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CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

REED

I spent the night stroking over Jax’s soft head of hair, loving the feel of his warmth against my bare chest. How I could ever willingly be apart from him, I’ll never know. I may not have liked children before I met Bryce, hell, I don’t think I like any other than my own, but now I can’t imagine them not being in my life. I wouldn’t survive it.

They’re my everything, and I can’t wait to fill Gia with more. So many fucking more.

His hair felt softer than before, and I’m positive his face has filled out, and I despise myself for the time I’ve missed; the pain is immeasurable and not something I ever want to endure again. I’ll spend a lifetime proving my love to them.

When we returned from down by the dock hand in hand, I was surprised that Gia offered for me to stay with her and the boys. I was hoping we could work things out slowly, but given she all but jumped me again, I had little to no choice but to stay the night. I’ve spent what little time I’ve been awake thinking about our future together. Fuck going slow, I want us married as soon as possible.

Bryce was asleep when we returned, but I checked on him and gave his messy hair a kiss. Bubbles, the psycho dog, was curled up beside him, and it made my heart swell at the sight.

“I don’t want any more secrets between us, Gia.” I toy with her hair as she lies on my chest.

“Me neither.” Her finger trails over the small smattering of hair along my V line, and the action makes my cock thicken beneath the sheets.

“I bought the damn dog, hoping to win Bryce over.” I glance down at her, and she chews on her bottom lip, but I can still see the small smile playing on her pretty face. “I didn’t know it wasn’t a bulldog or a boy, and I didn’t care. I just wanted to make you both like me.”

“He loves Bubbles.” She admits with a giggle, then she shakes her head and turns to face me. “You’re an idiot, Reed.”

“Tyson has a dog.” I shrug, and I’m pretty sure she can read between the lines. I needed to outdo the fucker.

“Tyson is…”

“Not competition?” I lift my eyebrow.

“Exactly. Not competition.”

“You still slept with him,” I remind her.

She rolls her eyes, and I bend and swat her ass playfully. “You slept with the whole of New Jersey,” she quips back.

“I didn’t let them sleep over. They were not fixtures in my personal space after I fucked them. We were done.”

She eyes me skeptically and scans over my face. “If it makes you uncomfortable him staying over, then he won’t anymore.”

Her words surprise me, but honestly, they shouldn’t. This is Gia, and she’s simply amazing. Always putting other people’s thoughts and feelings first.

I blow out a heavy breath. “It’s fine. He’s grown on me. Anyway, he’s good with the boys.” I hate to admit it, but he is good with the boys, and I trust him with all of them.

She nods, and her smile grows wider, then something flashes in her eyes that I don’t like. She shifts and turns away from me, but when she rests her head back on my chest, I relax slightly despite there being an odd change between us. Maybe she was thinking about all the hurt I caused. My stomach rolls at the thought and my arm tightens around her.

“I love you, Gia.” I’m not sure who I’m saying it for, her or me, but I need her to hear it again. I’ll never fucking tire of telling her.

Minutes pass between us, and if it wasn’t for the change in her breathing, I would’ve thought she fell asleep.

Her finger draws soothing circles on my stomach, and she trails a path along my abs and back again. “When my mom died, my father changed.”

I nod, because she’s told me this already, but the way her chest hitches tells me she’s going to maybe divulge more of their feud and his clear hatred for his daughter.

“He wanted me to become a replacement of my mom.”

I find her words odd but don’t ask more, and when she turns to face me, I see it written all over her face, and I hate myself. How did I not see it before now.

“In every sense.”

Vomit builds inside me, followed quickly by a burning anger that has my entire body pulling tight. “He abused you?”

She licks her lips. “He did,” she says.

A pang of pain grips my heart in a viselike grip. “Jesus, Gia.”

Her tears don’t fall, instead she remains steadfast. “I became pregnant, and I didn’t know who the father of my baby was.” She closes her eyes as if it pains her to remember, and I wince. When she opens them, I see the torment in them, the pure self-loathing she has no place feeling. “I had to admit everything to Jaxon. Just in case.” Bile swirls in my stomach for her.

She’s the strongest woman I’ve ever known. But just how the fuck do you ever deal with that?

My throat is dry, scratchy when I try to speak. “I’m so damn sorry, baby.”

She shakes her head. “He didn’t care. He said he’d put his name on the birth certificate either way. Protect us, no matter what.”

My eyes fill with tears, with gratitude for the man he was, and it makes me prouder than ever that my son holds his name. “He was an incredible man, Gia.”

Her tears fall as she continues to play her finger up my stomach and along my chest. “He didn’t want a DNA test.” She looks up at me through damp lashes. “But I insisted. I needed to know. Bryce is his, thank God. We thought we’d gotten our happy ending, but then he left us.”

My chest rises uncontrollably as I struggle to fight back the tears now falling. “I’m sorry.”

Her head snaps up, and she meets my stare. “The funny thing is, I’m not. I love you, Reed Johnson, and if I had the chance, I’d always pick you.”

My heart skips a beat. It’s everything I could have asked for, hoped for, and as much as I don’t feel worthy, I’ll fucking take it, cherish her words, and never let them go. My lip twitches. “Yeah?”

She nods, and I tangle my fingers in her hair and pull her toward me into a scorching kiss. One that promises her a lifetime of love and security. One that promises a lifetime of everything.