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Her voice was light, joking. I wondered if she knew about that door with the padlocks and bloodstains on the concrete.
I couldn’t make assumptions based on the fact her eyes were warm, and her smile was easy. Some people went dead behind their eyes at the sight of such things, at the knowledge of such things. Other people went more alive, packed more warmth onto their souls so they could insulate themselves from the horrors of the world.
It was no secret neither I nor Liam went that way.
I glanced to the man Macy was glaring at. He was silent. Folded his arms in a silent challenge.
Macy raised her brow and didn’t back down from a stare that most men would’ve broken.
It lasted a while.
I was impressed when he sighed, muttered something under his breath about “lasses being the death of me” and stomped off.
Macy straightened and smiled at me. “Good. Now we can talk properly without a decidedly hunky but definitely nosy prospect breathing down our necks.” She grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the bar.
A stroller was parked there.
It was kind of comical, seeing that sitting amongst everything that was the Sons of Templar clubhouse. But it fit too.
She smiled down at the sleeping baby. “I’m lucky, he takes after his father in regards to his stance on silence, but once he starts talking he’ll obviously take after his mother for her quick wit.” She winked. “My friend Arianne has the other one. He’s walking now, and if I let him loose in the clubhouse…who knows what he’d find.”
I looked down at the beautiful, chubby baby.
My womb pulsated with a memory.
“How many kids do you think we should have?” Liam asked conversationally, trailing his finger over my bare and flat belly.
I tensed. “Liam, we’re eighteen years old, we still have to sneak into each other’s bedrooms and I kind of want a college degree and a few irresponsible decisions under my belt before I even think about children,” I said.
Though even as the words came out, I looked into those emerald eyes and saw the man he was becoming. The father he’d be. Saw our family. Saw myself growing big with his baby.
My stomach fluttered.
In a good way.
“Yes, well, I hope you know I’m going to be there for every one of those irresponsible decisions, you know to make some of my own and to keep an eye on you.”
I rolled my eyes. Liam was protective. Bordering on too much, but if I was honest, I liked it. I also liked what he was saying. We hadn’t decided on colleges yet, our acceptance letters only starting to arrive. I knew that I had no chance at getting the Ivy League Scholarships he was already being offered, and my family couldn’t afford an Ivy League tuition. No way was I getting Liam to sacrifice his future to come to a state college as he’d suggested in the past.
I was hoping I’d get accepted to Boston University so we could get a place together.
We hadn’t even talked about that, now Liam was talking babies?
“Getting me pregnant before marrying me is not an irresponsible decision you’ll be making,” I told him. “My dad might straight up strangle you.”
He grinned. “Your dad loves me like I’m his own.” He thought about my currently troublesome brother. “Probably more than his own.”
I smiled back. “Yes, but, he loves his little girl most of all, bad enough that you’re bedding her under his roof.”
He raised his brow. “Did you just say ‘bedding?”
I smacked his shoulder. It was hard, muscled, he was working out a lot more lately.
I dug it.
Even though it meant my hand bruised when I hit him.
“Ah, so my future wife will be abusive,” he said, toying with my hand.
I blinked. “What?” I whispered, right about the same time something cold slipped onto the fourth finger on my left hand.
I looked down at the glittering single solitaire diamond staring at me with a future, a promise.
My gaze snapped back up to Liam. He cupped my neck.
A tear trailed down my cheek before he spoke.
He wiped it away with his thumb. “I want to make all the irresponsible decisions with you. I want to do it with my ring on your finger. Then, when we’re finished college, I’m gonna marry you. Then, we’re going to travel the world, like you want to. Make more irresponsible decisions, take them international.” He stroked away another tear. “And then, when we’re ready, we’ll get responsible. Have kids. A family. A forever.”
There were too many tears now for Liam to wipe away.
He grinned. “Am I taking the crying as a yes or a soul-crushing rejection?” he joked, though there was vulnerability behind the tone. Fear.
I didn’t answer.
I couldn’t.
Instead, I kissed him.
He kissed me back.
It tasted like my tears and forever.
