Game Changer (14 page)

He didn’t seem too worried about my threat as his arms rested around my shoulders while he led us to the living room.

“No you won’t. There’s no proof yet, but I’m pretty sure I make cute babies; you’ll be begging for another one in no time.” I snorted and elbowed his side, secretly thinking that he was probably right.

Chapter 21

"Are you sure you have to leave now?" Marjorie asked, hugging me to her chest.

Aiden was out putting our bags in the car since I wasn't allowed to even touch them. Yesterday I slipped on the last step of the stairs and landed on my butt, sending Aiden into a panic which resulted in me hardly being able to move without him hovering over me. I swear, you'd think that as the mother I'd be the one who was flipping out, but instead it's Aiden.

"Mom, don't squeeze her too tight." He called from the door. We both rolled our eyes and laughed with each other. Marjorie was an incredibly amazing person, especially once I got to know her. She taught me some tricks for the kitchen, which were pretty useless considering I hate to cook, but I didn't tell her that.

"Aiden, what are you going to do if there's turbulence on the plane?" I asked with a smirk.

He blanched and groaned, "I didn't even think about that. Maybe we could return the rental car in Houston and just drive home." He suggested. I snorted and shook my head.

"No chance in hell." I crossed my arms. "I'm going to go wait in the car." I told him, kissing Dale on the cheek before I left.

A few minutes later, Aiden came running out of the house, gliding on the ice until he slammed into the side of the car. "Smooth." I said once he got in.

"I try."

Several long hours later, we were pulling out of the Houston airport. Aiden took the wrong exit and I sighed, I was so ready to be home in my own bed.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because we have to get your car!" He'd been so excited about it since Christmas that I should have expected that.

"Like, right now?" I asked, looking around.

He nodded and took my hand into his and rested them on his lap. I yawned and leaned over the console between us until my head was resting on his arm. Aiden unlinked our hands and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, keeping his left hand on the wheel so I could sleep on his chest. "Thanks." I whispered.

I woke up when I felt Aiden's hands rubbing my arms and his lips against my forehead. "Wake up honey, we're here." He said softly as I opened my eyes slowly. I looked around and saw that we were, indeed, in a car park. "Mm, where is it?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

Instead of answering with words, Aiden put the car into drive and pulled up to the front of the dealership where a shining white Ford Explorer was waiting for me. Seeing it in person, I couldn't help but feel the excitement Aiden had been experiencing all week.

"Where are the keys?" I asked, grinning.

He dug into his pocket and pulled them out, explaining that he'd run inside when I was asleep. I took them and waited patiently for Aiden to come around and help me out, knowing he'd throw a hissy fit if I didn't wait. On the ground, we both practically ran to the car and hopped in. It had that exciting new car smell and the leather felt silky beneath my fingertips.

"This is so amazing." I said in awe.

"So you like it now?" He asked knowingly.

I smiled and pulled him in for a kiss, showing him how much I enjoyed the gift. After a few minutes of that, Aiden pulled back reluctantly and said, "I'll follow you home." And slipped out of the car, running back to his truck.

I bit my lip and rubbed the steering wheel. Slowly, I put the keys in the ignition and turned it over, giggling when I heard it purr to life. I definitely had the best boyfriend ever.

Back at the house, Ethan and Kira were waiting for us outside. We all hugged, and then they attacked my car.

"Ethan, why can't you buy me nice things like this?" Kira asked, fake pouting.

Ethan threw a glare at Aiden which made me burst out laughing.

By that point, I was so tired that I was practically falling asleep standing up. Aiden noticed this though and picked me up, carrying me bridal style up to my bedroom.

"You don't have to carry me." I told him softly, although I made no move to get him to stop.

"You're exhausted." He said quietly as he set me on the bed and helped me into my pajamas.

I had no idea if every pregnancy felt this way, but I felt wiped out all the time. I got under the covers as Aiden de-clothed down to his boxers and climbed in behind me. We fell asleep with his arms holding me tightly with my head on his chest.

The next day, I had to repack my suitcase, this time only with three daytime outfits and one formal one for New Years. Aiden was once again taking on the role of bellboy and carried all of my things downstairs for me. Luckily, this bag was smaller and therefore lighter.

This time when we left the house, Ethan and Kira were in the backseat. We were riding in my new car, but Aiden was driving. I preferred it when he was behind the wheel. We spent hours in the car, literally, and pulled up to Erica's new house at around 9:30 at night.

Ethan and Aiden had taken turns driving, leaving us girls in the back seat for most of the trip.  It would have normally been just a four hour drive to Austin but with two pregnant girls we had to make quite a few little pit stops along the way.

"Well, you can't say they're stingy." I sighed, looking up at what looked to be a mansion. What did Kane even do anyways? Oh right, he used to play football ... did that mean that Aiden could afford a place like this?

The guys grabbed our things as Kira and I went up and rang the doorbell. Erica answered, looking more like it was the middle of the day than night.

"You guys are finally here!" She exclaimed.

I hugged her awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable after not talking to her for a few months. After talking for a few minutes, we all headed upstairs to sleep.

Time passed quickly the next day, with me avoiding a conversation with Erica at all costs until I was getting dressed for the party. I wore a pale pink tank top under a dark grey skirt, a white and grey striped cardigan, and tan Uggs.

Aiden gave me a curious look when he saw my choice of shoe.

"What? It's freezing and they're comfortable." I narrowed my eyes at him.

He grinned and shrugged his shoulders, then continued trimming his beard. Wisconsin must have had some kind of effect on him because he was suddenly even more rugged looking; like a sexy lumberjack. Luckily for me though, he was keeping his beard very short, just enough to shade his face lightly instead of making him look like Grizzly Adams.

My hair was in soft curls down my back and my makeup was soft. I kept the jewelry to a minimum, figuring that if I was going to wear Uggs, it'd be weird to match them with diamonds. I walked over to Aiden and wrapped my arms around his back, kissing his shoulder, then resting my head against it. He used his free hand to rub my hip.

"You excited for tonight?" He asked.

"No, are you?" I replied honestly.

"I'm nervous mostly. The last time I saw your parents, Brittney had just crashed the wedding." He admitted.

"You have nothing to worry about." I told him confidently. When I'd talked to my parents after we got back together, they'd been incredibly supportive. I was just nervous about how supportive they'd be with the baby.

He finished up and turned towards me. "You ready babe?"

I sighed and nodded. We held hands as we walked downstairs. People were already filing through the doors; Erica was playing the ever obedient hostess and running around filling drinks for everybody. I thought it was kind of ridiculous, to be honest.

Aiden made sure I was safely on the first level before he let go of my hand. I ran to my parents, who were standing near the fireplace. Dad wrapped his arms around me and spun me around. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Aiden was ready to holler about the baby, but I threw him a look telling him not to and that it was fine.

"I missed you guys so much!" I exclaimed, hugging my mom once Dad set me back down again.

"You look so beautiful tonight Kitten." Mom said, moving some hair out of my eyes. "I wish I'd been smart enough to dress comfortably." She sighed, glaring down at her heels.

I laughed and nodded, "I figured that since it wasn't our house, it didn't matter much anyways. Erica’s the one who needs to impress people."

"Have you two talked yet?" Dad asked, using the tone he always uses when he's about to lecture me.

"No, not really." I sighed.

Mom put a hand on Dad's arm, stopping him from telling me what to do. He bit his tongue and sighed, taking another sip from his beer. Aiden came up beside me and handed me a bottled water. I smiled and thanked him, reintroducing my parents to him.

"It's nice to meet you again, Mr. and Mrs. Smith." He said politely.

My mom started smiling like a crazy person, "How are you Aiden?" She sounded so sneaky.

"I'm good ma'am, how are you?" He asked, his beautiful eyes twinkling.

"Oh, I'm great. I've been waiting so long for Emily to find a man to make her happy." I started blushing and covered his ears.

"Mom! Stop it!" I pleaded. But of course my mother didn’t listen. I swear it’s like mother’s live for the moment you bring your first boyfriend home so they can torture the heck out of you.

"Well…" She dragged the word out, trying to look innocent. "I'm just saying that I didn't know if you would ever find somebody. I thought you'd be alone forever."

"Alright, time to go before she ruins your evening." Dad said, grabbing Mom's hand and pulling her away.

"That was completely awkward." I groaned, turning to Aiden. He was laughing, "Shut up!" I exclaimed, smacking his arm.

He pulled me to his chest with his arms around my shoulders, "You're too adorable when you blush like that." He told me, still chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, well let's see how adorable that blush is when I announce that I'm pregnant wi..." But before I could finish, there was a loud crashing sound behind me, followed by a high pitched screech. I spun around and saw a very shocked and upset looking Erica.

"You're pregnant?" She asked, sounding like she was accusing me of something.

"Erica, keep your voice down." I begged, stepping forward. She looked down at my stomach, which was still fairly flat other than a hardly noticeable baby bump.

"No, I will not keep my voice down. Are. You. Pregnant?" She asked slowly.

I glanced around, my heart was starting to race as everybody stared at us. Aiden's hand on my back calmed me slightly and I turned back to Erica,

"Yes." I admitted. A few people gasped, including my mother.

"Emily, you're pregnant?" My mother stepped forward. I was starting to panic and Aiden seemed to sense it.

"She's pregnant, we were planning to tell you all during this visit. However, this definitely wasn't the plan." He explained with a confidence I couldn't seem to muster.

"You're not even married!" Erica stomped her foot.

"Clearly." I said, sarcastically.

"How dare you take this moment from me!" She screamed.

My eyebrows drew together and I looked at Aiden, who looked just as confused as I felt. "What the hell are you talking about, what moment?" I asked.

"I was supposed to get pregnant first!" She pouted.

"Are you seriously freaking out because you wanted to have a baby first? Get over yourself Erica. Not everything can be about you, despite your very clear attempts." I refused to raise my voice, but my tone was strong.

"You're always taking my moments away from me! You're out to ruin everything!" In the corner of my eye, I watched Kane take a long drink of his beer before stepping forward and rubbing Erica’s arm.

"Right, because at nineteen, I got pregnant on purpose. Just to spite you," I scoffed.

"Exactly, you're nineteen! Why don't you just get an abortion?" Everybody in the room gasped, clearly not expecting something like that to come out of perfect little Erica's mouth.

Aiden's hands tightened on my arms and he pulled me to his body. I put one hand on his arm, telling him I could handle this.

Before I could tell her off, my father's booming voice erupted in the silent room,

"She will do no such thing. Erica, this should have been said years ago, but as of this moment you're going to stop being such a little bitch. You've been the same since you were three years old, only you're getting nastier with age. You just told your own sister to kill her baby! How do you truly feel about yourself?" When Dad was disappointed or upset, you knew something was seriously wrong. "Emm, you and Aiden go upstairs and collect your things, we're all going home."

Home, for my parents, was about fifteen minutes away. When Ethan and I went off to college, my parents moved to Austin. I hated them being so far away, but they really seemed to enjoy living there.

I grabbed Aiden's hand and led us upstairs. We were silent the entire time we packed our bags. Before leaving the room, Aiden set our bags down and pulled me to his arms, placing light kisses on my lips.

"We'll be fine," he promised. I nodded, having never doubted that, and took comfort in his arms.

"I think I'd rather have dealt with Brittney," I admit with a grin.

His eyes widened, as did his smile, "Wow… that says something."