Chapter 4 - Part I

Thought you would need it.

My back stiffened. I didn't know if I should have groaned out loud or cried a puddle, because the last thing I now wanted was to see this man, again. I turned around slowly, my furious mind somehow noticing that Raine wasn't crying anymore.

What perplexed me more was the purple bag in Terrence's hold, and the milk bottle in his hand.

Where the fuck is Allie? She should've been here instead of him.

I narrowed my gaze at the bottle.

"Asshole." I greeted him as curtly as I could.

"Bitch." He extended the same warmth to me. I eyed the bottle again.

How did he manage to get the bag and the bottle? Why is he here? Did he kidnap Allie? Oh my God, where is Allie?!

"I haven't poisoned it," He seemed to catch my gaze but misinterpreted my thoughts, "I'm not that inhumane. Miss Evans gave it to me."

Hurt flickered in his gaze and I felt my glare soften by a thousandth fraction. I needed the bottle anyway, there was no use in keeping Raine hungry. I took the bottle held it in front of the her mouth.

"Drink it up, Raine." I whispered softly and ignored the feeling that his gaze was trained on me.

Raine was soundly drinking the milk, kept her eyes closed, and spilled the milk quite often that I kept wiping the trail of milk on her pink cheeks.

Then Raine opened her eyes, and even though she couldn't see too far, her eyes moved in the direction of Terrence Powers. She kept looking at him, her mouth leaving the milk bottle.

I looked up to find that Terrence was looking at her, too, and I couldn't comprehend even a bit of what was going on in that Asshole's brain. Something clenched in my chest, and for a moment I squirmed.

Just for a little moment, his gaze flickered towards Ryan, and the unease inside me grew. His eyes finally came back to Raine, and the slight frown on his face had me more scared than I ever had been.

No.

I didn't want the twins to be related in any way to Terrence Powers. It would mean that they would be related to Larissa, and that was only going to make me more unwilling if they ever demanded for the twins.

"Are these yours?"

Not even a statement, it was a straightforward question. If only a moment ago, I was despising the silence that was unknowingly making me comfortable, now I despised it even more when he opened that mouth of his.

Do I tell him the truth. Or should I lie? Will he even believe me if I lied? What if he really is related to them?

Do I really want to lie to him?

No. I searched his gaze, but all I could see was desperation, and maybe assurance. Maybe, maybe he was smarter and kinder than what I pegged him to be.

"Alys-"

"No." The bitter, honest truth came out of my mouth.

His eyes came up to meet mine, and I didn't fail to notice how he paled. He seemed truly and utterly lost and I couldn't make head or tail of what to do other than going with honesty.

A melancholic smile took over my face. "As much as I wish they were, they aren't mine, Mr. Powers."

"Then whom do they belong to?" He didn't miss a beat and looked at me as if the answer would be deciding his entire future.

I kept silent.

"I don't know." I whispered after sometime, holding in my emotions.

I looked down at Raine and kissed her forehead, a small smile playing with my lips. Terrence was now looking at me and offered a weak smile when I gave him one of my own.

And here I though that hell would freeze over before I would ever feel any kind of warmth towards him.

From the corner of my eyes, it didn't escape me - how his arms and his fingers were twitching, his jaw slightly clenched as if he was trying to stop himself from doing something like-

-Knocking me out cold and stealing my twins away?

Ryan's gurgle interrupted my train of thought and I chuckled at how excitedly his feet were kicking up in the air. He made another sound and I found that he had vomited over himself.

"Looks like someone is in the mood to play, but now has vomit all over himself." I said, turning to put Raine in a stroller when a thought crossed my mind and I stopped.

"Wanna hold her?" I smiled at him and for a moment, he looked absolutely dumbfounded.

And so, so cute...

Have some shame, he's married.

"It's completely fine if you don't want to, I can put her back in the stroller." I assured when he didn't make any movement for sometime.

"No!"

He yelled before I could turn around, "I mean yes! Yes, I want to hold her. In fact, I want to hold the both of them."

He held out both his arms and I giggled at his lost look. I stepped closer to him, his masculine scent teasing and twirling around me, making me almost sigh. I tucked Raine in the crook of his arm and smiled again, at how small she looked in his thick arms.

I took the bag that had fallen down and pulled out some napkins to wipe Ryan's mouth. His tiny fist reached out towards me and I cooed, wiping the drool off his chin. He squealed again and this time, it was Terrence my gaze fluttered towards.

He was looking at Raine with so much love, that I almost cried. She was drooling, gurgling, squealing, messing his clothes but his gaze was still trained on her, the grin on his face making him look so, so handsome.

Such a pity, he was married.

My thoughts stopped the moment Raine gave a toothless smile, and it seemed like the axis of Terrence's world shifted. Before I could coo and awe at the beautiful scene unfurling, that asshole had to open his mouth

"How did you come across them?"

My smile fell quickly, and I knew I was looking at him more coldly than he deserved. The way he bit his tongue showed that he regretted asking the question as much as I hated him for ruining the moment.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot tell a random stranger everything about my babies, now, can I?" I said, as politely as I could muster, and then lifted Ryan.

He sighed and nodded, but a determined look flashed in his gaze.

Oh no.

"You don't want to stay in your stroller, do you, Ryan?" I was now cooing and cuddling Ryan to me, trying to get rid of the unease in the pits of my abdomen.

Terrence found a bench to sit on and nonchalantly asked when I sat down next to him, "How old are they?"

I carefully dodged Ryan's hands right then when I realised that he was reaching for my breasts. Terrence caught the moment and his gaze lingered on my breasts longer than necessary.

Men.

I reined in my blush when I answered, "Probably two and a half days. As far as I know, they were born on tenth of April, probably around three or four o'clock in the morning."

I decided that I didn't like the look on his face. As if he was trying to match pieces and fit them to solve the puzzle.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

"Nice try, Mr. Powers. Answering that would need the answer to how, when and where I found the babies." I narrowed my eyes when I realised that I would've to reveal more than I wanted just to answer that one question.

He shrugged and said the only thing he could, at that moment, "You can call me Terrence."

I gave him a cheeky grin, "Nah, I prefer calling you 'Asshole'. Suits you."

"Bitch." He muttered.

Raine once again caught our attention. This time, she was making strange grunting noises and her fists were clenched, her face was twisted and red with excess of blood, and her blues concentrating hard on his tie.

Oh. No.

"No, no, no, no, no, Raine! Not there!"

But before I could put Ryan back in the stroller and take Raine from him, the deed was done and Terrence made a funny face.

And then followed an absolutely suffocating stink.

"She did it, didn't she?" I gaped as Terrence's face twisted, looking at a Raine who had a contented little smile on her face.

Sneaky little devil!

I quickly set Ryan down in the stroller and fished out a diaper and some tissues and wet wipes to clean Raine. When I turned around, a laugh bubbled out of my throat when I saw that Terrence was sniffing his arm. I nearly keeled over as my body doubled in laughter when he scrunched up his nose.

He gave me an embarrassed look and I took Raine from him, still laughing, and started cleaning her up in the stroller.

"I'll get it laundered if you want. I'll hand it to you later." I offered.

"No thanks, I'll manage." He replied and shrugged off his suit jacket. He took off his tie, rolled the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows, and slumped back down on the bench.

He looked so damn hot.

He's married for fuck's sake!

His arms, damn, his thick arms, with sinewy muscles and veins had me chewing off my bottom lip. He had left the top button of his shirt open for me to ogle the hard planes of his upper chest and the sprinkling of his chest hair. Without the suit jacket, his shirt showed all the rippling muscles that were hidden underneath. His trousers hugged his muscular thighs and...

I gulped. He was too damn hot for my raging hormones.

He turned and I immediately looked away, trying to appear nonchalant. The smirk twitching up his mouth was enough to tell me that he had caught me ogling.

Now it was his turn for perusal.

Even though I was looking away, I was aware of his unwavering gaze on me, lingering in places that made me squirm slightly. It was intense - oh my, and I was trapped between wanting to rip all of our clothes off and begging him to take me, or hiding myself and running away to escape his dirty, hooded eyes.

Bad, bad. Alyssa! He's married, remember?!

I shook my thoughts away and that was when my eyes fell on the slight rise in his trousers, right where his man junk was supposed to be.

I snapped my eyes up to him and scowled.

"Keep your dirty thoughts away, Asshole, or at least try to hide that boner of yours with your jacket."

He took his jacket and brought it to his lap, hiding his arousal. What was he even thinking?

Then he turned to me, and smirked, and my cheeks heated up on their own.

"What about you then, Bitch? Weren't you eye fucking me just a few moments ago?" He mocked, making my cheeks heat up further.

I scowled.

"In your dreams, Powers." I snorted, taking my eyes off his perked up lips and looked ahead.

Staring men - that's what I found - and they were looking at both of us with such intensity that I raised my brow.

Terrence, on the other hand, looked way too smug for my liking.

With the eyes of so many men still on us, Terrence inched closer so that our sides were completely pressed up, and his masculine scent was not-so-hidden by his stinking jacket. He leaned in closer with his warmth breath teasing my ear. And he whispered, "And what about this afternoon? I had to bring you back to planet Earth two times, remember?"

I shivered and my body felt like it was electrified.

Damn! He didn't forget it!

Just when I thought I could turn, glare right into his eyes and give a smartass comeback, I realised my mistake. The moment I turned to look at him, I realised that we were too, too close. My body tensed and his smirk faded - my nerves were haywire. For that moment, I completely forgot that the guy was married, and my eyes danced between his blue gaze and his dark lips.

I wanted to kiss him. And I wanted him to kiss me.

I had never wanted, so much, to be kissed before.

His mouth was hovering over mine , and our breaths were mingling. The tension in the air fogged my mind, and my eyes struggle to flutter close when he leaned in closer.

Don't do this!

..do this...

Do-

Ryan was crying.

My eyes widened, and I immediately stood straight, not being able to gather my wits so soon. I couldn't believe that I was actually going to kiss a married man. Shit! Shit! Shit!

Terrence let out a harsh breath and ran a hand through his hair, while I literally ran towards the stroller. We were so fucking close to kissing, and I knew I would have never forgiven myself for that. On top of it, I wouldn't have been able to meet Larissa's eyes as she returned and everything would've fucked up.

Ryan saved me from committing a sin.

Calm down. Calm down. Think about things that are not hot at all. Baby poop. Vomit. Dirty diapers. Dirty mind -

- I seriously need to think about something else.

A thought struck me, as I turned to find a frustrated Terrence - secretly liking that Terrence Powers was shaken by a baby's cockblocking. I grinned.

"You wanted to hold both Raine and Ryan, right?"

When he fully comprehended my questions, all his frustrations vanished, and were replaced by an excited, flushed face. He nodded eagerly.

I chuckled.

I picked Ryan up from the stroller wondering how the boy had gotten slightly heavier within two days. I cooed and walked towards Terrence, who was looking at Ryan all the time. I bent down and Terrence took Ryan from me, looking down at him in awe.

"Hey, Ryan," I cooed, "Say hi to Terrence."

With that, I turned around to bring Raine to us. Once Raine was safely tucked beside Ryan, I took a moment to admire the picture in front of me.

It was beautiful.

Terrence, a man of a huge stature, had two little infants in his arms and he was grinning down at them. It couldn't warm my heart more, but, along with it, came a flicker of uncertainty.

Terrence was a man of means. If he was really related somehow to the twins - hopefully, wasn't their father - and could confirm his suspicions...

...How long did I have the babies with me?

I shook that thought off, for now, and stealthily moved to take out my phone and took a picture of the three, all of them smiling together.

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