“So,” she retorted. “I’m still going to record it.”
When it was over, she snuggled back down into the blanket with me. “Thank you for tonight,” she said softly and pressed her lips to mine.
I hugged her closer and kissed her back. “I love you, Avery Grace.”
I felt her smile against my lips when she said, “I love you, too, Kellan.”
“I love Riley and Braxton, too. I cared about their well-being before, but I love both of those kids just as much as I love Sienna.”
“I know you do,” she assured me.
“You sure about that? We didn’t get a chance to talk about it, but it seemed like you were having some doubts.”
“More like concerns. My kids adore you. If this doesn’t work out between us, it will be more than just me that gets hurt,” she confessed.
“You have to know I would never do anything to intentionally hurt them. If something happens between us, I would still want to be a part of their lives.”
She smiled softly. “You’re a good man.”
“And you’re a good mother. Now, let’s go inside, sweetness,” I said and got up to put out the fire.
“Are we staying here tonight?” she asked.
“That was the plan, but we don’t have to. It’s up to you,” I told her.
“Is it bad that I just want to sleep?”
I laughed. “Hell no, it’s not bad. I just want to sleep, too.”
38
Avery
When I woke, the sun was just starting to light the sky. I rolled to my side and placed my hand on Kellan’s cheek. With his face relaxed while he slept, he appeared so much younger than twenty-six.
I smiled to myself as I got out of bed and made my way to the kitchen hoping to find something I could cook to surprise Kellan with breakfast in bed. When I flipped the lights on in the kitchen, my smile disappeared and I froze at the sight before me.
“Mark,” I gasped. “What’re you doing here?”
Mark was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs looking worse than I’d ever seen him with his disheveled hair and wrinkled clothes. Even his usually clean-shaven face was covered with a few days’ worth of growth. But the most alarming observation was his hand resting on the table tightly curled around a gun.
“I came to see you,” he slurred.
“Are you drunk?” I asked.
His palm landed hard on the table causing a loud slap to fill the room. “Does it fucking matter, Avery?” he snarled.
“N-no, I suppose it doesn’t,” I said calmly while my eyes darted around the room looking for anything that could help.
He leaned back in the chair and rubbed his chin with his gun. “Do you know what it’s like to have feelings for someone and have to watch them be with someone else?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t.”
“Of course, you don’t!” he snapped. “You and your whore pussy get whatever man you want!”
“Mark! What in the hell is wrong with you?”
It felt like my heart stopped for several beats when he pointed his gun directly at my chest and said, “You are.”
