Chapter Twenty-Two
Misty
“Pink?”
“It washes out,” Jolene says, her hands in the air. “Zep already checked.”
I frown. “Zep?”
Even the mention of his name has me aching for him. And seeing him just hours ago hasn’t helped, either. All I want is to give in and trust he wants us, but then I remember Chanel standing in his yard wearing his bedsheet.
The same bedsheet I rolled around in.
“Mommy, don’t get sad, okay?” Bernie says and takes my hand.
This does not sound good, and I glance toward Jolene who conveniently busies herself with something on the computer.
Letting out a deep breath, my girl waits until I do the same. She’s trying to parent me, so this must be big. “Sierra tricked me.”
“Tricked you how?”
“She didn’t pay for me to get my hair done like she said she would. It was just a trick to make fun of me.”
My baby was a joke?
“Bernie, do you want to help me stack the fingernail polishes?” a redhead with EMMA on her apron asks.
“Sure!”
Jolene walks over and smiles. “Zep rode by and saw her sitting out front crying. We gave her the Princess Package.”
“I can’t—”
“He did,” she cuts me off. “He called me to do it, and he stayed the whole time. And after that little brat left—without tipping my stylist, by the way—he offered to help her sew a Daredevils patch on her backpack.”
I frown. “I don’t understand.”
“The kids of the club will know to watch her back. She’ll be taken care of at school when you can’t be there.”
He’s taking care of my girl. “How much did the Princess Package cost?”
“Don’t worry—”
“Please?”
Hearing her sigh makes my stomach twist. “With my discount… three-fifty.”
The words take a minute to process. Other than groceries and school clothes, I don’t remember spending more than two hundred dollars at one time. But Zep dropped almost four hundred like it was nothing.
Bernie also told Zep she was being bullied before me. She didn’t tell me, but she turned to him. And he helped her.
“Could you watch Bernie for a bit?”
Jolene smirks, and I notice that she has the same eyes as Zep. Warm chocolate. “Of course.”
“I’ll see you in a bit, baby. I gotta run and take care of something. Be good for Jolene, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.”
The salon isn’t far from the house, and I see Zep’s bike in his driveway. I race up the front steps, and he opens the door before I can knock like our first time together.
Both hands fly in the air. “I know it was probably too much, but seeing her crying on the curb ripped out my fucking heart.”
My lips crash against his, and he wraps his arms around me. We stumble inside, his foot kicking the door shut, and the tears rolling down my cheeks fall involuntarily.
He pulls back and cups my face, concern etched on his face from the creased brow to his frown. “Misty, what’s wrong?”
“My kid’s getting bullied and never told me,” I say. “I can’t protect her from everything, but you were there. You stepped in, and you not only fixed this situation, you’re helping to keep it from happening again.”
Wiping my tears with his thumbs, he licks his lips and looks into my eyes. “We’ll take care of Bernie. That bitch, Sierra, will back off one way or another.”
“She’s such a sweet girl. I don’t understand how they can’t see that. Why… Why doesn’t he want her, Zep?”
And that’s what it really comes down to. The reason I fight so hard to give her the life she should have. Why I don’t date, and why I want her to have friends.
Her father didn’t want us, and I’m so used to surviving that I didn’t realize how exhausted I am doing everything by myself. Being Mom and Dad. My daughter deserves a father who loves her and fights for her like I do.
I need a partner. Someone to help take some of the burdens off my shoulders. Instead, Ben washed his hands of us, and I hate admitting that I’m not able to be everything Bernie needs. Even today, she was more worried about me than herself. That’s not fair to her.
Breaking down, I hug him and bury my face against his T-shirt. Zeppelin holds me tightly and rubs my back. He’s so much more than I gave him credit for, and I know I can’t fight it anymore. I don’t want to.
“Because her father’s a fucking moron,” Zep suggests.
“You’ve done more for her than he ever has. She adores you, Zep.”
I feel him smile as he rests his cheek against my temple. “That girl is one of the only people on this planet who could get me to wear a tutu over my jeans and have a fucking tea party.”
“I’ll have to remember that.”
“Seeing her crying like that felt like a kick to the fucking nuts. No matter what, I’ll do whatever I can for Bernie, Misty. And you.”
His confession cuts the last string I have holding together my conviction to keep us apart. Everything he offers is what I’ve wanted for so long. I have to stop being scared and take a leap of faith.
“I need you,” I admit. “I hate admitting I need anything from anyone, but I need you. Everything you’re offering is what I’ve prayed for. I’ve prayed for so long.”
“Really?”
I nod against him. “More than needing you, I want you, Zep.”
Leaning back, he bends and forces eye contact. “What is it you want, Misty? I need you to spell it out for me.”
“I want to see how this goes,” I admit. “I can’t say I’m not still scared, but you were there when I didn’t expect you to be. When I didn’t know anyone was needed. If you think we can really figure out how to do this together, I’m willing to give it a real shot.”
I’m in his arms and in the air in one swift motion. He kisses me, his tongue darting into my mouth as my back presses against the front door.
“Mine.”
“Yours.”
“Where’s Bernie?”
“With your mom.”
He flashes that sexy grin. “Fast or slow?”
“Fast. God, I want you so much I think I might explode.”
We both fumble, bumping each other a bit, as we hurriedly strip out of our clothes. It’s a heady feeling to see he wants me as badly as I want him, and almost falling as he tries to kick off his boots with his jeans bunched at his ankles makes me believe this will work.
The moment we’re both naked, we’re on each other. Hands and mouths everywhere. He’s so damn sexy that I know it won’t take much to send me over the edge. At least twice.
Zep kisses down my neck and to my chest, bending until he has my nipple in his mouth.
I cup the back of his head as I arch my back to give him everything I can and moan loudly when he grinds his teeth on the sensitive tip.
One thing he’s taught me is how good a little pain can feel, and it hurts so good.
“You’re sure about fast?” he whispers against my skin.
His fingers find their way between my legs, and I moan again as he slides three fingers inside. “Yes,” I hiss. “We have plenty of time for slow.”
“We’re really doing this? You and me as a couple?”
I nod, smiling as we lock eyes. “I want you, and I want this. I trust you, Zep. Everything you’ve said, I believe. Now, I need you to bend me over the arm of your couch and fuck me until I beg for mercy.”
“You always know just the right and most romantic things to say.”
Squealing as he lifts me up, I’m thankful he has no issues following directions. He sets me down and bends me over the couch. Spreading my legs, I’m rewarded by feeling him slide into me with more force than he has before.
“One of these days,” he murmurs as he bends forward to kiss my neck and rubs my asshole with his thumb, “you’ll give me this.”
I’ve thought about it. I really have, but I’ve never been interested in trying it. But Zeppelin has made me re-evaluate a lot of my boundaries, and he’s constantly teasing and testing them with positive outcomes.
“Prove you mean what you say, and I’ll consider it,” I say, hissing when he presses with more pressure.
“Baby, I’ll prove I mean everything and more,” he promises. “But like you said, we have plenty of time for everything else.”
He grabs my wrists and pulls them behind my back, holding me at a ninety-degree angle while he thrusts with impressive speed. It’s so tight that I feel every inch of him moving inside of my pussy, and I feel my legs start to shake.
“You feel so fucking good, Misty,” he gris out. “I want to do this every day for the rest of my life.”
The rest of his life. It gives me reassurance he really does see a future with us. That we’re permanent in his life.
“I want to let you,” I say, my words slurring like I’m drunk.
Love drunk.
The way this man takes me is intoxicating. My brain shuts down as I focus on the pleasure he brings me. He has me so high I never want to come down, and while it frightens me, it also excites me. I’ve never craved anything like I do him.
Besides being pregnant. Fuck those cravings.
“When you talk like that, it’s hard to stay in control,” he murmurs.
He’s holding back his release. I know it because he always wants me to come first, and right now, it’s a struggle. It’s a bit empowering to know his pleasure is dependent on my own.
“Oh, fuck,” I cry out, my legs shaking as I clamp down on his cock still slamming into me. “Zep, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”
The normal build up to the climax didn’t happen. Or maybe I’m just too distracted by thoughts of us as a family to notice the signs.
“Fuck, Misty,” he shouts before filling me.
It’s the first time we’ve gone without a condom, and that’s when I realize why it felt so different. Better.
Then comes the thoughts of having Zep’s baby. And the panic that it doesn’t scare me works its way up into my chest. Because that means I’m not falling in love with him anymore. I’m in love. Completely and utterly lost in it.
And the last time I was in love I got burned.
But Zep would be different. I can see it in the way he is with Bernie. He wouldn’t walk away. He’d be there. Even if we didn’t work out, he’d never leave me to raise our child alone.
If only the truth about my feelings didn’t paralyze me with fear like they do.