Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Zac
“Why is Grayson with Craig?” I ask, pausing outside Daxton’s room. He’s currently finishing up a piece on Oliver’s arm and they both look up at me. “Did something happen?” Nervous energy courses through me.
Presley and I may not be together but I would hope that she’d at least call after the talk we had a few days ago. I want to be there. I want her to lean on me. I don’t know how we do this, but damn it, I am fucking here.
“Craig ran into Presley at the store.” I stare at Dax, waiting for him to offer more. “He said it looked like she could use a break, so he offered to take Grayson. I guess he was having a fit, Presley lost it for a few seconds and then when Craig was in his truck he called Bree. The girls decided to go over and surprise Pres with a girls’ night.”
“What do you mean she lost it?”
“Who lost it?” Jace asks, stepping up behind me.
“Presley,” Oliver takes the moment to chime in. “She was emotional. Craig thought it’d be a good idea for the girls to go see her and Luna decided that a fucking pajama party was in order. Now I’m stuck sleeping alone.”
Seeing Oliver pout like a child makes me laugh. He’s seriously ridiculous when it comes to Luna. He did a complete one-eighty when he finally let himself feel what he’d been fighting not to.
“Dude seriously.” I hold my side. “You are such a fucking baby.” He glares at me and I step out of the room, pulling my phone from my pocket. Searching through my contacts I find the number I am looking for and shoot off a message.
Me: Glad you got the girls there with you. But remember I am always only a phone call away.
I tuck the phone back into my pocket and make my way back to my room. As I move around the room, gathering my tools and tossing them into the cleaning solutions, my phone vibrates.
Presley: I know, and thank you. But I’m okay.
Continuing to clean everything up, I wipe down all the surfaces with solution all while lost in thought.
“Aurora says she’s alright.” Glancing back over my shoulder I find Jace leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. “She had a rough day, emotions were high. But they’re watching movies, eating ice cream and laughing.” I nod, busying myself as I organize my tools.
“We haven’t really talked since Presley?—”
“Announced that I was gonna be a dad.”
“Yeah,” he says as I turn around to face him. Leaning back against the counter I stare back at my best friend. He is watching me, waiting for me to say more.
“I never wanted kids,” I confess. “I love kids, like Piper and even Grayson, they are awesome.” I pause, looking around the room, feeling my heart race a little faster. “I still remember what it felt like to be alone. What it felt like to know that they were gone and I’d never see them again. I never wanted to have kids, because I never wanted the chance of them feeling even an ounce of what I felt that night and all the years to follow.”
“You can’t hide from the possibilities of a family because of what happened all those years ago.”
“I know.” I shrug. “It goes both ways though. Me losing them, them losing me.”
“Living in fear, we’ve all done it. For different reasons yeah, but it’s what we all have in common. We’ve ran from it, we’ve ignored the good when it is right in our faces. But you can’t run from this.”
“I don’t want to run,” I confess. “I’m scared don’t get me wrong, this is the exact opposite of where I thought my life would end up. But I don’t even know how this is going to work. Hell, I barely know Presley.”
“So you take the time to get to know her. You let her lead.”
“I tried that once and look where we ended up.” I’m referring to the night that led to the pregnancy and Jace knows that. He smiles, I smile, and for the first time since I walked back to my room I feel a little less unsettled.
“Beer and pizza,” he offers. “Your place, though. You have a bigger television and I’m thinking I need to kick your ass in some boxing.”
Video games, it’s something him and I haven’t played in a while.
“Did I hear boxing?” Oliver interrupts and Daxton is at his side.
“Piper is with Craig and Sonya too, so it’s a crashing at Zac’s place kinda night.”
I’m not sure if they are doing this for their own pleasure or because they feel like I need the company. But either way I’ll take it. These boys are my brothers, and in times of uncertainty it’s always good to have family close.
Things are about to change, but one thing will always remain, they have my back, and I know they always will.
* * *
“Ya know.” Daxton takes the barstool next to me, propping up his feet on the base and holding his beer before me. I can already tell this is going to be one of his pep talks where he breaks everything down. The once player gone soft and now the reasonable one of the group, still seems a little surreal how it’s all changed.
“I have two very incredible, life-altering moments in my life. Two that I wish more than anything I could relive over and over just to have the joy course through me again and again.”
Normally this would be one of the times that I’d make a snarky comment to him about him going soft or something. But I know he’s being real, and I know which two moments he is referring to.
“Marrying Bree, you already know is something I swore I’d never do. I wasn’t going to settle down, have kids, and be that guy that looks forward to family nights. That shit wasn’t for me.” He tips his beer up and takes a drink. “I’ve never been more glad to be wrong, because my nights with Bree and Piper are the best parts of my days. I am so in love with the two of them that it literally makes my chest feel like it could explode it’s so fucking full.”
The smile on his face says it all.
“I know right now, your head is spinning. I’ve been there, the shock, the worry. I know you have no idea how all this is gonna work, and you’re trying to be the guy that figures it all out for the both of you. But the truth is, whatever you conjure up, it’s gonna change ten times before the baby gets here.”
If anyone knows what they are talking about it’s Daxton. Piper was a shock to both him and Bree, but a blessing too.
“There isn’t a way to predict how it’s all gonna turn out. The only thing you can guarantee is that you are going to be a good father to this baby. Be there for her however she needs you to be, everything will work out, one way or the other.”
“How do you be there for someone that refuses to admit they need someone?”
“You keep showing up, even when they fight you, you suck it up, take the shit, and show up again.”
“Don’t you remember all the times Bree fought me? “
“I remember how moody your ass was ninety percent of the time.” He chuckles cause he knows I’m right.
We are both quiet for a minute and when my nerves get the best of me once again I say what’s on my mind, because I know with Dax I can. “What if I suck at it?” I glance over to find him watching me. “A dad, what if I somehow screw the kid up.”
“Well, you will screw up.” He shrugs. “I screw up daily, but you just keep going. And the part about not being a good dad, Zac, you are an amazing uncle. Piper adores you, she lights every time she sees you.”
“Cause Piper is cool.” She is without a doubt the coolest chick I know.
“Yeah, and your kid will be too.”
My kid. I still can’t wrap my head around that.