“Speaking of, someone woke up.” Faith’s voice causes me to turn around and I see my little girl in her pink pony pajamas. She rubs her eyes and sticks her arms out for me to grab her.
“Thanks, Faith.” I say to her.
“Not a problem. I thought I saw her moving around on the monitor, so figured I’d check.” Tala has a monitor down here behind the bar. Iris and Faith have been a huge help with caring for Destiny. It’s like Tala has an entire army of help and thank goodness she does. Destiny might be a toddler, but I can see Tala comin’ out of her more and more every day. We have a handful, that’s for damn sure.
Destiny yawns and rubs her eyes again, “You sleepy, baby?”
She yawns and puffs out her bottom lip, “Why’d you wake up then?”
“I didn’t want you to leave again,” she murmurs softly, avoiding eye contact with me.
“Oh, baby.” I hold her close, pressing soft kisses to her forehead. “C’mon, let’s go upstairs and we’ll take a nap and wait for Momma.”
“Mkay,” she murmurs.
I rise with her in my arms. She burrows her head against my neck, the heat of her breath hitting my skin as we go out into the hallway, running right into Stoney, Horse, and Ricochet.
“Hey, nugget. I thought I saw you.” Ricochet chuckles, going to pinch Destiny’s cheeks. She yanks her head away from him and sticks her thumb in her mouth. “She okay?” He asks.
I nod, “Yeah, just tired. A little grumpy. She thought I was leaving, so she didn’t get a good sleep.”
“Oh, man. You go get some rest, princess, okay?” Ricochet looks right at the little girl in my arms. For some reason I look past Ricochet to Horse and Stoney, who’re both looking at my daughter.
“I’ll tell you this straight, Cow’. We aren’t leavin’, so you’d best get used to us bein’ around.” Stoney declares. I know to keep my thoughts to myself, or else I’d be tellin’ this fucker he’s gonna be leaving, and it’s up to him whether it’ll be in a body bag or not.
“Night-night princess.” Ricochet tells Destiny, who smiles back at him in return.
“Night, sweetie. We’ll have that cuppie cake tomorrow, ‘kay?” Stoney tells Destiny, makin’ me wanna throttle his ass right here and now.
But Destiny, my sweet, beautiful, baby girl smiles and nods her head. “C’mon, baby, let’s get you to bed.”
“Mkay . . . you won’t leave, right, Daddy?” She asks, and I know this is fucked up, but I hope it’s loud enough for Stoney to hear. He needs to realize she is my daughter. Fuck, I know biologically she’s his. I know that . . . but I can’t lose her. This little girl has gotten me through the last couple years and if I didn’t have her in my life . . . I would’ve blown my fuckin’ brains out. That’s a fact. She gives me a reason to go on, and I made a vow I wouldn’t ever leave her.
I’m not gonna leave my little girl behind.
Maybe it’s time I make that official . . . maybe it’s time I don’t leave at all anymore.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s time I try to stay around for good.
After all, she is beggin’ me not to leave.
Chapter Six
Real love is always chaotic. You lose control. You lose perspective. You lose the ability to protect yourself. The greater the love, the greater the chaos. It’s a given and that’s the secret.
~ Jonathan Carroll
Boss
I don’t know how long I stayed on that floor, but I do remember waking up on it. So, instead of going back in the bar area to grab a drink before I go to bed like usual, I just headed up to the fourth floor where Destiny and I have our small apartment. There are actually two apartments, one for us and one for the VP. We have a two-bedroom, two bath and Omen has pretty much a replica of what we have.
I open the door to our apartment and find Cowboy asleep on my couch with a unicorn blanket wrapped around him. I don’t know why, but man it makes me smile to see him like this. That is, before everything comes flooding back. What we had was good. It wasn’t perfect, but we had something pretty solid. Hell, it was chaos. We live in two separate countries, would fuck when we were around each other, and I’m sure we were fucking other people when we were apart. It was chaos, utter and complete chaos.
But, none of that matters when I watch him with my daughter. The way he treats her with respect. How he’ll drop whatever he has to do for the club just so he can be there for her. It melts my heart. Makes the stone-cold thing turn into water in a matter of minutes.
“Are you creepin’ on me?” Cowboy asks in a groggy tone, pulling the pink fleece blanket away from him.
I shrug my shoulders, “Maybe a little bit. Did you bring Destiny up?”
He nods, running a hand over his hair. “Yeah, she’s tuckered out in her big girl bed. Fuck, Tala. When did you get that for her?”
“About a month ago. I waited too long. The mommy blogs say I was supposed to do it a little bit earlier.”
“Mommy blogs? Hell, never thought I’d hear you say that.” He chuckles, flashing his pearly whites. I almost forgot what they looked like, not seeing him smile for so long.
“Yeah, well, I need as much help as I can get. You know?”
He nods, “Yeah,” Cowboy clears his throat and rises, tossing the blanket on the couch where he was sitting. “How’re you doin’?”
I blink at him a couple times, processing if he’s really asked me that, or if I’m losing my mind a little bit. “You mean from the Stoney stuff?”
He nods.
“I can handle Stoney, that’s a fact.”
Cowboy cocks a brow, like he doubts me. “I know you’re one tough woman, Tala, but that man . . . I almost lost my cool tonight. If I can lose my control, I know you can. So, what’s the plan here?”
What’s the plan? Ha! I don’t have a fucking plan. “There isn’t one.” I’m honest with him because even if I did have some sort of elaborate plan, Stoney would fuck it up anyway.
“Well, we need to figure one out, ‘cause I’m not gonna let him take our girl away from us.”
Ours.
He called Destiny ours.
God dammit. I could cry right now.
I’m stuck staring at Cowboy, looking into his vibrant grassy green eyes. “He’s a man on a mission, Tala. I’m not fuckin’ blind. It’s plain as day. He isn’t going to take her away. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about somethin’.”
“You do?”
He nods, “Yeah. Destiny . . . she . . . she wasn’t sleeping earlier this evening ‘cause she thought I was leaving. I think she didn’t want me to leave, so she was tryin’ to stay awake while I was here.”
“Bless her. She loves you so fucking much.” I tell him, taking a few steps closer toward him.
He smirks, “And I love her. She’s . . . she’s the light of my life, Tala. I know when I found out that . . . that I wasn’t her biological father . . . well, I treated you like shit, and I’m sorry for that, but Destiny gives my life purpose. Without her I don’t know where I’d be. I don’t even think I’d still be breathin’.”
I furrow my brows and take his hand in mine, keeping my eyes trained on his. “Why would you say something like that?”
“‘Cause, I almost killed myself last year, Tala. I was a split second away from doing it and you called my cell. Well, it wasn’t you. It was Destiny. She wanted to say goodnight to me. Something so normal for her to do, but I had the bullet in the chamber. I . . . she saved my life. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the God’s honest truth.”
I find myself using my alternate hand to brush my hand against his cheek, trying to comfort him somehow. The shame is evident on his face, especially the way he keeps averting his eyes away from mine. “I had no idea you were struggling so much. I’m so sorry.”
“No one did. I’m great at hidin’ shit like that. But, I wanna get to my point. I wanna step down back in Calgary. I wanna come here, to transfer, to be here for her. I . . .” Cowboy looks off in the direction of Destiny
’s room. “I don’t wanna miss any more precious time with her. Not when she’s growin’ like a weed and I can barely keep up. For fuck’s sake, I missed her first steps, baby.”
Both of our eyes go wide when he calls me baby. It’s been so long since . . . since he’s spoken to me this way. Tears form in my eyes and slowly slip out, coating my cheeks. “She’d love for you to be here.” I say with a smile.
I realize I’m still touching him, so I slowly pull away, figuring that’s what he wants me to do . . . but he grabs my hand. My heartbeat intensifies while we stare into each other’s eyes. “I shoulda told you this shit back then, but late is better than never, right? I don’t wanna keep fightin’ this, Tala, not when we have the biggest fight of our lives right in front of us.”
God.
Am I hallucinating, or is this my reality right now?
Chapter Seven
Give people time. Give people space. Don’t beg anyone to stay. Let them roam. What’s meant for you will always be yours.
~ Reyna Biddy
Cowboy
“I was pissed at you and I walked out on you, but I never walked out on her. I’m sorry for what I did. I . . . I think I might’ve needed time. I dunno, but what I do know is I’m not gonna keep fightin’ this anymore. Not when . . . not when he could be tryin’ to take her away from us. I never said this back then, Tala, but I . . . I still . . .” Somehow, I’m losing track of my thoughts as I stare at her, surveying her thin, pointy nose and her full cheeks. The same nose and cheeks Destiny has.
Tala broke my fuckin’ heart and there’s no denying that, but time heals all things, or at least I think it’s a sayin’. “I still do too,” she pipes up. I lean my face into her hand, loving the way her soft palm feels against the bristles of my few day-old stubble.
The way she looks at me makes me want to devour her, to rip her to fuckin’ shreds and remind her body what it’s like to be with me. I can be anything she wants, a soft lover or a filthy one. Fuck, she’s my guilty pleasure.
Fuck it.
Wrapping a hand around the back of her head, I dip my mouth down to hers, breathing her in like she’s air. She’s tense at first and then relaxes into my touch. I hoist her up with my other arm and she wraps her legs around my torso.
She’s keeping up the pace, sensual yet starved. Our tongues collide like two rushing bodies of water, in synchronization, yet dangerous. “Cowboy,” she moans my name against my mouth.
I glance down into her dark eyes and see the need, the desire. God dammit, it’s been too damn long for both of us.
I slide her cut off her back and then mine, tossing them both on the back of the couch, then shred her shirt and off comes mine. In a matter of minutes, we’re both naked, heading into her bedroom. I shut the door behind us and waste no time filling her, ramming my cock inside her tight heat. She’s tighter than I remember, but then again, it’s been quite some time.
“Dammit, Tala.” I hiss, grinding my cock deeper inside her, I suck her nipple into my mouth. She arches her back to meet my thrusts with shaking legs.
“God, I missed you.” She says, sounding a bit choked up, I look up and see she’s crying. Tears sliding down her cheek in an effortless stream. Releasing her nipple, I kiss away the tears.
“Sssh, none of that. There’s no need for it, baby. I’m here. I’m here, and I’m not goin’ anywhere. I’m ready for us to be a family. I won’t fuck this up. I promise.” Little does she know the sincerity of my words.
“I never told you this, but I loved you, Cowboy, I still do. I was just too damn afraid to say anything to you. I was scared you wouldn’t feel the same way.” Here she is crying again, so I do the same and wipe away her tears, pressing my lips to her cheeks as I slow down my pace.
“What a silly thing to be scared about,” I say, meeting my lips with hers again. I show her how much she means to me, devouring her mouth while rocking myself inside her. Putting a hand back, I hike her leg higher up on my hip, needing to nestle myself deeper inside her. “I don’t want us to be separated again, Tala. I’m serious. I want us to be a family.” I reiterate what I want from her, needing some sort of confirmation.
“You’re really prepared to give up being Prez to be with us?”
Looking back down into her eyes, I nod. “There’s no place I’d rather be. This situation with Stoney showin’ up has only confirmed it. Maybe it was the wake-up call I needed to realize what’s important to me.”
“I don’t want you to give up your title, Cowboy. I feel like it’s not right.”
“Tala, I want this. I want us, woman, so for fuck’s sake, let us be happy. Stop overthinking and just accept what I want.” I laugh in the middle, finding amusement out of her stubbornness. “And god, can we stop talking shop while I’m fucking you?”
She smirks with a nod, crushing her lips back against mine, her walls tighten around me and I know she’s close. My cock is begging to release inside her, to fill her walls with my seed. It’s been so long since I’ve marked her, and for the first time ever, I’m marking her as mine.
When I do it, I’m gonna fuckin’ do it right.
Tilting my hips, I increase my pace and my balls tighten, ready to unleash my load.
I grab her by the back of her head, rooting my hand deep in her hair. “You’re mine, Tala. My woman. My ol’ lady. Mine. My fuckin’ partner. The mother of my fuckin’ kids. My rock and, my fuckin’ Prez. Tell me you want this, for the love of God tell me you want this shit ‘cause I don’t know if I can handle it if you don’t.” She has no idea how much I’m prayin’ one of these swimmers will implant inside her. I want her stomach rounded with my children as soon as possible. Fuck, when she was pregnant with Destiny, I couldn’t keep my hands off her.
Tala wraps her arms around me, “Everything you said and more,” she confirms, kissing my lips delicately as I release myself deep within her.
I’m no fool. This is a first step, but I have a good feelin’ this is gonna be a fresh start for the two of us.
Chapter Eight
Some things are destined to be—it just takes us a couple of tries to get there
~ J.R. Ward
Boss
An ear curdling shriek makes me practically jump out of bed. Well, I’m not the only one. Cowboy jolts out of bed too as our door busts open. Destiny running in, in her pajamas, with the biggest smile on her face. She jumps right on her bed, “I’m three! I’m three!”
She looks right at me, turning her back to Cowboy as he rushes into the bathroom and wraps a towel around himself.
“Mommy, were you and Daddy having bubble time?”
Bubble time means bath time. It’s the only way I can get her to agree to a bath most nights, telling her I’ll make sure there are tons of bubbles.
I nod, knowing I don’t have many options. “Yes, we were just about to have bubble time!” I say, hearing Cowboy’s amused chuckle from behind her. Destiny stops jumping on the bed. “Auntie Iris helped me with bubble time last night! I’m all clean for my party!”
“You know what this means, don’t you, baby?” Cowboy’s all smiles as he goes over to Destiny, yanking her up into his arms.
She shakes her head.
“It means you and me, get to go to the toy store today and I’ll buy you whatever you want.”
She presses her lips out really far like she’s up to no good, and knowing her, she is up to no good. “Daddy, I wanna kitty. Mommy said I could get one.”
“I said one day, little girl. Not today.”
Cowboy’s smirk tells me he’s going to give her whatever she wants. “Baby, don’t you think we could? Considering all we have to celebrate now?” He walks over toward me with Destiny in his arms.
“I don’t want to go buy her a kitten.”
“Okay, easy. We won’t go buy her one. We’ll go to a kill shelter.”
“A what?” Destiny draws her brows together, curious as ever, but there’s no way in hell I’m telling her that not all the animal
s at the shelter get their happily-ever-after.
“The animal shelter, baby. Daddy is gonna go get you the next one who’s going to be evicted.”
She furrows her brows together again. “What’s that mean?”
“It means kicked out. The kitties can only live there for so long, so, people like us have to go help them.” Cowboy responds with a smile, staring directly at me. He knows I won’t do a damn thing to take this away from him. Not when he’s talking about saving a cat’s life.
“Fine, go get her a cat.” I grumble, urging him to go.
“Yay!” Destiny shrieks with excitement.
“C’mon, baby, let me go get you dressed. Mommy needs to get dressed too.”
“What about your bubble time?” Destiny asks, looking at us both.
“I’ll get bubble time with Mommy later.” Cowboy chuckles with a devious smirk, taking Destiny out of the room, he gives me time to get dressed. By the time I’m done getting ready, I see he and Destiny are already sorted as well. I grab my cut from the back of the couch and slide it on, good to go for the rest of the day.
“You’re gonna take her with you, yeah?” I question, seeing Destiny’s wearing a kitten shirt and is all decked out in a tiara and everything.
“Yeah. I’ll pull Iris and Mug with me too if that’s cool?”
I nod, “Sure. Iris would love to go knowing her. Mug will go and make sure you don’t bring everything back here.”
Cowboy chuckles as we head to the front door of the apartment and walk into the hallway. At the same time, we’re walking toward the stairs, Omen comes waltzing out with an amused grin. “I was wonderin’ when you two were gonna get back together.”
“Mhm, I’m sure you were.” I roll my eyes at my good friend, hoping he’ll mind his own business.
“Y’all have a good night?” Omen questions, seeming a bit sincere as we all head down the stairwell.
Bossed Up (Iron Vex MC Book 2) Page 4
