You ride. I ride.

39. Blessing

<Letty's POV> 

I don't know when it happened. If it was when he held my hair back while I was throwing up or whether it was during a football game when we were both cheering for opposite teams but still managed to laugh together. But what I do know is that I fell for him. Hard. 

And I also know that a part of me knew that this couldn't happen. 

"Why can't it happen?" Mia asked as I told her about my growing feelings for Deckard. She had caught me staring at him a little too long during one of our family's weekend barbeques. Although I moved out several months ago, we all were still close and hung out all the time. 

I pointed at my belly: "Reason one?" 

"But he knows the situation. I don't think that it bothers him at all." 

"Hmm," I wondered why Mia wasn't mad at me. She was a big supporter of me and Dom, and she was always dreaming about the day he and would marry and we would become sisters in law. "Why are you being so supportive?" 

"What do you mean?" She frowned.

"You always wanted me and Dom to be together. So I thought you would give me hard time for moving on so soon."

"Have you moved on?" 

Had I moved on from Dom? No, certainly not. I still saw him every time I entered the house or when I went to the races, which is why I stopped going. Some part of me was hoping that someday he would come back and tell me that this whole nightmare was other. But the smarter part of me knew that that wasn't going to happen. 

"Don't think I ever will. But I like Dex, I really do," I answered honestly. Lying to Mia was pointless anyway. 

"Then tell him how you feel." 

"What if he doesn't like me back?" Ugh, listen to me, I sounded like an anxious high schooler.  

"Look at him," she pointed towards Deckard who was talking to the guys but staring at me at the same time. "He's been looking at you for the past two minutes. Believe me, he feels the same way." 

"What do you think the guys will say?" 

"They'll support you no matter what." 

-------------------------

So, when we got home, I decided to follow Mia's advice and tell Shaw how I feel. I knew that I wouldn't feel about Deckard as I did for Dom, but that was a good thing. Dom and I were like fire on fire, always looking for the next adrenaline rush, either fighting or caught in playful banter. Deckard was the complete opposite. Don't get me wrong, he was a fighter too. I had seen him take down multiple guys who had looked at me the wrong way in a bar. But he was calm. And we were good. We fit together. 

"Deckard, I need to talk to you-"

He interrupted my sentence by pressing his lips on mine. Tasting the sweetness of his lips moving against me, I pulled us closer together, getting stopped by my baby bump that was in the way. Disturbed by this new development he backed away.

"Hm, totally forgot about that," he pointed at my belly. Was he seriously not going to say anything about this? I didn't need another Dom who was going to avoid every important conversation. 

"What was that?" I asked, referring to our kiss, sounding harsher than I actually intended to. 

"I wanted to do that all night. I'm sorry if that came as a surprise. He grinned at me. What was I supposed to say to that? Did this mean that he liked me or did he just want to fuck me? Okay, I was 8 months pregnant, it was very unlikely that he was attracted to me. 

"I look like a walrus."

"A sexy walrus is still sexy," he kissed me again. He really had balls, you had to admit. 

"Are you drunk?" I asked, confused by his sudden change in behavior. We had hooked up a few times before we found out about my pregnancy. But since then we hadn't even so much as kissed each other.

"Okay, yeah I'm behaving badly. I'm sorry. It's just. I like you Letty, a lot and if I'm reading the signs correctly, I think you like me too."

Wow. I wasn't used to boys being so straight forward with their feelings.

"And this is the moment when you either confirm or deny your feelings," he instructed me. 

"I do like you a lot, but it's complicated." 

"Nothing is complicated."

"I have a baby. With another man."

"Who is out of the picture," he added to my sentence.

"But-," I started to voice my concerns but he took my hands, shifting my focus to him. 

"Look, Letty, I'm not proposing. I'm not suggesting that we jump into a relationship or saying that I'm going to be a father to your kid. I'm just saying I think we have a special connection and I don't know about you, but this rarely happens to me. So I'd like to see where it goes."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" I asked. 

"Yes, I am." 

"I have high standards but I can lower them for you, I guess," I joked, causing him to tickle me playfully. 

"You're an idiot," he whispered sarcastically as a comeback. 

-------------------

"So you two are dating?" Vince asked again for confirmation pointing at Shaw and then at me. 

"Is that really so hard to believe?" Deckard asked waving around the chicken that he was supposed to be grilling right now.  Shaw had officially been invited to all Sunday barbeques, making his status in our family official. 

"Vince got grace," Leon yelled, pointing at Vince who had tried to steal some fries from the table. 

"Come on guys, I'm hungry," he whined. Everyone sat down eager to hear Vince's attempt at saying grace. 

"I can't do this," Vince said. 

"You know what? Give me and Letty your blessing and I'll say grace today," Deckard piped in while intertwining our fingers. I had to say, Deckard and I did make a really good couple. He had organized a whole romantic picnic date in our living room since I couldn't go anywhere at this point. He helped me pick out the baby furniture and remodeled his old office to be a nursery. 

"Deal," Vince and Deckard shook hands. 

"Dear Lord, thank you for the gathering of this family on this blessed day. Thank you for Mia who always prepares food on watches over all the idiots in this house. Thank you for blessing us with health, good food, a great family, and a soon-to-come addition to the family," he held up his glass. Everyone clinked their glasses together. 

"That was- agh," I almost yelled as I winced from the sharp pain shooting through my lower abdomen. And then I felt water running down my legs. 

"What's wrong?" Deckard's grip on my hand immediately tightened. 

"My water broke."