Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
“Want to hold him?” Kaden asked me, noticing my gaze locked on his son.
Swallowing hard, I nodded. Kaden walked over to me and gently eased the little boy into my arms. I smiled down at him as he opened his blue eyes, locking them on my own. “Hi, little guy,” I whispered.
Damien
I walked into the kitchen with Kaden as Natalie began to talk to Hayley about Adrian and the baby that she was pregnant with.
“I saw the look in your eyes, bro,” Kaden told me suddenly. I looked over at him with an arched eyebrow. “Is there something I missed while I’ve been inside?”
“She was pregnant once,” I quietly admitted. My chest still ached when I thought of all Hayley had lost because of me. “She miscarried a couple of days before she gave me my ring back. Seeing her hold your kid,” I swallowed hard, “it just made a really good image,” I confessed.
Kaden nodded. “I get it,” he told me honestly. “I never thought I wanted kids until Natalie ended up pregnant. She lost our first one when I was in prison. Fucking Carlos—“ Carlos was a sick son of a bitch. I’d heard he was dead, but now, I had no doubt Kaden had been the one to end his life.
Kaden cut himself off, shaking his head. “When she got pregnant with Adrian, I was fucking ecstatic, believe it or not.” He looked over at me with a half-grin. “Wait until Hayley starts showing. You’ll never get enough of her being pregnant.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “How the hell—” I asked, my body tensing.
Kaden shrugged. “I saw the look in her eyes as she looked at Adrian and the way she touched her own belly when she saw Natalie’s stomach.” He shrugged. “I’ve always been a really good people reader, Damien.”
I cocked my head to the side the slightest bit as I studied him. “You’ve changed,” I finally settled on.
He shrugged. “So have you, Damien.”
“Touché,” I commented, looking back out into the living room where Hayley was now gently bouncing Adrian who was fast asleep in her arms.
My chest swelled with love for her, and I couldn’t help but imagine what Hayley would look like holding our own baby.
15
Hayley
I watched as Damien laid back on the bench and reached up to grab the barbell in his hands. Miles stood at his head, his hands out, acting as a spotter for Damien. “I honestly thought that thing was being wasted out here,” I commented as I strode out onto the patio in my bikini, holding the towel in my hands.
Miles caught the bar just in time as Damien lost all his concentration and almost dropped the bar on his chest. Miles’s shoulders were shaking with laughter as Damien sat up, running his eyes over me. “You can’t just walk out in that and expect me not to lose my concentration, darlin’,” Damien commented as I set my towel on the chair.
“Sorry,” I apologized, but still sent a flirtatious smile his way. “Go ahead and finish working out. I’ll just be in the pool,” I told him with a wink.
Damien smirked at me. Desire curled low in my belly, making my skin flush as my breath hitched in my throat. I knew that smirk all too well.
Raking his eyes over my body once more, he just laid back on the bench, getting ready to bench press again. Blowing out a soft breath, I slid into the pool, sighing as the cool water wrapped around me. I looked over at Damien as his arms flexed each time he lifted the weights up, slowly lowering his arms again.
I knew he didn’t have his body through luck, but it had been years since I had seen Damien working out. I hadn’t seen him touch his workout equipment since he’d been released. But just as I did four years ago, I loved watching him work out.
I heard a gunshot ring through the air, and Damien shot up from the bench, rushing towards me as Miles headed inside. I was already pulling myself out of the pool when Damien reached me. He pulled me towards the closet outside where the pool stuff was. “There’s a gun on the shelf—it’s loaded,” he told me. “Stay hidden. Use the gun if you must,” he commanded.
He pressed his lips hard against mine before he pushed me inside and shut the door. I quickly snatched the gun off the shelf, forcing myself to stay calm and silent. My heart was pounding extremely hard in my chest—it seemed to be all that I could hear. I didn’t hear Damien, Miles—no one. It was dead silent other than the rapid beating of my heart.
A minute later, another gunshot rang out. I chewed on my bottom lip, jumping in fright as another one rang out. A few moments later, Miles opened the door. Fear painfully squeezed my chest. Damien always came to get me if he had to hide me. “Let’s go,” he told me. “Ambulance is on the way. Damien got hit.”