I pinch the bridge of my nose, hating the shit hand Warrick is dealing my wife and feeling helpless to stop it. I don't want to be at war with her father; I don't want her to choose a side. I just want her to be happy, and I don't understand why he doesn't want the same thing.
Laney's voice breaks through my thoughts. "You okay?" she asks Asha.
"No." Asha's voice is small. Broken. "But I will be."
The words gut me. I move to her side, and this time, when my arms come around her, she doesn't pull away. She collapses into me, her face buried against my chest, and I feel the moment she stops holding it together. Her shoulders shake with silent sobs.
"I've got you," I murmur into her hair. "I've got you, sweetheart."
Around us, the party starts to resume, but I can feel the weight of their stares, their whispers. Let them look. Let them talk. All that matters is the woman in my arms and the fact that her father just confirmed everything without saying a goddamn word.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ASHA
I’m quietly pulling down a coffee cup after getting out of the shower, trying not to wake Trigger or Hollis, when hands glide around my waist, and I instinctively jump.
"I’m sorry," Trigger mumbles against my neck. "I didn’t mean to scare you, but I’m getting tired of my wife sneaking out of our bed every morning." His lips connect with my skin, sending delicious shivers down my spine. "If I knew having Hollis staying with us was going to mean I stopped getting to take care of my wife in the morning, I would have arranged a hotel for him."
"That has nothing to do with it," I say as his hand slips inside my robe, where he lazily drags his thumb over my nipple.
"No?" he questions before squeezing it between his fingers, simultaneously making my teeth sink into my lip and my thighs clench.
I wrap my hands around my coffee mug to ground myself. "I've just had a lot on my mind since the watch party, the future of the merger, my dad, what Cassidy claimed about the baby."My throat tightens around each word. "It's been a lot to wrap my head around."
The mug clinks as Trigger sets it on the counter and spins me around, his hands firm on my shoulders, giving me no choice but to meet his eyes. "You're still thinking about her accusation?" His gaze searches mine with an urgency that makes my stomach knot. I get sick thinking about that night. "Does that mean you don't believe me?"
"No." I press my palm against his chest. "I believe you. I just..." I swallow hard. "I don't like how it made me feel. I don't like the thoughts I had, and I hate not knowing if my father truly had anything to do with setting this up."
The memory of that trip into town plays on repeat in my mind. We'd gone to Cassidy’s father's store the day after, demanding answers about why she'd tell such a vicious lie. But when we'd asked where Cassidy was, her father shrugged and said she'd left for Florida late the night before and didn't know when she'd be back. The timing wasn't lost on me. Her accusation, followed by a convenient disappearance, reeked of a paid setup of my father's manipulation.
"Talk to me." Trigger's voice pulls me back. He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. "Tell me what's really bothering you."
"I was so upset, the betrayal that seeped into my veins…" I pinch my lips, hating the memory of how I felt like my whole world was collapsing. "Trigg, I haven't been with anyone since I came back to Bardstown almost a year ago. Sure, I flirted, but that was intentional. I knew doing it would draw a reaction out of you, so I did." I twist the belt of my robe between my fingers. "But I could never have taken it further than that. You were the only person I wanted."
His hands slide around my waist, and he pulls me flush against him. "I've felt that way about you since high school," hesays, his voice rough with emotion. "No one was ever going to measure up. There was no point in even trying. They were never going to be you."
His lips cover mine in a kiss so sweet and delicate it steals my breath and makes my knees weak. Every secret I've just handed him, every truth I've laid bare, and he's answered by confirming that none of what I felt was in my head. Every charged moment between us was real. Every look, every touch, every word…all of it real.
His kiss heals wounds I thought were destined to destroy me as he backs me against the island, his tongue demanding more as his hands glide into my hair. But I need to finish this. I need to purge the ugliest parts of myself before we can move forward. I pull back, breathless.
"Sweetheart," he growls against my lips, "I want to do a lot more than kiss my wife right now."
"There's something else." My voice comes out weaker because what I'm about to say is shameful. It makes my heart look ugly and petty, and I absolutely despise this about myself. But I need to get it out. "I didn't want you to have a baby with her."
"I know," he says gently, like he fully understands the depth of my statement, but he doesn't. He couldn't.
"No." I shake my head and step back, running my fingers through my hair and tugging at the roots. "You don't get it. I was somad, Trigg. Jealous, possessive, manic, you name it, and in that moment, I felt it. Pure rage." My hands are shaking now. "This deep-seated hate for a girl I don't even know. Logically, I know that you having a baby with someone else didn't have to mean we were over, but if I'm honest?" I force myself to look at him. "I don't know that I could have stood there..." My words come out broken because I don’t want a future without him, andyet, these terrible thoughts consume me. "How could I watch you be a father to a baby that wasn’t?—"
"Stop," he cuts me off, pressing his finger over my lips.
"It was so selfish?—"
"Shhh," he silences me again. "I would have done the right thing. If that boy had been mine, then he was mine. Period." He lowers his hand but steps closer, eliminating the space I'd created. "But if you think the thought of having a child with anyone but you doesn't make me physically ill, you're wrong." His voice drops, becoming almost reverent. "It's why I chased you for so long. Why I carried my grandmother's ring in my pocket for a year, just waiting for the right moment." He cups my face in both hands. "I couldn't stand the thought of you having a life with someone else that should have been mine all along. Don't beat yourself up for wanting all my firsts, for wanting my forever, because it's been here all along, patiently waiting for you to take it."
"Trigger, I love you." The words are barely out of my mouth before he silences them with a kiss that tastes like forgiveness and promises and home.
His hands slide down to my hips, then lower, pulling me harder against his hardening length. I gasp into his mouth, wanting everything I feel, but I swat at his chest. "Trigg, stop. Hollis is right around the corner in his room."
