Page 62 of Filled

She breaks apart on me. No warning. Just a sharp gasp and her whole body going tight, clenching down on me so hard I see white at the edges, and she’s saying it over and over,Daddy Daddy Daddy, and I follow her over with my face buried in her throat and my arms locked around her like if I let go she’ll disappear.

For a long time afterward, neither of us moves.

She’s still in my lap. Her cheek on my shoulder. My hand stroking up and down her spine, slow, the way you’d gentle a horse.

“What happens now,” she says into my neck.

“Now I stop pretending.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means tomorrow when I find Cruz and Dante, I tell them I know. I tell them I’m not stopping it.” I press my mouth to her temple. “Tell them I am all in.”

She lifts her head. Her eyes search my face for any sign of deception. “You’re sure?” she asks.

“No,” I admit. “I’m terrified. I don’t know what I’m doing. I haven’t wanted a man in my life and now I want three of them, and I want you most of all, and the only thing I’m sure of is that walking away isn’t an option.”

“Brady?” she asks.

“Brady too. If he wants this. If he wants me.”

“He wants you,” she says with complete certainty.

“Yeah?”

“I see how he looks at you when you’re not watching.” She gives me a small smile. “Same way you look at Cruz.”

I huff out something that’s not quite a laugh.

Press my mouth to her forehead. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah.”

“All of us. Together.”

“Together,” she echoes.

I help her dress slowly. I find her a clean hoodie from the lost-and-found shelf and bundle her into it. The sleeves come down past her fingers, she’s swimming in it, also she’s clearly exhausted. I want to fold her into my chest and keep her there all night.

I drive her home. My truck is too quiet, just the engine humming and her watching the dark streets roll past with that hoodie pulled up to her chin. When I park outside her building I walk her to the door and stand there with my hands in my pockets so I don’t reach for her again.

“Tomorrow,” I say.

“Tomorrow.”

“You’re mine to keep safe. You understand what that means, yes?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“I’m not standing outside this anymore. Whatever’s building between all of us—I’m in it. All the way in.”

She goes up on her toes. Kisses me, careful of her split lip, slow and soft.

“Goodnight, Daddy,” she says so sweetly it makes my heart ache.

“Goodnight, princess.”

I wait until her key turns in the lock. Until the door closes. Until the light in her front window comes on and then goes off again.