Overall, today’s been a very simple day.
But I can’t remember the last time I was this happy.
“So… Riley.” I try to look unbothered. “What’s she like? Let me guess, tall, thin, gorgeous?”
“Now, Kingston, I might be dumb sometimes, but I’m not that dumb. I’m not answering that.” He pretends to zip his lips and throw away the key.
I laugh. He’s right. This question has no right answer. I can’t believe that I even care about that stuff.
“Clever boy. Picked up on a few of my tricks, didn’t you?” I crinkle my nose.
“I’m starting to.” He grins and takes a left, pulling up next to a coffee shop. He parks the car and kills the engine.
“So this is it, huh?” I read the sign above the building.
“Yeah.”
I don’t reply, staring ahead at nothing in particular.
“What is it?” He seems worried.
“What?”
“Something’s clearly eating at you. Spill it.”
I shift in my seat. “It’s nothing.”
He arches an eyebrow.
“Fine. It’s just that you said you were going through a rough patch when you broke up with her. So, technically, you two didn’t break up because you didn’t love her anymo—”
“I love you.”
An idiotic grin spreads across my face.
“I know exactly where you’re going with this, and the answer is no, I don’t have feelings for her anymore. I’m head over heels in love with you, Winter Kingston. Are we clear?”
My mouth falls open, and I find myself gawking at him like he’s just told me I can eat whatever I want for the rest of my life without ever getting fat.
Again with the food comparisons.
I’m so glad the scared-of-commitment Haze is gone.
“Yes, I did have feelings for Riley. But in an ‘I’m a stupid teenager who only wants to play video games’ kind of way. We were so young. It seems like another life. And whatever I felt for her is not even close to what I feel for you.”
“Why’s that?” I’m just pushing it for him to keep telling me all these wonderful things at this point.
“I guess… I never really knew love until I knew you.”
I swoon.
“You know you’re going to have to pay a fine for that, right?”
“Pay a fine for what?” he asks.
“Stealing lines from whatever cheesy romantic comedy you got that from.”
He rolls his eyes.
“You are so good at ruining our moments, you know that?”
“You love me for it.” I kiss him. He welcomes my lips, per usual. In that moment, I want to forget about Riley. I want to forget that we might be doomed from the second he walks inside that coffee shop. I want to think about us and us only.
The perfect kiss ends a lot faster than I would’ve liked when we pull away for air.
It’s 4:25.
In a few minutes, my boyfriend has a date with his ex-girlfriend that he possibly has a child with.
In a few minutes, everything could change.
“It’s time.” He sighs.
“Okay. I’ll wait for you in the car.” I get my phone out of my pocket. “Great, my battery’s almost dead. I’m going to be bored out of my mind.”
“What?” He glowers. “You’re not staying in the car. Not a chance. You’re a part of my life; I’m not hiding you.”
I’m instantly touched that he would even consider bringing me in to witness such a personal moment.
“Haze, do you really think that she’ll be comfortable talking about the possible kid the two of you conceived in front of your new girlfriend, not to mention a complete stranger?”
He looks down, understanding my point, and nods. I don’t want him to go alone, but it wouldn’t be right if I tagged along for their reunion after years of questions.
I have to put myself in her shoes. He’s the one who contacted her wanting to know more about his child. If she really is a mother, she’s only doing this for her kid to have a father.
“You know what, there’s another coffee shop on the other side of the street.” He points to something. I turn my head to see the shop he’s talking about. Two coffee shops facing each other? These two are obviously competing with each other. “I’ll get a seat by the window. If you do, too, you’ll be able to see us.”
I laugh. “Are you suggesting that I stalk you?”
“Hell yes, if it’s the closest thing I’ll have to you being there.” I know he meant for it to be sweet, but it only makes the situation more real. He notices my frown and captures my hand into his.
“You know the first thing I do after this conversation is introduce you to her.”
Sure. Unless you look her in the eyes and fall in love all over again.
I smile unconvincingly, and we get out of the car. He enters the coffee shop while I cross the street to reach my creeping spot. I order a latte and sit by the bay window as discussed. He’s got the seat he wanted, too.
He makes silly faces at me, and my lips struggle to shape a somewhat believable smile.
Twenty-four girls walking into the shop and making me wonder if they’re Riley later, I’m beginning to think we dodged the bullet. It’s 4:50. Maybe she got scared and skipped town again. Maybe she’s not coming.
Then, I spot her on the sidewalk and I know…
This is Riley.
With my luck, the tanned dark-haired beauty that looks like she escaped from a Victoria’s Secret show just has to be Haze’s ex.
Her perfectly straight black hair falls down her back, and she’s wearing heels that I could never even dream of walking in without breaking both my legs. She doesn’t need the heels. She must be around five foot eight.
For a second, I dare hold on to the hope that the real regular-looking Riley is simply hidden by the giant model, but I’m quickly proved wrong when she pulls on the door and walks into the coffee shop.
I see her stop in front of Haze’s table, and my suspicions confirm themselves. She seems to expect him to get up and give her a hug of some sort, but he doesn’t move a muscle.
When she realizes that he’s not going to stand up, she awkwardly slides into the seat in front of him. They start talking and that’s when I realize that Haze’s plan has one big flaw: I can’t hear them. He should’ve given me a microphone.
I’m kidding.
No, I’m not.
After five minutes of what seems to be an incredibly serious conversation, Haze looks down and covers his face with his hands. He’s upset.
What did she tell him? It can’t be that he has a kid. Haze was prepared for the news. In some ways, he expected it. No, he’s way too upset. This is something else.
He just realized that he still loves her and now he’s wondering how he’s going to dump me.
Stop it, Winter.
She stops talking, apparently as sad as him, and places her hand on top of his. I really wish that he’d move away, but he doesn’t. All I can do is sit there and stalk—I mean, watch—while wondering what just happened.
The conversation seems to drift to lighter topics, and eventually, she gets a small smile out of him. He even laughs at some point. I can’t stand that I feel bothered by such stupid things.
They finish their coffees and both pay for themselves. Riley gets up and initiates a hug.
He hugs her back.
When he gets his phone out of his pocket and starts typing, I know what he’s about to do. Seconds later, I receive a text.
Haze: Come on over.
He’s going to introduce us.
I get up and walk out of the shop with a sharp fear in my chest. I cross the street and push the door leading to my own personal nightmare open. Haze’s face lights up when he sees me. He greets me by pulling me into his arms.
I don’t dare look up at her to see her reaction.
Does she hate me? I would hate me.
“Winter, thi
s is Riley,” he says and takes my hand.
“Hi,” I say and glance at her.
She smiles. But she looks uncomfortable, disappointed. She even looks a bit sad. I almost feel bad for the girl. At least she doesn’t look like she hates me. That’s a start.
“Riley, this is Winter, my girlfriend,” Haze says just in case the giant hug he gave me wasn’t clear enough.
“Hi,” she almost whispers. It gets awkward a lot faster than I expected, and I’m thankful to hear her phone ring.
She peeks at the screen.
“I’m so sorry. I have to take this. It’s the babysitter.” She picks up and distances herself from us.
Only in that moment does it hit me.
Only then do I realize that this is real.
Haze has a kid.
From now on, she’s back into his life.
They’re back into his life.
He’ll see Riley frequently, probably trying to make up for the lost time with his child. It’ll never be just me and Haze in this relationship ever again. It’ll be me, Riley, Haze, and their kid.
Even if Haze and I do have a family someday, it won’t be his first time. We won’t get to experience that together.
And things will never truly be the same after today…
We’ve been driving in silence for the past ten minutes. I’ve wanted to ask him a million questions from the very moment we left the coffee place but thought he could use a second. He’s still upset. I’ve been holding his hand in the hope of bringing him a tiny bit of comfort. So many options have been bugging me. Maybe she lost the baby.
But then, why did she say the babysitter was calling? I doubt that she had a kid with someone else after she skipped town.
“There were two of them,” he finally says when he pulls up into the driveway of the lake house.
I wait for him to carry on, my mind sticking to the word were.
“Twins. One of them died at birth.”
I hold my breath.
“I wasn’t there. Because I was too stupid to be responsible.” He clenches his jaw. “I wasn’t there when my sons needed me.”
Sons. Plural. That means he has a baby boy right now.
“Stop. You were so young, Haze. Do you realize how much of a big step having a child is? She ran away after she promised to get an abortion. How could you know that she didn’t?”
“I should’ve looked. I should’ve been there. I left them like a coward.” He kills the engine and turns to me. “My son’s two. His name’s Jacob, and he’s never had a dad.”
I don’t know how I feel about this, but it doesn’t matter. How I feel isn’t important. Haze is the priority right now. When we get out of the car and step inside the house, I give him a hug. He’s so tall I have to get on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his shoulders.
“It wasn’t your fault, okay?”
He holds me tighter.
When we let go, I ask him the burning question.
“When are you going to meet him?”
“Two days.”
He proceeds to tell me all about his son like he’s memorized every single detail Riley’s shared with him. Apparently, the kid’s a genius for his age, his mother calls him Jake, and he’s terrified of Santa. We spend the rest of the night sitting on the couch and talking about everything but the one topic driving me crazy: What does this mean for us? I glance at the time on my phone and know that the day Haze meets his child will be here before we know it. And I’ll never say it to him…
But I’ve never been so afraid of the clock ticking.
I watch my boyfriend pace back and forth around the house and have no choice but to admit my attempts at calming him down are useless. He hasn’t stopped thinking about meeting his son since Riley told him about his existence. She just texted him that she’s on her way, and he can’t control his nerves.
I’ve never seen him like this.
“Haze, calm down. It’s going to be okay,” I say softly.
“What if he hates me?” He fidgets with his clothes, still walking around the house with no specific direction.
“He won’t. He’s a kid. He probably likes everyone. Plus, it’s impossible to hate you.”
I mentally laugh. I might not be able to hate him, but it’s very possible for other people to despise him. Ask the East side and they’ll write you a book about it. My heart sinks when my cousin and the boys creep inside my head. The way things ended was far from perfect. I haven’t contacted them once. Am I a terrible person for not wanting to deal with their judgment?
I know what Kendrick would do. I know what he would say. He’d call Haze every name in the book and try to convince me to leave him. My cousin has to know, somewhere deep down, that Haze would do anything to keep me safe. He can say what he wants, but Haze has proved that he cares about me many times in the past. He had to trust that wherever he took me, I’d be okay.
I find myself wondering if the guys found a new fighter to replace Blake, if Kendrick and Nicole are still dating, and I even wonder if Will is still a tactless jerk. Probably. No matter how afraid of their judgment I am, I have to admit: I miss the East side.
“He’d have every right to hate me. I abandoned him.” He sighs.
“Didn’t know of him—big difference,” I correct him.
“What do you think he looks like?”
“I’m sure he’s gorgeous. I mean, kid’s got good genes.” I picture the beauty that is Riley in my head. She couldn’t just be normal. She had to look heaven-sent.
“You’re right. It’ll be fine. So what if he doesn’t like me? We have forever to work on this relationship.”
His words echo in my brain.
This is forever.
Jacob will be here forever. So will Riley.
I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to wrap my head around that. He has a kid.
A kid!
A kid who’s coming to the house right now.
My thoughts are interrupted by the doorbell. This is it. Haze’s going to meet his son. I try my best to ignore the painful pit forming in my throat. I can’t be selfish. I won’t. Haze gets up and lays a shaky hand on the handle. He glances back at me one last time before opening the door. My jaw drops at the sight of the person standing on the other side.
“Missed me?” He smirks.
I can’t believe it.
“Kendrick?”
16
Steal My Man
“No!” Haze drags Kendrick inside by his collar and shuts the door. “No way. You could’ve picked any fucking day to find us and you chose today?”
“Let go of him.” I tear them apart before Haze breaks my cousin’s nose, which I don’t doubt for a second he can and will do. He tries to come at him again. “Haze, don’t.” I push on his chest with my palms and stagger at his strength. “Look at me. Haze!”
He glares at Kendrick with tight fists, his chest rising and falling along to his heavy breathing.
“Haze,” I plea, and he finally answers my calls, gaping down at me as the rage in his gaze dissipates. Our eyes send each other signals only we understand. He inhales to calm himself down.
“Let me guess, you two are dating,” my cousin says just loud enough for us to hear. Still operating as a wall between the two experienced fighters, I turn around to look at our unexpected guest and nod. “Ugh, vomit,” he adds.
Part of me wants to yell at Kendrick for ruining what could turn out to be one of the most important moments of Haze’s life, but then there’s also this tiny, annoying, and persistent voice telling me to give him a hug.
The biggest, embarrassing I haven’t seen you in forever hug.
I don’t bother asking him how he found us because, frankly, I don’t care. The important question is what he plans to do now that he did.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him.
“What do you think?” He grabs me by the wrist. “I’m taking you home. Where you belong.”
“She’s not going any
where.” Haze yanks me back to him, the suddenness of his pull freeing my hand from Kendrick’s grasp. “Are you out of your mind? She’s not safe in Florida. Tanner’s still out there. It’s the last place she should be.”
“He’s been taken care of.” Kendrick’s voice grows angrier.
“What’s that supposed to mean? What did you do?” Haze growls.
“You didn’t kill him, did you?” I say what I know Haze is thinking out loud.
“I probably should’ve since he seemed to have no problem with killing Winter or my entire family, but no, I didn’t kill that waste of oxygen you call your brother. I made a deal with him.”
“What deal?” Haze asks.
“It wasn’t much of a deal, really. I just made him a promise. That Winter would go back to Canada in a few weeks where she’ll be safe and away from anyone who could want to harm her. But, especially, where she’ll be away from you. All she has to do is leave town as planned when school ends. He promised to leave her alone until then. He doesn’t care about her. It was never personal. He just wanted to get you back. Now, let’s go. We have a long ride ahead of us.” Kendrick motions to the door.
Haze grits his teeth and steps forward.
“You’re not her mother, asshole. She’s a big girl. She’ll go with you if she wants to,” Haze says an inch away from Kendrick’s face.
“A big girl? Please. She’s a child. She knows nothing. She’s so naïve she actually thinks you’re in love with her,” Kendrick shouts.
“And it’s never occurred to you that maybe I am?” Haze shouts right back.
Silence ensues.
Kendrick opens and closes his mouth repeatedly in a desperate attempt to restore his composure. He’s speechless.
Is this a bad time to swoon like a thirteen-year-old girl?
Haze sidles to me and intertwines our fingers as if to support what he’s saying. My heart swells with happiness. Kendrick shoots me a suspicious look that’s dripping with expectations.
“It’s true, Kendrick. He loves me… and I love him. I’m not leaving.”
Kendrick draws a sigh, rolls his eyes, and curses.
Unspoken Rules Page 15
