Expecting it All (Punishment Pit #7) - Livia Grant Page 0,26

rescue.

Lukus's face scrunched up. "It's Z. You think…"

There was a collective pause before all three friends answered in unison. "Oh, hell no." Zachary Zimmerman was not the kind of man a father allowed to be around his infant son.

Lukus let it roll to voicemail, then began to press Derek. "You don't have a choice, man. You need to call Rachel and tell her to get her ass home."

"I don't want to call her. I'll feel like a complete failure. It's my first real time home alone with the kid."

Markus chimed in, a bit too brightly to suit Derek. "Don't look now, but you need help, and Lukus and I don't count."

Derek hated to call Rachel, but Markus was right. The baby had been crying for over an hour at this point.

He was walking to the counter to get his phone when Lukus stopped him. "I've got it. Hold on."

Lukus made the next call. Derek didn't know who he had called until their friend James Chambers's voice filled the room, barely audible over the baby's cries.

"It sounds like you're with Derek. Your kid has a good set of lungs on him."

"It's not his lungs I'm worried about. He won't stop crying."

"They do that sometimes. Did you change him?"

"Of course."

"Feed him?"

"Of course."

"Try to rock him? Walk around?" James was getting insulting now.

"I'm not a complete idiot," Derek said.

"Hey, I never said you were. You burped him good, right? He might have a gas bubble."

The three men looked back and forth at each other before Derek had to sheepishly admit, "I haven't really tried that yet."

Derek lifted his son over his shoulder and started patting the baby's back, as he'd seen Rachel do dozens of times.

James's instructions came through the phone. "Harder. I can't hear you."

"It's hard enough. I don't want to hurt him."

"You won't—"

"In case you missed it, I'm a giant compared to him."

"Derek, pat his back harder. You asked for my help. Now listen."

Derek reluctantly increased the pressure. Instead of the soft pats he'd been applying, he started patting more sharply, interspersing those with frequent rubs, like those he had watched his wife apply often. It only took about forty-five seconds before his son let rip the biggest burp he'd ever heard.

His friends were impressed. "Whoa! That was some burp."

Almost immediately the baby quieted. The poor little tyke had had a tummy ache from a gas bubble.

Derek groused, "This would be a hell of a lot easier if he could just talk. How the hell am I supposed to know what he needs?"

James chuckled. "You'll get the hang of it. Believe it or not, they have different cries for different needs."

Derek snuggled his now drowsy son in his arms, looking at him with relief. "This is a lot easier with adult babies. I'm just saying."

James asked, "Yeah, well, how is that working for you and Rachel these days?"

The four men had no secrets from each other, so Derek wasn't surprised they'd ask. "I don't know how to answer that. On the one hand, I'm so proud of Rach. She's stepped up, and is an awesome mom. Unfortunately, that means she's no longer my baby girl."

Markus and James shared their regrets as if someone had died. Lukus, on the other hand, shook his head. "That's bullshit."

"What is? That Rachel is a great mom?" Derek asked.

"Hell no. That's great. But it's bullshit that you think she can't be a mom and a baby both."

"And just how is that going to work? Maybe right now the kid won't know any better, but pretty soon, don't you think he'll notice his mom is the only one wearing a diaper like him?"

Frustrated impatience registered on Lukus's face. "Don't be a dumbass. Sure, you can't be 24/7 anymore, but that doesn't mean that at the club, and at night after the baby is asleep, you can't get your baby girl back."

If only it were that easy. "I just can't see her like that anymore. She's too assertive," Derek said.

Lukus grinned. "You mean like Tiffany?"

Markus piped up. "Or maybe Brianna?"

Derek felt a spark of hope that he and Rachel might salvage their D/s relationship after all. He had assumed it was going to be all or nothing, but as he looked down at his now sleeping son, he thought about the kind of relationship his best friends had with their sassy submissives. Why couldn't he and Rachel have that same kind of relationship?

Now that she had the green light to have sex again, they could put the theory