Chapter 91

EPOV

Ugh…

I felt my consciousness slowly returning while my pounding head and stiff muscles protested loudly, demanding I remain still. It was a command I couldn’t seem to refuse and was more than willing to obey since I couldn’t figure out why I felt like complete and utter shit.

Shit.

The word itself brought back some of what happened the night before, but my brain was still foggy on the details.

A movie?

Shitty Shitty Bang Bang?

God, when did I turn into such a pussy that I couldn’t handle a few beers? Before last night, I couldn’t remember drinking more than a beer since the accident, so I figured my tolerance level must have been flushed right down the drain, much like my career would be if I actually tried to pitch a movie about shit.

The light shone through my closed eyelids and I was afraid to open them knowing the initial shot of pain I would feel was inevitable, so, like the pussy I was, I reached out for my comforting Sookie security blanket only to find I was in bed alone. It was easy to surmise considering I barely had to spread my arms for me to feel both sides where the mattress ended, but just to be sure I spread my legs out as well in case she’d somehow ended up at the foot of the bed.

Nothing.

I told the throbbing in my head to fuck off as I tried to recall how I ended up in bed to begin with wondering if Sookie had just left me there, pissed at me for getting drunk with her brother, but I only had to slide my body against the sheets and feel that I was naked for it to come back to me.

She seduced me!

My eyes shot open as panic set in, not recalling all of the details, but worried enough that I might have hurt her, only for them to squeeze shut again as the morning sunlight tried to burn out my retinas. My mouth opened, intent on making some sort of noise due to the pain, but nothing more than an inaudible grunt came out thanks to all of the moisture in my body currently residing in my bladder. That was enough to convince me to slowly raise my eyelids once more only for me to wonder if I was still drunk enough to be hallucinating when I saw my surroundings.

How in the hell did I end up in the middle of my very own shrine?

Everywhere I looked I saw my face staring back at me. Posters from movies and teen magazines covered every surface of the four walls surrounding me and while it was creepy to see so many pictures of my teenage self looking down at me, I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face remembering Sookie’s admission from a few weeks earlier that she’d lusted after me from the time she was ten. I hadn’t seen her childhood bedroom the day before having just left our bags downstairs when we first arrived, but now that I had a better idea of just how much she’d like me back then, if I was a peacock my tail feathers would’ve fanned out and snapped to attention behind me.

Speaking of cocks…

Mine desperately needed to be drained, so I slid to the side of the bed and grabbed my jeans from the back of a chair in front of a small desk. As I stood up to pull them on I noticed a scrap of notebook paper pinned to a corkboard above it littered with oversized teenage scrawl.

Mrs. Eric Northman

At least now I knew where the heart dotting the ‘i’ in her tattoo came from and a part of me felt like I should be freaking out seeing everything. Had I not already been in love with Sookie I more than likely would have, but it wasn’t until I took the paper down and held it in my hand that I had a flash of a dream? A memory?

My eyes squeezed shut once more with me desperately trying to hold onto it, but it was like gripping a handful of sand. The tighter I grasped it the faster it slipped through my fingers. I could barely see the ghost of Sookie in my arms fading away even as the blush bloomed on her laughing face along with the sense of feeling happy at the time that accompanied it. Now I was left with only the feelings of loss and regret, wondering if my previous night’s bender was the reason why I couldn’t hold onto the memory, and I was so focused on trying to resurrect the picture that had already disappeared from my mind, I didn’t hear anyone enter the room until I heard Sookie’s voice behind me saying, “Happy Thanksgiving!”

A whisper probably would’ve been too loud for my aching head, but Sookie hadn’t whispered and my shoulders hunched automatically while I winced in pain and could only manage an, “Uh huh,” in response.

Her arms wrapped around me a second later, with my own slipping around her without thought, and the need to feel her against my body was all consuming as I gripped her tighter, afraid she too would slip through my grasp just like the memory had moments before. The ache in my chest slowly receded now that I had her firmly trapped in my arms and the feel of her lips kissing their way across my chest made other parts of me stand up and cheer despite my headache with me quickly shaking off my melancholy, but it also reminded me of her late night seduction. With my arms already wrapped around her, I had easy access to playfully smack her ass as I buried my face into her hair and said, “Bad girl.”

I was by no means upset with her which she knew since her kisses were halted by her giggling. Denying her had been an exercise in torture for both of us, but that didn’t mean I was going to cave in so easily again. Of course that meant I should probably lay off the alcohol for the duration of the pregnancy which didn’t seem like a bad idea considering the way I felt at the moment.

She pulled away from my embrace and I opened my eyes to see her staring back with amusement as she asked, “Remembered that, huh?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t?” I asked. I would’ve gladly proclaimed that every one of our sexual encounters would be impossible to forget, but all things considered where my memory was concerned, I knew that wasn’t really the case.

“Do you remember snuggling up with your mistress, Mr. Tidy Bowl, last night?” she laughed.

See what I mean?

She must’ve guessed from my expression that I had no idea what she was talking about because she patted my chest, saying, “Don’t worry. Jason has pictures on his cell phone!”

Fuck…I rubbed my eyes to try and clear the rest of the haze from my mind, remembering he’d drank at least twice as much as me, and tried to deflect away from my own pitiful state, asking, “Is he even conscious yet?”

“Please…Jason is part fish. It explains why he’s such a pussy magnet.” She chuckled at her own joke before adding, “He went out last night after helping me get you into bed and only got home a little while ago.”

“What? He drove?” I asked incredulously. How he could even function after that many beers was incredible, but I knew firsthand what a bad idea it was to drive while under the influence and started getting angry thinking of how badly things could’ve turned out. It was a pot calling the kettle black moment for me, but I’d already grown fond of him and wondered if there was something about the Stackhouse DNA I was addicted to.

“No,” she soothed quickly hearing the harsh tone of my voice. “He walked. The local bar and grill is only a couple of miles down the road.”

My anger died down just as fast as it had bubbled up, but Sookie’s wandering hands were starting to distract me so I took a step back before I ended up throwing her down on the bed when she caught sight of the slip of paper still in my hand. She looked back up at me with chagrin, asking, “This again?” Her question only confirmed my barely there memory, but before I could say anything she held her arms out like a TV game show hostess, pointing at my teenage face staring back at us, admitting, “Yes, I had a huge crush on you when I was younger. HUGE!” Smiling, she pointed at the piece of paper in my hand and added, “I’d be embarrassed, but I can’t, considering how awesome my super powers are.” Wiggling her ring finger at me she giggled, “It seems my teenage self was a psychic.”

“I remember,” I confessed.

Smiling through her confusion, she asked, “What? That I’m awesome? It’s a hard thing to forget.”

The prior despair I’d been feeling over losing the memory hit me again and I pulled her back into my arms as I explained, “I remember seeing this before. You were embarrassed and laughing.” I quickly buried my head back into her hair and inhaled her scent knowing it would calm me down again. I suddenly felt very vulnerable now that I had a clue as to what I’d be feeling if Sookie disappeared from my life for real and not knowing if my next admission was more for her sake or for mine, I said, “I was happy.”

“Oh Eric…” Her words were muffled against my chest and I felt the appearance of her tears a second later. I had no clue as to what she was feeling and nothing to gauge it on considering her hormones were all over the place with her pregnancy. One minute she could be smiling and laughing and the next she’d be in tears, so I didn’t know if she was happy I’d remembered something or sad I’d forgotten it all to begin with. Only days earlier I’d been ready to run out and buy her a puppy when she started sobbing watching a commercial for the ASPCA on TV and there was still a distinct possibility she might get one for Christmas.

When I felt her finally settle down I pulled back far enough to wipe the remaining tears from her face and asked, “Happy or sad?” It was my go-to question lately since I never had a fucking clue and wondered if there was a pet store in Bon Temps that was open on Thanksgiving. If her tears reached critical levels I’d have no problem going door to door offering to buy the first dog I came across.

“Happy,” she frowned.

Maybe ‘Sookie’ means ‘contradiction’ in Swahili. I’d have to look it up later.

She still refused to tell me what I’d said to her in Swahili, but I knew better than to poke the hormonal bear and didn’t point out that she didn’t look very happy. My survival of her pregnancy induced mood swings depended on my ability to remain silent, so I waited until she worked through whatever was going through her head when she finally said, “When we get home we need to go everywhere we went to before the accident. Now that you’re mobile it’ll be easier and maybe it’ll jog your memories.”

“Okay,” I agreed. It was something we’d planned to do anyway and while I no longer questioned my feelings for Sookie or our relationship, I still wanted to remember. I felt cheated over losing that time with her and wanted it back.

A smile replaced her frown and she tilted her face up towards me, leaning in for a kiss which I was more than willing to oblige her on. My bladder, however, was ready to stage an uprising and thankfully she pulled back instead of trying to deepen it and with a crinkled face she said, “You smell like a brewery. Why don’t you jump in the shower and then we’ll get ready to go.”

“Go?” I asked. “Go where?” I’d been under the impression that we were spending Thanksgiving there at the farmhouse.

“The high school,” she said with a smile. “There’s a football game every Thanksgiving and this year I’ll have you as a buffer to listen to Jason complain about how none of the kids come close to how good he was when he played.”

“Was he really that good?” I asked, unable to imagine him being able to focus long enough for an entire game to be played unless shit was involved.

“He was,” she admitted ruefully. “It’s a shame he blew out his knee. I don’t know if he was good enough to go pro, but he’d been good enough that colleges were scouting him.”

“That’s too bad,” I offered. I genuinely did feel bad for him, but there wasn’t much more I could say about it so I grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom. When I came out a little while later I followed the heavenly aromas coming from the kitchen and got a good morning hug from Gran before finding Jason sitting on the couch with his head leaning back and his eyes closed. I bounced down on the cushion next to him and, a little louder than necessary, said, “Hey Jason!”

He proved his reflexes were still good when I was slammed with a pillow to the face a second later, but other than that he hadn’t moved, so when I saw his cell phone lying on the coffee table, I picked it up and scrolled through his pictures, deleting the evidence of my late night encounter with the bathroom floor. Twitter was already outlawed by Pam and I was pretty sure she’d keep me from opening a Shitter account too, but I was sure I could think up an appropriate alias if he actually started up the site. While I had his phone I took the liberty of adding my cell phone number into his contacts and then sent a text to myself so I’d have his number and was in the process of returning it where I’d found it when he stirred.

“Cockblocker,” he mumbled while opening one eye to glare at me.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, not sure how deleting pictures of me on a bathroom floor equated to cockblocking him.

“You, Mr. Sexiest Man Alive mother fucker.” I still didn’t have a clue what in the hell he was talking about since the only females around the two of us I could have possibly cockblocked him from were his grandmother and sister, but before I could come up with any disgusting ‘Deliverance-like’ thoughts, he thankfully continued on like he’d been in the middle of telling me a story. “So there I was, walkin’ into the bar last night lookin’ for a little holiday cheer when I spot a cute little brunette at the bar. I ain’t never seen her ’round here before so I thought I’d gift her with a little bit a the Stackhouse charm.”

When he paused for a minute too long and closed his eyes again, I’d wondered if he’d managed to charm himself back to sleep, but before I could nudge him awake he opened them, acting like he hadn’t just paused for a full two minutes, and kept talking as though he’d never stopped. “At first, all she could talk about was her boyfriend. Said they was in love but he was married to some cow and she was stuck waitin’ on him to get a divorce. I cain’t figure for the life of me who it might be ’round here that would rate someone like her on the side, but I know she ain’t from these parts since she talks like you.”

His strengthened glare at me had me asking, “What?” wondering if he was somehow blaming me for her not falling for the ‘Stackhouse charm’ or for my lack of a southern accent.

“Well I tried to teach her my motto: ‘If ya cain’t be with the one ya love, love the one yer with’, but she wasn’t buyin’ it… And Hell, it ain’t no secret ’round here who my sister’s married to so I shouldn’t a been so surprised when all a the sudden you’re all she could talk about. Eric this and Eric that. ‘What’s he doin’ and where’s he goin’? Ain’t he so fuckin’ great?’ Hell, by the way she was talkin’, if I didn’t know any better, I’d a thought you were the guy she was runnin’ around with.”

“What?” I repeated, ignoring the look in his eyes that told me I wouldn’t be leaving Bon Temps alive had that been true. If anything, it only made me like him more.

“Ya heard me,” he grumbled before leaning back and closing his eyes again. “Ya know, I told Sook last night that it would be great for y’all to move back here with the baby, but now I ain’t so sure. At least if you two were still out in California I could lure ’em in with promises of goin’ out there ta visit with me.” One eye popped open briefly as he smiled, “Course that’d be a load a horseshit. Sook said you’d introduce me to yer old girlfriends if I came out so I won’t be needin’ to bring any company with me.”

“She did?” I asked. I could care less if he fucked the whole lot of them, but it didn’t sound like something Sookie would agree to (especially since she’d already encountered Yvetta), much less promise her brother something like that without talking to me about it first, but Jason just shrugged in response and closed his eyes again.

I didn’t have long to think about it though because my attention was drawn to the stairs when I heard Sookie coming down them. Then my brain exploded.

“What are you wearing?” I asked hoarsely, even though I knew exactly what it was.

If I could make my eyes look at her face I was certain there would be at least a smirk there waiting for me, but they were too busy taking a path that started at her shoulders and moved down her bare legs before traveling back up to where they refused to move away from my BFF’s.

“My high school cheerleading uniform,” I heard her answer from above them.

Sookie was a cheerleader?

“Not really,” she answered. Either she’d read my mind or I’d asked my BFF’s the question out loud, but either way my brain was clouded once again, only this time with lust.

“Why?” Why was she wearing it? Why was she standing too far away for me to touch her? Why was she so cruel as to torture me with it when we were abstaining?

Why were we abstaining?

“Gran convinced me to try out for the team so I could make more friends. I was just an alternate on the squad and that was only because the other alternate broke her ankle trying to do a back flip the week before the season started, but really, the only thing I got out of the experience was this outfit.”

I could vaguely see her lips moving in my peripheral, but honestly all I heard was ‘blah blah blah’ since the girls were practically screaming at me to save them from the tight fitting red and black sweater that was currently holding them hostage.

Their yelling made my other head ache.

“Why?” I repeated, wondering what her answer had been the first time while thinking she must be really pissed at me to torture me like she was.

“Well only the popular girls made the squad and I wasn’t, so…” she trailed off.

“Huh?” I was having another pot and kettle moment having a hard time focusing myself (on her words anyway) and wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but her girls were definitely popular with me. In an effort to regain some of my sanity I closed my eyes, but that only made it worse because then all I could picture was her naked.

After all, it was the centerfold of my mind’s Sookie shrine.

I’d completely forgotten about Jason’s presence next to me until I heard him say, “Nuh uh sister. Get yer ass back upstairs and throw on some pants ’cause there ain’t no way we’re leavin’ the house with yer cooch one good sneeze away from givin’ e’erbody a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

On one hand I completely agreed with his assessment and wanted her to change, preferably into a snowsuit, because the caveman part of me said her body was for my eyes only, but on the other hand I wanted him to shut the fuck up because she was supplying me with hours of fantasy fueled fucking.

But we were abstaining…

I didn’t even flinch, too far gone in my fantasy fucking, when Sookie’s hands landed on her hips as she spat out, “Jason Stackhouse, you aren’t my daddy and have no say in what I wear or don’t wear.”

Bent over…skirt flipped up…nothing on underneath…

Who’s your daddy…

Fuck…not helping.

Not fucking was also not helping, nor did it help when she pranced (She fucking pranced!) over to me and sat on my lap, seeming to have a hard time getting comfortable from all of the squirming she was doing while running her fingers through my hair.

I was having a hard time…

“Do you like my outfit?” she asked coyly.

Like it? I loved that fucking outfit and I do mean fucking outfit because it was clearly made with fucking in mind, but we weren’t fucking at the moment and no matter how much I felt my resolve crumbling, beaten down by the hammer in my pants, I reluctantly said, “I do.” When she stuck her tongue out at Jason I quelled the urge to latch onto it with my mouth and added, “But I agree with Jason. I think you should change.”

Because if you don’t I’ll end up passing out soon from all of the blood in my body maintaining my now painful hard on.

“Why?” she pouted. “I thought you liked it.”

Christ, she was going to be the death of me, but what a way to go…

For some reason my mouth thought it was a good idea to attack hers and had my dick not been trapped by the denim surrounding it, it would’ve been pointing right at the source of my mouth’s inspiration. Sookie did nothing to stop me and instead her hands grabbed onto the back of my head to hold me there as she put on her own offense in the battle we seemed to be waging. My hands joined in the melee and were sliding up her legs towards the hem of her skirt when the sound of Jason clearing his throat next to us brought me back to reality.

We weren’t alone.

Oh…And we weren’t fucking.

I didn’t know whether to punch him or kiss him for bringing me back from the edge and managed to chuckle when he said, “I know yer married and all, but would ya mind not gropin’ my baby sister in front a me?”

At the sound of Sookie sucking her teeth in exasperation I looked back at her and was able to see right through her quickly rearranged ‘I’m so fucking innocent I’m a born again virgin’ look. With my eyes narrowed at her, I accused, “She Devil.”

“Who…me?” she asked innocently, batting her lashes at me and shifting her ass ever so slightly to rub against my dick.

“Sookie…” I warned, not exactly sure what I was threatening her with. The only two things I could come up with at the moment were fucking her until she couldn’t walk straight or pushing her tempting ass off of me and onto the floor. Neither one of those was an acceptable punishment for the same reason; she was pregnant.

It turned out I didn’t need to think of what to do because Jason decided for me when he grabbed onto her bare foot and started tickling her, saying, “Are you gonna change or am I gonna have to keep goin’ until ya piss yerself and cain’t wear it anyway?”

Sookie squealed and cursed, threatened and begged, all while I pretended I was blind and deaf to her struggles as my cock continued to try and break free from its denim prison. When she finally gave in and ran upstairs to change, I tried to will my hard on away while making up a list of everyone I would introduce Jason to when he visited us in California.

My dick was begrudgingly in his debt.

Sookie ended up only putting on a pair of jeans, but it was cold enough that she wore a jacket over her temptingly tight sweater. It was just one more thing to be thankful for on the holiday of thanks and the three of us headed over to the high school while Gran stayed home saying it was too cold for her, but dinner would be ready by the time we got back. My stomach was rumbling from the moment I’d smelled the food cooking earlier, but I put off eating anything so I could make a pig of myself later on without feeling guilty. The closest I’d ever come to having a family Thanksgiving dinner was when my father decided to take me out to dinner when I was younger and he’d been in between girlfriends. He was never big on holiday traditions though, so when we ended up at a Chinese restaurant, I had to make do with ordering Peking duck instead of turkey. Somehow, even back then, I just knew it wasn’t the same, so I was really looking forward to this year along with everything else I’d get to experience with, and thanks to, Sookie.

She hadn’t been exaggerating about Jason’s diatribe during the game, but at least he mixed it up with the occasional elbow to the ribs as he’d whisper conspiratorially to me pointing out whatever woman caught his eye. He got the hint that I had no interest when Sookie got up to get us some hot chocolate from the snack stand and I elbowed him, pointing at his baby sister, and said with a leer, “Look at the ass on that one!” I’d come to learn it was one of his favorite phrases and his eager eyes fell when he realized I was gawking at Sookie.

“That’s just wrong man,” he shook his head at me.

I shrugged my shoulders responding, “That’s the only ass I’m interested in.” It was a truthful statement and seeing the way her jeans encased it made my own jeans get tighter.

Why were we abstaining?

“It’s a good thing too,” he chuckled, “’cause it looks like the president of your fan club I met last night is headed towards her.”

“Where?” I asked out of curiosity. The paparazzi, in my experience, were generally predominantly male, but that didn’t mean some gossip reporter couldn’t have followed us here. I wasn’t worried about what they might see or hear, but I didn’t want Sookie to get hounded either. We were there to relax.

“There,” he pointed. “The brunette standing behind her in line.”

There wasn’t a so much a line as a mob, but thanks to the cold weather everyone was wearing hats and scarves. There were plenty of brunettes surrounding Sookie, but since they were all facing away from us I couldn’t tell who he was talking about and I watched for a few more minutes when one of the heads behind Sookie turned and her eyes locked onto mine for the briefest of seconds. Bon Temps chose to score a touchdown at that same moment and the crowd in the stands around us stood up to cheer, so by the time everyone settled down again Sookie was already making her way towards us, but I still had an eerie feeling that I’d seen that brunette before; I just couldn’t place where or who she was. I tried to reason that maybe it was just another memory from when we’d last visited, but my thoughts were interrupted when Sookie passed around the Styrofoam cups of hot chocolate to Jason and I before settling herself in my lap, claiming the bench was too cold for her to sit on. With all of the squirming she did during the second half, my lower half was hot enough to warm the ten foot radius around us and it was all I could do to not take her back out to the parking lot where we could fool around in the backseat of the car in keeping with her cheerleader theme. The thought alone had me contemplating a possible indecent exposure charge knowing if I whipped Junior out now at least the cold air would have a chance at getting him to behave since my willpower at denying Sookie the sex she was angling for was taking a massive hit, even knowing every move she made was calculated while she tried to appear innocent.

The shifting of her ass; leaning in to whisper ‘blah blah blah’ (that’s all I heard, anyway) into my ear, but when she turned and wrapped her arms around me, burying her face into my neck and claiming she was frozen only to start kissing and licking the spot of skin in front of her, I froze…and it wasn’t due to the temperature.

How the fuck could I be so pissed and turned on at the same time?

I didn’t know if I was pissed at her for torturing me or at myself for paving our own highway to hell with my choice, but all I could do was say, “Stop.” I was happy it at least sounded more like a warning than a plea.

“Stop what?” she purred against my neck before lightly biting the skin there.

It sent chills straight down my spine and I wouldn’t have been surprised if sparks had shot out of my dick thanks to her, but I gritted my teeth and answered, “Stop trying to seduce me. It won’t work.”

And maybe if I say it another billion times I might actually start to believe it.

“I’m not seducing,” she lied. “I’m snuggling.”

Her lie was of such epic proportions that conceivably her pants could now be on fire and I pondered if that might be the reason it was so hot down there. I chuckled despite not being sure if I wanted to wring her neck or my own for letting her get to me like she was. She was killing me slowly and I hated that I enjoyed it so fucking much.

“I’m not wearing boots,” I said into the top of her head, with my lips kissing her hair, unable to not be affectionate with her whether or not she was killing me. My eyes landed on a stretch of yellow ‘Caution’ tape surrounding a broken section of the bleachers and my mind got busy wrapping that ‘Caution’ tape around Sookie’s body as a warning to both myself and anyone else that dared to get too close. It would serve as a reminder to me, realizing it was only a matter of time before she got me to give up on my no nookie rule and that I’d have to be gentle with her even though I felt like I could probably fuck her across the entire span of the football field at the moment, and to caution anyone else from getting too close to her because I’d probably end up killing the next son of a bitch that tried to hurt her.

“What does you’re not wearing boots have to do with the fact that I’m snuggling?” she asked.

The sound of her voice halted my mind’s progression where it had been slowly peeling away the ‘Caution’ tape at strategic points on my Sookie centerfold and I shook it off, answering, “Because the bullshit is getting so high around here that I should be wearing a pair of shit kickers for the occasion.”

“Aww…” she giggled with her warm breath against my neck making me shiver again. “Poor…poor…poor…baby.” She’d placed a trail of open mouthed kisses leading from my shoulder all the way up to my ear with every word she’d uttered and left my whole body vibrating underneath her.

She really was playing with fire and I decided to give her a taste of her own medicine. Knowing how much she hated being in the spotlight I turned, lightly gripping the back of her head in my hand, and whispered into her ear, “You. Need. To. Stop. Or else I’m going to drag you underneath the very bleachers we’re sitting on and fuck you until you the whole town hears you screaming my name.” I got myself a little worked up over the images I’d just painted and was a little hoarse when I asked, “Are you going to comply?”

Since they meant the same thing, I almost threw out the word ‘obey’ to really get a rise out of her, but her hormones made it too risky of a move. I wanted to shock her into letting up with her seduction plans, knowing she was quite vocal whenever we had sex and wouldn’t want us to get caught, but I didn’t want to risk truly upsetting her and possibly ruining the rest of the day, so I didn’t know what to do when Sookie pulled back to look into my eyes and I didn’t see shock or upset in them.

I saw lust. Lots and lots of lust and when she licked her lips before responding, “Okay,” I’ll admit, I was a little scared.

“‘Okay’ you’ll stop?” I hedged, adding a shitload of ‘pretty pleases’ in my mind.

She sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth as she shook her head ‘no’ and leaned back in, whispering, “‘Okay’ let’s go underneath the bleachers and fuck until I scream out your name.”

Her teeth tugged at the bottom of my earlobe as I released a shaky breath, saying, “But what if we get caught?” Somehow I’d managed to turn into the shy teenage girl with her being the pushy boyfriend.

I was living the most fucked up after school special ever.

Her tongue traced along the edge of my ear before she whispered, “We won’t.” Because she was still sitting in my lap, no one but me could tell that her hand had snaked in between us to further torment my cock by trailing her fingers lightly across its denim hell. On the flipside I’m sure everyone around us knew something was going on when my hips bucked up into her hand all by themselves and she nearly toppled onto the people in the seats in front of us since neither one of us expected it. She apologized profusely to them and when she attempted to sit back down in my lap, I grabbed onto her hips and put her onto the bleacher next to me, knowing it wouldn’t take much more teasing from her before I really did fuck her underneath the bleachers.

Our after school special would definitely get an X rating.

It all started with a look from Jason, whose existence I seemed to forget about whenever his sister chose to lead me around by the invisible leash she held tethered to my balls, that made Sookie giggle. The more she tried to suppress it the louder she got and it only stopped when Jason leaned in and whispered something in her ear. It was enough to make her slap him and turn beet red in the process, but she still looked amused so I was more curious than worried about whatever he’d said. The game had been coming to an end anyway, so I waited until we were finally in the car on the way home to ask, “What were you two whispering about?”

Jason was driving with me riding shotgun, so Sookie was alone in the backseat when she crossed her arms and huffed looking out the window. He just snickered watching her through the rearview mirror and said, “I told her that if she kept it up someone was gonna film it and stick it on the internet. ‘Sookie Does Eric’ was the workin’ title, but it ain’t no ‘Jason and Eric’s Excrement Adventure’.” I shook my head remembering the night before and swallowed the urge to tell him about my ‘Shitty Shitty Bang Bang’ idea while Jason continued on, saying, “Besides, if she kept it up, Gran would be hearing all about it on the Fortenberry Morning News Report.” He turned to wink at me, adding, “I know that firsthand havin’ been newsworthy myself over the years. That old bat ain’t got nuthin’ better to do than to stick her nose in where it don’t belong.”

“You know Jason,” Sookie spoke up from the backseat. “Maybe what she needs is a good stiff one.” She mumbled out an, “I know I do,” so low that I doubted Jason heard it, but continued on asking, “Why don’t you stick one in her to see if it’ll keep her nose where it does belong?”

Jason and I both shivered at the thought. He’d pointed her out during the game and when he’d said, ‘Look at the ass on that one’ in regards to her, I knew it wasn’t meant as a compliment.

“Keep it up and I’ll tell Gran your suggestion along with how you was tryin’ to show off your baby makin’ skills in the middle of a high school football game. I swear, if you try and make me upchuck my Thanksgivin’ dinner, it’s on baby sister.” They glared at each other through the mirror all the way back to the farmhouse while I tried to become a part of the upholstery. I knew what Sookie’s problem was because we shared the same fristration. We both needed sex. The releases we’d had the night before was enough to take the edge off for now, but we’d been voracious up until the day we’d run to Dr. Ludwig’s office when we were afraid we might lose the baby. We both knew our relationship was more than just great sex; I loved her and she loved me, but…well, the sex really was great. And our bodies had become accustomed to getting that from one another and now that wasn’t happening and hadn’t happened in days.

Four days, but who’s counting?

That doesn’t seem like a very long time and I know we’d gone longer, but I’d been in a coma for all of it so it didn’t count. Having sex only twice in one day qualified as a ‘slow day’ in our book and Sookie’s horny hormones only added to her quick igniting temper. With all of the chemistry we had between us it was just a matter of time before one of us exploded; verbally or physically, but I couldn’t help feeling worried despite knowing all of that; worried for our baby and worried that my lack of self-control with her would somehow be our downfall.

My worries and their non-fight were quickly forgotten when we walked through the door and saw the dining room table had been covered by every conceivable side dish I could imagine, all of them surrounding a giant turkey.

“Gran, you should’ve waited for us. We would’ve helped you set the table with everything,” Sookie called out as she walked into the kitchen looking for her.

I couldn’t imagine what else there could possibly be missing from the table for her to still be in the kitchen, but Jason and I quickly washed up and sat down at the table. When Gran and Sookie came out and we all joined hands while Gran led us in a prayer, I couldn’t quite figure out what it was I was feeling until it was my turn to say what I was thankful for. Everyone else had gone before me with Gran saying she was thankful for her great-grandbaby that was on the way; Sookie was thankful for me and that Jason was close enough for her to kick when all he’d been thankful for was that we could finally eat when everybody stopped ‘yappin’, but as I looked around at the people surrounding me, I knew.

Clearing my throat and swallowing the hitched breath that threatened to come out, I said, “I’m thankful for all of you; my family.” Truer words had never been spoken. It was all too easy to remember the times when I’d been, not lonely, but just alone. While I was close to Pam and even, to some extent, Alcide, for the most part it had always just been me, myself, and I. According to my therapy sessions, it had been the root cause of my bad choices. Cocaine had given me the high I’d wanted to feel and it let me hide my vulnerabilities and insecurities away from people like my father who only found worth in me based on the amount of money and success I attained. I could see it now that I had some distance from it, but it was only because of the woman sitting at my side.

Even with my undesirable past, I now believed a higher power saw fit to put Sookie in my path. They’d even known me well enough to make sure I was bound to her legally when I couldn’t even see straight and then kept her there in front of me until she was all I could see. Our baby, conceived on our wedding night, bound us together for the rest of our lives and there were no words that could describe just how thankful I was for that, but thanks to a drunken night in Vegas I also had a grandmother that worried about me; a brother that made me laugh and a wife I loved more than anything else. It almost felt greedy to hope we’d all be sitting at that very same table the following year with our son or daughter there to add one more thing for me to be thankful for, but I hoped for it anyway.

The sound of Sookie’s sniffles brought me out of my thoughts and she giggled when I pulled a tissue out of my pocket to hand her. It had become a recent habit of mine to be prepared because it was impossible to predict when her tears might make an appearance, but even though I knew they were mostly hormone induced, it didn’t make me feel any better seeing them. I was pretty sure I knew the answer before asking the question and leaned over placing a soft kiss on her cheek, whispering, “Happy or sad?”

She turned and grabbed onto my face before I could pull back and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips, answering, “Happy.”

Good, I’d hate to be the only one.

There was no way the four of us could possibly eat the amount of food Gran had prepared, but good God we certainly tried. Jason and I were in a dead heat when it came to the turkey, but it was the mashed potatoes and biscuits that did me in. I’d even earned a shake of his head with him calling me a lightweight (apparently it was a second occurrence) as he told me I should’ve waited and ate them last because of how they would fill me up. Of course that didn’t stop either one of us from eating a slice of all three of the pies Gran had made and at the end of the night, when Sookie and I crawled into bed, I found one last thing to be thankful for;

Tryptophan.

Sookie was out like a light the minute her head touched the pillow, but even if she’d stayed awake long enough to try and seduce me again, I would’ve been too full to perform. I was almost disgusted by the amount of food I’d eaten, but I’d loved every last bite too much to care and fell asleep curled around the one and a half members of my family I was the most thankful for.

The next two days passed by in a blur of running around and a near constant food haze thanks to Gran’s affinity for cooking. While I loved being close to Sookie and we generally slept pressed against one another normally, that twin-sized bed in her bedroom was fucking ridiculous. My feet hung over the edge whenever I laid flat and brought with it taunts from my loving wife with offers to paint my body green before I go off to gather the vegetables I canned and sold at supermarkets. She wasn’t feeling so jolly that night when she told me her inner balls were turning blue when I kept our kissing and touching to a PG-13 rating. She was exaggerating anyway. I’d done numerous and thorough checks of every part of her body that I could reach with the tools I was born with and the only balls I’d ever come across were mine when they slapped against her. Of course mine were also blue and thoughts of them slapping against her bare skin didn’t help matters, but really I was just waiting until we got home. I knew I was no match for her powers of persuasion and it was just a matter of time. I’d force myself to be gentle for her then, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t keep tormenting her in the meantime.

I’d learned my lesson well from the ‘tough shit’ incident a few weeks earlier when Pam first saw Sookie’s new car, so when Gran balked at the idea of us buying new furniture for her house, I had no problems giving her my puppy dog eyes while talking about how uncomfortable Sookie’s old bed was for a man of my size. Even though it was true, I may have played it up more than necessary and could see a bit of Sookie’s stubbornness in Gran’s eyes, but the nurturer in her wouldn’t let her argue with me over it. It took a little more coaxing for her to agree to let us replace all of her kitchen appliances and most of the living room furniture since all of it was older than Jason. Gran just wanted to keep the sentimental pieces, but I knew none of it would’ve happened if I hadn’t been able to get Sookie on board a couple of weeks earlier where our finances were concerned.

They were ours; end of story.

Her name had already been added to all of my accounts weeks before she ever agreed to use them and she couldn’t even get mad at me when she found out I’d done it after I told her it was in case anything happened to me, I didn’t want her to have to worry about contacting lawyers or accountants in order to take care of herself and the baby. I could tell something shifted for her then, but it wasn’t until she had her direct deposit changed over to our joint account that I knew she’d really accepted it. I wouldn’t have cared if she’d chosen to keep her paychecks going to her old accounts; I just didn’t want her to have to use her money on things like groceries or anything else for that matter, but now that she’d come to accept it all, poor Gran didn’t stand a chance against the two of us.

It was with heavy hearts and full stomachs when we bid them farewell that Sunday morning. We both had work the following day and there were tears shed by everyone, some more than others, but Sookie was calmed down by the time we reached the airport. It was crowded with everyone else trying to fly back from the holiday, so when I turned back to look out over the crowded terminal right as we were boarding our plane, I almost didn’t notice her.

Almost.

My mind went into overdrive trying to think of how it was that I knew the brunette I’d seen at the football game and again just moments ago, but it stayed just out of reach. The tip of my tongue, I thought which made me realize I’d never asked Jason what her name was. Thinking that could be the key to unlocking the mystery, I sent him off a quick text message asking him about her as soon as we were in our seats and then tried convince myself to take a nap instead of thinking about how many ways I could gently fuck Sookie in the bathroom as soon as we reached cruising altitude. I’d seen her pack her cheerleader outfit when we were getting ready to leave and knew my nonexistent willpower was toast the minute I saw her in it again, but just as I was about to turn my phone off for the flight Jason finally responded. Hindsight was truly a bitch because had I known, I would’ve waited until we’d landed to read it knowing I’d never be able to nap now that it finally all clicked into place.

Her name’s DEBRA. Got all kinds a pissed at me when I called her Debbie. Said only her boyfriend got to call her that. Why?

Why indeed…