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“No,” I hissed. “I am definitely not telling you that I’m having your baby. You know what, let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way since it so obviously upsets you. We are not having kids. Ever. I don’t want to bring another version of you into the world. One of you as a kid was plenty for this lifetime.”
I watched as the color drained from his face. “Wait, sugar. That’s not what I meant. I want us to have kids. Just not… I’m not ready to share you yet. I want a year or two of us alone before we—”
“We’ll have plenty of time alone,” I interrupted. “Because I don’t want kids with you.”
I did.
So fucking bad.
But after the way he’d reacted over such an innocent question, I knew that was just a pipe dream. Maybe he thought he wanted kids later on, but I no longer wanted to think about it. It hurt too much.
He’d hurt me too much.
Not just with this little argument, but in the past. And I wasn’t going to travel down any path that could potentially cause me more pain where Cannon Cage was concerned.
Kids were off the table for us.
One immature asshole was enough to deal with. Adding a baby to the mix was just a recipe for disaster.
Chapter 2
Cannon
I fucked up.
Again.
Shit.
She’d just been teasing me, asking if I thought our future kids would have dimples, and I’d opened my stupid mouth, said the wrong things in the wrong tone. Now she was hurt, and I knew I’d fucked up something important.
Something special.
I didn’t have an excuse other than the thought of being a dad freaked me out. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be one. Someday. I just didn’t think I was ready yet. I needed more time. And then there was the whole sharing Piper with someone else. For two years, I’d had her all to myself. It was a dream, one I’d struggled to make come true for so damn long. Having all her attention on me wasn’t something I was ready to give up.
But kids…
They would be nice. Eventually. One day, when I was calmer and less obsessed with having every spare minute of Piper’s time and attention for myself.
My reaction had caused damage. I knew it the moment she’d walked away from me. I’d fucked up without meaning to, and now she was hurt and pissed.
What if having kids was a deal-breaker for her? We hadn’t talked about it, and I’d thought it was because it was a nonissue. That neither of us were ready to be parents. But what if she’d just been keeping it to herself, waiting for me to pull my head out of my ass and ask when we were going to have babies?
Now she was angry, and I was positive I’d broken something I had no idea how to put back together. She hadn’t tossed out any threats of canceling the wedding, but she’d been adamant when she said she didn’t want kids with me.
I don’t want to bring another version of you into the world. One of you as a kid was plenty for this lifetime.
I flinched as what she’d said replayed in my head. If she’d wanted to score points, she’d gotten a direct hit with each word that had left her sinful mouth. I couldn’t blame her. The kid version of me had been a little shit who tormented her. Not even I wanted a clone of that asshole running around.
Yet a little girl who looked just like Piper… With her sassy personality. Her give-no-fucks confidence. That mischievous twinkle in her eyes that made my heart so full even when her devious mind was planning my demise.
I would take as many of those as Piper would give me.
But with the finality in her voice that still rang through my head over an hour later, I realized it wasn’t going to ever happen unless I fixed this latest fuckup.
Picking up the beer Smith had just handed me, I tipped it back and swallowed half in one go. It tasted like shit, and I gave him a glare. “You’re not allowed to pick the beer anymore.”
Smith grunted in answer and tipped his own bottle to his lips while Asher played on his phone across from me. My guys’ night out wasn’t much fun so far. Not only was I worried about fixing things with Piper, but Jagger and the rest of the guys hadn’t shown up yet. It was just Smith, who only answered in grunts and shrugs, and Asher, who couldn’t be bothered to speak to me. I doubted I was much fun to them either with my mind on my little rocker, but I was getting pissed at Jagger for leaving me hanging.
