“What do you mean?” Clay questions with a frown.
“I may or may not have trashed his place before leaving,” I giggle.
The girls look at me with wide eyes, while the guys seem satisfied with my comment. “But isn’t he a lawyer? Can’t he come after you for doing that?” Morg watches me closely with concern.
“Oh, he is, and he can. But he won’t.”
“Why not?” Silas asks next.
“Because even though he’s a good lawyer, I have an even better one in my corner. Besides, Daddy would never allow him to file a lawsuit against me without losing his job at the firm,” I tell them with satisfaction.
I fucking dare him to bring it on.
Chapter six
Greyson
Great, another crazy one.
I’m going to fucking kill him!
Look, I sleep around a lot—I’ve had my fair share of one nights. Well, used to. With Gracie, that’s become a distant memory. Anyway, I know I’m not the guy you bring home to meet your parents, but I’ve never treated a woman so poorly. Even if they were only hook-ups, they were always met with respect and validation.
That fucking piece of shit. Not only did he treat her like a goddamn dog, but he put his hands on her as well!? He’s lucky Emma refused to tell me where he lives… although that can be found out pretty easily.
Dante comes crawling from the living room all the way to his father’s feet, where he sits back and raises his arms in the air,clearly letting him know he wants to be picked up.I can’t wait for Gracie to crawl. It will be a lot easier once she does. Or maybe not…I look around at all the safety hazards—every wire, corner of a table, steps, or anything in reach that she could potentially knock down and hurt herself on.
Jesus! I still have so much to do!
“Have you started feeding Gracie solid food yet?” Cecilia asks as she gazes with wonder at my daughter.
I’m about to answer when Emma cuts in. “Not yet, but I was thinking of starting her Monday on some cereal. She always tries to grab my food and opens her mouth when I’m eating next to her.”What? I hadn’t even noticed that…
Emma smiles warily at me, as if she’s realizing she may have overstepped. But if I’m being honest, it’s nice to have someone else who sees things I don’t. I give a little nod, letting her know it’s fine.
When Gracie finishes her bottle, Emma comes over and offers to change her diaper since it seems to have refilled already. I kiss my daughter’s head before passing her along.
In the three days that Em’s been here, we’ve been getting along remarkably fine.Which is surprising.There are occasional moments where I question her sanity, but it’s pretty minimal for the moment. We’ve actually been coordinating well with Gracie.Let’s hope it stays that way.
Her bruised biceps don’t seem to bother her as much already, which is a relief. I’ve been watching her like a hawk over the last two days, noticing when she scrunches up her face in discomfort or rubs her aching arms. She’s also been wearing long-sleeved shirts every day to keep them out of view.I’ll need to get a glimpse of them soon, make sure they’re heeling properly.
“Come on, Little Tulip. Let’s get you all cleaned up so you can go play with your friend after and show him the beautiful outfit we’re going to put on. How about a ladybug with a bright redtutu?” Emma asks my girl like she’ll answer. I scoff and shake my head.
“She’s a natural with kids,” Cecilia says. “You know, it’s actually really good to talk to babies like they understand. It helps with their communication and language development. Dante’s older now, but even when he was just a week old, I would tell him everything I was doing.”
Well shit, now I feel like an asshole for thinking Emma was being ridiculous.
Emma returns shortly after with a ladybug-looking Gracie. She even has a headband with little antennae. And of course those two famous pigtails Emma loves to put in her hair.Okay, fine. I’ll admit, she looks adorable.
Emma comes to stand beside Silas and makes Gracie interact with Dante by taking her wrist and waving ‘hi’. “Are you two thinking of having another?” she asks the couple.
“We’d like to. But with the complications we had, my doctor thinks we should wait a full two years before even thinking of having more. Just as a precaution,” Cecilia informs us, and we all understand why. The day Dante was born was a hard day for all of us.
My front door flies open, and in come the twins on our hockey team. They aren’t actual twins, not even related, but they do everything together, and I meaneverything. Including women.
“Your favorite man has arrived, ladies,” Gabriel Ellis, goalie for the Griffins, says with outstretched arms as if he’s expecting the entire female population to run into them.
Noah Adler, defenseman for our team, walks in behind him. “Thanks for the intro, man.” He slaps him on the back and marches straight for the women. “Ladies, always lovely seeing you all.”
