by Lucy Rinaldi
“Yeah. No shots this time.”
“Come on, bro,” I laugh. “Anybody would think you were past it.”
“Not past it, little brother. But it takes a lot more effort to keep looking this good when you get to my age.”
“Ain't it the truth?” Jesse chimes in.
I wave them away and make my way to the bar. I can see the girls from here as I order another round of drinks. There she is, Aimee. God, she's so hot. How the hell am I meant to get her to agree to a date? Just one, that's all I'm asking.
The drinks are on the tray in front of me but I haven't taken my eyes off Aimee yet. She's laughing at something one of the girls is saying. I can see Emilee but I can't make out the others from where they're sitting. I love how Aimee has her dyed brown-red hair curled and tied up. Her skin is so fair it looks like porcelain.
Someone is watching me, I can feel their eyes on me. Then I feel it, the tug on the leg of my jeans. I look down at the little blond-haired, blue-eyed boy looking up at me. His eyes are huge, and he's as cute as all hell.
“Hello.” He says sweetly.
“Hi there. What are you doing here all alone?”
“My mommy is over there with her new friends. She said I can say hi to the men.” He points at my brother and his friends, who are all looking at me curiously. “Can I say hi?”
“Sure.” I grab the drinks tray. “This way.” He giggles. There's something so familiar about his giggle.
“Who's your friend?” My brother asks as soon as I set the tray on the table in front of them. They each grab a beer as little guy pulls himself into the seat I was once sat at in the booth next to my brother. I smile and shake my head while grabbing a chair and pulling it up to our table.
“My name is Jaxson.” He says sweetly, his arms resting on the table, his little legs swinging back and forth in that childlike way kids have. “What are your names?”
“This is Chase.” I point to my brother.
“Is he your daddy?” He has a southern twang to his little voice. It's cute. And the fact he thinks Chase is my dad has the whole table laughing.
“No, he's my big brother. This is Jesse, and Freddy, and Enzo.”
“What's your name?”
“My name is Bryton.”
“My daddy's name is Bryton.”
“Really?” He nods at me wide eyed with a smile on his sweet little face. “That's awesome!”
“I am four.” God, he's cute. “I just moved here with my mommy.”
“What about your daddy?” My brother asks.
“I don't know who he is. I did never meet him. I just know his name 'cause it is the same as mine.” He shrugs his little shoulders at Chase. God, that's so sad for him.
“Does anybody else think this little man looks like Bryton?”
“Very funny, Chase. Don't say things like that in front of the kid, that's really insensitive!” Jerk!
I narrow my eyes as they all look at each other, then at Jaxson, then back to me. What the fuck are they all looking at? Okay, the kid and I have the same hair color, eye color, same shape nose and... Stop it, Bryton, they're messing with you.
“What's your last name, little buddy?” He giggles at Chase. My brother has a way with kids, a way I could never have with them. He's a natural.
“My name is Jaxson Joshua Sawyer. My mommy calls me Jay-Jay sometimes. Mommy doesn't have the same name as me. I have my daddy's name. My daddy's name is Bryton Vance Sawyer.” What the fuck?
My brother literally spits his beer across the table while choking. I can feel the heat rising in my face. No, this can't be. This is bull I've never gotten a girl pregnant.
Okay, that's a lie, I got a girl pregnant once but she had an abortion. She was only seventeen when I slept with her. She lied to me about her age, she was in a nightclub dressed like a twenty-five-year-old. She had legs up to her armpits, and she was fucking gorgeous. I thought she was twenty-one. Turns out she was just seventeen. I was fucking mortified.
Okay, I was only twenty at the time, but that wasn't the point. She'd lied to me. But I forgave her because I couldn't stop thinking about her. When I found out she was pregnant, I told her to get rid of it. She agreed. I was a shallow prick and I was glad. I gave her two-hundred dollars and walked away from her.
I never saw her again.
She's the one I can't forget. She's the one I try so hard not to remember. But of course, I do. I wonder what she's doing, where she is and if she's okay. She's the one I should never have let get away. How can anyone have that effect on a person after a few weeks together? But she did and I've never forgotten her.
“What's your mommy's name, Jaxson?” I ask with a pounding heart, but somehow I already know the answer.
“Jaxson, where are you?!” I freeze, I can't move. That voice, I have never and will never forget it. It can't be her, it just can't. My brother's eyes lock with mine. His narrow, I must be as pale as a ghost. I feel fucking sick. “There you are.”
“Mommy, I got some friends like you.”
“That's great, sweetheart,”
I can't turn round, my heart is pounding out of my chest. I'm gonna hurl. If I turn around and look at her, I'll be lost all over again, and I know there will be no coming back from it this time. But at the same time, I could kill her! She fucking kept my kid. She lied to me yet again! Why the hell would she do that?
“But it's time to leave these nice men alone. It's almost your bedtime.”
“But I want to stay with Bryton.” My eyes close on me. I can sense her body stiffen behind me.
“What... What did you say?”
“I want to stay with, Bryton.” He touches my arm. “Please, mommy?”
I swallow hard, take a deep breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. All eyes are on me and I know each of them is thinking the same thing. But this kid isn't mine, she aborted my baby and then obviously went right ahead and had another baby with someone else.
Who the fuck are you trying to kid, Bryton? If he's not yours, she's got a pretty sick imagination giving him your name!
I turn in my seat to face her. Our eyes lock and it's like the wind is knocked out of her. She stumbles back a little. God, she looks fucking beautiful, just as I remembered her. She's wearing white, I always liked her in white. White flowing skirt, tight sleeveless shirt, hair tied up. God, I used to love to pull that hair as I took her from behind... Stop it, Bryton, Jesus, this is not the time!
“Hello, Roya.”
Available and Coming Soon Books By Lucy Rinaldi.
The Safe Series.
The First Three Books In This Series Should Be Read In Sequence. The Books That Follow Are Standalone's. But Can Be Read Alone.
Silent: Thane & Libby
Quiet: Thane & Libby
Louder: Thane & Libby
Devoted: Aston & Felicity
Addiction: Blaine & Nickole
Fixed: Bradford & Gabriella
Honor: Preston & Blue
Always: Blair & Lilah, A Safe Prequel.
The Kids From The Safe Series Will Be Appearing In Their Own Stories As Grown Ups Very Soon ;)
Rift: Ana & Tanner.
Truth: Ed & Casey
Trust: Evan & Krystal
Hardcore: Andrew & Melissa
Sacrifice: Grace & Trent
Tracked: Harmony & Brock
Fact: Lincoln & Tammy
The Skeleton Series, Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 The Finale.
Skeleton Spinoffs
Yours: Lauren & Giovanni
Forbidden: Hope & Xavier
Roman Angel: Giannah & Harley
Forever: Emma & Brayden
The Archer Series: Out Now
Believe: Benton & Sara
Hero: Brandon & Jenna
Lost: Nate & Raine.
Caught: Chance & Paris
Coming Soon In The Series:
Hidden: Kirby & Nevaeh
The Twin Series:
Shattered: Jason & Maisie
&nb
sp; Revenge: Blaise & Maddie
Fortunate: Warner & Victoria
Coming Soon
Diamond Snakes MC
Shepard: Prez
Stryker
Tank.
Hammer.
Jet: VP
Hawk.
Draven.
Wrench.
Roman.
Trace.
VJ.
Oak Springs Series:
Dancer A: Chase & Emilee
Scarred: Hudson & Callie
Caution: Enzo & Paige
Traced: Bryton & Roya
Torn: Kory & Aimee
Standalone's Coming Soon.
Beyond The Fire: Bryan & Lyric
Haunted: Drew & Natasha
Fallen: Hunter & Evie
About The Author.
Lucy Rinaldi was born in Birmingham, England, in the 1980's. She has lived all over the world in places including New York, California, Italy and France. Lucy began writing fiction in her early teens after meeting a soldier in a London coffee shop, where he shared his army adventures with her. Lucy was so intrigued by him and what he was telling her that she began to write down his adventures. Lucy wrote them as memoirs and to this day they have pride of place on her bookshelf.
Lucy often finds inspiration to write from those around her. Lucy finds people and their lives fascinating. Lucy is also an avid reader of Adult Romance. She hasn't read one male lead that she hasn't liked this far. Lucy has one or two favourite authors at the moment, authors who write stories where she can lose herself within them. Lucy fully believes that books are our escape from the world around us. Books are a place where we can lose ourselves in someone else's imagination, a place where it's not wrong to believe you're the one finding the happy ever after with the one person who understands you better than anyone else.
