AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Did he really need to sit here?
“She has ears; therefore, she can listen just fine. And sooner rather than later, she’ll start to talk. I’m not going to let my daughter’s first words be some kind of profanity.”
Edie lets out more noises, moving her little fists as if she knows what her dad just said and is agreeing with him.
My stomach tightens at the sight of the two of them, unease spreading under my skin as I watch Maddox lean down and brush his mouth against the top of her ginger head. He murmurs something softly to Edie, his hand securely wrapped around her middle. If you didn’t know, you’d never realize that Maddox isn’t Edie’s biological father because that man would die before he ever let anything happen to her.
“Maddox, can I please have her now?” Yas leans closer, tickling Edie’s sock-clad foot and pouting exaggeratedly.
“Not happening,” Maddox says, not even dignifying her with his attention. Nope, that boy only has eyes for his two girls.
“But I barely get to see her!” Yasmin turns to Alyssa. “Tell him, Aly. I swear she’s grown so much since the last time I saw her.”
Aly gives her a pointed look. “You saw her yesterday when you were picking up Callie for the football game.”
“She has you there,” Callie says, her fingers typing away on her phone. Since her boyfriend started playing in the NFL and moved, she’s been constantly texting him.
“It was just for a few minutes. So, that doesn’t count.”
I glance at my brother. “You should seriously give her one of these before she steals a baby from somebody.”
Nixon’s eyes turn into saucers, mouth falling open, but before he can say anything, Yasmin whips her head toward me and kicks me under the table. “Bite your tongue!”
“What?” I lean down, rubbing at my leg. “Maybe then you wouldn’t give Maddox those heart eyes every time he’s holding the baby.”
“I’m giving heart eyes to Edie, not Maddox. And that’s because she’s cute. Not because I want one of my own.” Yasmin looks up at my brother, and I swear I can see stars in her eyes. The way they’re so in love with each other is equally cute and disgusting. “Not yet, anyway.”
Nixon smirks. “We can always practice, though. You know, for when the time is right?”
I groan, grabbing the menu from the middle of the table. “And I think I just threw up in my mouth.”
Tucking my hair behind my ear, I check out the selection. Eggs and bacon, blueberry pancakes, chocolate pancakes, waffles…
“You’re just… What the heck is on your neck?” Nixon asks, his tone suddenly very cold.
I look up from the menu. Why I bother looking at it when every time I come, I order exactly the same thing? I’ll never understand. “What?”
Nixon is staring at me; his eyes narrowed, lips pressed in a tight line. “That,” he points at my neck.
Everybody at the table turns in my direction, suddenly interested in the conversation.
Self-consciously, I raise my hand and touch the side of my neck. The skin feels a little tender, but…
Yasmin leans closer. “Is that a… hickey?”
“What?!” my hand covers my neck to where I suppose the bruise is. How did I not see it? Then is it really strange, considering I put a towel over the mirror so I wouldn’t have to face my other bruises? Because I was good at ignoring my problems like that.
He did not…
A very vivid image of Prescott’s mouth on my neck flashes in my mind. I turn to the man in question, who has a look of utter horror on his face that I’m pretty sure matches mine.
“It is!” Yasmin chuckles. “Oh my God, I didn’t realize hickeys were still a thing!”
“It’s not funny, Yas,” Nixon and I say in unison.
My brother glares at his wife before turning his attention to me. “What the fuck, Jade? Who gave you a hickey?”
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” I tug my hair to the side to cover the bruise.
