Shattered Secrets

I groaned to the sound of my alarm going off the next morning. I was laying on my bed tangled up in Brian, my head on his chest and his arms around me. His legs were tangled with mine and I doubted that an outsider could tell what legs belonged to whom. Brian grumbled under me and reached out to find the snooze button on the little black alarm clock that I had gotten in high school.

"Turn it off," Brian whined groggily, reaching over to shut it off himself. I repositioned myself with my head on his chest and kept my eyes closed as I raked my fingers up and down his bare and tattooed chest.

"Give me a phone," I told him, my eyes still closed as I held my hand out.

Brian chuckled and placed his cell phone on the palm of my hand. I clicked the green button on the iPhone and the numbers popped up on the screen. I typed in the familiar seven digit number and placed the technology to my left ear.

"Hello?" my mothers voice asked on the other line, sounding confused by unfamiliar number.

"Mom?" I greeted, eyes unopened, "It's Nissa. Can I talk to Dad?"

"Yes of course, honey. Why are you calling?" she asked as I heard shuffling in the background and then listened as she called out my father's name. She was quiet then as she waited for me to answer her.

"I can't come into work today," I told her while opening my eyes and reaching up to tangle my fingers in Bri's hair as his own chocolate eyes opened lazily and smiled down at me.

"Oh honey," mom cooed through the phone, "Are you sick?" I could hear my father in the background asking for my Mom to hand over the phone already, but she wasn't giving in so easily.

"Yeah," I changed the tone of my voice, realizing that I didn't have another excuse, "I'm sick."

I grinned up at Brian as my Mom replied, "Well then. Don't get Bronx sick. Do you want me to come and take him to school for you, sweetheart? You should probably stay in bed."

"No, I'm alright," I answered, laying back against my pillow, "I'm just going to drop him off and then come back to bed." I ran my fingers along Brian's arm and smiled at the man. In reality, I'd be coming back to him.

"Nissa? You're sick?" my father questioned quickly as he took the phone, "Are you sure you don't need me to come get Bronx? You should stay in bed. If you aren't able to come into work then you shouldn't go out and about to take that boy to school. I'll be there in an hour."

My eyes grew wide and I sat up quickly, wrapping the sheets around my naked torso. "Dad, it's fine. Mandi stayed over last night and she just offered to take him to school on her way home."

He seemed relieved to hear my excuse. "Alright, sweetheart," he answered, then added, "Whose phone are you talking on? It's not yours."

I bit my lip until I could taste blood. I hated lying to him, but there was no way I could tell him the truth. My parents were so protective of my son, I didn't know how they would react to knowing that I was letting him get attached to a soon-to-be married man. "It's uhh, It's Manda's," I answered, grateful for the previous lie.

"Alright, Niss," my father concluded, "Get that boy to school and get back to bed. I expect you to be completely healthy when you show up tomorrow."

I nodded to myself, laying back against Brian's body. "Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow, Dad," I murmured.

"Feel better Niss," Dad told me before he hung up the phone so that he could continue to get ready for work. I groaned at my lies and handed Brian his cell phone back. He smiled and pulled me up higher into his arms.

We laid in silence for a few minutes before I turned in his eyes and my eyes settled on the time on the alarm clock. "I have to get Bronx up for school," I complained, sliding up against him to press a kiss against his mouth.

"No," Bri whined, wrapping his arms around my waist and attempting to pull my nude body back to him.

"Bri," I laughed, pulling out of his grasp, "We have to whole day to be together."

A smile overtook his face and he nodded, laying down and folding his arms behind his head on the pillow. "I'll wait here," he smirked, his eyes shinning with anticipation. He pulled the blankets up around his hips and watched as I got dresser.

"Good idea, Mr. Haner," I answered, shaking my head at him and I went and pulled on clothes that were decent enough for me to leave the house wearing. My son didn't know that Brian was still here, and I wanted to keep it that way.

I walked out of the room and down the hall to Bronx's. He laid, sleeping, in his bed. It took a few minutes to wake him, but not much longer to get him ready for the day. I wandered back upstairs when the little boy was eating breakfast and told Brian I was going to take him to school.

Bronx and I were out the door minutes later. I strapped him into his carseat and was grateful that he didn't notice Brian's car parked just barely down the street. We were at school before he even noticed that I wasn't dressed for work.

"Mom, why aren't you ready for work?" he asked, sliding out of his carseat.

"I've got the day off," I answered, moving to pull him from the car.

He frowned, wrapping his arms around my neck. "What are you going to do without me?"

I ran my finger over his thumb. "Nothing fun at all, baby," I answered, watching as my gorgeous little boy grinned and nodded happily.