Noticing the longing in my eyes, Stephen gently turned Bailey’s face to him. “Hey, when we get out of here, Seth will take care of you, and then we can cuddle just like we always do,” he told her gently. That was our thing. I fucked her senseless to get her out of her head, and then she went to cuddle with Stephen.
I looked up at the screen, my heart lodging in my throat. Our baby was actually ababy. It had arms and legs, and it was moving furiously. I could tell it had Bailey’s nose.
It wasperfect.
Tears gathered in my eyes. A lump lodged itself in my throat.
I wished Bailey could experience this. I wished I hadn’t ruined her and destroyed her.
* * *
When we got her home,she was a shell of herself once again. I lifted her out of my truck, and Stephen held the front door open for me. Without a word, I strode to my room and kicked our door shut. As soon as I had her on the bed, I moved over her, my lips meeting hers.
It took a moment for my broken girl to respond, but when she did, she lost herself in me all while she cried, breaking my fucking heart all while I tried to mend hers.
4
Stephen
Iheld Bailey’s hand in mine, her other hand intertwined with Seth’s. She frowned at the house in front of us in confusion. We’d decided to bring her here now that I had officially closed on the house. She deserved to know we were both serious about her, even if she hadn’t allowed me into her life in that capacity yet.
“Why are we here?” she asked, looking up at me for answers.
“Seth and I bought a house,” I told her. Technically, I’d paid for it, but I’d put Seth as the co-borrower on it. If we were in this together with her, then his name needed to be on this, too.
Her eyes widened. “Oh!” She smiled, but it wasn’t as bright as I was hoping it would have been. “That’s great. Congratulations.”
I gently squeezed her hand. “We want you to live here with us after you graduate,” I told her.
Graduation wasn’t that far away. I knew her mom was taking her to get her hair trimmed tomorrow and also taking her to get her nails done. I was pretty sure Seth had also mentioned something about her going shopping for an outfit to wear under her gown.
He was being dragged along, but I knew he didn’t mind. Hell, he’d even agreed to sit next to her and get a pedicure, too.
He really would do anything in the world for her.
And she deserved it, especially after what he had done to her because he hadn’t been man enough to own up to his shit. I didn’t bring it up—knew he always beat himself up over it enough—but he knew I thought he was a dumbass for what he’d done.
“You want me to live here?” she asked in astonishment.
I nodded. “We want to live with you,” I told her.
Something akin to longing rested in her gaze as she stared at me before it disappeared. Her smile was brighter this time. “Well, show me around.”
Seth met my eyes over her head, and he grinned.
Not much longer, he mouthed to me as we led her to the house.
Thank God, because I was ready to take care of Bailey the way Seth did. I was doing my best, but until she opened herself to me as well, I had to take what I could get.
She fell in love with the house and the property as we showed her around, but in all of her excitement, she quickly began to grow tired, and it wasn’t long before Seth was carrying her out to his truck and taking her home so she could get some rest.
I watched them go as I leaned against the pillar on the porch, my heart aching for her. Normal people didn’t get so exhausted after a little bit of excitement, but Bailey? It slap wore her out.
And tomorrow was only going to be worse.
I was already bracing myself for the bad day she was going to inevitably end up having.
* * *