Page 70 of Stay with Me

“Nothing in this world can compare to be married to Saga. Then she blessed me with my sons. A gift I wouldn’t want from anyone else. I can’t explain it, being a father—that’s some next level shit.”

Dwayne walks over and takes a seat. His kids are running around with cotton candy in their hands. So it begins, I chuckle to myself.

“I have to agree. My marriage was for the birds, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything,” Dwayne says with a smile on his lips as he stares at his kids playing.

“Look, Daddy. They have a bouncy house,” Dwayne’s little girl calls as she waves to get his attention.

Demi is cute as a button. She has dark blonde hair that curls into big ringlets. I’ve never seen her without that huge smile on her face when her dad is around.

Dwayne can do no wrong in the eyes of his kids. I can only hope to have my own children look at me like that. I think back to Bishop’s words.

It’s not that I haven’t thought about having a family. My life has never been set up to have kids. Carson smacks me in the face with his heavy hand as if to knock some sense into me.

“Oh,” Bishop winces. “Sorry about that. Carson, no hitting, buddy.”

“That’s going to leave a mark,” Dwayne says.

I shrug. “I’ve been through worse.”

“Demi, Dalton, Dominic, come sit. Eat these hot dogs, and we can go to the bouncy house and play a few games,” my cousin calls to his little crew.

They come running as he unloads their food from the basket it’s all packed in. Demi rushes to take the seat right next to her dad. Dominic sits next to me, looking up at me with a smile.

Dalton sits on the other side of his dad. The kids begin to tear into their food while Dwayne passes out drinks next. Demi squeals as he steals one of her fries.

“Hey, Daddy.”

Dwayne winks down at her and dips to kiss the top of her head. Suddenly, Carson reaches over and slaps his hand down on her hotdog, trying to snatch it from her tray. I grab his hand and groan. This little guy.

“Sorry, Demi. I guess it’s time I feed these guys. Uncle Bishop will get you another one, baby. Don’t cry,” Bishop says.

She pouts and crosses her arms over her chest as she glares at him. I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Bishop stands and hands me Cooper.

It doesn’t escape me that a bunch of moms have gravitated toward our area. A glance around tells me they’re all trying to pretend they’re not paying our table any attention. A part of me wonders if they’ve identified Bishop or if it’s just the fact that we’re three men with a bunch of kids.

“You want something?” Bishop asks.

“Whatever you get for yourself.”

“I’m coming with you,” Demi says as she jumps up and marches around the table to grab Bishop’s hand to follow him.

I can see he’s fighting back a laugh as Demi gives him a stern look. He nods and walks off with our little cousin in tow.

I turn my attention back to Carson and Cooper to make sure they don’t attack anyone else’s food. Dwayne’s boys are silent as they devour their food. Dwayne has a burger that looks so good, my stomach begins to grumble.

Running a hand through my nephew’s hair, I kiss the top of each of their heads. They smells so good, I close my eyes to take a deep inhale. They smell of comfort and all things good in the world.

Yeah, I guess I would love being a father.

CHAPTER 27

Caught off Guard

Reminisce

I’ve spent most of the day cleaning my house. It’s the least I can do to clear my mind, yoga has done as much as it’s going to for all the things I have going on in my head. It’s been three weeks since my last date with Sheldon.

I’ve been making excuses to get out of the dates he’s tried to set up. Now that I’ve admitted my feelings about Knight to myself and we’ve been spending time together as friends, I don’t know what to do about Sheldon. He’s still the safe option.

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