Papa Bear Strikes Back

The weeks leading up to prom were a blur. I hung out with Emma and Mike, went to a movie with Mike and a few others from the group, had dinner a few times at Emma’s house, invited Emma to come with the family out to dinner, had a few make-out sessions with my amazing girlfriend, and otherwise enjoyed things. Hanging out with Mike, I got some details on his time with the girls. Unlike my brother, Mike gave threesomes two big thumbs up. He even tossed in a shit-eating grin for good measure.

Prick.

He didn’t go into detail like Emma would, but I got a good gist of what happened. Sarah and Maggie had certainly given him a run for his money, but it sounded like he came out on top. That lined up with the little bits and pieces I caught during lunch. Sarah and Maggie sat at the other end of the group the past few days, so I didn’t hear much, but it certainly seemed like they enjoyed themselves. Mike certainly did.

I couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy listening to him. Even if I was happy with Emma, there would always be a part of me that wondered about the path not traveled. The way Mike made it sound, Sarah and Maggie had some serious chemistry in bed. Even when he was recovering, the two did some amazing things not only to him but to each other as well. My imagination ate it all up and went wild.

Even though Mike was timid about sex stuff, he was still Mike. Once he said his piece about his time and trying to repay me for the hotel—which I refused—we were back to old times talking about video games, movies, and anime.

As prom approached, I found out Mike was going with Sarah and Hailey. For not wanting a relationship, Sarah was certainly clinging to Mike as much as she could. Bringing that up to Emma, I only got a laugh.

“Of course she is. She put a lot of time and effort into training him to be some sort of sex machine in bed. Now she’s enjoying the fruits of her labor.”

It sucked to hear that. Mike never came out and said anything, but he wanted a girlfriend. He was certainly enjoying the whole unlimited sex with hot girls, but I could tell he was jealous whenever he was hanging out with Emma and I. Even something as simple as her resting her head on my shoulder had him green with envy.

I felt for him too. The emotional connection I had with Emma was huge. She was always hot or cold in physical interactions, but I never desired anything in the emotional realm of our relationship. Her mere presence was enough to lift my spirit and calm me down—unless she was teasing me.

Which is why I knew it was time for us to finally take things to the next level. I was tired of psyching myself out. Always searching for the ‘perfect’ moment when countless great ones passed by. Prom was going to be the perfect springboard for our first time. An evening of fun, dancing, and friends. Head to a hotel afterward. I was finally going to lose my virginity to the amazing woman who was my girlfriend. After that… Well, I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I’m sure we would figure things out.

My heart was going a million beats a second as I approached Emma’s house. I was still reaching for the doorbell when the door shot open. Emily was standing there with a look of joy on her face.

“You’re here!”

“I’m here!” I said with a nervous smile as she ushered me inside.

“He’s here!” she cried out as she shut the door. She was bouncing happily, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning. “You look good in a tux.”

“Thanks.”

“Just wait till you see her. I did her hair!” She leaned in. “Try not to mess it up too much tonight,” she whispered with a wink.

My face went red.

“You’re here!” Stefan said as he entered the hall from the kitchen. I took his hand and gave it an awkward shake. Seeing the big man sent my blood pressure even higher. His eyes ran me over once. “Wow. You look like a million bucks.” He chuckled. “I remember when I took my wife out for the first time. Wanted to impress her so I invited her to some big fancy place. Went out and rented a tux and everything only to find out I mistook the name. Instead of some fancy place, it turned out to be a hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop restaurant. We were…uh…overdressed. Killer cheesecake though.”

“And then she went and married you,” Emily said with a giggle.

“That she did,” he said, eyes moving over to the wedding picture on the wall. “That she did.”

“I’m going to go check on her,” Emily said. My gaze followed her as she ran off upstairs. Shit. Don’t leave me alone with him!

I shifted nervously under his gaze as my eyes went to the stairway. Hurry up, Emma!

“You have something planned after?” It felt like my skin jumped off the bones. Was it that obvious? Sweat beaded on my forehead as I struggled to resist drawing attention to it. The silence was a bit too long before he continued. “Usually there is an after-party or something. I got an email from the school mentioning it.”

“R-right,” I said, forcing myself to relax. “I think they rented out some activity place. All sorts of games and stuff planned. I think it ends at one, so I’ll have her back by one-thirty.”

“Emma doesn’t have a curfew or anything. She has a lot of her mom in her. No one was ever going to get her to do something she didn’t want to do—or stop her from doing what she wants.” His usually jolly demeanor shifted to a more serious one. He spoke low so there was no chance that anyone else would hear. “Emma’s always been a smart girl and I trust her judgment, but I’m still her father and she’s not always as smart or secretive as she believes she is. I like you Isaac and I can see how much you care about my Emma. More importantly, I can see how much she cares about you; certainly more than the other boys she sneaks over.”

My eyes were wide and it felt like something was lodged in my throat. Holy shit. He knew. No idea how, but he knew. It was impossible for him to know everything, especially when it came to our relationship—right? That was impossible; but he knew about the other guys. Something in my gut told me Emma had no idea her father knew. I certainly wasn’t going to say anything. The extent of his knowledge was unknown and I certainly was going to steer clear of anything related to it.

“Whatever is going on between you and my daughter is your business. As I said, I trust my daughter and my gut feeling is that I can trust you. That said, both my girls are precious to me and I will do all I can to protect them. So as unpleasant as it is, I need to ask; do you have protection for tonight? If not, I have some you can have.”

“I-I-I do,” I managed.

“More than one?” he said with a grin. My face was on fire. “I was young once too you know.”

I barely managed a nod.

His big hand clasped my shoulder. “Good. I’ll say nothing more on the subject.”

And like that, the jolly guy I knew was back. With some well-timed small-talk and a story about how he managed to convince his future wife to go out on a second date after the failure of the first, he managed to calm me down—at least as calm as I could get in this situation.

When Emma did make her appearance, any discomfort I felt fell away as I gazed at the stunning goddess descending before me. She had shown me the dress she had picked out, but seeing pictures on the phone and seeing it on her was night and day.

“Are you terrifying my boyfriend?” she asked, seeing me standing there next to her father.

“Who, me? I would never!”

Standing in front of me, I finally managed to find my voice. “You look—”

“Amazing. I know,” she said with that confident smile of hers. She grabbed my arm. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

From there, it was a hundred pictures as Emily had to get every conceivable pose with her expensive-looking camera. There was a professionalism about her as she made us adjust this way and that before she took her shot. I think she would have had us there all night if her dad didn’t step in and shoo us out the door.

“Have fun you two!” he said, waving at us as we headed to my car.

“Have her back before midnight!” Emily called out. “Ow!”

I glanced back to see her rubbing her head and glaring at her dad.

Opening the door for Emma, I made sure she had everything inside before closing the door and hurrying to my side. Inside, my eyes lingered on her dark blue dress. With her hair and makeup—

“How about we save the undressing for after prom?” she said with an amused smile. Cheeks burning, I hit the ignition and pulled out. “I’m excited,” she said, filling the silence.

“I am too. Never thought I’d be going to prom with the hottest girl in school.”

She chuckled. “Keep talking like that and you’ll find panties dropping and legs spreading.”

“As much as I’m looking forward to that, my main focus is spending an enjoyable evening with my girlfriend and friends. I don’t want the focus to be on what happens after so much that we forget to enjoy all the great stuff before.”

“I know. I’m just teasing you,” she said. “Tonight is going to be amazing!”

“Damn right!”

“And I’m glad I’m spending it with you.”

I glanced over to see her smiling at me. Oh man. I was starting to second-guess the whole dancing and hanging with friends thing. Maybe we should skip to the hotel part of the night. Maybe get a box of condoms—

“Isaac. Down boy.”

Focusing back on the road, I took a deep breath. It was going to be a long night.