a laugh, hitting Emmy lightly on the arm and pointing at me. “He says he's got this. How cute.” I look at the two of them with confusion. Emmy bites her lips like she’s holding back a giggle.
“Oh, stop.” Emmy says, knocking shoulders with Charlie. “They are gonna be just fine. They are gonna rock at being daddies.”
I grin proudly at my girl, puff my chest out, and then look over at Oliver.
“Okay, you had her long enough. Gimme.” I say, motioning my hands like a greedy child. “It’s my turn.”
Oliver growls... like a legit growl. “Bite me.” He says, then looks back down at our little girl, face soft again. Ben just looks at us in amusement. Fuck him, fuck them both. They both have gotten a good, solid twenty minutes with her. So, if this dickhead wants me to bite him, I damn well will.
Leaning over, I bite his upper arm, hard. He lets out a pained grunt, then looks at me with wide eyes, surprised that I actually did it. I smirk at him with a cocked brow. “Baby. Now.” I repeat again, holding out my arms.
Emmy and Charlie start laughing. Ben shakes his head, gets up, comes to my side of the bed, and kisses me on the cheek before sitting down next to me.
Oliver gives me a death glare, but gently hands over the baby. I gather her in my arms carefully because I’m so afraid of dropping or hurting her. I've only held her once in the hospital. Before that, I’d never even held a baby before.
Oliver grumbles something under his breath before grunting as he gets up and heads to the bathroom, reassuring Emmy that he's okay when she asks.
Melody makes a few cooing noises, but doesn’t fuss as I hold her close to my chest. “She’s so damn cute.” I say, using my free hand to run it over her soft hair. “She totally has your hair.” I grin up at my man who looks at our daughter with so much love my heart skips a beat.
We all accept that Ben is the father. I mean, we plan on getting a DNA test done at some point just to be sure because Emmy wants a baby from each of us, but only a blind person could miss how Ben and Melody were practically twins.
Charlie said she didn't care if any of our children shared her DNA because they would all be hers anyways. I have a lot of respect for that woman. I'm glad to call her one of my best friends and have her on our side.
“Maybe, but everything else is Emmy. I mean look at how adorable she is.” Ben says, kissing the baby's forehead.
“He's right, no way she gets that from Ben.” Oliver responds with a chuckle, coming out of the bathroom and going to sit on the bed where the girls are. He crawls into bed behind them and Emmy snuggles up with him. Charlie puts on a movie, and we all just relax for the night.
I WAS WRONG, OH SO very wrong. I did not have this, and we were not fine, not fine at all.
“Maybe she's hungry again?” Ben suggests, rocking the screaming baby.
“She just ate.” Oliver growls, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
“Well, maybe she needs to be changed?” I say. “Check.” I tell Oliver.
“You check.” He snaps back.
Ben lifts the baby up so that her butt is facing us. “Someone, smell.”
“You want me to fucking sniff her ass like a dog?” Oliver looks at him in mock horror.
“Well, Emmy does it!” Ben defends.
Emmy ended up falling asleep early so when she woke up, she was wide awake. It’s one am now, and she stayed up with Melody while we all got a few hours of sleep, but when Melody woke up for her feeding, everyone else did too. And after Emmy was done, we told her we had this taken care of. So, she took the time to go take a bath. Right after Emmy shut that door behind herself, Melody started crying; and the longer we failed to calm her down, the more she started sounding like a mandrake from Harry Potter.
“Oh, I'll do it.” I grumble and check to see if she has a dirty diaper. “Just smells like baby powder to me.” I say with a shrug.
“Maybe we should try singing.” Oliver says, removing Melody from Ben’s arms and taking his turn at trying to calm her down.
“Do any of you know an appropriate song to sing to a baby?” I ask, knowing that my musical preference is not really appropriate for a lullaby.
“Not really.” Ben says, biting his lip as he looks at Oliver. “You're the other singer in this family, you sing something.”
“Oh yeah, I'll just make up a song on the spot.” He says sarcastically. “I can't just pull one out of my ass you know.”
Trying to think of a song to sing, I go with whatever comes to the top of my head.
“It’s time to sleep and you wanna know why. Because if you don't, you're gonna make me cry. It’s 1 a.m., and you're up again,” I start to sing, and the damn song is coming out like a bad remake of Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot.
The guys look at me weird, but then they see that Melody is starting to calm down.
“Hey!” Ben says, smiling. “It’s working. Keep going.” Oliver keeps rocking her as I continue.
“Baby, please tell me what I can do to get some sleep in the other room. Is it because you have to go poo?” The guys say eww in a playful way. “Or do you want more food? You don't want to bug your mama.” The guys say ‘No’ in unison.
“Because, Baby Girl, that just makes more drama. I'm begging you, please, I'll get on my knees. So just close your eyes to this lullaby. We’ll be right back, after this short track. See I think you’re fine and just enjoying this rhyme. But, Baby Melly, it's bedtime.”
“It’s bedtime.” The guys echo. Taking a deep breath to continue, it becomes glaringly obvious that it is quiet.
When I see that she is now fast asleep in Oliver’s arms, I grin a smug grin and do an air mic drop.
Oliver sighs, handing Ben the baby and kissing her on top of the head before going to lay back down. Ben waits a moment then places her in the bassinet that we have set up for her.
A snort from behind us has Ben and me looking towards the bathroom where Charlie and Emmy stand in the doorway with looks of amusement on their faces.
Unable to hold her giggles in any longer, one slips free. “I don't know what that was, but next time I'm totally recording it.” She whispers. She walks over to us, hair wet, and only in a towel.
“But it did the job.” I point out, then look down at our sleeping daughter.
“Yes it did. Thank you.” She says, getting up on her tippy-toes to place a kiss on my lips.
“How was your bath?” I ask, wrapping her in my arms as she puts hers behind my head.
She just shrugs. “Hearing her crying made it hard to relax. Also, sometimes my breasts leak when she cries, so there was that.” She huffs out a laugh.
“It was starting to look more like a milk bath.” Charlie laughed, crawling into her and Emmy’s bed.
Emmy smiles and rolls her eyes at her girlfriend as she sticks her tongue out, then looks back at me. “I wanted to come out and help, but Charlie said it was good for you guys to try and do it on your own. She was right though, you guys did awesome.” She kisses my lips again.
“I wouldn't go that far, Butterfly.” Ben says, trapping her towel-covered body between us and kissing her neck. “She cried like crazy for the longest time.”
“Yes, but you guys found a way to calm her, no matter how cute and silly.” She says, mirth dancing in her beautiful brown eyes. “We should get some sleep too. Melly will be up in another hour.” She groans.
“When she does, feed her and then we will take over.” Ben says.
I nod in agreement. “I think we are starting to get the hang of it.”
Emmy climbs into bed with Charlie, and Ben and I get in the spare bed with Oliver.
“I swear if one of you grabs my cock again mistaking it for each other, I will be chopping off yours. Got it?” Oliver says, rolling over on his side facing the wall. Emmy giggles from her bed and I can’t help but poke the bear.
“You know you like it, just like you loved it when Emmy stuck her finger in your ass.” Oliver's body goes stiff and Emmy curses.
“You weren't supposed to tell him I told you!” She hisses.
“Firefly, you're lucky you’re my whole damn world, or I'd be spanking that ass until it's tanned red.” Oliver growls.
“Oh no, please. Anything but that.” Emmy says sarcastically.
Oliver chuckles deeply. “Good night, baby girl. I love you.”
“I love you too, Caveman. I love you too, Tal and Benny Bear.” She says.
“You own my heart, Butterfly.” Ben says.
“You own my soul, Shorty.” I say.
“You guys make me sick.” Charlie scoffs, but I can hear her whisper to Emmy. “I love you, my Queen.”
“EMMY!” A ROAR COMES from right next to me. Oliver shoots up in bed.
“I'm here, I'm here.” I hear Emmy soothing him. The bed dips and I blink the sleep from my eyes as I feel Emmy crawling over to Oliver before straddling him. Oliver grabs hold of her body and crushes her to his chest. “It’s okay. I'm okay. I'm in your arms, safe and alive.”
The grip he has on her can't be too comfortable, but she doesn't protest, holding him just as ferociously.
His face is tucked into her breasts and he clings to her like she will disappear if he lets go.
I knew he had nightmares, but since we got back, he only woke up screaming once. I thought it was getting better, but I guess not.
Emmy whispers something into his ear and he nods his head against her chest. They both lay back. She pets his chest, letting him know she's real and there with him.
Looking over at Ben, I see concern and pain on his face for our brother who is struggling with his inner demons.
“What time is it?” I ask him. He looks at me, then reaches for his phone. “A little after six.” He says, laying back down and closing his eyes.
Even though I know it's the weekend and we don't need to be up, I get up anyway. Crawling out of bed, I grab my sweats.
“I'm going to get a workout in while Melody is still sleeping.” I say, looking over at our sleeping beauty, surprised she's still passed out after what just happened. Ben mumbles something before cuddling into Emmy's other side. Oliver and Emmy have already passed out again.
When I get to the weight room, I see it's not empty. Tyson is there, running on the treadmill and he's not alone. On the other side of the room is Mr. Park lifting weights. He gives me a death glare as I enter the room. What the fuck is this guy's problem?
Ignoring him, I head over to Tyson. He stops the machine when he sees me. “Hey. How was the first night with our Little Princess?'' He asks quietly, wiping the sweat from his face with a little towel, then he takes a big mouthful of water from his bottle.
“I don't know how you did it when it was just you and Charlie for that week. It's hard with all of us.” I say, taking the treadmill next to him.
He chuckles. “I don't know. She likes me.” He winks. “Never really gave me a hard time.”
“Maybe we just need to spend more time with her, have her get used to us.” I say as I start up the machine.
“That's probably all you need. Did she sleep well?”
“Actually, other than the 1 a.m. scream fest she slept through the night.”
“Then why are you here so early when you could be getting a few more hours of sleep?”
“Oliver had another nightmare.” I say.
“Fuck.” He sighs. “I thought they were getting better.”
“So did I. But I think he needs to see someone. Someone outside this school. He was shot, and after everything he's seen with Emmy in the past, I think it's all catching up to him. He watched her almost drown, get stabbed to the point she almost bled out, and then he got shot while she was in labor. It's a lot to deal with.” I remind him.
“You're right. We should say something to Emmy. If anyone can get him to do it, it's her. He would just bury it deeper if it were us.”
Agreeing with him, we finish our work-outs. When we leave, I see Mr. Park is still here, but working out with another set of equipment. As if he knows I'm watching him, he looks up giving me another glare.
“What do you know about Mr. Park?” I ask Tyson as we head into the showers.
“A lot actually. I made Mr. Tucker let me look at all the background checks on the new and existing teachers. He's clean. Husband to a wife for 10 years, 3 kids. Nothing out of the ordinary. But that doesn't mean I like the guy. Just because his past is clean doesn't take away from the fact he's a dick. I don't like how he talks to you guys. And don't think I don't know exactly what happened in math; I heard some of the other kids talking about it. If he keeps it up, I'll be having a talk with him and he really doesn't want that.”
“Well, if you make a plan to kick his ass, let me know when and where. I'll be sure to bring a chair and tub of popcorn.” I grin. He shakes his head with a smile.
FOR THE REST OF THE weekend we get as many baby cuddles in as we can, making sure that everyone has equal time with her. Almost every time it’s my turn she's either puking all over me, or crapping like she ate a bar of ex-lax. But I just suck it up, shove some tissue up my nose and do my daddy duties by well... cleaning the doody.
When Amy comes back for Melody, we all have a tearful goodbye, but my strong woman holds it together the best she can. Even when I see the tears threatening to spill as she watches the car disappear down the path.
“Less than a week and you see her again.” I say, hugging her close.
“I know. But I miss her already.” She sniffs.
“Me too. How about we go do something to take your mind off it.”
“How about we all go swimming? Break out the beach ball and nets for the pool?” Ben suggests.
“Yes!” Charlie cheers, wiping her own tears from her eyes, putting on a brave face for our girl. “Emmy, Tyson and me against Oliver, Ben, and Talon.”
Tyson high-fives Charlie. “Hell yeah!” He says.
“Hey, you're giving us the injured guy. How is that fair?” I whine as we all start to head into the school.
“Because I said so.” Charlie says with a shrug as if it was just that simple, before taking off with Emmy to go get changed.
This weekend was amazing and I enjoyed every moment of it, but my heart hurts seeing our baby girl leave. I can see Ben feels the same way. I plan to do everything in my power to keep us busy until we see her again and I can tell the others are willing to do the same. Sadly, this coming weekend Emmy and Tyson are going back down for the weekend. But if that means my love gets to be the one to see her, I'm more than okay with that. I'll just need Ben to keep me extra distracted. You know, with his dick?
Chapter 9
Emmy
“Okay, class. You’ve had a few weeks to get back into a routine, and now it’s time to get on with our projects for the rest of the year.” Mr. Gregory announces to the class as he walks in. Everyone groans, but the guys look at each other and me with hopeful smiles. We always end up with each other, so class projects were never as dreadful for us.
“And I think we need to change things up a bit. When I call your and your partner's names, please move to a desk next to each other. Also, starting tomorrow, I will have a new seating arrangement for everyone.”
Mr. Gregory starts calling out students' names. I tune him out, jotting down a few things I wanted to get the next time I go back home. It’s been two weeks since the guys had their first sleepover with Melody. I came back from my second weekend at home last night. Tyson and I took a little detour and stopped at a little park on the side of the road and made out on the driver's side like a couple of horny teens. By the end of it, his cock was hard as stone. I tried to offer to take care of it, but he used a lot of self-restraint and refused all my attempts. He said he wanted to wait until he could take very good care of me in return.
I felt bad, leaving him in that state, especially seeing how uncomfortable he was for the first half hour afterwards, but my out-of-order vagina was flattered.
Now I only have one week left until Amy takes me for my six-week check up. It’s crazy that Melody is already five weeks old. She went from being this little six pound baby to ten pounds. I guess all my milk is doing its job. She's beautiful, happy, and healthy and that's all I ever wanted. I'm so blessed to have two amazing parents to help me raise my baby girl.
“Amelia Knox, your partner will be Ethan Cooper.” That causes me to jerk my head out of my little daydream. I just blink at the teacher, not sure if I heard him right.
“Miss Knox, did you hear me? I said, your partner is Ethan Cooper.'' Mr. Gregory repeats, pointing to a guy sitting in the far back corner. Ethan gives me a friendly smile and a little wave. I smile back, still a little confused as to how I didn't get any one of my lovers with such a small class, I gather my things and make my way over. Risking a look at the guys, I see them all giving Ethan a death glare. Biting my lip to hold back a smile, I take the open seat next to Ethan.
As much as I would have loved to have been partnered with Charlie or one of the guys, I honestly don't care too much about having to work with someone new. All I ask for is that he's not crazy, or an asshole.
“Hi.” Ethan says, still giving me a friendly smile.
“Hey.” I say back.
“Should I be worried?” He asks, raising a brow and looking beyond me.
“Excuse me?” I ask. He nods his head, and I look over to see that my men are still staring down the poor guy. As if they are trying to use the force and do some Jedi mind trick that will make his head explode or something.
“Nah.” I laugh, shaking my head and looking back at Ethan. “They’re harmless, for the most part.”
