Chapter 4 - Part II
"I'm such a bad best friend. I forgot to ask you where Allie is. She was supposed to come with the milk, not you."
In all my worries and distractions, I completely forgot to ask where and how Allie was. She would never ditch me like that without calling or texting at least. Whatever it was, I hoped that it would be fine soon.
Terrence sighed, "She had some emergency, something to do with her grandfather, I guess. She was the one who took me to the park, actually, but when we were about to step out of the car, she received a phone call. She had to rush away." Terrence adjusted Raine in his arms and looked down at her - something he couldn't stop doing.
"Oh." I said and looked out of the window to hide my frown.
Grandfather? Grandpa Charlie? Oh, please no. Let him be okay.
I bit my bottom lip, worried for me friend's sake. Grandpa was getting old and fragile day by day, and Allie had always been worried about him - she kept berating him every time she came to know that he had been admitted to the hospital for some reason.
A soft kick to my arm brought my thoughts to Ryan, who didn't seem to be in the mood to sleep at all. If Ryan didn't fall asleep now, he would surely keep me awake a night and wouldn't let Raine sleep too.
And a cranky Raine was more like a nightmare of a baby.
I didn't even know that we had reached back home; I realised that when I found Terrence opening the door for me and holding out his hand, with Raine in another arm.
I gave him a smile and took his offered hand, feeling surprised at how safe his masculine grip on me felt. What was so different about this married man who made me feel like no one did? And the worst part? I didn't even feel ashamed that the man in question was a married one, with already a wife - it didn't matter how fucked up their marriage seemed to be or how horrible his wife was.
When he let go of my hand, with his fingers lingering on my skin, I pulled away quickly and flexed my fingers to get rid of the tingling. I curled my fingers, hiding them under Ryan, and that was when I actually realised that he had fallen asleep.
Thank God.
I turned around and gave Terrence one of my best smiles when I realised that I was yet to open the door and I had to take out the keys.
"Can you please hold Ryan? I have to take the keys out."
He held out his arm with a handsome smile on his face, and I watched Raine and Ryan in his arms for a moment.
The unease grew and now I was wondering for how long I got to keep the twins. Even though I barely knew them for three full days, I didn't want to leave them with a stranger.
At least someone who was a stranger to me.
I nearly fainted when I saw the condition of my house. No wonder it took her half an hour to do something that needed just ten minutes. I was utterly horrified to look at my drenched paper, the unmistakable smell of milk and god knows what.
But hey, there was no use crying over spilt milk. Literally.
I gave Terrence and apologetic look and he didn't seem even a little bit fazed, making me wonder if he had found Allie here before he met me at the park.
She couldn't even send me a warning text.
After seating Terrence on the only couch that looked clean and normal, I offered him some coffee, which he gladly took. He was probably more shaken up than me today, and he kept sipping his coffee calming, as if his gaze wasn't burning two holes big enough to for two more eyes in my body. He offered help once or twice, but a sharp look was enough to send him back to his coffee.
The drenched paper was actually a manuscript that I was working on, and now that I had resigned, I was contemplating throwing in the dustbin.
To hell with it!
I was in the midst of of crumbling the manuscript into a paper ball when -
"Why are you throwing them away? We could do something with them." He said, and placed his coffee mug on the table.
"I don't need them anymore." I responded curtly, shrugging and throwing it in the dustbin.
"Why?"
I sighed
"If you have forgotten," I mocked a smile, "I resigned this morning."
His eyes widened slightly and with both brows raised, he regarded me for a moment. He then clasped his hands together and looked at me dead in the eye.
"Look, we need to talk about it."
"Okay." I shifted uncomfortable and folded my arms.
That was just enough to bring a man's attention to breasts. Terrence ogled for a while, surely forgetting what he was going to say, but then I unfolded my arms with a scowl.
I was rewarded with a smexy smirk.
"I would like you to reconsider your decision to resign." He started, and I was twitching with excitement to have my job back, "I'm ready to make the accommodations for you to work from here. If you wish, I would get Miss Evans to assist and help you. I apologise for this afternoon, I was in a bad mood and I kinda took it out on you. I shouldn't have done that."
He gave a sincere smile.
I grinned back at him, "Even I was being a bitch, I'm sorry. Thanks, by the way, for letting me work from home."
"But I have a condition." He stated with all sorts of seriousness.
"Seriously! Terrence-"
He broke into a grin, "I am allowed to meet Ryan and Raine whenever I want to, as many times I want."
"Deal."
Even though I was grinning, I wondered if this deal was dangerous for my heart - the heart which already belonged to the twins sleeping in the bedroom.
"So, " There was a pause, "Does your boyfriend help you sometimes, you know, to take care of them?"
We were now plopped down on the couch, with me leaning back and staring at the ceiling. Terrence was sitting upright, with his elbows on his knees. We had discussed about all the arrangements that had to be done, and since Allie wasn't going to be back for a few days, someone else was going to do the task of bringing me my work here.
I smirked, "To answer the question you so subtly asked: No, I don't have a boyfriend. I am not dating anyone."
He smirked too, and threw an arm across my shoulder.
He seriously needed to be put in his place but Larissa wasn't here. Come to think of it, if Larissa was here, we wouldn't have been doing this at all.
"You know, if you want," He inched closer to me and I rolled my eyes and shifted away, "...we can have a nice-"
I shrugged off his arm and swatted it away.
"Apologies, Asshole, but you have a wife! And even though she is now in Paris, letting off steam without you, you cannot just use this opportunity and keep hitting on other women. It's gross."
He groaned loudly.
"I explained it to Miss Evans, and now I'm explaining it to you. I. Am. Not. Larissa's. Husband." He said, slowly.
I gasped.
"She is my stepmother. She is married to Vincent Powers, not Terrence Powers. Do you understand? I'm not stupid that I'd marry her."
Yayyayshesnothiswife!
I gaped at him, "Do you realise that you just called your father stupid?"
"I don't care." He shrugged, "That woman is a bitch and I don't like her at all. I don't understand why the whole PP thinks that I'm the husband."
I refrained the urge to soothe him like a child.
"First of all, I feel you, she really is a bitch. Secondly, it was always you who came to pick her up from work. We just assumed that she was married to you and she never even denied the rumours. Lastly, don't say PP, it sounds like pee-pee."
We both cringed.
Silence reigned for a moment when he dropped a question quite subtly and casually.
"When was the last time you had sex?"
I spluttered.
"Why would I tell you that?" I snapped.
"So that I know that when we make love, for the first time, should I be gentle or not. If not, I can always think of the many ways and positions we can start with." He winked.
Take me anyway!
I immediately slammed the door on that thought. To avoid his further scrutiny and to hide my heated cheeks, I escaped to the bedroom. Let him think whatever he wanted to, I knew my babies would keep me safe from his perverse ways.
"You say that as if I'm actually going to let that STD ridden dick anywhere near me." I snorted, when he had followed me inside.
His eyes scanned the room briefly, fell on the babies, but not even an inch of the smirk he had on his face vanished.
"He is feeling hurt." He said.
"Who?" I frowned.
"Dick."
"Who, Dick?" Who was Dick now?
"My dick."
My cheeks were on fire and I grabbed a pillow and hurled it at him. He managed to duck in time and laughed at me. I gathered my wits and stood up straight.
"I didn't know you had one."
He smirk just widened and what he said next made mine falter.
"Want me to show you?" His hands were on his belt, "You can even touch him. But I warn you, he's big and that's why I was asking if you're a virgin or not. I need to know that you won't be hurt when I fuck you-"
I flung the nearest ammunition I had at him: a diaper.
"Get your potty mouth away from my babies, Asshole!"
"And wasn't it you who wanted to kiss this potty mouth?" He smirked, and my cheeks were a raging inferno.
"Me? Oh no! I wasn't going to kiss you.'
He took a step forward.
"Is that so?" He whispered, his breath fanning across my face, the tension surrounding us again.
Before he could lean down and further tease me, Ryan started crying. We sprang apart almost immediately and I stormed out of the room, internally blessing the boy.
I was not out of hearing range, so I could hear his next words.
"'Hey buddy," I heard Terrence say, "I know you don't like it when mommy gives more attention to some boy other than you. You get to do so much, can't I even get a kiss?"
He was crying louder now.