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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

HOME

RHODES

Now

It's late when I get home. The lights are dim. I walk back to the bedroom, smiling when I see Elle sleeping in my bed.

I've probably thought through a dozen worst-case scenarios since I’ve been away, all of them involving her not being here when I got back, or even being in her room instead of mine. But the fact that she's here, in my bed, gives me hope.

After I’ve brushed my teeth and undressed, I crawl in behind her, pulling her back to my chest. She’s wearing something short and silky and wakes up enough to say, “You’re home,” softly.

“I’m home,” I tell her, kissing her ear.

“I missed you,” she says.

“I missed you too, baby.”

She's already fallen back to sleep. And I don't have it in me to wake her up, even though my body's raring to go.

I wake up a little later, feeling her mouth on me, and my eyes open wide.

“Oh,” I groan. “You feel so good. What did I do to deserve waking up to this?”

She dips her mouth over my cock and hums before letting me go with a pop. “I tried to stay awake for you.”

Her hands slide up my base as she kisses her way up my dick. I enjoy it way too much.

“Can I get inside you?” I ask. “I need to sink inside you and make you feel so good.”

“Yes, please,” she says.

“Are you ready for me?” I flip her over on her back and slip my fingers between her legs. “Oh, my sweet Elle baby, you’re so wet. Does it turn you on, sucking me off?”

“Yes,” she says, riding my fingers.

“I love coming home to you in my bed.” I hover over her, looking her in the eye. “This means something to me, Elle,” I whisper.

My fingers slide in and out of her slowly.

She whimpers from my touch.

“Me too,” she says.

And for now, that's enough.

The next afternoon, on my way to Carrie's to pick up Levi, I think about how far we've come over the years. I was right about her, about nearly every damn thing. I don't trust her. Shit, I’ve tried. God knows I’ve tried. I even considered a relationship with her for about a minute, based solely on the fact that we were having a baby together, and then found the condoms that had expired years before. When I asked her if those were from the same box we’d used, she lied but later admitted she’d just really wanted my baby. I’d known I was an idiot for sleeping with her in the first place and a bigger idiot for not using my own protection, but damn, she was also manipulative.

Getting pregnant with my baby was just the beginning.

I never touched her again, although she’s tried many times to get me to over the years. There's no way I’d go back to that. She’s pretended to be sick many times to get me to spend time with her, pretended to have a crisis in the family for more money, but the surprise was on me when she turned out to be a good mom. I have to say that as manipulative about money and trying to work her own agenda as she’s been, when I suggested the move to Silver Hills to raise Levi in this idyllic town, she did the right thing. She agreed. And I will always be grateful to her for that. I bought her a house not far from mine and it’s been challenging, but we’ve made it work.

It’s conditional, but she’s become more cooperative. That’s not to say she isn’t still annoying as hell, but she’s toned it down. I think she might even be dating someone now, although I’m not sure she’ll ever admit it .

She has a beautiful home, gets a shit-ton of money every month, and I’ve never fought her for full custody of Levi. I think by now she knows that she’s got it pretty good. Through an excellent lawyer, an ironclad contract, and a constant striving for patience on my part, we have managed to coexist in the same town as co-parents.

I have the most amazing boy to show for the mess I made.

And I don't regret him for a single second.

I hurry to her door and when she opens it, Levi comes bounding out. I sweep him up, kissing his neck. He laughs and leans into me, loving it.

“We had a really great time this weekend,” Carrie says.

“Excellent.” I look at Levi. “You ready to go, son?”

“Weady!” Levi says.

“I know it’s your turn to have him for Christmas and we’ve been celebrating all week, but I’ve got a lot of food left over here if you want to stay for dinner. Same with tomorrow and Christmas Day. You guys can come by anytime.”

“We’ve got plans,” I tell her, picking up Levi’s bag. “Have a great Christmas, Carrie. I’ll drop him off on Saturday.”

She takes a step forward and I groan inwardly. “He talked about Elle more than usual. Is she living with you?”

She can’t say Elle’s name without looking like she’s swallowed something bad.

“Not your business, Carrie.”

“Uh, it is my business who my son is around.”

“ Our son has been around Elle his whole life. It’s not like she’s a new person you need to vet. If she were, we’d have a conversation about her. I’d expect you to give me that same respect with the new people you have around Levi. ”

Her eyes slide down and it’s probably as much confirmation I’m going to get right now that she’s seeing someone. I have a feeling that once Carrie finds out I’m sleeping with Elle—and God, I hope more than that—she’ll get more vocal about this possible guy. I’d be thrilled if she’s found someone to get her mind off of me. I don’t think she even really wants me anymore, I’ve just been one of the few people who doesn’t put up with her shit and that makes me appealing.

If there is a mystery man, I hope he’s a decent person, for Levi’s sake. What she does when Levi isn’t with her doesn’t concern me.

Elle isn’t home when we get there. She had practice and put in time at the chiropractor’s office too, so I know she’ll probably be worn out when she gets home. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so we both had a lot to do today before being off for the next couple of days. I work on dinner and Levi plays by the tree. When I put the chicken in the oven, I walk over to see what Levi’s doing because he’s quiet, and he’s standing up, whipping his Johnson out near the Christmas tree.

“Whoa, what are you doing?”

He jumps at the intrusion and looks up at me with pure innocence.

“Watewing the twee,” he says.

“We do not water inside trees. In fact, it’s time we stop watering all the trees and let the rain and outdoor hoses do that for us. Do you understand?”

“But, Daddy it’s dwy. Look!” He points at the needles on the floor under the tree.

“It’s dry, but peeing on the tree will not help it. Come on. Let’s go potty and then I’ll show you how we water a Christmas tree. Forget I ever showed you how to go anywhere but in the toilet.” I poke his side and he laughs.

“In the toilet,” he says deep like me and laughs.

“It is a good thing you’re so cute.”

He does his business in the toilet and I go on about what a good boy he is as we wash hands. Elle pokes her head in the door and we all three go full-on cheese smiles.

“There you are,” I say.

“Hey,” she says.

I lean over and kiss her and Levi does the same. She giggles and nuzzles his nose after and I lean in for a nose nuzzling too.

“Oh, you guys are too much,” she says, laughing.

“I went potty on the toilet and not the twee,” Levi tells her.

Her eyes go wide and she looks up at me.

“Yeah, it was God’s mercy that made me go check on him as he was about to christen the Christmas ornaments.”

“I not help it if I pee on it,” Levi adds.

“That’s right. We’ve decided we’re going to leave the watering of all trees to what?” I look at Levi.

“To the wain and outdoh hoses,” Levi recites proudly.

Elle presses her lips together and her face turns pink as she withholds her laugh.

“And I’m about to show him how to properly water the Christmas tree.” I make a face. “He was right, it was dry.”

She bursts out laughing and Levi looks at me, as if asking if it’s okay to laugh yet, if he’s still in trouble.

I laugh too and he grins.

“It’s all right, son. Now you know. ”

We walk into the kitchen, Levi happily chatting about the new presents under the tree.

“I did notice there were a few more under there than when I left,” I say, filling the kettle with water.

She smirks. “I noticed a few new ones myself.”

I grinned. When I came home tonight and saw more presents, I added mine in there. I’ll wait until tomorrow night to fill the stockings and add a few more unwrapped presents under the tree to look like Santa’s been here. We take the water to the tree, where I point out where to put it.

“Only good water,” I say.

“No tinkle,” he says.

“That’s right, no tinkle.”

Elle chokes back a laugh again and I pretend to give her a stern look.

She takes a deep breath and repeats after us, “No tinkle.”