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Zoey just laughs and snuggles in to get comfortable, the little dog ears on her slippers flapping all over.
But I caught it and so did Captain—Royce called her ZoZo. Not Zo or Zoey Bear.
The corner of Captain’s mouth lifts and he keeps toward me, but then Maddoc pops from his seat.
“Captain,” he calls, and slowly Royce’s head lifts. “Outside.”
He spins in an instant, meeting his brother near the door as Royce gently moves Zoey off, whispering something in her ear before calling on Rolland. “Sit with her?”
Raven meets my eyes, coming over to lean against the counter as Rolland exits the kitchen.
He drops beside Zoey, and the three disappear out the front door.
As soon as they’re gone, Raven sets her coffee cup down and moves for the coffee machine. “You look like shit. I’m guessing you didn’t sleep?”
I sigh. “Nope. Not much anyway.”
She sets a half cup of coffee in front of me, a glass vase full of creamer beside it. “I’ll never understand why they pour it from the bottle it comes in into this heavy thing. Why choose to dirty an extra dish?”
I chuckle but frown at the cup. “You know they’ve been giving you decaf, right?”
She smirks, stepping back so she can lean on the counter without hitting her belly against it. “‘Course I know. It makes him feel like he’s ‘protecting me’ or what the fuck ever...” She shrugs, then nods her head at the mug she gave me. “That’s from the pot he made after he gave me mine.”
I pull it over and she laughs, but it’s quickly cut short when the door opens.
“Oh shit,” she hisses but full-on grins as she not so casually moves to the other side of the counter to watch.
Behind me, Rolland makes an excuse to get Zoey up and the two run off.
Suddenly Captain is in the place she just left, glaring down at me with too many emotions in his eyes to count.
“What?”
“You didn’t tell me.”
I take a slow sip, letting the warm beverage ease my dry throat.
“When exactly was I supposed to do that?”
“When you first got home.” He glares.
“And you’d have, what? Stayed?”
His frown deepens.
I lick my lips, lifting my shoulders, and give a simpler answer, “I didn’t think you’d care.”
His brows jump high, surprised, but anger quickly replaces everything else. “That’s how we’re playing things now?”
“Did we miss something?” comes from Maddoc.
We answer at the same time.
“No,” I say.
“Yes,” he booms.
Cap glares. “My room. Now.”
My head jerks back. “Kiss my ass.”
“Let’s go.”
My lips smash together, and I look to the caramel-colored liquid in my cup. “I don’t think so, Cap.”
When he doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, I force myself to meet his frown.
Guilt lines his eyes, heavy and loud, screaming at my own.
He should feel none, he promised me nothing, and he has every right to go after whatever it is he wants.
He should feel no guilt.
“Stop.”
“Stop what?” he rasps.
I shake my head, looking away, but he gets right back in my line of sight. Closer, right in fucking front of me close, my knees now against his thighs close, I can smell his aftershave too fucking close.
“Stop what,” he repeats, the tenderness fading away as his frown deepens. “There are no secrets here.”
Okay, fine.
I lean forward.
“Stop looking at me with shame in your eyes because you can’t help but want to give the mother of your child a chance to be everything you wish she was,” I snap. “That is your choice. I am not a rock in your way, or a complication or anything else for that matter. Your life, your choice.”
Let her fuck you over if you have to, to see.
Captain chokes on air, his Adam’s apple stuck up high as he tries to swallow but is denied.
Silence surrounds us, and I’d almost say Captain looks embarrassed.
“So much for no secrets, Cap.” I glance around the room at the glares of three Brayshaws, all directed at the one before me. “Seems your family didn’t know about that.”
I slide off the barstool, taking my coffee with, and at first, I assume he allows it, but then the cup is snatched from my hand and I’m spun around.
“You came in here yesterday knowing where I was going, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
I open my mouth to speak but close it.
“How?” he shouts.
I square my shoulders, letting out a long breath. “She told me.”
Captain’s body goes stiff in front of me. “Mallory. She told you. When? What did she say?” He can’t hide the dreaded hope in his heart, and it continues to murder mine.
He hears it, his family hears it, and everyone’s shoulders drop a little lower.
“She wanted me to tell you not to wait for her, that...” I trail off when heavy creases form around his eyes. “She changed her mind.”
Captain studies me a long hard moment, his hand flying from my elbow in the next.
