Page 75 of Night By Night

Chapter Eighteen

The next morning, Maddox and Hank decided they would break the news to JJ over breakfast. Maddox had asked Hank to let him take charge of it, and his boy had agreed.

Once she was seated at the table and eating, Maddox took a deep breath. “We need to talk to you about something, honey,” he said. “You know how when I met your teacher that day, you told her I was your step-dad?”

She nodded.

“How would you feel if I wasreallyyour step-dad?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if I marry Daddy for real?”

She tipped her head as she stared at him. “Marry?”

“Yeah.”

She studied both of them for a moment. “But then I couldn’t call you ‘Uncle Dox’ because you wouldn’t be my uncle, you’d be my dad.”

He bit back a laugh. If that was her only objection, he’d call it a win. “You can call me whatever you want, sweetheart. You can still call me Uncle Dox, if you want to.”

“But Ican’t. Because you’d be mydadthen. I can’t call you my uncle if you’re my dad.” Cue an epic eye-roll that nearly made him snicker.Duh.

“What do youwantto call him?” Hank asked, obviously close to laughing himself, Maddox was happy to see.

She studied Maddox for another moment. “Can I call you ‘Pop?’ I can’t call you both ‘Dad’ because you wouldn’t know who I want.” Thatduhwas also silent but obvious.

Unexpectedly, he choked up as he nodded. “Yeah. I like that. I’ll be happy to be called Pop.”

“Okay.” She resumed eating.

He and Hank exchanged a glance. “Um, do you have any questions?” Maddox asked her.

She shook her head. “No.”

Then again, kids were easy. They didn’t learn to be assholes on their own. They had to have an asshole adult put bullshit into their heads first.

“So you’re okay if I marry Dox?” Hank asked.

She nodded and took another bite of her eggs. “Uh huh.”

Maddox and Hank exchanged a look and shrugged.

After breakfast, Maddox dropped JJ off at June’s and met Hank over at the county clerk’s office to file for their license. JJ had another doctor appointment today at two, but Maddox would go pick her up for that and then take her to Eliza’s after.

As they stood in line, an idea hit him, but he wanted it to be a surprise for Hank.

Once they had their license in hand, Hank walked with Maddox out to his car, where Hank pulled him in for a long, sweet kiss that hardened Maddox’s cock.

“Love you, Sir,” Hank said. “I’m not doing this only for JJ. I’m doing this because Ireallylove you.”

“I wish I’d been braver sooner,” Maddox admitted.

“It’s okay.” Hank finally smiled. “We’re both smarter than we were as kids. When are we going to tell your parents?”

“Not yet. They’ll want to fly down for it, and they’ll worry about JJ. Let’s get settled and then we’ll tell them the truth, that we eloped. We’re both under enough stress as it is right now. Let’s take the easy way out on this.”

“You think they’ll be okay with it?”