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And Lil’ Bit brought out the best in us as a couple.

Velle turned in a circle as we made it back to the living room.

“Welcome home, Coast.”

Zoe - 10 months

“Beautiful. Just beautiful. Okay, now twerk!” Brooke called, making my leg drop from the piqué position as a laugh burst out of me.

“Come on. You’ve got an a-s-s. Shake it. For the views!” she said, wiggling my cell phone around. “We gotta get this account—baby, you can’t eat bird seed,” she called to Joshua, who was reaching a hand up toward a low-hanging bird feeder in our backyard.

“Yes, well, I did tell you,” she added, rolling her eyes at me as she set down my phone then climbed out of her chaise to go over toward her son, who was crying loudly and trying to spit the seed out.

“I’m praying my genes kick in soon,” she said, handing Joshua a juice pouch. “That was pure his d-a-d-d-y.”

“How has that situation been going?” I asked.

“Go play with your sisters, baby,” she said, patting Joshua’s back until he grudgingly moved over to the twins. “Oh, you mean the whole ‘my deadbeat ex and his mama are trying to sue me for alimony’ thing?”

“Yeah, that.”

Brooke blew out a breath.

She’d taken my advice and started writing. She had a book finished in six weeks then sent it off to edits with some extra money she made from taking over a couple of my old dog-walking jobs.

From there, it had been a whirlwind.

“Publishing is crazy now,” she told me as we sat at a park a few months back. “You can just slap a title on a picture of a half-naked man, upload the whole thing online, hit publish, and make a small fortune.”

To be fair, Brooke’s book was amazing. And I had a strong experience in social media virality, so we’d been teasing it across all the platforms and creating a buzz.

The next thing you know, she was out of the motel and in a charming little rental house with her kids.

But as it always happened when you made something of yourself, the leeches came out, wanting to suck you dry.

In Brooke’s case, those leeches were her ex and his mother. And they were being extra disgusting by telling Brooke that if her ex didn’t get generous alimony, that he was going to seek fifty-fifty custody.

Meanwhile, his son didn’t even know who he was.

“Thankfully, that lawyer Tasha’s man hooked me up with has not been playing.”

“Yeah, about that,” I said, giving her a knowing smile.

“Oh, don’t start,” she said, but the color had crept up into her cheeks.

“I couldn’t help but notice his devastatingly good looks.”

“He’s alright. For a suit.”

“He’s employed .”

“I’m aware. I’m footing the bill.”

“He has a sprawling house.”

“It’s a little cold for my taste.”

“It has a great pool.”

“I prefer a darker liner.”

“He loves his daughter.”

To that, she had to soften a little.

“She’s a sweetheart. My girls adore her.”

“He looks at you like you’re the most amazing thing he’s ever seen.”

“Oh, stop,” she said, waving me off.

“Weren’t you the one rooting for me with Coast and Tasha with Carter?” I asked.

“Yes, but that’s different.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know. It just was.”

“Not every man is like your ex.”

“I know that. But I just got my life in order. I don’t need another man messing it up again. You know how bad my taste is in men.”

“I get wanting your independence.”

I mean, after all, I was starting up my dance videos again.

Zo3.0 was definitely getting views. Enough of them, in fact, that my own asshole ex came crawling out of the woodwork, trying to say he was going to sue me.

I wish I could have captured the face he made when I showed up at his house with my lawyer to remind him that he owned my old profile, not me. Not my name. Not freaking dance videos as a whole.

He was in a spiral because that Sadie girl I’d seen at his house when I went over for help had done a fifteen-part video exposé of Travis and his abuse, both professionally and personally.

I didn’t think the negative press would last. Cockroaches survived everything.

But Coast made sure that we had all our stuff in sealed containers. And bug spray at the ready.

And, let’s face it, if Travis ever tried anything crazy—like taking my baby from me—Coast would do anything necessary to stop it.

“I mean, I am doing these silly videos so I have an audience to reach out to when I open my studio,” I told Brooke. “I want something of my own. But even so, it’s nice to have a man to come home to, to help share the load, to curl up with at night.”

“God, I miss sex,” Brooke said, exhaling hard, gaze far away. “I didn’t get three babies from not enjoying getting knocked into the headboard.”

“God, I love you, Brooke,” I said, beaming at her.

“I love you too, girl. And I’m not at all jealous of that man of yours who looks like he doesn’t even need instructions to find the magic bean.”

“Magic bean?” I asked, a laugh bursting out of me. “If it helps, that lawyer man looks like he not only knows how to find and flick the bean, but also where the G-spot is and which positions to get you into to engage them both.”

“Girl, that’s just playing dirty,” Brooke grumbled as we made our way toward the back porch. “Using a woman who hasn’t been touched in three years’s sex drive against her. God, is it closer to four? Jeezus, I think it is. It’s gonna close up at this rate.”

“You are my favorite kind of ridiculous, do you know that?”

“Well, I must offer entertainment, since I have probably become the female version of a eunuch.”

“Heya, Brooke,” Coast said as we moved inside, trusting the kids couldn’t get into too much trouble with our fenced-in backyard. “What’s new?”

“I think my coochie closed up and I’m never going to be able to have sex again.”

For once, Coast looked completely taken aback.

“She’s joking,” I clarified. “She just realized how long it’s been since she was with someone.”

“So fuck the lawyer. Don’t see what the problem is.”

“That’s what I said!”

“Caught him tugging his collar when you bent over to grab the paperweight Joshua pushed off his desk.”

“Ooh, you make him flustered ,” I piled on.

“Now, stop it, you two. It’s not like that.”

“He’d bend you over his desk in a heartbeat if you want it to be like that,” Coast said.

“Fine! Fine! I will bang the hot lawyer guy,” Brooke said, throwing up her hands. “ After he gets my divorce finalized. With no alimony. Because if he can’t get me that, he doesn’t deserve my weird, closed lady business.”

“Lady business,” Coast repeated, eyes dancing. “What happened to ‘my dripping wet, aching cunt’?”

To that, Brooke’s lips fell open.

“You read my book?”

“I read all three of ‘em,” Coast clarified. “I especially liked the scene where your very petite heroine climbed on top and ‘spun on his cock like a top.’”

“Zo, I think your man might be my biggest fan. Should I sign your tits or something?”

“What’s ‘tits’?” a little voice asked, making Brooke look up at the ceiling, wincing.

“Fudge,” she grumbled. “What was that baby? Tips? What do you need tips on?” she asked her son.

“Tits,” Joshua parroted.

“Well, you know what, you are right! That birdie out there, that was totally a tit. See? That one right there,” she said, pointing toward the bird feeder. “That’s a crested tit. Oh, and his little friend, that’s a blue tit. You know, birdies are really very interesting. They like—”

But Joshua was already walking away, beelining for one of the toys in the living room.

“Bet he never brings up tits again,” she said. “That kid hates being taught anything, I swear. Once started nodding off standing up when the zoo tour guide started to explain how elephants live in the wild.”

“You are my mom hero,” I told her.

“Yes, well, with the mouth on your man here, you’re going to need all my tips for distraction.”

“We decided that Lainey is just going to learn that Daddy is allowed to say a lot of words that no one else is,” I said, loving the way Coast’s eyes warmed at that title.

I’d brought the topic up a few months before when Lainey started to really pick up on names, but kind of stumbled on what to call Coast.

I’d been worried it was too fast. Even if everything in our life had been going quickly. Getting together, moving into a house together, getting a pretty engagement ring on my left finger.

So when I’d broached the topic, I’d done so telling him that there was no pressure if he decided that wasn’t a step he was ready for.

But he’d been quick to grab me by the hips and pull me close.

“I’d be fucking honored to be her dad.”

And so it was.

He had the title.

For the position he’d held since she was three months old.

Of course, maybe he regretted it when Lainey would loudly holler for him day and night.

Dadadadadadadada.

She rarely ever called me like she did him.

It was too sweet to be jealous of.

“Get ready for a lot of fucks ,” she said, whispering the curse, “in your future. At the most inopportune times. In the line at the bank. At church…”

“Luckily, I don’t give a fuck what strangers think,” Coast said, shrugging.

“Which is what I might like most about you. Okay. I have a video call with the audiobook company. I’m gonna gather my gremlins and hit the road.”

“How’d the filming go?” Coast asked, reaching for my hips, pulling me close.

“Good. I think we got enough content for the next two weeks.” Without, I might add, all of the screaming and degradation that happened the last time I was on social media.

It felt like a reclamation.

Of my love of dance.

Of my online image.

Of my relationship with filming.

I couldn’t ask for a better assistant than the encouraging Brooke—who thought even my worst dances were brilliant. And the response from former fans was really heartwarming.

“More free time for me,” Coast said, his hands sliding from my hips to my ass.

“Where’s Lainey?”

“Nap after that epic fit she threw over the stuffed dog going in the washing machine.”

She’d had some odd sleep regression lately, so she—and we—were running on fumes.

If she was out, we probably should have been sleeping too.