Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
I never meant to fall for Annie. She took me by complete surprise. I knew introducing her to Latch was a gamble. To find out that Annie wanted him, came to care for him, it was a happy surprise—especially when it became clear that Latch had feelings for her too. The three of us were happy and Latch and I made one rule. It would only be the three of us in the bedroom. If it became just me and Annie or him and Annie, it changed the dynamic.
Early on I had taken Annie to bed alone, but once the three of us were solid that stopped. So, when I came back to my wife and my best friend, I decided to put away the unsettling feeling that Annie’s demands put on me. Her and Latch were all that I needed. We had a son together. I was the biological father, but it could have just as easily been Latch. We only found out because Drew needed blood, and Latch couldn’t be a donor. Drew had the same rare blood type as I did. I was afraid Latch would be upset, but he wasn’t. He loved Drew regardless, and part of me hated the fact that my body didn’t want to lose itself in him the way it did with Annie. Yet, this thing between the three of us was good. I didn’t love her like I loved Latch, but I did love her …
I push those thoughts away. I can’t think about losing Latch, about the breakup with Annie, about losing the life that I truly believed would be mine forever. I only have here and now, and I’ve failed, Latch, Daphne and Cammie. I need to fix that. My gaze moves to the adjoining kitchen and my ex-wife standing by the breakfast bar, talking to Daphne. The two of us failed each other. In the end, it destroyed us, but I need to put that behind me, too.
“You okay, Sabre?” Pez asks me.
My gaze goes to his worried one, and then drops down to look at Cammie, her attention solely on some weird Disney movie about a singing snowman and princess. I shake my head. When did kids stop liking Bugs Bunny or hell even Johnny Bravo? I feel fucking old.
“You going to tell me what I got my granddaughter for her birthday?” I ask, with a smirk.
He grins. “Something she’ll like.”
I laugh, slapping him on the shoulder. “Were you going to tell me you are in love with my daughter?”
“I don’t—”
“Don’t lie to me, Pez. It’s written all over your face.”
He scrubs his hand through his hair and looks down at the ground. “Fine. I do, but you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to do anything about it,” he vows, holding his head down. I can tell he feels like the weight of the world is on his shoulders.
“Well, that’s damn disappointing,” I mutter, watching him closely.
His head jerks up quickly. He looks at me like I’m the insane one. I shake my head. That saying youth is wasted on the young, is true. You make everything so complicated at that age. I did the same. It shouldn’t be. Hopefully, Pez is smart enough to figure that out. It also can’t hurt if I give him a little nudge.
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” he argues.
“I do. You love Daphne. The woman needs a real man who cares about her, and her daughter, to have their back. You seem to be a man that can do that. Maybe I’m wrong,” I taunt him.
“I would protect the both of them with my life. You don’t even have to worry about that. I promised Cap the same thing.”
“I don’t doubt it, Pez. You already saved my son. What I don’t understand is why you seem to be keeping my girl at arm’s length.”
“Because she deserves better than me. There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me—things Daphne and Cap don’t know. She deserves better than me.”
I laugh, I can’t help it. “Do you really think the officers of the Devil’s Blaze would vote in a stranger without having you vetted? I mean, I didn’t know you were the Elijah Collier that saved my son at first. Only after we got the paperwork back on you, man. I know everything and I’m telling you right now, if you let Daphne slip through your fingers, you’re not the man I thought you were.”
“Papaw?”
“Yeah, Pixie,” I say with a grin, taking the nickname I’ve heard both Daphne and Pez use.
“When can I open presents?”
“Well, let’s ask Mommy,” I respond, as I see her in my peripheral vision, walking up to us.
“Mama!” Cammie cries, practically jumping in Daphne’s arms. Daphne staggers and immediately Pez steadies her, rising up and keeping a hand on her hip to keep her from falling.