Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO_
MAGGIE
The whole co-parenting thing was harder the second time around.
With Kaylee, everything was simple. I was serving in the army, so Ryder had full custody.
It wasn't ideal, and I missed her like crazy, but serving was something I had to do.
Being in the army gave me a purpose, got me out of the small-minded Texas town I grew up in, and I loved it.
It gave me opportunities I'd only ever dreamed of—traveling the world, getting a college degree on Uncle Sam's dime—but the biggest impact it had on me was giving my first taste of what love felt like. True love.
And then it was ripped away from me.
Months after John's passing, I was back in that Texan small town, hating life, hating the world, and wanting blood and payback for the IED that took John from me.
Enter Ryder Kennedy, a boy I grew up with. The one who went out and got himself famous by singing in a boy band. In a moment of weakness, we came together as old friends seeking comfort in each other.
He was the one who brought me Kaylee.
We parented well together, mainly because I was back on tour overseas with the army, and he had nannies to look after our daughter.
He took a shining to one nanny in particular.
A manny, Lyric. Ryder’s interest in men wasn’t a huge secret, not even when we made Kaylee—the public didn’t know but those closest to him did—and Lyric was an amazing human who I trusted around my daughter.
But going from coparenting with one other person, to deciding to have another child with Ryder through IVF this time instead of the old-fashioned way, I didn’t take into account that Riff would be equally Lyric’s as he would Ryder’s and mine.
That was the deal, and I was fully on board.
Until it left me outnumbered when it came to big decisions.
They were both great dads, but when they wanted to bring both Kaylee and Riff on a music tour with them, they outvoted me and disagreed it would be disruptive to their routines.
Which is how I ended up, at thirty-one, following a boy band around the country with two kids in tow.
I was a goddamn solider in the US Army reduced to … a groupie. Even though that wasn’t the actual situation, it sometimes felt like it. Especially when the band hired a bodyguard for me and the kids’ protection.
A bodyguard.
For the kids, I understood. For me? It was suffocating.
Ryder entered his living room where I had adorable little five-month-old Riff in a Baby Bjorn, trying to get him to go to sleep by bouncing him up and down.
“Are you still sulking because I’m forcing you to come on tour or because we hired you a bodyguard for it?”
My scowl deepened. “Both. Plus, your son is being fussy.”
“No, no, we’ve already been over this. When he’s happy, he’s my child. When he’s not, he’s either yours or Lyric’s. That’s how this works.” Ryder grinned wide, his blue eyes that matched Riff’s shining.
I snorted. “That’s right. It’s all Lyric’s and my fault even if fifty percent of Riff’s genes came from you. Totally works.”
“Yup.” He winked.
“Have I reminded you lately how much I hate you?” I was joking. I loved Ryder to death in a platonic life-partner kind of way.
“Every day,” he said in an exasperated tone. “Twice a day since I told you about the tour.”
“Good. As long as you don’t forget.”
Ryder held out his arms. “Okay, give me my son. I’ll get him to sleep. You go change your clothes. Maybe put on something that doesn’t have baby spit up on it?”
“Why?” I handed over the baby.
“Your new bodyguard is on his way over.”
“And I need to look nice for him, why? Didn’t you go to that all-queer firm Harley is friends with?”
Ryder grinned again, only this time, there was something evil in it.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I might have maybe, possibly, asked for the only straight guy on their team to be assigned to you?”
“I really do hate you, Ryder Kennedy,” I muttered.
“Come on. It’s been forever since you’ve even been on a date. You deserve a relationship again. You deserve happiness.”
I didn’t want another relationship. I knew I would never love again. Not after losing John.
I loved Ryder and Lyric like family, because that’s what they were.
There was nothing between Ryder and me, and he and Lyric we perfect for each other.
But even when Ryder and I were together that one fateful night, what we shared wasn’t the kind of passion and love that I had with John. It was, at most, companionship.
What I had with John was a rare kind of love that I knew would never come again.
So it was tiring when Ryder or Lyric tried to set me up with someone.
“If this bodyguard can’t see past a little spit-up, I guess he’s not the man for me. What a shame. Oh no.”
Riff, the damn traitor, was already asleep in his father’s arms.
“We just want you to be happy,” Ryder whispered.
“I am happy. I’m a strong, independent woman who don’t need no man.”
“You might not need someone, but it’s nice to not be alone. Before Lyric …” He shook his head. “I don’t know how I did the whole celibacy and alone thing.”
“I have Bob, and he’s all I need.”
Ryder frowned. “Who’s Bob?”
“My battery-operated boyfriend. B-O-B.”
Ryder’s gaze flicked above my head, and then Lyric’s voice came from behind us.
“And we just came in at the wrong time. Or, at least, I hope it was the wrong time because I don’t want to know.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to Lyric, but my reply died on my lips when I saw the man standing next to Lyric.
Dark hair, gorgeous brown skin and warm eyes. Muscular. A soldier’s physique. A soldier’s cocky smirk on his lips too. My heart skipped a beat, and warmth shot through me.
Familiarity.
That’s when it hit me. I knew this man.
“Mags, this is Domino,” Lyric said.
I shook my head. That wasn’t his name. It was … it was … It was on the tip of my tongue.
He stepped forward, his imposing stature making my body react in a way it hadn’t done in years. I almost got my hopes up that Ryder and Lyric had done good this time, but I should’ve known it wouldn’t last.
Because as Domino reached his hand out for me to shake, and we made that connection, I remembered where I knew him from.
“Andre. Staff sergeant Andre Martinez,” I whispered.
He cocked his head. “Have we met?”
“Ooh, please tell me he was your superior officer back in the day,” Ryder asked, way too excitedly.
And no, he wasn’t.
“You served?” Sergeant Martinez asked. “I would’ve remembered if you were under me.”
Lyric snickered.
“I mean under my command.” Martinez’s eyes were comically wide, and I somehow found it charming.
But then reality bit at me again, and I shook my head. “You weren’t my commanding officer.”
He was John’s.