AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Watching her be carted off in handcuffs will forever be seared into my memories for the rest of my life. Fuck, the hopeless look in her eyes as she looked at Saint killed me. I saw it, the doubt. She doesn’t know if she can trust us to keep our word and get her out. We’ll prove her ass wrong, there is no way I’m going to let the mother of our child rot in a cell because of what we did to her. This whole fucking clusterfuck of events is on me and Saint. The reaction we had to finding out she was pregnant was fucking disgusting and honestly, I’m so ashamed of myself for the things I said and did.
“I’ve set a bail hearing for first thing on Monday,” Troy says, pulling me from my thoughts. I turn away from the crib where Addy is sleeping and look to our lawyer. Saint is leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Darius, Beck and Corv all stand behind Troy in the doorway.
“She can’t stay there the whole weekend” I snap.
Troy sighs. “I’m sorry, Crue, but not even money can buy her way out of this one. I’m having Jackson transferred here to stand trial. The only thing we can do is offer to drop some charges against Jackson if he confesses to manipulating Katie and Nathan into signing the forms.”
“He wasn’t even there,” Saint adds. “She said she had no idea he was involved until after they came to collect Addy.”
“We know that but the courts don’t. From the minimal interaction I’ve had with Jackson I can see he is a self-serving son of a bitch and I can almost guarantee he would be willing to perjure himself on the stand if it meant serving a lighter sentence.” I turn from the others and stare down at Adalyn. Looking at her now, I can’t believe I nearly lost her.
“Do whatever you have to do in order to bring Katie home. Whatever it costs, whatever you need it’s yours. Just bring our girl home.”
* * *
Even as the sun begins to set, the five of us guys sit on the ground and watch Addy sleep. We’re all eager to feed her, hold her, kiss her little cheeks, or just do anything with her the moment she wakes. Saint told us how she doesn’t like the formula. I put in a request with Troy to see if there was a way to get a pump to Katie so we could use her milk. I know being in there without that pump would be agony for her.
“Can you still play?” Corvin’s question breaks the silence in the room. Saint stares down at his leg for a moment before focusing back on Corv.
“I hope so. The doctor back in New Zealand said it was a fracture. I guess, I’ll just have to wait and see.” Saint and I haven’t even had a chance to discuss the news of Addy not being his and where this leaves us. I don’t even know where we both stand with Katie, all I care about right now is getting her home so our family can be whole again.
“Nearly five years ago, I met some punk kids at a high school I had just enrolled in after running away from a murder I just committed. Little did I know at that time that I would end up here, buying a row of houses side by side just so we could stay close even when we all don’t live here full time.” We chuckle at Beck, he isn’t wrong. I never saw us being here.
“We were just a bunch of punk-ass teenagers with Mommy and Daddy issues who set out to start a business we had no idea how to run, just so we could make enough money to say fuck you to them. Now look at us.” Darius is right. This was about making something of ourselves so our parents could eat shit and realize we aren’t fuck ups.
“Everything worked out just how we planned. We took down Darius’s dad, Devon is behind bars and not getting out anytime soon. We all have enough money to last us five lifetimes. We each achieved our dreams, got the girls and now we get to live the life we always dreamed of.” Corvin’s words have me feeling nostalgic. I look around at each of these guys—we went from being friends to best friends and then, over time, they became my brothers. I would lay down my life for each of them without thought, they are my chosen family.
“The only thing missing from this moment is my baby momma,” I say and look right at Saint. The moment he grins back at me, the tension slowly bleeds out of me.
“Ourbaby momma, prick.” That one word,our, is all it takes for me to know that nothing has changed and nothing will change. He doesn’t view Addy differently because she isn’t his biologically.
“I got to know, did you really get that video and the DNA shit done?” Beck asks Saint.
“Simple, I knew the very first moment I saw Adalyn that she was Crue’s, she looks exactly like him. The maid hated how Devon treated Addy and when she saw what he did to me she gave me the passcodes to his security room where I snagged the footage. The day she went to see Crue and Katie, she dropped off the cotton swabs I used to test Addy and me to the lab, the results were sent to Troy." I stare at him in shock.
“Why?” Darius breathes out.
“I knew the moment Devon learned that Addy didn’t share my DNA he wouldn’t have a chance as claiming her. Crue being her bio dad meant the courts couldn’t hold her and put her in the system until we figured out the court case.”
“So, I’m gonna ask what we’re all thinking, what the fuck are the two of you and Katie?” Saint and I share a look, I answer for both of us.
“We’re us, no labels needed. She’s ours and we’re hers, that’s it.”
“Does she know that?” At the sound of Katie’s voice in the doorway we’re all jumping to our feet. Saint and I rush her and crush her against us in an awkward three-way hug. Katie melts into us and fuck, I’ll admit I get choked up. This is the first time the three of us have been together in the same house with our daughter. The feeling of having my family together is a feeling like none other.
“Let her breathe, assholes.” Laughter bubbles out of me at Beck’s smartass comment. We step away from Katie, letting the guys in. They each give her a hug and tell her how glad they are to have her home.
“Thanks, but if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go see my daughter now,” she says hesitantly as she flicks her gaze to Saint and me. We both nod and try to smile reassuringly. The five of us watch as she gently lifts Addy out of her crib and nuzzles her face. I smile when Addy begins to coo at her mom. The moment Katie sits down in the rocking chair in the corner and starts to lift her shirt to feed, Saint and I snap into action.
“Get the fuck out.”
“Close your fucking eyes,” we both shout in unison. Corv, Beck and Darius burst out laughing as they back out of the room, shouting their goodbyes and promising to check in later as I shut the door.
“Sorry,” her quietly spoken word draws our attention back to her. My eyes widen at the sight of our girl latched onto Katie’s breast. Saint sighs beside me.
“She hasn’t eaten properly in days.” Katie frowns.
“Why?”
