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Spotting Jade, she looks like a deer in headlights as she watches our group from afar. I wonder if their mention of Steve was too much for her.
The guys leave me and head to the playset while I carefully approach Jade. Grabbing her by the arm, I walk us to where we can get a bit of privacy.
“Are you alright? I'm sorry they brought him up,” I say softly, concern etched in my voice.
She shakes her head. “No, no, that’s not it.” She swallows hard, then continues. “You know how you had Willow sleep over last weekend because I was meeting with Jenny for some drinks.”
I nod, silently asking her to continue. “Well, we had a few too many, and I broke my celibacy vow.”
“Oh, stop. You really thought you were going to stay true to that?” I laugh, trying to laugh off her seriousness. Only, it doesn’t work. She looks even more stressed.
“Mmmm, I was an asshole and left in the middle of the night, didn’t leave my number or anything...”
“Jade…what are you getting at?”
She juts her chin in the direction of where Nox and Ford are messing around with the kids.
“That’s him…”
“You slept with Ford?” The words escape me, louder than I anticipated, and I quickly cover my mouth.
“He was out drinking too… We got along so well. I'm not sure if he even remembers.”
“Okay…but are you sure?” I peek behind me to Ford, who’s blatantly watching Jade, and there is no doubt in my mind it was him. And by the looks of it, she wasn’t easy to forget.
She nods, swallowing roughly. “I couldn’t forget that face if I tried.” And I can’t wrap my head around this.
“Want to know what the worst part is?” She continues, dragging her hands down her face. “He’s Steve’s nephew, and I knew it before I decided to sleep with him. I—I just didn’t realize he was a brother.”
“Ohhh, shit,” I whisper, more to myself than her, but she hears me anyway and scoffs.
“You could say that again.”
* * *
Nox
“Higher, higher,” Willow shouts as I push her on the swing.
I look over to Ford, who’s sporting the same confused look he’s had ever since I explained who Willow is. Kiran’s “Push” chants finally get his attention again, and he gives the baby swing a gentle push.
Ford eyes the girls as they walk toward Frankie and Lola, whispering something under his breath I can’t make out.
I knew bringing Emerson’s aunt here was going to create some sort of cock fight. Let’s just say, good genetics run in that family. But I didn’t expect Ford, the lady’s man of the group, to be knocked speechless.
Then a thought hits me. “Did you take something…? Why are you so out of it?” I ask, eyes narrowing at how weird he’s acting.
The accusation snaps his attention to me. “No… Fu—No, I didn’t. It’s just…”
“Uncle Nox… Can I get down?” Willow innocently interrupts. “Of course.” I pull on the chains to stop the swing, letting her get off.
She runs past an approaching Greyson and climbs the ladder to the slide.
“What’s his problem?” Greyson asks, eyeing Ford, who now looks like someone just ran over his Harley.
“We are currently trying to work through that, but he apparently lost his ability to speak over my girl’s aunt,” I say with a chuckle, moving over to push Kiran. He’s about three pushes away from passing out in the swing.
Greyson turns his head to where all the ladies are congregated, fawning over Lottie.
