“Me, too,” Haley said as she took another fry.

“Same here,” Jason said around a mouthful of fries.

“I walked into the backyard and found you bending Marybeth over the picnic table and-”

With a heavy sigh, he said, “I get the point,” cutting his cousin off and making him wonder how long it would be before Marybeth figured out that their little secret wasn’t such a secret anymore and tried to use it to push him away.

Chapter 9

Would this night never end? he wondered as he tossed his keys and wallet on the bureau and asked, “What the hell are you doing here?”

With a wild look in his eye, Aidan looked up at him before quickly glancing back down at the sleeping woman curled up against him. “Nothing,” he said slowly as he carefully picked up a half-empty bag of Hershey Kisses and moved it away from Marybeth. “What are you doing?” Aidan asked, sneaking a glance down at Marybeth as he grabbed a handful of Kisses and frantically unwrapped them before shoving them in his mouth.

“Checking up on her,” he said, conveniently leaving out the fact that he was planning on taking a shower and climbing in bed with Marybeth as soon as Aidan left.

“Me too,” Aidan agreed distractedly as he rushed to unwrap another handful of Kisses while he kept glancing down at Marybeth, looking as though he expected her to wake up and go for his balls at any second.

“Is that her tampon stash?” he asked, nodding towards the chocolate that his brother was currently devouring.

Aidan froze mid-chew. “Maybe?”

“Shit,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at the television and nearly groaned when he saw the Lifetime channel emblem flash at the bottom of the screen. This wasn’t good. Lifetime movie/chocolate binges were usually reserved for when he’d fucked up and seriously pissed her off.

“Get out,” he said, sighing heavily as he rubbed his hands down his face.

“But, the movie’s not over yet,” Aidan pointed out around another mouthful of chocolate.

“Don’t fucking care. Get out,” he said, grabbing his brother by the ankle and pulled.

“You bastard!” Aidan gasped as his back hit the floor.

“Next time you’ll listen,” Darrin calmly explained, ignoring his brother’s desperate attempts to escape his hold as he dragged him out into the hallway where he released him.

“Lock up on your way out,” he said as he walked back into Marybeth’s bedroom and closed the door behind him, making sure to lock it.            

“You abusive bastard!” he heard Aidan cry in outrage as he undid his belt and kicked off his shoes.

“That was kind of mean,” Marybeth said with a sleepy smile when she opened her eyes and spotted him, making his chest tighten.

God, she was so fucking beautiful…..

“He wouldn’t leave,” he explained as he walked over to the bed and sat down next to her.

“You could have asked him to leave,” she pointed out teasingly as she leaned up and kissed him.

“I could have…” he hedged before adding, “but where would the fun in that be?”

She rolled her eyes playfully even as she shifted so that she was snuggled up against him. “Where did you go?” she asked him as she shifted to get more comfortable.

“Guy’s night out,” he said as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head, savoring her strawberries and cream scent.

“I thought we were having dinner tonight,” she said quietly as she toyed with one of the buttons on his shirt.

“We were,” he said, wrapping his arm around her as he pressed another kiss against the top of her head.

“Then what changed?”

He sighed heavily as he said, “Shot day.”

*-*-*-*

“Shot day?” she repeated back, not sure what that had to do with anything.

“You always kick me out on shot day,” he said with a careless shrug as he leaned down and pressed a kiss against her neck, making her lick her lips as he place his hand on her stomach and-

Reminded her exactly why she avoided him on the days when she had to get her monthly injection. She placed her hand over his where it was absently caressing her stomach and pushed it away. She wasn’t sure if he realized that he was doing it, but he did it every single time she had to get a shot, making an already difficult situation unbearable.

He also did it anytime they were around someone that was pregnant, or they saw a baby or a young child doing something cute. He’d put his arms around her, place his hand over her stomach and with the slightest caress, he’d break her heart a little more.

He wanted a family and she couldn’t give that to him and she desperately wanted to, more than anything. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, start a family with him and grow old together, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, but that was never going to happen, at least not for her.

When the time was right, and God, how many times had she told herself that it was the right time, she was going to put an end to this thing between them once and for all so that he could move on and find a woman that wasn’t broken and could give him what he deserved.

“Are you still mad at me?” he asked as she shifted onto her side, facing away from him.

“No,” she said softly, hating the way that her bottom lip trembled, “I’m just tired.”