AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No fucking wonder,” Jude grunts pulling my attention up to his face. “He has at least five other women after him with paternity suits. He likes to play with women in their mid-thirties, dangle the hope of a good future, kids, and family, and then he finds a way to pull the rug out from under them at the last minute just to watch them twist in the wind. He makes sure to never leave a paper trail with them, which keeps him from being forced to take paternity tests.”
“I saw the bad side of him after the accident. It’s also why I ran I think,” I admit, sending his brow upward again. “I thought he was a good guy when he and Mom were dating. He helped with the mortgage while Mom couldn’t work, bought groceries, and brought dinner over. I was so scared that I read what was happening with us wrong, that I’d been so overcome with the feelings I suddenly had for you, and then the questions started inside my head, and it kept me from trying to find you in the next few weeks. Then when I realized I was pregnant, I knew I needed to, at least to see if you’d give financial support, and all the worries flooded me again, keeping me from moving forward with it.”
“I get it, baby girl, but no more. I’m sure you’ve realized how hard it is to get rid of my family this week,” he states, and I can’t stop the smile that hits because it’s true. From the second Jesse showed up at my door, I haven’t had a single moment without them doing something for me, or here with me. “They’ve got nothing on me, kitten. Now that you’re in my arms again, I’m never letting go.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” he says, his lips soft and sweet against mine as his fingers brush over my cheek. “I’ll show you just how much you’re mine later when we’re completely alone,” he adds, tugging the covers back until he slips us under the sheet. “For now, you need a nap. I’m going to hold you until you’re asleep, then I need to run by my place for some stuff. If I’m not back before you wake up, I’ll be back before long, I swear.”
“I’d like that,” I muse, my eyes growing heavy as his hands rub circles on my back, sending me to sleep with a smile on my lips.
Chapter 5
Jude
Iglance at the message from Mom as I sit at the light, on my way back to my girl. It took longer than I anticipated but I had a few stops to make, including at the office to grab my laptop, which turned into having to be completely blunt with the financial staff that I’m not going to overstep my brother’s authority simply because I’m in the office and he’s not. I run the day-to-day operations for the company, but it does not include overseeing the financial staff.
Hell, I don’t care if they’re not used to not having someone to go to in person to deal with their shit. They’re going to have to because I don’t intend to spend every day in the office anymore either—not with Eden, the babies, and the twins on the way. Shit, I don’t care if we take the whole company to part-time in office only. I’m sure there are plenty of others that will enjoy it as well, and it’s something I plan to bring up to my family at our next meeting.
After that, I stopped by to see Doug, letting him know I found my girl, and they don’t need to search for her any longer, but I had another job for them to handle. Eden won’t need the financial support from the asshole Black any longer, but I can’t say the same for the other women he duped. I intend to ensure that each of them gets the ability to have the paternity tests run, which will only happen one of two ways. Either we find enough to convince the state to order them, going around the judges that Black has in his pockets, or I get his DNA another way.
Doug’s going to look into both options, but we’re more confident that the second will be simpler. Since I intend to kick him out of the health club, it’s the perfect opportunity to have him come after me, and I’ll accept a punch or two in order to have him charged with assault. If I can get the man to bleed in return, even better. I simply have to be able to show I didn’t initiate it. Which is where Doug’s going to come in handy. I’ve given him the names of the women that have filed suits against Black, and he’s going to contact them to see if they want to still pursue the claims as well as to give us some additional insight into the bastard.
After those two stops, I finally packed a couple bags to take over to the house to stay with Eden. No fucking way am I staying away from her now. She’s mine and after two and a half months of dreaming about her, my ass is going to be next to hers even if we simply sleep.
I shot Mom a text, asking if Eden was up as I left my place, knowing it would merely increase her questions, but thankfully, I was able to get out to my car without her demanding the entire story earlier. That was most likely solely because she could see the anxiousness wafting off me to get out so I could get back faster, but I won’t complain about it.
Her reply that Eden’s still asleep and that Jaime and Jillian are there so there’s no rush to get back to help with the babies, has me turning down the street two blocks away from where my girl is. Jesse’s house isn’t that much larger than ours is, other than the amount of land surrounding it. My little shit of a brother bought up three lots without telling any of us about it, but until he met Maddie, he hadn’t built anything on them. Now, their house is Maddie’s dream home and the extra space at the end of the street gives them more privacy than in most city residential areas.
I’m surprised when Maddie opens the door, but I lean down, kissing her cheek when she gives me a smile. “You look like you’re doing better.”
“I am. Don’t want to ever have to deal with that IV transfusion crap again, so we’re going to increase the dosage of my iron supplements,” she says heading back towards the living room. Their three-year-old Hudson is playing with blocks while Heath naps on a blanket on the couch. He’s about sixteen months old now and looks just slightly less like Jesse than Hudson does.
“What do you think you’re doing, baby girl?” Jesse questions as he comes into the room behind us, shooting Maddie a knowing look as she settles back onto the couch with Heath.
“I walked to the door to open it,” she retorts, rolling her eyes at him and I chuckle a hint under my breath, not about to get decked by my brother for letting him know he’s being a little excessive. I know Maddie. If the doctor had told her to stay completely off her feet, she’d do it to ensure the baby was safe and she was healthy as well, because even more than the rest of us, she knows how important to Jesse she is.
“You’re supposed to be resting,” he grumbles, before dropping a kiss onto her lips, that puts a smile very similar to the one Eden wore earlier on them.
“I am, daddy,” she teases in return. “I’m allowed to do whatever I want still, the doctor simply said to take it easy the next few days to let my body regulate. That means I can walk to the bathroom as needed and it’s closer to walk to the front door from here than even to the bathroom, so deal with it, babe.”
Jesse grumbles under his breath before he turns my way, lifting his brow at me in question. “What brings you by?”
“Eden,” I reply, sending Maddie’s brow upward in shock.
“Look, I don’t give a shit what you think about helping her out…” Jesse begins to vent, and I stop him midstream with a hug. “What the fuck?”
“Thank you for helping my girl,” I state, and Maddie’s eyes widen, taking up most of her face as Jesse’s brows furl in total shock.
“Jude, you do know she’s pregnant, right?” Maddie says gently and I can’t stop the fucking smile that hits my face.
“Yeah, with my babies in every way,” I tell them, silencing them both for several long moments.
“Wait…what?” Jesse grunts, his eyes narrowing on me as understanding starts to blossom inside him of what I mean.
“I met Eden a couple months ago, she was at the health club trying to get the quadruplets’ father to help support them, and he called security on her. I’d gone by to do some laps in the pool. Johnnie was still in baby mode, his staff was coming to me with questions, and I needed a break. So, I went to the club and then heard her shouting at the guard to let her go. He was a total ass, manhandling her, and I decked the creep when he tried to grope her. Things got heated between us, and she was freaked out with just how fast it all happened, how far we both dove straight into it without learning anything about each other. When Ryan knocked on the door to check on me since I didn’t answer my phone or the guard’s that I’d taken when he wasn’t where I left him, she ran out on me.
“I’ve spent the last two months trying to find her, even hired Doug to try to locate her. I already knew wasn’t a member of the club and didn’t have a clue how she got in. She’d been there once before with her mom and the jackass hadn’t taken her name off his list of allowed guests. The cameras in the lobby didn’t cover the entire desk, they do now,” I add as a slight smirk settles onto my brother’s face, while Maddie simply grins at me. “None of the ones in the hallways caught her face either, so I’ve been losing my damn mind. Until today when Mom called asking me to pick up diapers and drop them off at the house that is. I stayed when Emma decided I was her top choice in Cartwright men, and then Eden walked in, and my heart finally stopped burning.”
