“It means you look good in my clothes.” He smiles, and I laugh.
“What does it mean for us?”
He shrugs. “Who knows, but it’s a start, right? It’s something.” He looks deep into my eyes, right down to my soul. “We don’t have to figure this all out right now. But I refuse to lose you either way. You’re too important.”
“Did you kiss me because you don’t want to lose me as a friend and think this is the only way to keep me?”
“I kissed you because you look fucking good in my clothes.” He kisses me again before whispering, “And I really, really, fucking liked it.”
I wrap my arms around him and hold him tight. I don’t ever want to let him go, but he holds me back. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but as long as he’s by my side, I can win at everything.
Pulling back, he looks at me, gripping my jaw. “What about Arch?”
“Who?” I smile, and he grins back and kisses me gently. I close my eyes and savour every second. Whenhe pulls back, he looks down at his watch. “Shit, shit, shit. I’ve got a client I need to go. Have dinner with me?”
“What?”
“Dinner with me.”
“Like a date?”
“Exactly like a date.” He kisses me and heads for the door. He turns as he opens it. “Pick you up at seven, wear something pretty.” He winks, and I laugh.
Arch
Chapter 49
We’ve just done the press conference. I insisted on a paternity test, and the results just came back. It’s mine, my wife assured me it was already, but I know she hasn’t stopped fucking her boyfriend. He’s been hired as her ‘bodyguard’ so they can be seen out in public, and she’s moved him into the fucking house our parents bought us. We live on separate sides of the house, but I hate that she has him, and I’m back to having fucking no one.
So, I stand up there in front of all those cameras and say how fucking happy I am that I’m going to be a father, but inside I’m terrified I’m going to turn out like my own. I vow that I will bring my child up myself. I never want them to think that I don’t love them because I don’t love their mother. I know she won’t care for the child. We stopped fucking as soon as she got a positive test result, and in public, we play the part, but behind closed doors, we don’t even talk. She’s manipulative and conniving, but she was also honest. She told me how it was going to be, and she’s been true to her word.
I'm sure there will come a time when this will all blow up in our faces, but Father handed me the business. He’s in Costa Rica with a twenty-year-old, and Mother’s at the ‘spa’, more likely rehab again. But atleast when the baby comes, it will be mine. She won’t give a shit, and neither will anyone else, but I will be the father he or she deserves.
I sit and wonder. I wonder if I’d fought for him, would we still be together. I wonder if he’s moved on and found someone new. Part of me hopes so. I want him to be happy, but another part of me hopes he will knock on my door and take what I have left for him.
I love him, and I miss him. He made my life so much brighter, but I didn’t have the balls to stand up to my father, and I now get why Jay punched me. I don’t know what I was thinking, expecting him to be hidden away as my dirty little secret.
I can’t help but hate my father for making me give him up, but then I know deep downIgave him up. I should have stood up for us; maybe I would be happy instead of living a miserable existence. At least when my child comes into this world, I can have a family. This house will then be a home, and hopefully, Chelsea will leave, and it will just be the two of us.
Ryder
Chapter 50
I’m pacing the kitchen, scrubbing my hands together, when Dad strolls in. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing!” I snap, then sigh. “I’m waiting for Jay to pick me up.”
“I thought that was at seven?”
“It is!”
“Ryder, it’s 5:30, mate. Come sit down. You’ll wear a hole in the carpet.” I plonk my arse in the chair. “What’s going on?”
“I’m second-guessing everything. He’s not gay; he’s never thought he was gay, and I don’t know if he’s doing this for me.”
“Ryder, that man would do anything for you. He loves you just as much as you love him. You’ll figure it out. Whatever that looks like for you both.”
“What if I’ve ruined it all, though?”
