Page 31 of Only for Me

“Nah, that’s not it.” I tossed back my second shot and leaned back in my chair, trying to figure out how I wanted to explain that I was the problem. “I might have done too much trying to prove a point.”

Ryland filled his glass and threw it back. “The fuck did you do?”

“I’m being a father to my kid.”

“Yeah now I know your ass is being extra, how extra, O?”

“Security system, new furniture, baby proofed the house.”

“You set all that shit up?”

I frowned and nodded. “Set up, installed, and delivered and all that in one day.”

He barked a laugh. “Bruh. You turned her damn life upside down all in one day.”

“What difference does it make how or why? It needed to be done.”

“She needed new furniture?”

I shrugged and reached for the bottle. “Sofa was tiny as hell.”

“O, what the fuck?”

“I know you’re not giving me shit about considering my daughter’s safety.”

“You took over that woman’s house like your name is on the lease.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side with this. It was your fucking idea to make it work.”

“I’m on the side that makes sense and that damn sure isn’t yours right now. If you want this to work, you can’t just force your way into their lives, fam. That’s not how this goes.”

“I can do what the hell I want at this point. She kept my daughter from me for almost a year. She doesn’t have the right to be mad but I damn sure do. She owes me.”

“The only thing you’re owed and can collect on is the opportunity to be your daughter’s father. She don’t owe you the right to control her life, O. I’m guessing she’s not really fucking with you right now.”

I smirked and shrugged. “Nah, she’s plotting my death.”

“You need to take that L too. You basically invaded that woman’s space and rearranged her life without asking.”

“I upgraded her life. Why the fuck would she complain?”

“You weren’t trying to upgrade her life. You wanted to piss on her shit and mark your territory. What you did today didn’t have a damn thing to do with your daughter.”

I brought the shot to my mouth and turned the glass up. Being around Makari all day had pissed me off. Her and Avi had their own little thing that didn’t include me. It fucked with my head more than I was ready to admit. Then there was the small part about me wanting to drop this dick off in her, knowing that was a terrible idea.

“That’s possible.”

“And I’ve seen her, O. You want to be daddy to your daughter and her mother but in two very different ways.”

I grilled the hell out of him and he laughed, hard, shaking his head. “Ain’t shit wrong with you wanting to circle back. She’s the mother of your child. It’s damn near expected and y’all got history.”

“One night stand isn’t history. I don’t know her and she doesn’t know me. She dipped the morning after and hid a baby. That’s not the kind of history you build on.”

“She had her reasons, but be honest, if she had hit you up, how would that shit have played out?”

I would have brushed it off, had Raaj make her an offer and kept it pushing…

“Maybe it’s good that she didn’t tell you. You were in a different space back then. At least now you’re considering the possibility and trying to do the right thing even if you’re completely fucking that shit up.”