Chapter 19
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
DAMON
Adeline and Clover moved in with me last night, and I still feel as though I’m on a fucking high.
Adeline’s organizing things in her room while I play with Clover on what will be my last available weekend for a while.
Tomorrow is D-day, and we both start our work schedules.
I’m excited about the new season, but I’m dreading it at the same time.
After a while, Adeline comes in looking all cute with a scarf thing in her hair to keep it back from her face.
She’s wearing tight yoga pants and a small top that reveals a little of her stomach when she lifts her arms. She’s pretty much lost all of her baby weight, and I’m starting to realize that this whole moving in together thing is going to be harder on my self-control than I first thought.
I haven’t gotten laid in months. The last time I even came close was the night Clover was born.
My hand is tired, and I’m desperate for a little action.
“So, my mom is good to help with Clover this week, but I think we need to discuss the nanny situation.” She sits in the chair. I love how she constantly looks at my black leather furniture as though she wants to strike a match and set it on fire.
“I called an agency. They can send over applicants. I was thinking Tuesday evening?”
“Perfect. Thanks for taking the lead on that. My mind has been so occupied with my return to the classroom.” She sips her water. “I’m not sure I’m gonna survive an entire day without her.”
Her eyes tear up again. This has pretty much been her the entire past week.
“I’m just checking, but you’re the kind of woman who wants to work, right?”
Her head tilts to the side, and her eyes narrow a bit. “I’m curious, if I didn’t work, how would I support myself and my daughter?”
Damn it, why can’t I keep my mouth shut?
“I’d pay child support, of course.”
She purses her lips with a pissed-off expression I haven’t seen yet. “So I’d live with you and our daughter, and you’d pay me child support so I could sit around?”
I hate the way she poses it as a question as if I’m stupid. Maybe I am stupid for bringing this up. “I just want you to be happy, and if you want to stay home, I have the means to make it happen.”
She shakes her head. “No, Damon, I’m happy to work. I am going to miss this little one so much.” She swipes her out of my arms and blows a raspberry into Clover’s neck while she circles the room. “But I know my place in this family of ours.”
“Which is?” I watch her with Clover and try to ignore the warmth invading my heart.
She pretends they’re dancing and taps Clover’s nose before touching their two noses together. “I’m worth the least.”
“Not a chance. What’s that supposed to mean?” I scowl at Adeline.
She looks at me. “My daughter has a trust fund worth who knows how much.” She quickly raises her hand. “And I don’t want to know. That’s between the Siskas. I’m a Morgan.”
Her words leave a sour taste in my mouth. I’m done with this conversation.
“Forget unpacking, let’s go for a walk.” I stand from the couch. “Let’s go to eat and spend our last day with her.” I don’t want to sit here and be upset. Tons of parents everywhere have to leave their kids to go to work.
“I look like crap.” She scrunches up her nose.
“So? I don’t look great.” I’m only wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
“You’re Damon Siska, and I’m the girl you knocked up. We’ll be seen very differently by the outside world.”
She’s done better about not caring what she reads online, but I’ve noticed there are still times when it gets to her.
I wrap my arms around her and Clover. It feels so natural, so right. It must be because we share a daughter. “Tell Mommy how beautiful she is, and all the other women are jealous.”
She looks at Clover. “Tell Daddy he lives in a fairy tale land.”
“Come on, I know a great pizza place.”
“Who doesn’t know a great pizza place in Chicago?” she deadpans.
“You’re lucky I love that smart mouth.” I point at her and grab Clover, then put her in the carrier. “We’re going. Are you coming?”
She stares at me as if testing me. “Fine. Let me get my shoes. But if I end up as online fodder, I’m going to kill you.”
“Then you’ll never see your daughter.”
She makes an angry growl and meets me at the door after grabbing her diaper bag/purse combo she wears across her chest and between her tits, which makes the curves of them even more ample. God help me.
We reach the bottom of our stairs, and I’m attaching the carrier to the stroller when someone calls my name.
“And it already begins,” Adeline grumbles.
“No, it’s not the press.” I turn around to see my foursome friend group walking toward us. “Guys.” I nod at them, knowing the moment I’ve been putting off is finally here.
Adeline
“You finally came out of hiding.” Cooper Rice pushes Damon’s shoulder. “About fucking time.” He turns his attention to me.
Shit, he is attractive. I mean, he does nothing for me, but his dark hair and those deep-set eyes aren’t exactly a turn-off.
“I’m Cooper Rice.” He puts his hand out between us. “Adeline, I assume.”
“Of course it’s Adeline, dipshit,” Damon says. He seems tense that his friends are here, which I don’t understand.
I shake his hand. “I know who you are, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“I’m Ellery, Cooper and Bryce’s best friend.” A cute, long-haired blond pushes past Cooper and puts her hand out for me to take.
“Hi.” I return her genuine smile.
“And you met Miles and Bryce the other day,” Damon says. “We’re leaving, see you later.” He starts to push the stroller, but I place a hand on his forearm to stop him.
“We said hi, and you slammed the door in our faces.” Miles steps up and puts out his massive hand.
I shake it and smile, saying hello.
“Don’t be a dick, Damon. It’s about time we meet Adeline. You’ve been keeping her to yourself for too long.”
I laugh at Bryce’s attitude.
“Hi, Adeline, we’re all gonna have a lot of fun while they’re playing this year.” Bryce turns toward Damon. “Which means you need to get her a season ticket by us so we can all sit together.”
“Sure, I’ll get right on that.” He rolls his eyes.
“Now that we all know each other—wait, I haven’t met my goddaughter yet.” Cooper tries to see into the stroller, but Damon slams down the shade.
“Goddaughter?” My forehead wrinkles.
Damon turns to me. “I didn’t tell you because it’s not happening, but Coop put his hat in for godfather.”
Cooper puts his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, I’m definitely a better option than Ollie.”
I nod. “Who isn’t?”
Cooper laughs. “I love you already. Now, why are you hiding the baby?”
I turn to Damon. “Yeah, why are you?” I whisper. I can’t figure out why he’s being this way.
“Because then we’re inviting them into our life,” Damon whispers back.
“They’re your friends, are they not?”
Damon looks back and must realize I have a point. It’s kind of sweet how he didn’t really want them to poke their heads into our life, but the bubble we’ve put ourselves in can’t stay like that forever.
“Fine. Clover, meet Daddy’s dipshit friends.” He lifts the shade.
All four of them descend on the stroller, fighting for face time.
“Oh my god, she’s adorable,” Ellery says. “Vaginal birth, right? How many hours were you in labor?”
“Um…”
“Told you,” Damon says with raised eyebrows.
“Sorry, I’m a doctor. She really is in the top ten of the cutest babies I’ve seen, and I wouldn’t lie about that.”
“Top ten. Fuck off. She’s number one,” Damon says.
“Thank goodness she looks like Adeline and doesn’t have this ugly mug.” Cooper slaps Damon on the back, obviously trying to start some kind of brotherly fight.
“Gorgeous.” Bryce smiles at me.
Miles nods, gazing at his fiancée. “Let’s have one.”
“Cavanaugh, this is not something we decide by looking at one baby, but it’s tempting,” Bryce says.
Damon and I look at one another. I wonder if he’s thinking the same thing as me. They have no idea what it takes. It’s cute how she’s content right now, but the other night when she was screaming bloody murder and we couldn’t figure out why, not so much.
“Where are you guys going?” Ellery asks.
“Pizza,” I answer as Damon says, “Nowhere.”
“We could eat. Let’s go.” Cooper nods for us to walk ahead.
Damon groans but starts walking, knowing we don’t really have a choice.
We’re all seated at a popular pizza place at a round table with the stroller by me and Damon in the corner. Clover’s sleeping, and I really hope she stays that way. This is the first time we’ve had her out at a restaurant.
“So, when can we take you out?” Bryce asks with a wide grin.
“Let me check my schedule.” Ellery pulls out her phone.
“You’re not taking her out. She has friends.” Damon picks up the menu, even though I’m fairly sure he knows what he’s having. On the walk over, he mentioned that he comes here a lot.
“She can have more friends,” Bryce says.
I reach under the table and pinch Damon’s leg.
He retracts it and leans in close. “Tell me you missed your mark.”
“Stop being a dick. I want to get to know your friends.”
“They’re all trouble. They’re going to say shit about me.”
It’s then I see the insecurity in his eyes, and I squeeze his knee before retracting my hand. “Damon, I know everything about you. It’s not like I thought you were a saint. Hello, I got pregnant from our one-night stand.”
He blows out a breath and sighs, then looks at the girls. “Fine, she can go out with you two.”
I roll my eyes.
“Well, thank you. I mean, what would Adeline do if you didn’t give her permission?” Ellery groans.
We set a date for when Damon will be home to watch Clover, and as if she heard her name, she whimpers in the stroller. I slide out of my chair, but Damon stands and picks her up, bringing her to sit with him at the table.
“Damn,” Bryce says. “Even Damon looks good with a baby in his arms. Pass her off to Miles, I wanna see.” She moves her finger as if she’s directing a play.
“Screw off, she’s my daughter, not a hot potato.” Damon scowls at her.
I laugh. “They have a special bond.”
He plays with Clover’s pacifier, moving it closer so she opens her mouth, then away from her. She loves it, but he eventually gives it to her and whispers, “Good girl,” in her ear. I have to suppress a shiver when I think of how I’d like to hear him whisper the same thing to me.
“Oh shit,” Ellery says. “You’re changing my opinion about you having a baby.”
“Really, this is adorable, but it’s not always like this,” I say.
Damon puts his free arm around the back of my chair. “What are you talking about? It’s great.”
I give him a doubtful look. “Sometimes.”
The pizza comes, and we pass Clover back and forth while we eat, but Bryce finishes before any of us and demands to take Clover so we can both eat.
“Give her the baby,” I say to Damon, who is holding her hostage.
“I can hold a baby, Damon. I need practice in case Miles and I have one.”
Miles’s eyes widen. “Shit, that was fast. I want her pregnant with my baby. Give her the baby, Siska.”
Miles isn’t really what you’d expect of a professional athlete. Or maybe he just loves Bryce so much he’s not afraid to tell the world.
Finally, Damon hands Clover over, being bossy on how to put her arms, telling Bryce he’ll place the baby in her arms and she’s just not to move.
“I’m sorry,” I say, apologizing for his behavior.
“Believe me, I’d rather have this version of Damon than the other one,” she says.
“Other one?” I ask.
“Before you.” Bryce smiles and hugs Clover to her body after Damon releases her.
“Yeah, I can’t believe how much you’ve changed, Siska,” Cooper adds.
“Amazing what a baby can do,” Miles says and smiles at Bryce holding Clover.
I force a smile.
“And you wonder why I didn’t want you to meet Adeline and Clover. You guys act like I was such a dick.”
None of them say anything. Bryce may have, but she’s too busy trying to get Clover to laugh.
This is why he didn’t want me to meet his friends.
Because now there’s this voice at the back of my mind whispering about whether the Damon Siska I’ve had for the past seven or so months isn’t who he really is.
That maybe I’ve trusted someone who isn’t being true to himself.
And the only reason that hurts is because I’m already way too invested.