Page 157 of A Major Puck Up

I place my hand over his, trying to calm him. “I won’t move. But when you get back, can you grab a pair of pajamas from my room? I want to shower the hospital off.”

Gavin grunts. “Your room is here.”

I let out a soft huff of a laugh. “Okay, big man, but my stuff is in the other room.”

Gavin leans down close. “The closet is filled with your clothes. I hung them last night when they kicked me out of the hospital so you could rest. I also had Lennox pick up that shampoo and conditioner you like, and your toothbrush is in the bathroom. We’ll buy anything else you need this week, but you aren’t spending another minute in any bedroom that isn’t mine.”

“Gavin.” The words rush out like a prayer.

He splays his fingers over my cheek as he looks deep into my eyes. “I love you. Almost losing you nearly killed me. Please, baby, don’t ever do that again. Promise me I die first. I can’t live without you.”

I don’t argue with him, though I feel the same way. This man is my everything. Him, as well as his daughter.

Our daughter.

God, I miss her.

“I love you too. Go get our little girl.”

Gavin presses one more kiss to my lips, then, with another squeeze of my thigh, he walks out of the room.

For ten minutes, I sit in complete silence, allowing thoughts of the last seventy-two hours to filter through my mind.

Vivi isn’t his biological daughter. My father now knows about Gavin and me, and from what Daniel told me, Paul even stood up for me to my mom.

I shake my head. I truly hope she can find a way to be happy, but I’m done worrying about other people. Done trying to appease people who will never be content. I’m living my life for me.

The door to the apartment closes, and despite wanting to burst into the living room and run to my girl, I sit perfectly still like I promised Gavin I would.

Footsteps sound in the hall, and when they stop at the door, Gavin lets out a heavy sigh. “Okay, Vivi girl. I’m going to need you to be extra good for Millie. She bumped her head and—” He huffs. “Why am I talking to you like you understand a word I’m saying?”

“Duck,” she replies, and I imagine that she’s squeezing his cheeks like she always does, hopefully making him smile.

“Duck is right,” he says, sounding lighter.

God, I love them.

“I’m going to make everything better, though. You’ve got me, and you’ve got Millie. And that woman in there—” He cuts himself off.

I have to cover my mouth to keep my sob from escaping. I’ve never heard such concentrated emotion in his voice.

“She’s the best mother around. You’re so lucky to have her. And I’m so lucky to have both of you.” He takes a deep breath. “Okay, we got this. No tears. Big smiles when we walk in, okay?”

When the door opens, I follow his instructions too. I paint a big smile on my face to hide my tears and pretend I didn’t hear his sweet words to our daughter. Then I hold out my arms. “Hey, bestie! I missed you!”

“I can feel you watching me,” I grumble from my pillow.

“So?”

At his cocky response, my eyes flutter open. I’m obsessed with cocky Gavin.

The man is sitting beside me with a bunch of beads on his lap.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“I was too worried about you to sleep. But look what I made.” He holds up a little bracelet that says Vivi Girl.

“Aw, you made Vivi her own friendship bracelet.” I pluck it from his fingers and spin the miniature beads, smiling at them. “We need one for her that says bestie, though.”

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