His Unexpected Baby by Jamie Knight
Chapter Nine - Stephanie
It was a new feeling. My head was spinning, and my pussy was humming with lingering pleasure as I drove back into town, barely avoiding the Loki’s Laugh van as it came pulling into the lot outside The Sanctuary.
I’d never been fucked like that before. Either in that lifted poison or with such incredible passion. I loved that Ragnar was so powerful but also so gentle. Able to absolutely dominate me physically, while making me feel so safe at the same time.
I wanted so much to tell someone, but knew as well as anyone how thorny the situation was. A fact I was reminded of when I saw the Loki’s Laugh van come up the road just as I was turning out of the industrial park.
There were other businesses there of course, but it was more than possible Varg and Stig would recognize me from the wedding. Not the strongest evidence in the world, but enough to shake things up.
We really did have our own lives, and no matter how connected to him, I felt or how great the sex was, I wasn’t sure how, or even if we could make it work.
I had my career, which I was dedicated to, and Ragnar had his music and seemed to be the real leader of the band. If I was honest with myself, I was also afraid of being judged.
Metalheads had come a long way since the 1980s. It was mostly accepted as just another music genre.
Even so, there were certain prejudices that came with it. One held by myself until very recently. I couldn’t even imagine what people in the metal community would make of me, if they saw what I wore day to day. I had to admit, though, that the clothes Jonna lent me did feel surprisingly good.
“Morning, Ms. Morris,” Pat greeted, with a tip of his cap.
“Oh, hey, Pat.”
Pat cleared his throat, as politely as possible. Taking a glance back, I saw him proper the pen, tapping the sign-in book with his other hand.
“Right, sorry.”
“Not a problem.”
The wall of the elevator met me as I slumped back. Taking a deep breath, I tried to center myself, determined to somehow muddle through. There wasn’t much that needed to be done that day. The big project was our seasonal line, and I had that more or less sewn up.
I was mostly just waiting for Fawn to deliver the samples. Maddie knew better than to bother me unless it was really important, particularly when I had my grumpy face on, which I was dismayed to find out I did.
Should I not be happy?
I’d had a new experience, lunchtime quickies not really something that had occurred to me before. Not to mention what happened during it. It was all such a jumble. I suddenly had an idea of how Jonna must have felt, falling for her boss.
As though the gods of irony were listening a call came through, I somehow knew it was from Jonna.
“Hey, little one.”
“Hey, sis, working?”
“Hardly working, but don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“My lips are sealed.”
“I knew I could count on you.”
“Always.”
A hand closed in my chest. She was taking my lines. Just one more indication of how much our roles had reversed. Her the stable, married mom, and me the jumbled alleged career woman obsessed with a metalhead five years my junior.
Still, if there was anyone who might understand, it was Jonna.
“I was wondering if you might like to meet us for dinner,” she said.
“Us, you mean you and Seth?”
“No, I wish that’s what I meant. He has to work tonight. It will be just the two of us, and Casey of course. He’s still on the boob and all.”
I chuckled. “I’d love to, where and when?”
“You choose, I’m no good at this stuff.”
“How about the Cedar Lounge?”
It must have been Opposite Day. That was the only way I could think of to explain how Jonna’s car was in the front lot of the Cedar Lounge as I arrived.
This girl would be late for her own funeral, yet somehow she had made it to dinner first. She must have sensed a disturbance in the balance of the universe as well.
“Hey, sis,” Jonna greeted, with a big hug.
“Hey.”
Casey giggled in his carrier, reaching his little arms out toward me. Much to my shame, I hadn’t really seen my nephew much since he was born. I came and went, but seemed to never have much time to spend with him.
“Do you want to hold him?” Jonna asked.
“Okay.”
Lifting Casey from the carrier, Jonna showed me how to hold him and support his head. Casey seemed happy with the situation, nuzzling his face into my chest.
“I think he likes you.”
“Looks like,” I agreed, looking down at the snoozing infant.
I’d never really considered having kids. It wasn’t that I was against it or had any silly ideas about it ‘ruining’ me. It just never really came. I had other things to focus on, like how to stay alive after graduation.
I could have gone to Mom and Dad for help, they hadn’t disowned me or anything, it just didn’t feel right. I was too self-sufficient, besides which, I still had Jonna to think about. I wasn’t that much older than her, but I had still always felt more like a mom than a sister.
It was only in the past few months, since she had really been flourishing so well with Seth, that I really started to feel like it would be okay to let go. She had her own life, and it was well past time I got one of my own!
“What’s up?” she asked me, making me realize I had been zoning out.
“Sorry, what?” I asked her.
“Sister-sense. I have it too, you know.”
“Right,” I chuckled, then sighed. “I’m just trying to decide about something.”
“Whether or not it’s a good idea to be with Ragnar in a serious way?” Jonna asked knowingly.
“Wow, good guess.”
“The benefit of experience.”
She had me there. Jonna had a lot more experience, at least in particular aspects of life. What used to look like mistakes, she reshaped into adventures and leaning opportunities.
If anyone would understand what was going on with Ragnar, it was her. Jonna could see it from both sides.
“We’re just so different,” I admitted to her.
“How so?” Jonna pressed.
“Well, we have different cultures.”
“Do you now, Olga? You think you have a radically different culture than Ragnar Karlssen?” she asked.
I grimaced at the pointed use of my first name.
“Okay, in terms of background no, but he grew up in Norway, and we were raised here. I’m American, really.”
“And Ragnar is a Norwegian living in America. Sounds like an opportunity for both of you.”
“I never really thought about it that way.”
“What are sisters for?”
That was another line she took from me. Things really had gone topsy-turvy. If only that were what was really concerning me.
I liked that Ragnar and I had a shared cultural history. I’d learned a bit on my own, but Norse-Americans were difficult to come by, particularly on the west coast.
“Then there’s the other thing,” Jonna promoted.
“Other thing?”
“Come on, sis. This is me, your screw-up of a baby sister who was nearly disowned twice. I know what it’s like to go against expectations. Ragnar is a metal head and looks it. You definitely don’t, except with special effort. I’m guessing you like his band?”
“Yes,” I confessed, my cheeks getting warm.
“Most people do. They have what most producers would call ‘cross-over appeal,’ like Metallica with the Black Album.”
“I thought it was the White Album.”
“That’s the Beatles. It’s a bit of an inside joke.”
“I wouldn’t have thought they would have fans in common.”
She shrugged.
“Music does that. And sometimes a genre just grabs you, like metal grabbed me. And apparently, now, you.”
The denial caught in my throat, screaming for release despite the ultimate truth of the matter. I had stepped, however shallowly, into the pool of Metal, and surprisingly liked what I found there.
“True,” I finally agreed.
“But you’re worried about your reputation. What might happen if your friends and colleagues found out you’re with a dirty headbanger?”
“Ragnar is not dirty,” I protested on reflex.
“No, he isn’t, and neither am I. I’m as much of a metalhead as Ragnar, but he’s just managed to make it a career. Are you embarrassed by me? Do you try to hide my very existence?”
“No, I would never.”
“Exactly.”
Casey started to fuss a bit, moving, and twisting in my arms, patting my chest with his tiny hand.
“Oh, I think he’s hungry,” she remarked.
“I definitely don’t have what he’s looking for,” I joked.
I passed Casey back to Jonna, who started to nurse him, a blanket over her shoulder to conceal herself, just as the food she’d already ordered arrived.
Jonna had known exactly what to order. I loved every bit of it, each bite like a jubilee bursting in my mouth. She must have been paying attention during our rare family outings. At periodic intervals, I would look at Casey, and wonder.
Do I want this kind of life, too?
