Ethan's POV

"Kane, you okay finishing up tonight? The twins need a bath and Maria's asleep!" I hear my dad's voice travel through the empty gym.

"Yeah, of course! But where's Felix?" I frown, knowing he was around here somewhere.

I don't get an answer straight away, and when Scar comes around the corner, I realize why. He has a candy bar in mouth. He finishes his mouthful, me judging him incredibly while he does. "He's mopping the changing rooms."

"Ah, okay. So, what needs doing?" I check even though I'm pretty sure I know already.

"Quick check of the CCTV, look around the equipment to see if any of it is on, or if there's anything misplaced. Make sure the lights are off outside... and, um, that's about it." He lists off, and I nod, okay with all that. "Oh, and when Felix comes out, tell him to come up and help with bath time."

"He will love you so much for that." I reply sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, he's gonna be a dad, so he'll thank me one day." His words make me stare at him in shock. Felix told him already? Well, shit. "You do know, don't you?" He looks terrified as if he's just taken a pin out of a grenade.

"Um, yeah, I just didn't think you knew." I answer. "Just shocked me is all."

"Yeah, well I've only known a few hours. I'm only just getting my head around it. My baby brother is gonna be a dad, that's mad." He chuckles, leaning against the wall, and I raise my brows at him. "Oh, shit, yeah, twins, bath. Okay, I'm going. Bye, son"

"See you, dad." I say, picking up the broom with a shake of my head.

I don't spend much time sweeping the floors, merely because they don't really need doing, and I want to be done here as quickly as possible, so I can eat and go to bed. I'm tired.

My phone all of a sudden starts to ring and I groan, reaching into my pocket. My attitude quickly flips when I see Francesca's name with a white heart next to it.

"Darling?" I answer, raising the phone to my ear as I walk over to a treadmill to turn off since someone left it on.

"Hey." She seems out of breath, and I stop in my tracks, a smirk tugging at my lips, my head obviously finding the gutter. "Where are you?"

"Um... at the gym, why? Are you okay?" I check.

"Yeah, all's okay. Have you had a good day today?" She asks, her voice low, and I frown, wondering what she's up to.

"Yeah, I actually have a new client." I chuckle, taking a seat on the treadmill. "Niko, he's fourteen, getting into trouble at school, starting fights and whatnot. He's a little jerk, but... he reminds me of myself, so I'm giving him a shot. He's got some potential, lad can throw a mean punch."

"He reminds you of yourself, huh?" Her voice is soft.

"Yeah, kinda scary. He didn't even want to leave tonight, in fact he stayed an hour over. I just hope that the behavior is led from his hormones, not something else, you know?" I mumble, picking at cuticles. I need to get my nails done... maybe she'll do them with me when we see each other next?

"You'll figure it out either way, baby. You're easy to open up to." She tells me, and I smile.

"I've missed you." I admit because it's true.

"You saw me yesterday." She says it as if she has a point.

"And? An hour away from you is enough. I'm a simp, sue me." This earns me some of her sweet laughter.

"Okay, okay. I miss you, too." She giggles, and I let out a content sigh. I fucking love this girl so much. "I've just got out of the shower, so... uh."

"So, you're naked right now?" I ask, and she hums in response.

"Yes, but that's not what I was going to say. I was going to ask if you wanted me to come see you. I'm-"

"Yes." I answer her, and she laughs again.

"You're so needy." As she says that I press the FaceTime button.

"Answer, I wanna see you." I say, and she huffs before answering, but what I don't expect is for her camera to be off. "Excuse me."

"Yes?" She giggles.

"Wanna see your face, you little bitch." I mutter, and she gasps, putting the camera on, looking at me truly appalled. "You know you love it."

"Shut the fuck up." She says through a smile, gripping the towel to her chest. "I look like shit, I need to get dressed and do my make-"

"This is where I stop you. Don't put makeup on for me. I love you for you, and you do not look like shit. Don't say that about my girlfriend." I pout, and she playfully glares at me.

"Fine." She says, propping the phone up on her bedside table. I chuckle when she puts up the peace sign and smiles, which I obviously take a screenshot of. "Did- You dick!"

"You looked cute." I point out in offense.

"Fine, add it to your collection." She rolls her eyes, but what she doesn't know is that I literally have an album in my phone just of her. "Look, if you really want to see me, I need to get dressed."

"I'm not stopping you." I shrug.

"You're such a fucking perv." She shakes her head at me, and I don't deny it. "I'm gonna get dressed, and I'll see you when I see you."

Before I know it she's hung up on me and I frown at my lock screen of us laid in bed. It's mocking me. Now I have to finish work, damn it.

I stand up, sliding the phone back into my pocket and I make my way over to the boxing rings, letting out a heavy sigh. Today has been tiring, I had an early start in the gym with Luke since I have a match on the sixth of June, which is in a month's time, and then I had two PT clients, so, now, I just want to get into bed and cuddle with my girl.

Soon, though.

Within the next twenty minutes I get most of Scar's jobs done; I've become quite the expert at checking around this gym; I remember when I moved in, I was so intimidated by everything. Now, it's one of my favorite places to be. The smell, not so much. But the energy, the environment, it fills me with a sense of comfort.

Another thing that does is Francesca; my nirvana, my gorgeous girlfriend. I've missed her today, there's been moments where I just wanted her here, watching me train, hyping me up. Of course I want her in other ways but today, today just seemed to be one of those days where I just needed her in my company.

As I circle back around the gym, almost thirty minutes later, my heart near stops when I hear rustling coming from the opposite side of the gym. Felix is done for the day, he's upstairs helping Scar, so who the fuck is here?

I may be a six foot tall, tattoo wearing, twenty-one year old man, but I can't ignore the little bit of anxiety sinking in. I can defend myself, sure, but the thought of my family getting hurt terrifies me.

Grabbing the nearest thing to me, a pole from one of the broken pieces of equipment, I stalk off to where the sound came from.

Anxiety starts to fill me when I hear the rustling sound again, but once I see where exactly it came from, I groan, dropping the metal pole.

"Are you messing right now?" I blurt out, and her low giggles fill the gym. I shake my head at Francesca's antics. She's laid on the trampoline, but the sheeting is over it so every time she moves, it makes a noise. "When'd you get here?"

I'm so happy to see her. She was in my thoughts and now they've come true; she's here.

"Around three minutes ago. There was a key under the mat out back, so I let myself in." Francesca shrugs her shoulders and then she smiles at me. "Missed me?"

"Yeah, I missed you." I let out a relieved sigh as I say this, now having reached the trampoline. I sit down on the edge, and a little smirk works its way onto my face as I watch her eyes take in my body; she really isn't discreet with her ways. "I could arrest you for breaking in, you know?"

"Oh, yeah? You wanna arrest me?" She plays with my words like the little vixen which she is.

In response, I wear a devilish smirk on my face. "Maybe."

"Hmm, I missed you." She stretches her arms up and I take this opportunity to lie beside her and pull her into a hug.

"Why didn't you move the sheet?" I have to ask. "It'd be more comfortable for us."

"Well, I wanted to surprise you, and also I didn't think we'd stay on here." She shrugs, smiling up at me.

"Just five minutes?" I suggest, not wanting to go up to the apartment just yet.

She nods, agreeing. "Yeah, five minutes sounds good. How was your day?"

"Long and tiring. I'll be happy when I get into bed with you and go to sleep." I respond honestly. "How are you? You feeling okay?"

She hesitates, which has me frowning. "I'm just stressed with college, you know? It's nothing out of the blue."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I wonder.

"Lying here with you is enough." She murmurs, rolling her head back to look at me. "I've been listening to some new music."

"Oh, really?" This somewhat shocks me since she is quite picky when it comes to music.

"Yeah. You know that song Ever Since New York? We listen to it quite often." She asks and of course, I nod. I listen to Harry Styles probably more than the average teenager. "Well, his song 'Fine Line' is so beautiful, it kinda reminds me of us. Then I've been listening to Shawn Mendes, his voice is amazing, and also some more of Stevie Nicks - I mean, are you surprised?"

"Not at all. Shawn Mendes, yes, I didn't know he was someone you'd listen to." I agree with her though, he does have an amazing voice.

"Yeah, well, my phone died the other day and I was forced to listen to the radio and I really liked a song of his, so I cleaned the kitchen listening to one of his albums. I can't remember which, though" She shrugs. "Did you say you had listened to 'Fine Line'?"

"No, I don't think I have. Put it on either way, I wanna listen to the song that you think reminds you of us." I have a few songs that remind me of us, them all being in a playlist on Spotify for her to see.

The instrumental starts to play and she turns it a little before putting her phone to the side. She then turns to me with a smile. "Did I mention that I missed you?"

I shake my head with a grin. "No, no I don't think you did."

She smiles in response, and I meet her half way, letting her kiss me as she intended. Her plump lips against mine fit like they were made for me, and I bring her closer, cupping her rosy cheeks as I deepen the kiss with my tongue, but still keeping it sweet and innocent, the somber music setting a tone to it.

There are moments like these that are my favorite. The innocent moments. The lazy moments. The moments where we can lay on a trampoline, both of us wearing sweats, and just be us. Lying here, kissing Francesca as she wears comfortable clothing, wearing a bare face, this is when I'm most content; when she's comfortable.

"I love you so fucking bad, I'm completely done for." I break the kiss, and she giggles, fluttering her eyes open.

"I love you, too. I think the feeling is completely mutual."

"And I agree, by the way, this song is beautiful." I comment, and she nods, rubbing her nose against mine. I feel so safe with her. Only her have I felt this content.

"It's kinda sad, but I mean... we've had a tough journey. There are songs that just speak to me, this is one of them. You will find a song for almost every scenario, but I feel like this song really does speak for us, both as individuals and as a couple."

Test of my patience, there's things that we'll never know. You sunshine, you temptress. My hands at risk, I fold.

"This dude is a great songwriter." I mumble, and she hums, agreeing.

We listen to the remainder of the song; confirming that Harry Styles is definitely a music genius. I don't know much about music, but I know when I hear a good song. And considering Francesca is very picky with what she listens to, I trust her word.

The song that comes on next completely throws me for a new one. "The Weeknd, seriously?"

"Have you listened to his music? It's hot as fuck, do not judge me." She goes to turn it off, but I catch her hand.

"No, I was just shocked, considering you were nearly in tears towards the end of the last song. Keep this on. I forgot what it's called, but I know it's good." 

"It's called 'Call Out My Name'." She mumbles, her cheeks turning a darker shade of pink.

"Hot. Keep it." I say and she relaxes more to my words, which makes me feel better because I didn't mean for her to get embarrassed.

She starts to hum along to the lyrics, and somehow, for some reason, the song and her being in close proximity, is turning me on. It shouldn't, but it is. Sinful thoughts with her to this song is the only thing I can think of right now.

"Hey, put this on repeat." I say, and she raises a brow at me before doing as I said and then placing it back down, out of the way.

"Should I really ask why?" I mean, it's really down to Francesca what happens.

"Do you want the answer?" I mumble, and she flutters her eyes down to my lips, letting out a shallow breath. "Francesca." I warn.

"Are we alone down here?" She says lowly.

"Completely." I nod, and she exhales, pursing her lips together. "I want to kiss you so bad."

"Then do it. Kiss me." She practically begs, and with that, I take her. I kiss her feverishly, several times, one after another before deepening the last, her mouth opening voluntarily for my tongue. A beautiful moan vibrates through her, and I find myself closing my eyes to retain some composure, feeling myself harden in my gray sweats.

"Fuck, darling." I kiss her even harder, getting lost in her. Only her.

A little whine escapes Francesca and I notice her squeezing her legs together. So, in response, I lift her right leg over my hip and encourage her to use my body how she can. "We're not- fuck... We're not getting off like horny teenagers."

"Oh, we're not?" It seems that that's exactly what's happening.

"Please." She closes her eyes, and I raise my brows at her.

"'Please'? What do you want, baby? Tell me." I whisper.

"Touch me. I need you to touch me." She swallows thickly.

I have no problem with doing so, in fact, my fingers are begging to touch her sweet cunt, but I just hope she's okay with doing it here.

"Please." She edges closer to me, she's desperate for pleasure.

I sit up and kick the sheet from under us, so we're now directly on the trampoline, and I cock my head to the side. "C'mon, take a seat, get on top." She doesn't waste a second before she's sitting herself down on my covered erection, which causes me to let out a low hiss. I'm so hard that it's painful.

Her delicate hands run through my hair, and I keep eye contact with her as I undo the laces keeping her sweatpants up. She's so fucking attractive right now.

I put the palm of my left hand on her back, keeping her steady, and then I slip my other into her black underwear. I let out a groan when I feel how wet she is; how fucking drenched she's made herself.

"You're such a filthy girl, aren't you?" I earn a nod, her breathing becoming more erratic with my fingers teasing her folds, ignoring her clit as if I don't know it exists.

I smirk, watching her facial expression when I run my middle and ring finger over her swollen clit, her whole body jolting with a teeny bit of pleasure.

The female body is a piece of art, it's fucking beautiful and a pleasure in itself to explore.

"Don't tease." She starts to move her hips slowly, and I raise my brows at her. She looks so innocent, watching me watch her.

"Wanna fuck my fingers like a slut, darling?" I shock her; I think my crude words will always catch her off guard. I lower my hand back down and sink my two fingers into her cunt, and I watch as her face distorts into further pleasure. "Are you going to ride my fingers, imagine it's my cock while I circle your clit? Do you think you deserve your clit being played with, baby?"

"Mhm please, I'll be a good girl, I promise." She starts to move her hips already, riding my fingers. "Please, daddy."

"Keep your eyes on me, let those sweet noises out." Just as I say this, I press my thumb against her clit and she lets out a gorgeous moan. "Good girl, you're so good for me."

"Keep going- Oh, fuck." She closes her eyes, and I tut, making her open them again. A shy smile comes to her face, and I take this moment to kiss her again. I've missed those lips.

She grinds on my fingers, kissing me slowly, and ever so often her lips part as she breathes heavily, letting moans and her little whines escape freely. It's a gorgeous sound.

"Mm, fuck, Ethan, it feels so good." She whispers, grasping onto my back as she rides my fingers. Feeling her muscles contract around my fingers as she gets closer, her arousal pooling around my knuckles, it's making me beyond painfully hard. My toes keep curling in an attempt to stop me from embarrassing myself. Having her on top, grinding down on my cock ever so often is not helping at all.

When I feel her clench around my fingers again, another moan leaving her perfect lips, I grasp her hip, stopping her movements. "Lie back down, I'll finish you off." This way her orgasm will last longer and I hopefully won't cum in my boxers.

I pull my hand out from her sweats and don't think before sucking my fingers into my mouth, licking her arousal clean.

"You taste so fucking good." As always. "Fuck, I love you."

"I love you, too, but I think I'd love you more if you'd finish me off, I'm close, babe." She tells me.

I lay to the left of Francesca, so I can fuck her with my right hand properly. She settles in my arms and opens her legs for me, creating better access than before. I slip my hand back into her underwear, getting right back to where I started, and her back arches, not expecting me to circle her clit first.

She intertwines our fingers of my spare hand, and her breathing increases as I continue to circle her clit. After about a minute of me paying close attention to it, circling the sensitive area, her grip tightens slightly, and she moans, shifting her hips a little.

"I'm going to cum, I'm so close." It's like she's not learnt from past experiences that once she tells me this, I pull away and leave her frustrated for a good minute or so. I'm a tease, what can I say?

Instead of doing the usual, where I don't touch her at all, letting the bubbly feeling start to leave her, I actually just move south, wanting to get her off by fucking her with my fingers like I initially intended.

"Cum on my fingers like a good girl, make a mess for me." I encourage, starting at a pace which has her gasping for air. Her back arches from the trampoline, and her grip on my hand assures me I've hit the right spot. 

"Oh my God, I'm gonna-" She chokes on the words.

"Oh, yeah? Cum for me then, darling." I keep my fingers thrusting into her at a brutal pace, and within seconds, her legs start to tremble.

"Fuck, Ethan." She curses.

"Atta girl." Her cunt squeezes the fuck out of fingers as she orgasms, and I watch as her lips part in ecstasy.

I kiss her, slowing my fingers rapidly as she comes down. She kisses me back needily, but soon enough pushes at my hand, silently telling me to stop fingering her, which I do. I pull my hand out from her sweats again, and when I go to lick them clean, she opens her mouth, wanting to herself. The way she cleans my fingers of her own arousal will be forever stained in my memory, another vision I will never forget. She's such a tease; my little temptress.

"Do you feel better?" I ask, ignoring the pain that's only increasing in my lower region.

"Mhm, yes. Much better now." She smiles lazily.

Expecting to cuddle for at least five minutes, for her and myself to calm down, she shocks me when she sits up. I frown, watching her kneel between my legs, and then my eyes widen when I realize what she's doing. "I'm going to last thirty seconds, if that. Forewarning."

"Well, good, I don't exactly want to go to bed with a sore jaw." She retorts, and I let out a laugh.

She pulls my cock out of my boxers, pre-cum glazing the angry tip, and she doesn't hesitate, taking me in her mouth, swirling her tongue around the head. I don't even mean it when I buck my hips up, forcing her to take more of me than she initially planned, it was simply just my reaction to her wet, hot mouth around me.

Maybe thirty seconds was a little bit of a lie, because I already feel the tingling in my spine. I'm going to cum quicker than I expected, all at fault to us and our teenage-like antics.

"Fuck, Francesca." I curse, combing my fingers through her hair, pushing it out of the way so I can see what she's doing. "Oh, I'm going to cum, fuck, I'm going to cum soon."

She takes that as her cue to suck harder, taking me further into her mouth, and when I feel my tip hit the back of her throat, I can't stop myself from the expected. Her eyes flicker up to mine as she swallows every last bit of my cum, and when I'm finally done, she licks my cock clean before putting me back in my boxers like nothing ever happened.

"Oh my God." I lay my head back down on the trampoline, and she lets out a laugh, lying on top of me. "This fucking mouth of yours; kiss me."

She presses her lips against mine in a frenzied, short lived kiss before pulling back with a smile. "So, why are you down here alone? I never asked."

"Dad's bathing the twins and Felix is helping, so I had to make sure everything is okay down here before going up myself. I just have to check the CCTV, then scrap the last twenty minutes, and turn off the lights outside." I tell her. I'm so thankful I remembered about the CCTV because in all honesty, I forgot.

"Oh, shit, the CCTV." She looks at one of the many cameras that are quite literally sprinkled all over the place.

"Don't worry, I'll get rid of the footage." I wouldn't want anyone watching that as much as she wouldn't.

We lay together for about five or so minutes before we got up and finished my jobs for the night. We put the sheet back to how it was before she came to surprise me, and then we washed our hands and went to deal with the CCTV. We watched through the last twelve hours on speed for some unusual behavior, but there was nothing out of the blue, except me and my darling's little... break which we didn't even watch, as soon as I saw myself grabbing a metal pole, I paused and deleted all footage off the cameras in the gym.

"Okay, now that's done, can you turn the outside light off while I lock the safe back up?" I ask Francesca, and she grabs the sets of the keys in response, already on her way towards the door.

I don't know why my father keeps the most random stuff in the safe, but he does, like there is a box of suckers in here for the kids. As I said; random and not exactly the things you need for a safe. Well, except the cash that I'm putting away.

"Hey, babe, come here a second!" Francesca's sudden call concerns me, and as soon as I push the safe back under the desk, locked up and... safe, I rush towards the door. I stop in the doorway when I see Francesca sat on the front steps, next to someone else.

"Niko?" I question with a frown, and Francesca turns in my direction, giving me a sad smile. "Hey, buddy, it's dark and it's forecast to rain in the next hour. Do you need a ride home?"

"I'm okay." Niko responds in an unbothered tone. I sigh, walking up to them.

"Hey, darling, can you give us a second?" I ask Francesca, and she nods, squeezing my shoulder as she passes me.

I take a seat next to Niko, not bothered that the concrete steps are quite literally freezing underneath my ass, but anything to make him speak to me.

"I can't leave you out here, Niko, you know that." I say, and he shrugs his shoulders. "You're a lot like me when I was your age, you know?"

"Are you trying to insult me?" He responds, looking me dead in the eyes.

"Wow." I shake my head, letting out a laugh. "Yep, my fucking double."

"I'm okay out here, I don't need a ride." He says, probably wanting me to go away.

"You're fourteen, I'm not leaving you out here alone. You're either accepting a ride from me or you're coming to meet my family. Your choice." Neither choice would I have accepted at his age, so I'm unsure how this will go.

"He took my keys, so I can't go home." He tells me, looking anywhere but me. "Well, I could... but I'll be in the same predicament. I'll be sitting outside, and at least here, there's shelter if it rains."

"Your dad took your keys?" I assume that's who he meant.

"Yeah, he lost his own... I went home, the door was locked. He didn't think it through obviously." He shrugs it off like it's normal.

"Do you like pasta?" I ask, and he looks at me with the most disgusted facial expression.

"Who doesn't?" He answers.

"I'm glad that's your response. Stand up, we have leftovers to eat together. You can take the spare room tonight. You don't even have to come out of there if you don't want to. Just suck up this I'm-better-than-everyone-else attitude, it won't get you far in this household, especially around Scar." I cock my head to the side, and as I stand, he doesn't follow. "Look, do you want me to sit here with you all night long, talking your ear off, or do you want your own privacy in a warm bedroom? I personally want to go get comfortable and eat food."

"You're not going to give me a break if I don't, are you?" He asks.

"Nope, follow me." I say, and thankfully, he does follow.

I turn the lights off out here, and I lock the door behind us, taking the keys with me. Francesca is leaning against the front desk, and looks up from her phone with a smile.

"Niko, this is my girlfriend Francesca. Francesca, Niko; he's going to be spending the night." I introduce them to each other because I'm unsure how acquainted they were outside.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Niko." Francesca says, and Niko sends her a smile in response, it's only little, but it's a start.

We make our way upstairs, me turning every light off as we go, and when we make it into the apartment, Scar is topless, ringing out his t-shirt in the sink. Looks like the twins have had fun in the bath.

"Having fun, grandpa?" I joke, and Scar turns around to glare at me, but stops short when he notices Niko. "Niko's staying the night, I'll speak to you more about it later. Is he okay to take the spare room?"

"Yeah, uh, yeah, of course. Niko, I'm reheating a pasta bake, is that okay with you?" Scar asks him.

"Yeah, thank you." Niko's politeness shocks me. So, he's just an asshole to me, huh?

"No worries. Ethan, show him to the room and where the bathroom is for him." My dad says, and I nod, ruffling Niko's hair to piss him off. The death glare that earns me makes me smile.

Francesca just rolls her eyes at my antics, but I do notice the little smile she tries to hide as she makes her way over to the sofa with her bag.

"C'mon, trouble, I'll show you to your room." I lead the way.

Teasing aside, I just hope Niko's okay.

~~~~~

A/N

Meet Niko. He's a character I've been so excited to write, I can't wait for you guys to properly meet him.

Life update: I'm back?!! Happy December... I can not apologise more for how AWOL I have been. If you follow me on here, or on Instagram you will know how hard writing has been for me lately.

Considering I've not been able to write for almost 2 months, I got this chapter wrote in one sitting and I'm actually happy with it.

Since been gone a lot has happened. I finished my maths exams. I did mock exams in English. I found out my brother and his fiancé are expecting. And only this weekend gone, I found out he's going to be a little boy. A lot has happened, a lot of up and downs.

Mentally, I've not been great but I've had some of the best people surrounding me. I can't thank them enough.

Question of the chapter:

Ask me anything you want regarding this book, the series, the plot, or even me personally. I want to chat.

I hope this chapter was okay!

Thank you for reading! Please comment your thoughts, vote by pressing the little star, and if you want, you can follow me too. I'm also on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest and Spotify, where I have everything (Aesthetics', quotes, playlists, and my everyday craziness on my story)  – @daisyclouds89, it's all in my link Xx

5335 words!

~B