Double Lines
Twenty-two - Barstool

We went home that afternoon. Tyler had daycare on Monday, and school was back for the new term. Ethan had to do his laundry, so he returned to his house, promising to see us Monday evening.

By five, when I hadn’t heard from Ethan all day, even though I had texted him, I pulled the quiche I had bought on Sunday from the fridge and read the instructions for heating. I’m about to turn the oven on when the doorbell rings. I smile and take the steps two at a time to the front door.

“Hello,” I greet with a smirk when I open the door to a very handsome man.

“Hello, beautiful,” Ethan smiles, stepping forward to give me a chaste kiss.

“Hello. What’s that?” I ask, narrowing my eyes and pointing to the bags Ethan is holding.

“Uh, I thought I’d bring some things; I, uh… can put it back in the car…” he says, turning around.

“No! No. I’m just kidding,” I laugh, grabbing his wrist.

“You can put them in my room,” I added, stepping back to let him in.

I follow Ethan back up the stairs, admiring his arse as he walks ahead. We both head toward the kitchen, where the stair to the following level is and divert our separate ways. I turn the oven on, leaving it to heat, and then pull the bag of mixed lettuce, cheese, carrots, zucchini and tomatoes from the fridge to make a salad. Then I grab the bag of cashew nuts from the shelf and put it with my pile of ingredients.

“Guess who I found playing in the family room,” Ethan cheers, walking towards me with Tyler in his arms.

“Hey, buddy. Were you having fun,” I ask as Tyler leans in for a kiss.

“Yes! Daddy’s here!”

“I know! Happy?”

“Yes!” Tyler nods.

“Oh, I put my stuff next to your drawers, if that’s okay…”

“Oh yeah. Remind me to clear a drawer for you,” I reply, walking forward and giving him a kiss.

“Hmm, I’d like that,” he says, kissing me back and diving his tongue into my mouth.

“Ew!” Tyler cries, making us pull apart and laugh.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” Ethan says, Tyler nodding in agreement.

“He’s asleep, I think,” Ethan says later, walking into my room. I smile. Tyler insisted on having his daddy read him his goodnight story.

“Good, thank you for reading to him,” I say, grateful that it’s one less thing I have to do every night.

“He’s picking up words,” Ethan states, crawling into bed with me.

“I know. He’s a smart little cookie.”

“Hmm,” Ethan sighs, leaning over and kissing my neck. I moan as his kisses ignite my sensitive nerves, sending tingles through my body.

“Ethan,” I moan, pulling him up so he can kiss me. Ethan dives his tongue into my mouth when our lips meet, passionately kissing me.

As we kiss, Ethan grabs the hem of my shirt, and with only a quick break, it’s over my head and thrown onto the floor. My hands brush through Ethan’s dark locks as he travels to my breasts. Pulling away from my mouth, Ethan squeezes my breasts before placing a nipple into his mouth. I moan in pleasure as his teeth hold my nipple tight.

“Oh,” I whimper when his warm mouth leaves my nipple, leaving the wetness of my nipple to touch the cool air.

“Beautiful,” Ethan murmurs, his favourite name for me.

“Oh,” I cry again as I feel his fingers travel within the wet folds of my core. Ethan looks at me, his grey eyes filled with lust as his fingers enter me. He captures my moan and kisses me again as he pumps his fingers inside me.

“I have condoms,” I say when he pulls away. Ethan nods, and I lean over to my bedside drawers and pull out the box of condoms I bought when I went grocery shopping yesterday. Ethan grabs one, ripping the foil packet with his teeth to open it. I watch as he puts it on, rolling it down his shaft.

“Oh god,” I cry when I feel the head of his penis hit the edge of my vagina. Slowly, Ethan pushes himself inside me and then moves out. Like last time, Ethan starts slowly before building up a rhythm. I meet him at each thrust, his balls slapping against my arse as our bodies meet.

“Mick, fuck!” Ethan grunts as he pounds into me. I feel pressure build up in my chest, and I know I’m about to cum. I grab onto Ethan’s shoulders, digging my nails into his muscles.

“Ethan!” I cry out as my body explodes. My hips tense as my walls clamp down on Ethan’s cock, my legs straighten, and my toes curl as my orgasm ravishes my body.

“Arrg!” Ethan roars, his face scrunching up as he meets his own orgasm.

Ethan collapses on me, and we both hold each other, our bodies wet with sweat as we try to catch our breath.

“That was… fantastic,” I pant, kissing Ethan’s lips.

“I agree,” Ethan replies when we pull apart.

Slowly, Ethan rolls off me and pulls the condom off himself, tying the end up. I watch as he moves out of the bed, pulls his undies back on, and walks out of the room to dispose of our evidence. I sigh and grab my t-shirt, putting it back on as well.

I’m sleepy and snuggled under my blankets when Ethan returns to bed. He climbs under the blankets and pulls my body towards himself.

“Good night,” I happily sigh, my eyelids growing heavy.

“Good night, beautiful,” I hear Ethan say before we fall asleep.

Ethan came over after work on Tuesday, staying the night and doing the same on Wednesday. I was getting used to waking up wrapped in his arms by Thursday morning.

“What are your plans today?” Ethan asks as we sit at the dining room table, drinking our morning tea.

“After breakfast, Tyler has playgroup,” I tell him.

“What’s that?”

“It’s just a place where mums can get together and have our kids play with each other. We meet at a local school.”

“Are they your friends?”

“I’m friends with some of them,” I say, thinking of Sofia, “It’s a community thing run by the council,” I add.

“Cool. Do you have to pay?”

“Yeah. Thirty dollars a term to pay for using the building, tea and coffee. We also take turns bringing biscuits to share. Which reminds me, it’s my turn today,” I say, thinking I’ll have to go to Sweet Temptations to buy something.

“I’m going to say goodbye to Tyler, and then I have to leave,” Ethan tells me, kissing my cheek. I smile as I hear him run up the stairs to Tyler’s room. Ethan leaves for work just before me, but I let Tyler sleep in a little because I don’t work on Thursdays.

Tyler and I arrived at playgroup a little later than everyone else, as it was busy at Sweet Temptations, and Tyler couldn’t decide what he wanted to get his friends to eat. We agreed on doughnuts, which he asks for each time, but oh well.

“You’re finally here,” Sofia states as we walk through the gate, making me roll my eyes. I’m ten minutes late if that.

“Good morning, Sofia,” I greet instead, to which she humphs.

“Hi,” Angie, Tara and Demi greet. I greet them and walk past them to put the food in the kitchenette.

“How have you been?” Tara asks, wriggling her eyebrows at me.

“Good…why?” I ask hesitantly.

“You have a bounce in your step,” Angie answers. I furrow my brows.

“Somebody’s been getting some!” Tara sing songs, making me go red.

“It’s him, isn’t it? That guy you went on a date with,” Demi asks. Slowly, I nod.

“Tell us about him,” they then say. I smile as I tell them about Ethan, that he works at Pinnacle in the sales and marketing department, and that he’s been spending a lot of time with us.

“And he doesn’t mind, Tyler?” Demi asks.

“Yeah… about that,” I begin. I watch Sofia corral the children indoors to do an activity she’s set up for them.

“Ethan is Tyler’s father,” I finally admit.

“Really?” Tara yells. I nod as Angie and Demi giggle.

“Yeah. Which is why… I agreed to see him. We’ve done a DNA test, but Tyler looks just like him,” I add.

“Wow, that is so cool,” Angie breathes.

“What’s happening?” Sofia asks, coming over to us to make conversation. I noticed she left Hala in the room to deal with the kids on her own. I’d help, but three days of doing it for a living is enough for me.

“Mikaela’s still dating that guy,” Tara says proudly.

“Oh, really? How nice. Have you told him about Tyler yet?”

“Yup,” I nod, looking at the other three women.

“And he doesn’t mind?”

“Why would he mind?” Demi asks.

“Well, he’s still seeing her, so he mustn’t,” Angie says at the same time.

“Oh, that’s good. Guess what? Greg is going for an interview for an accounting position next week. We’re all very excited,” Sofia begins, changing the subject to her favourite topic. Without asking, she continues telling us how he loves his job but is looking for a position with more money because they plan on having another child and want to move to Upstate Brunswick. We all nod and make appropriate noises as she talks.

“They’ve almost finished,” Hala says, walking out of the playroom.

“And you left them?” Sofia accuses.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” I reply. It’s not like they’re using scissors or anything.

“Go back and make sure the markers have their lids on. Emily is good at looking after them, but other kids aren’t,” Sofia orders. Hala nods and turns back around.

“Tea? Coffee?” Tara then asks, breaking the tension in the air. After getting our orders, I walked into the kitchen with Tara, cut the doughnuts into quarters, and placed the pastries on plates to serve. I then take the dishes and leave the adult food with them while I go to each child and offer them a quarter doughnut.

I’m watching Raneem, Axel, and Jayden play on the tricycles outside when a scream is heard from the playroom. All heads turn in that direction when Emily runs out and over to her mother, tears running down her face.

“What is going on?” Sofia growls when she sees Tyler following behind her.

“Mama, Tyler hit me!” Emily cries, wrapping her arms around Sofia’s waist. Sofia turns and looks at me in anger.

“Tyler, what happened?” I ask. This is unlike my son; he never hits and rarely gets angry. But he looks both angry and upset now.

“What happened? He hit my daughter!” Sofia accuses. I glance at Sofia and back at my son. One thing I’ve learnt from teaching is that you never go up to a child after an incident like hitting and ask if they hit someone. This causes them to be less willing to communicate. But if they did hit someone, especially in younger children, they tend to be more honest and say so if you ask them what happened. In older children, you get a better point of view of the story behind the incident.

“Tyler, buddy, what happened?” I ask again.

“She called me a liar,” Tyler pouts, dropping his bottom lip. I raise my eyebrows at him.

“And a barstool,” he says.

“She called you a bastard?” I ask, looking up at Sofia and Emily. Tyler nods.

“They were talking about their dads,” Hala says, coming up and joining the conversation.

“Why did she call you a liar?” I ask my son.

“She said I didn’t have a daddy and that I was a liar and I was a barstool. Then she pinched me hard. So I punched her,” Tyler states. I look up at Hala for confirmation, and she nods.

“It’s true, he is a bastard! Mummy says so!” Emily yells, burying her head in her mother’s legs. The women, except Hala, all gasp behind me.

“Is that true, Sofia?” I ask. Sofia just looks at me.

“Is that true?” I growl, my calmness fading.

“I may have mentioned Tyler doesn’t have a father, which makes him a bastard…” Sofia begins. I shake my head.

“Emily, Tyler does have a daddy, and it’s not very nice to call people names…” I begin.

“But he is a liar! Mummy says he doesn’t have a daddy!” Emily argues. I internally shake my head. I would so hate to be this girl’s teacher.

“Tyler, next time someone says something you don’t like, you need to tell an adult and use safe hands and feet, remember?” I ask. Tyler nods.

“She pinched me,” Tyler states, his bottom lip quivering.

“I know, and her mummy will deal with her. In the meantime, you need to say sorry to Emily for hitting her, and then you can sit on the steps and not play for three minutes,” I say. He nods and reluctantly walks over to Emily, his head hanging down.

“Sorry, Emlee,” Tyler says. I watch as Emily looks at him and turns back to her mother. Tyler then turns around and sits on the steps I had pointed to.

I get up from my spot and walk back to my seat. Emily is sitting on Sofia’s lap, eating one of the pastries I bought for the adults, smiling. I shake my head, knowing that Emily, the princess, won’t get in trouble for her part in the incident.

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