Page 17 of Sweet Thing

chapter 8

GET REAL

Emily turned towards her partner, “Call him; invite him for lunch sometime…” she hollered across the room,

“Who?” Pieter replied dreamily.

“You’ve been staring at the same page of that book for twenty minutes. Call Simeon and invite him over,” she instructed. Pieter huffed and shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know that I should be encouraging him too much, you know. It’s still early days.” He replied reluctantly, still staring at the page he pretended to read.

“I know you love him; even if you won’t admit it… You’ve missed him. God, men can be so stubborn sometimes! You’re not exactly going to work things out if you don’t spend time together.”

Pieter looked over at his lover, standing in the open plan kitchen, and glared. How did she always know what he was thinking? It was spooky. Pieter was silent for a moment, mulling over Emily’s words. Yes, he did love Sim and missed him terribly. Pieter missed the way he and Sim bounced off one another, and that they had the same taste in music, books, and movies and the same sense of humor. He missed the way they could communicate with a look or a raised brow. He missed the way Sim made him feel when things were easy between them. But now Simeon was a different person, wasn’t he? And Pieter’s life had changed so much since they had been best friends. He had his beautiful little family to care for now.

“It’s okay; I’m okay with it.” Emily continued. She had noticed her lover becoming restless in the past few weeks since they’d heard that Simeon was living in Berlin again. Pieter had friends, but no one had ever really ‘replaced’ Simeon. Emily was his best friend, lover, soul-mate and they had Lukas now, but she acknowledged that Pieter also needed Sim.

“Listen, baby. Simeon needs good people in his life right now. You told me what Sim’s old hangers-on were like. If he’s ever feeling weak and vulnerable, do you really want him to fall back in with that crowd? He needs positive role models and supportive friends.”

Emily was so bloody understanding. It was the most annoying, wonderful trait. Pieter’s blue-gray eyes rose from the page and stared thoughtfully at his partner. “Why are you being so nice to him?” he enquired curiously.

Emily pondered for a moment, checking the vegetables she had steaming on the stove. She turned and strode to the couch, straddled Pieter and cupped his face in her hands. Pieter met her gaze. Emily ghosted her fingers up along his sharp jaw line and through his long dirty blond hair. She shook her head and sighed at the glorious sight of him. She still couldn’t believe he belonged to her.

“Sim’s your friend. You were so happy last night. I watched the two of you together. Your eyes were alive, and you were both glowing. It was beautiful.”

“Oh my gott, were you having sexy threesome thoughts?” Pieter scoffed. Emily slapped Pieter’s chest playfully, pouted and her brows waggled lecherously.

“Honestly, I would love to paint you two together. But it might just blow my mind—and I’d probably need a few sex breaks with you, for the inspiration of course!” Emily chuckled. She leaned to kiss her partner, who smiled and hummed his agreement through the kiss. Emily broke the kiss and continued.

“But seriously love, you need your bestie back.” Pieter’s hands rested comfortably on Emily’s ass and pulled her higher on his thighs to rest on the growing erection in his pajama bottoms.

“You know my eyes were only on you last night Sternchen.” He whispered as he leaned in to teasingly kiss the places on her throat that he knew would make her moan.

“Oh… We should go out dancing with Sim. You will come in your pantieswhen you see us dancing together; we’re obscene“, Pieter whispered between kisses.

Emily groaned at the thought of her lover grinding against another man.

“I want to go down on you,” she moaned. Pieter smiled widely and rested his head back to expose his throat. Emily kissed and licked down to his bare chest, her fingers rushing ahead to the waistband of his pajama bottoms. He groaned as Emily ran her hand over his length through the thin cotton fabric. Pieter sighed and laughed at the same time. Still, after more than three years together, the thrill of sex with Emily had never gotten old.

“Waaaahh”

The sound from the baby monitor made them both swear in unison. Emily stopped her ministrations, and her brow rested on Pieter’s abdomen. She breathed in the heady scent of his skin and glanced up, meeting his frustrated gaze.

“I’m sure he does this on purpose. Our son is a cock blocker. He’s going to have to learn Mama and Papa need snuggle time,” Emily huffed.

“I’ll get him.” Pieter laughed, shook his head, and headed to Lukas’s bedroom. He appeared a minute later carrying a small blond, blue-eyed baby. His hair was sticking up like a hedgehog, and his cheeks were sleep-flushed. Unfocused eyes glanced around the room, landing on Emily. He whined and rubbed his eyes. Emily moved to take Lukas, but he turned his head and nestled into the crook of Pieter’s neck and began sucking a thumb.

“Oh, is that how it’s gonna be? Papa’s hugs are better than mama‘s hugs today?“ She cooed as she leaned in to kiss Lukas and then Pieter.

“Komm, Little Bird, ist Mama jealous,“ Pieter joked as he moved back to the sofa and settled with his sleepy son in his lap.

“You’re right, though,” Pieter said, picking up the threads of the conversation. “It did make me happy to spend time with Sim. I was just so relieved that he was healthy and clean. But…” He paused, unsure of whether he should verbalize his doubts “He’s still a recovering addict, and if I’m honest that kinda freaks me.”

“My dad never had any kind of support with his alcoholism; he just had Army drinking buddies, enablers, and people who convinced him that he was a pussy if he didn’t go for a drink with them. The difference was they could stop after a couple of beers; he couldn’t.” Emily explained, taking the pot off the stove and pouring its contents into a colander in the sink.

“We both know that everything that happened with Simeon was because he didn’t know how to cope with his problems. I know you’ve been kicking yourself that you could have done more to help him, love. I saw the way you looked at him last night.”

Pieter had to agree. Even though their friendship initially ended after Simeon’s childish internet betrayal, Pieter hadn’t even considered what had happened in Simeon’s life to make oblivion such an attractive idea.

“I was there too, remember? You did try to help him, and he threw it back in your face and then treated you like crap. There was nothing else you could have done; he was sick. The fact you alerted his dad to his behavior probably saved his life”, Emily reminded. Pieter stared into space, absentmindedly stroking his baby son’s back while processing everything his partner was saying.

“He’s looking well now, don’t you think? I might have scared him last night. But… I would like to get to know him too.” she prodded with a spark of mischief and affection in her eyes.

Pieter grinned, knowing Sim was terrified of Emily. His gaze focused on his lover moving around the kitchen. Her long russet hair was heaped messily atop her head, and she wore loose, gray marl pajamas that hid her baby weight. It didn’t matter that she still had a little of her round pregnancy belly, she was beautiful to Pieter.

“You are so annoying Raven!” He threw a pillow towards the kitchen where she was pureeing carrots for Lukas. It was a feeble throw, and Emily paused to laugh at Pieter and his limp wrist.

Pieter knew Emily was right, no matter what his reservations were, he and Sim would get nowhere near fixing their friendship if neither made an effort. Simeon was in need of a friend. Simeon didn’t have drugs to give him fake confidence and dull his feelings anymore. Being friends with a recovering addict would not be easy; especially one who used to be in love with him. There would have to be rules—boundaries, especially as he would be a part of Lukas’s life too. Pieter mulled over Emily’s words for a moment and then, without unsettling Lukas, reached to the coffee table and picked up his smart phone.

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