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“But that’s what makes you all the more qualified for the job I’m asking you to do. You know how to make the hard choices, and how to take care of people.” Michael laughed. “You do it for all of us. And that new girl of yours. I thought it was mistake to bring Lauren into the inner circle, but she makes you strong, man. She makes us all a little lighter and happier as well. Even my shithead of a brother.”
West swallowed hard. His gut twisted and his burned.
“So, I’d really like you to be our little girl’s godfather.”
“What?” West said on a hoarse whisper.
“Don’t look so shocked. I plan on living a damn long life, but if anything happens in this crazy world, I want to know my little girl is taken care of.”
“You’ve got it all wrong.” West backed up a step.
“No, I don’t. You’d cut off an arm for me, man. I know you’d do the same for my daughter. That’s the man I want as my backup.”
“I’m not that guy.” West shook his head. No one had ever said anything like that about him in his life.
Except Lauren.
She’d said it. He didn’t believe it. His chest felt like it was cracking open.
“Sorry, son. You are. All that and more.” Michael clamped his hand on West’s shoulder. “The only one I’d trust. Chloe agrees with me. Say yes, man.”
West pinched the bridge of his nose. He was going to fucking bawl like a baby. There was no lie in the eyes of his best friend—of, the brother he’d known for years now. Just a sureness that gutted him as much as it strengthened him. “I’d be honored, brother.” He winced. “You have a brother. Don’t you want to—”
“Fuck, no.” Michael’s nostrils flared. “I love him because we’re family. I know Mal would do right by my girl. I know he’d do right by Chloe and Axl. But he wouldn’t take care of them like you would. That’s what I trust.”
This time West’s lip did quiver and he sucked back a breath. “I would. I promise I would.”
“Mr. Shawcross?”
Michael sniffed and turned toward the door. A nurse stood there in pink scrubs with little baby rattles all over it. “Chloe?”
She smiled. “Ready to have a baby?”
“Fuck yes.” Michael laughed. “I mean, yes ma’am.”
The nurse laughed. “They’re ready for you.”
Michael turned back to West. He hauled him into a hug. “Now that we got that bit of business taken care of I’m going to go stand next to my crazy, perfect, brave wife.” He rushed after the nurse. At the door, he stopped and turned back. “I know I’ve been wrapped up in my own shit, but don’t let Lauren go. She’s your match. Sometimes they come in a flurry of crazy, sometimes they drop into your lap in Vegas.”
And with that he was gone.
West dropped into the pew. His knees wouldn’t hold him up any longer. Everything Lauren had said to him. Everything he’d ignored. All of it seemed so stupid now. He really was nothing without her. He just had to hope all that love in her eyes was truth.
He stood up and followed his friend out the door and down the hallway. It felt like days even if it was only another hour before Michael showed up at the doorway to the waiting room with a bundle of pink perfection in his arms.
“Are you sure she was three weeks early? She looks plenty cooked,” Mal said gruffly. He crossed his arms, his face a little less stoic for once.
Michael laughed. “She was more than ready to come out. Just like her mama she likes to do everything on her own timetable.”
Molly and Elle stood and crossed the room Jules and her guys crowded in. “What’s her name?” Molly asked.
“Hope Elizabeth Shawcross.”
Molly stroked the baby’s downy red hair back with her thumb. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”
West felt the last of the apprehension dissolve in his chest. He was truly happy for his friend and the weight of being a godfather didn’t crush him, it made him feel freer than he had in a damn long time.
He dug his phone out of his pocket and backed out of the room. With shaking fingers, he knew what he needed to do. He just hoped he wasn’t too late.
