Chapter Sixty-Seven
"I changed my mind. You're not allowed to have a bachelorette weekend anymore. You're staying home with me." To further prove his point, Blake plopped Ford down into Ana's half-full suitcase she was packing on the bed. The little boy picked up a ball of socks curiously, holding it up to him.
"Too late. My flight leaves in the morning, and the hotel's booked. You'll live for a few days," Ana told him. "Ford will keep you company. And the pups."
"If Olaf isn't here when you get back, don't be surprised." The cat in question was toeing around Ford where he sat, mewing for attention from the little human. "He may be at the pound. Or the taxidermist. I haven't decided yet."
"You better not hurt my cat, Blake, or I'll whip your butt."
"You would think, seeing how I'm your fiancé and all, you would choose me over that damn cat."
"You have an attitude problem when it comes to pussies," Ana said with a smirk.
"Oh ho, ho, very funny." Ford giggled, throwing the socks at Blake's face. "No, Ford, none of that. What have I told you about throwing? You want a timeout?"
It was actually comical to watch Blake attempting to be firm with his son. Ford was just so cute and cuddly, whenever he behaved like a naughty toddler, Blake had problems becoming the disciplinarian-type father. He wasn't used to it because he rarely had to do it, and Ford knew it too. The little blonde didn't take his father very seriously yet. That would have to change at some point.
"So, Brynn's bringing the twins or is she leaving them here with Chad?"
"I can't tell you, to be honest. She's been going back and forth. Ayesha is bringing Ryan, just because she's obviously nursing. Brynn's been having trouble nursing, and they've been having to use some formula. If the babies are okay with formula, I'd see her leaning towards leaving them here. But if not, she'll most likely bring them. We're not going to be doing anything but laying on the beach or around the pool anyways. So babies won't put a damper on the festivities too much."
"Aw, come on, no partying?"
"Are you saying you want me to go out to a club?"
Blake tilted his head slightly. "You know what, nope. I'm good with your plan. Oh, and this isn't happening." He picked up the skimpy little bikini she'd just added to the pile. "I know you have a one piece somewhere..."
He went to walk back into the closet in search of the bathing suit, but Ana snatched the bikini out of his hands and put it back in her case. "That bathing suit will be happening, because I'm going to have a cover up on. Calm it down, tiger. I won't be showing your goods off to anyone while I'm there."
Blake gave her a look but conceded to sitting on the bed next to her suitcase and watching her pack. Diesel, the ever growing pup, waded through the pillows over to him to plop down with his dark black head resting on Blake's firm thigh.
"I can't believe the wedding is in three weeks," Blake commented. "Are we sure we have everything ready?"
"Yes babe," Ana called out once again. She was sorting through some of her outfits to find a cute sundress to wear to dinner. "Ashley's got it all taken care of. I just have to pick up my wedding dress from New York and a last minute fitting to make sure everything is perfect."
"Will you at least give me a hint about what your dress looks like?" Blake asked.
He'd been pestering her for hints since she'd first come back from buying it. Blake was horrible with secrets if he knew they were a thing. If he had no idea about the subject of the secret, he couldn't think about it. But since he knew she had a wedding dress, and all the women had told him how gorgeous it was, he wanted to know about it. Preferably now. He wasn't a fan of waiting.
"No hints," Ana told him. "We're going full blown traditional with this wedding. You know that."
"Are their feathers?"
"Blake."
"What about sequins?"
"Austin."
"Is there a big skirt thing that follows behind you? Is it called a train? Which doesn't really make sense, but I think that's what Marieka called it."
"Griffin."
"Huh?" Her using his last name seemed to have confused him.
"What do you not understand about no hints?" Ana walked back into the master bedroom with two sundresses draped over her right arm.
"The 'no' part."
Ana let out an exasperated sigh, hooking Ford under his little bottom to pick him up out of her suit case and put her dresses where he'd just been sitting. "Yeah, yeah, I'm putting you down." Because as soon as she'd moved him, he started wiggling and chirping 'LeeLee' up at her indignantly. "Don't forget to go pick up his suit from the seamstress tomorrow."
"Ford's getting a suit?" Blake asked.
"For his ring bearing duties," Ana reminded him. "Besides, he needed one anyways for special occasions."
"Why didn't I know about this?" Blake asked.
"You did, but you sometimes forget things when you don't think they're important to remember at the time."
Blake looked at her then rolled his eyes before he had to lean down and snatch one of Diesel's toys from Ford before the toddler could stick it in his mouth. "Nope. That's nasty bud. You don't know where that's been."
"Daddy," Ford whined.
"You hungry? You want LeeLee to stop packing and make you lunch?"
"I need to get back to the bakery, Blake. I was trying to get a head start on my packing during my lunch break, but I really need to head back."
"Hungy, LeeLee," Ford said sadly.
"You can't leave my little boy hungry," Blake said, twisting this whole situation around on her. Ana knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was trying to use Ford to guilt trip into staying home longer. He was so naughty, because it was working.
"That's cheating," Ana told him.
"All's fair in love and war."
Ana headed down stairs to make a quick lunch of chicken teriyaki chicken with white rice and veggies. Ford held her hand and the rail as he came down with her, and he bounced around her knees as she maneuvered through the kitchen. She gave him a little piece of chicken to taste and see if he liked it. When he put his arms up to get a better look, she finished lunch with the little boy secure on her hip.
Thirty minutes after the showdown, Ana had sat Ford in his booster seat at the table with a plate of food and made Blake one as well. She stepped back with her hands on her hips as she watched her boys dig in, shaking her head.
"All right, the two of you are fed. I'm going back to work." She turned to grab her purse and keys.
"Actually," Blake began, no doubt going to come up with some other asinine thing to keep her at the house longer, but Ana closed the door to the garage with a snap, effectively cutting off his sentence.
When she made it back to the bakery, Ian was finishing the dirty icing of a specialty cake due in a couple days before he would wheel it into their walk-in cooler. Linda had the day off, because she'd be busy the next bit with Ana taking so much time off for her wedding and such. They'd discussed it, but it worked out, because when Ana returned from her honeymoon, she was sending Linda and her family on a paid-leave, all expenses paid vacation for her being such a reliable, trustworthy, and remarkable assistant manager at the bakery since she had been hired.
With the continued expansion and growing list of clientele, Pana was quickly becoming the top bakery in the western United States, and not just in the Los Angeles area. The TV show, while not drawing in millions upon millions of viewers like drama shows and stuff like that, it still had one of the highest TV ratings of any relatable reality TV show.
"So, babe, you ready for your fun weekend in the sun?" Ana glanced up from the cake she was pulling out of the cooler to Ian, who was finishing up his own task.
"I'm ready," she told him. "Blake's not though. He told me when I was at home that he didn't want me to go anymore. He'll be okay."
Ian shook his head. "I'm going to have to get him to let loose next weekend. He needs to live a little before he gets settled down with you."
"Ian, you better not even try to start mischief or I'll smack you."
Her weak threat was met with a roll of his bright eyes. Ian rarely took her threats seriously, which put a damper on her attempts. With her sketch pad open to the cake she was working on, Ana called out to her icing station to start mixing and making the seven colors she needed.
Because the wedding was coming on so quickly, Ana was trying to be at work as much as possible up until her nuptials so that she relieved the stress on Ian and Linda. Cumulative, Ana was going to be getting about two and a half weeks off from the bakery for her wedding and the honeymoon. Then afterwards, she probably wouldn't be taking a day off for a couple of months (not including Sundays, because they were closed then now).
"Alec's excited to get on the beach," Ian commentated later on in the afternoon while they cleaned up the kitchen. "He's been packed for days."
"Aw, he's so cute," Ana giggled. "Did he pack any speedos?"
"Hell no," Ian said. "He doesn't wear speedos. We aren't that gay."
"I didn't realize there were degrees of homosexual," Ana said.
"Come off it. You knew there was. Not that anyone is better than the other, but we're the mellow sort."
"I guess so. You're not like Mikey," Ana laughed. She loved that man—he was a hairdresser at Alec's salon. That man styled his hair in crazy ways, wore makeup every day, and had an extreme knack for wearing heels boots better than Ana could sometimes. But he was one of the sweetest, and sassiest, people that Ana had ever met and she loved him for it. Blake hadn't met him yet, but she sometimes wondered how that would work out. She figured comical, because Mikey would hit on him without a second thought. He loved teasing some of the men that came into the salon, all in good fun. If the men really didn't like it, he wouldn't do it. But some of the guys didn't mind, so it was fun to watch.
"Yeah, definitely not like Mike," Ian agreed.
They finished cleaning in a comfortable silence, making sure every surface had been scrubbed clean and wiped down. Then Ana grabbed the deposit to take to the bank, thinking to herself about how her life was starting to fall into place and settle down. She could see her future in her mind—it consisted of Blake, Ford, their pets, and new babies at some point down the road. Maybe even a championship or two, or an MVP. More than anything, she hoped they stayed in Los Angeles, and Blake stayed with the Clippers. She couldn't imagine having to move somewhere else, but she also knew she would follow Blake wherever his career took him.
Ana had just said goodbye to Ian after dropping the deposit when her phone rang. She pressed the button on her steering wheel to answer with the hands-free as she started her way from the bank to Blake's home.
"Hola."
"Ana! Thank goodness you answered." Tamera sounded relieved. "I've got some news."
Brian's wicked face popped up in her mind at the sound of her lawyer's voice. The court case had been relatively silent, surprisingly, given her ex-boyfriend's love to make noise. TMZ and other places hadn't heard about the lawsuit. The episode of the television show addressing the lawsuit was scheduled to debut next week. It was still kind of hard for her to think about, that such a hard thing for her to go through was going to be broadcast for the entire country to see. But she also knew that it was a chance for her to show others who might be in her position that it is possible to fight back. And it's possible to win.
Ana was going to win. It just depended on when it would actually happen.
"What's wrong? Your voice sounds weird."
"It's because I'm pissed off," Tamera said. Now she could hear the anger. "Somehow, the news about the lawsuit 'accidentally' got out to the press. All the garbage news sites are getting a piece together to run. I just want you to know that a lot of what will be out there isn't going to be pretty."
Ana should've known the quiet wouldn't last when it came to Brian. He had to have his name out there, had to have some spotlight. He just had to be the center of fucking attention. He didn't understand the difference between a good spotlight and a bad one, as long as the lights were shining brightest on him.
"I know," Ana said. "Have you told Blake?"
"No sweetheart, I figured that would best be left up to you. The two of you need to sit down and come up with a statement. Just whatever you do, don't specifically state what he did to you or accuse him of it, because that's why we're in court is to prove it. Just mention the case against him in response to his allegations. And bring up your carry permit and the fact that you were inside your own residence."
"Okay, yeah," Ana said. Her mind gave a bit of a spin. This was exactly what she needed at this very moment. "Any word yet on whether this is going to make it to actual court?"
"I highly doubt it. I've been able to push the preliminary hearing to after your honeymoon. The pricks were trying to schedule it for the day of your wedding, but I argued that it was absolutely disgraceful that they would try to further ruin yours and Blake's happiness by scheduling something during this time. The judge agreed. He doesn't like them very much."
"Most people don't," Ana griped. "Just wait til Brian gives an interview on camera about everything. People will see the real him, I hope. His façade isn't as good as it used to be. Or maybe I'm just immune to it now."
"You're immune, sweetie, because you kicked his ass. He doesn't have any power over you, and I'm going to make sure that when he walks out of the courtroom, it's in handcuffs."
"Thank you, Tamera. Honestly. Did you get your invitation?"
"I got it yesterday. Thank you," she told her. "The pictures are beautiful. You and Blake were made for one another."
"I like to think so too." Ana pulled up to Blake's house—their house—and parked herself in the right garage. "Pray for me, Tam. I'm about to go in."
"You'll be fine. Blake can't be mad at you about this. It's the asshat's fault."
Ana laughed. "Bye, girl."
"Bye, babe."
Ana smiled to herself despite the situation she found herself in. Since meeting Tamera, the two had become really good friends. Not just because Ana had had to tell her every single thing that Brian had ever done to her, but because Tamera was just a really, really good person. She was the type of woman that exemplified the American dream. She started from the literal bottom—her family had barely anything at all when she was growing up—and now she was a badass attorney with a phenomenal track record and a fantastic reputation across the state.
Inside, Blake was scrounging in the refrigerator for something to eat. Upon further inspection, she found Ford pushed between his legs with his arms hooked around Blake's knees with a little giggle.
"Surely you boys aren't hungry again?"
Blake straightened up to look over the fridge door at her with a surprised expression. Ford pulled his head from between his father's thighs to look at her too. Then he grinned, "LeeLee!" And took a running start to jump into her arms.
"Oh, ho, hello there, baby boy," Ana coughed out, hoisting the big boy up onto her hip. His arms wound around her neck in a tight hug, which she returned just as tightly. "Did you miss me, huh? I missed you."
"Me miss you," he promised her.
"Were you a good boy for your daddy?"
"Uh-hu!"
"And was your daddy a good boy for you?"
"No!"
"Ford!"
Ana laughed at Ford's happy little giggle, looking back across the kitchen to her fiancé. Blake had this indignant little pout on his face as he stared at his son, almost as if he'd been betrayed. By his own blood even.
"He was? Maybe we'll have to tell Grampa on him," Ana joked.
"Yeah!"
"Okay, you know what Ford? I'm calling your mother and she can come and get you since I've been so naughty."
"Momma?"
Ana rolled her eyes, going up on her toes to press a kiss to Blake's jaw when she got close enough. "Ignore him baby, you're staying here with your daddy while your momma and I are away."
Blake took his son into the living room to get him settled with a few toys and the pets to keep a watchful eye on him while the two of them figured out dinner. Ana took the chance to slip upstairs and change out of her work attire and into something a bit more comfortable. Plus she was ready to chuck the heels for the day. When she made it back downstairs, Blake was once again scrounging through the refrigerator.
Ana assumed there was no better time to tell him than the present.
"Blake?"
"Yeah?"
"Tamera called on my way home."
"Yeah? What'd she want?"
He didn't turn to look at her, but continued his task of figuring out something they could make to eat. Somehow, not seeing his face didn't help her trepidation with ruining their good mood they had going at the moment.
"To warn me."
That got his attention. Blake snapped up, his back going ram-rod straight, and he turned to face her while closing the fridge behind him with a snap. "Warn you about what?"
Ana sighed, fidgeting with her engagement ring nervously. Of course, her fiancé picked up on her nervous tic and took a few steps closer to her. "Just promise me you won't get too mad."
"Why would I get mad? Ana, what did Tamera want to warn you about?"
"News about the lawsuit 'accidentally' got put out there. Media sites are coming up with stories about it, and shit's going to be hitting the fan soon. Probably tomorrow in all honesty. She doesn't know exactly how Brian and his lawyers spun it, but it's more than likely going to cast me in a pretty shitty light. So we need to be prepared and come up with our own statement."
With each word, Ana watched Blake's jaw tighten in anger. When she finished, she noticed his fists clinched at his sides.
"I'm not worried about me being cast in a bad light," Ana rushed to continue. "I know the truth will come out eventually, and I know what really happened. Nothing I did was illegal. I don't care if this goes public, because it's another chance for me to do good. Let everyone see what Brian did to me, and they can also see what I did in self-defense."
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Ana didn't know exactly what he was responding to, so she kept quiet and waited for him to elaborate.
"This 'accidentally' fell into the hands of some sleazy media sites?"
"His lawyers will never actually admit to it. But the lawsuit is almost something of public record. And it's not like we weren't going to address it anyways. It's going to be on the show next week, I told you that. I guess it would have been more convenient for us had we been the ones to break the news and not them. Now we're going to have to tell the truth while everyone is thinking about what they heard first."
"That is so messed up," Blake said. "But why am I even surprised? Brian's a fucking psychopath. He needs to be locked up. Hell, I'd much rather punch the shit out of him."
"He's not worth it," Ana reminded him. She wrapped her arms around his middle, willing him with her touch to relax his tense muscles. "He'll be out of our hair in no time, then we can finally be just us and not have to worry about him anymore. I have faith in Tamera."
"I know, baby girl. And I have faith in you." He pulled her closer against his broad chest, surrounding her in his warmth. "We'll talk about the statement once we've put Ford down to bed. I'll go ahead and warn Lorne though. He may have an idea on how we should approach this."
"Jordan might too. We should ask him. I know civil law like this isn't his forte, but he's still used to issuing statements. He may have some pointers."
The next morning when Ana woke up in the warm embrace of her fiancé, shit had hit the fan. It was everything that they had expected and prepared for the night before. And not only did they all want some statements and shit, Blake and Ana issued it through Ramona Shelbourne at ESPN because she was the most trustworthy person to them and had known Blake the longest of anyone that had offered. As the news of the lawsuit began to spread across the sports and media worlds, Ana was loading her luggage into Blake's car to be dropped off at the airport. All the bullshit was not going to put a damper on her bachelorette weekend with her girls. That was for damn sure.
When Blake pulled up at LAX to drop her off, he unloaded her luggage and took it to the baggage check in outside the main entrance while she said bye to Ford who didn't want to see her go. Blake wrapped her up in a tight hug, giving her a couple kisses to her lips.
"We'll deal with the mess," he told her. "We always do."
"And we'll come out stronger on the other side like we always do."
"Hell yes." He gave her one more kiss and a squeeze. "I love you, baby girl. Call me when you've landed, alright? That way I know you're safe."
"I will. And you've got the flight number?"
"I've got it. I'll be tracking it on my phone."
"I love you," she told him.
After one last kiss to the top of her head, Ana walked into LAX with Blake watching her. She knew he didn't drive away until she'd disappeared through the sliding glass doors.
Inside, Ana did the normal mess of security and checking carry on bags before she went to one of the Starbuck's to order a coffee and a piece of lemon cake. When she sat down, the text messages came flooding in so she just made a group message of all the girls to let her know where she was. And one by one they started to show up.
"The jackass has phenomenal timing, don't you think?" Alec lowered himself into the chair next to her. He showed up with Katherine and Shelby in tow. "Are you sure I can't just chop his dick off? The world would be a better place."
"I know it would," Ana told him. "But it wouldn't be a better place with you in jail. We'll handle him the legal route." Alec looked legitimately annoyed that she'd said no.
"Let's just focus ourselves on having a nice, relaxing weekend. We'll leave all this mess in the United States." Shelby told them.
"Sounds like a pretty good plan to me," Kat agreed.
Once all the women had arrived (and three babies, because the twins were finally nursing which meant they had to come with Brynn), they all loaded up onto the plane and got settled for the ride. Ana rode next to Ayesha, fawning over little Ryan every single chance she got in their first class seating. Ana had insisted on first class so that the mothers had plenty of room in case they needed to nurse and they could be comfortable with their newborns for the ten hour flight.
When they finally arrived at the hotel in Exuma, a bus was waiting the carry them to the hotel. Well, at least, everyone had believed it was a hotel. It was the exact opposite. When they stepped off the bus, Ana looked up to find them in front of a beautiful stone beach house. You could smell the ocean in the wind and hear the waves washing up onto the sand not even twenty yards away from where they stood.
"Wow."
Inside the house was beyond gorgeous. There were six bedrooms and six baths. Ayesha and Brynn were given first choice on the bed rooms and they took the two master-like bedrooms with the beg beds only because they wanted to have their babies close without the chance of waking any of the other girls up in the middle of the night. Ana went ahead and shared a room with Alec because they'd known each other the longest. The other girls paired themselves up, and they all got settled in after a long day of travel.
Ana called Blake, of course, as soon as she had landed to tell him they were all safe. But now that she was lying in bed while Alec showered, she called him again for a longer conversation.
"Hey baby girl," Blake answered the phone. "You guys comfortable?"
"Yeah," she smiled. "It's so beautiful here, Blake. I love it. I want to come back here with you."
"Maybe next summer," he told her. "You getting ready for bed?"
"I'm already in bed. I'm pretty sure everyone else is asleep other than Alec. It was pretty late once we got in. How was your day?"
"About what you would expect. All the people who mattered knew about what happened with Brian and all, but some friends who didn't wanted to know if everything was okay. I gave them the bare minimum of the facts but everyone still believed in you. You should get on Twitter and stuff if you haven't already. A lot of guys and their wives have been sticking up for you on social media."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's really awesome when people in sports can come together over something, you know? And women across the sports world have been calling out the bullshit in the articles and praising you for what you did."
"Have any photos been released or has Ken talked about anything?"
"Yeah, baby, some photos are out there. Ramona did a really, really good story on it in follow up to your statement. I think she's been assigned to the case as it plays out, actually. She talked to Lorne about it, and I gave her Tamera's number. It's in good hands."
Ana knew it was. Ramona was respectable and an established journalist. She'd done an amazing job with the whole cried-wolf domestic assault thing, so she had complete faith in the older woman to handle her case with Brian in a similar manner.
"Do the pictures look bad?"
"It's hard for me to look at them," Blake told her truthfully. "But they do. They look pretty bad. But it also makes everyone have so much more respect for you to have been able to fight him off the way you did after everything he'd done for you."
Ana rolled onto her side, looking across the dark room to gaze out at the bright moon shining in the black sky. Memories of the night Brian had assaulted her were washing over her mind, bring back the ghost pains of her ankle turning, his open hand smacking across her cheek, of his closed fist crashing down into her head. The fear crawled across her skin, accompanied by disgust at the memory of his hard-on pressed against her in the bathroom.
"People are saying I was asking for it, aren't they, because of my dress."
"There are probably a few dipshits who are trying," Blake told her carefully. "But their opinions don't matter. What matters are the opinions and support of those who love and care about you. And all of those people know you could have been naked and it still doesn't give a right to Brian to even try what he did to you that night."
"You know," Ana said after a few moments of silence. "It's probably going to get out that I'm a virgin. Like, Brian's whole thing when he was trying to get into my head was that the only reason a guy like you would go for a guy like me was because the sex must have been fantastic. He never believed a word I ever said about me being pure."
"So what about it?"
"People are going to find out that you and I haven't had sex."
"And?"
"Well, won't that hurt your street cred or something?"
"My god," Blake laughed. He literally laughed. "Babe, I don't give a flying rat's ass about something as stupid as that. If anything, it should show that I've gotten a pretty damn good woman to agree to marry my crazy ass, so why should I be worried about people knowing you're a virgin? Once again, there's nothing wrong with that."
"I know there's nothing wrong with being a virgin," Ana told him. "I guess I just keep thinking about the stereotypes, you know? About how you're a sports star. You get women, you get sex, you get all that without a question. And yet you're in a committed relationship with a girl who won't 'put out.' No wonder Brian wouldn't believe me. Nobody will."
"Another thing to not give a fuck about," Blake said. "Seriously, babe, all those fucks you give? Just throw 'em out. Ain't none of them worth it."
Ana giggled softly, hugging her free pillow closer to her chest. "Well if you think about it, I'm less than three weeks away from giving you my v-card forever."
"I know. I've got the event marked down in my phone."
Ana laughed. "You do not!"
"Okay, no, I don't. But it was worth a shot to see if you'd actually think I was that obsessed with sleeping with you."
They talked for fifteen more minutes, just about random topics and stuff like that. This was going to be the longest trip Ana had ever taken away from Blake. It was different this way because it was usually switched—with Blake on the road and Ana waiting at home for him. Ana felt like being on this side of the equation was worse, because you didn't even have the comfort of home to help you pass the time. All you had was the foreign hotel (or in this case beach house) to house your heart til you got back home.
"I should sleep and so should you," Blake told her.
"Yeah, you're probably right. It's really late."
"I love you, baby girl."
"I love you too, Blake."
Ana fell asleep slowly with her love on her mind and a weight in her heart.
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Sorry again. But work is a bitch. And I go back to school tomorrow for my school's bowl game! But maybe I'll be able to post soon. I hope you all enjoy a bit more cuteness and a bit more drama.
The beach house they're staying at is called Aqua Terra in Exuma. You should look it up. It's gorgeous!