Page 64 of Liam

I think on it. She tried to kill me, and she put this little boy through hell. Left him in a fucking drug house, where anything could have happened to him. But I understand the part about Caiden wanting to see her later in life.

I am not in the business of hurting women. I can’t even fathom hurting one, even though she is a bitch who doesn’t deserve mercy. “I will talk to the club,” I tell him. Ethan nods.

“How are Xavier and Samantha?”

He grins. “Samantha is a mini Braelyn, but she has a temper on her that is all me. Xavier is fucking smart and has it in his head that he is going to be a vet.” His face grows serious. “He came out to me that he is gay, and he was fucking terrified. I hate that he felt that I would look at him differently.”

Fuck me, I’ve known Xavier was gay for a while, but I am glad he finally came out to Ethan.

“I love him and who the fuck cares if he likes boys? I just want him happy.”

“I found out a long time ago. I knew he was worried, but I told him he had nothing to worry about. You’re a fucking good dad, man, I want to thank you for taking me in all those years ago.”

“Don’t make me fucking emotional, Liam, I can’t handle that shit.” His voice cracks and I laugh.

“Want a beer?” I ask him and he nods, the subject over.

Paisley

Hours Later

After many hours of shopping, we’ve gotten just about everything he could possibly need. He has had a blast. He was bursting at the seams and laughing, having the time of his life. That was the most amazing part: seeing him let himself go, quit overthinking his every move, and be a kid.

It’s around eleven o’clock at night. Caiden is in bed asleep, and I am putting everything away. We also went grocery shopping because I wanted to make sure we have things he likes.

I want to spoil him. I know that he’s never had much. The clothes he wore to our house the first time were so worn out they were paper thin and on the verge of falling apart.

“Liam, want to go through your things Braelyn brought?” I ask him. He is finishing putting stuff away in cabinets in the kitchen.

“Yeah, Baby.” He shuts the cabinet door and walks over to me. I open the box and the first thing I see is a pair of shoes.

Liam reaches in and takes out the shoes. “Holy fuck, these are the shoes I wore to Braelyn’s. And my clothes, along with the few things I had at the time.”

I stare at the fucking shoe, with a hole in the front where his toe would be. Tears fill my eyes for the tenth time in the past two days.

Liam looks at me. “Why are you crying, Baby.” He reaches over and catches a tear.

I look at the shoe and back at him. “The shoe, it’s sad that you wore a shoe with a hole in it.”

His face softens, and he throws the shoe in the box and pulls me into his arms. “Baby, that is not my life anymore. It’s just a fucking shoe.” He kisses my forehead, running his fingers through my hair.

I sniff loudly. “I know it’s just a shoe, but—meeting Caiden, then seeing the shoe—it hit me again how hard you had it.”

His hand slides down my back and he squeezes my ass.

“I am trying to be sad here, Liam,” I tease and he squeezes again.

I lift my hand off his back, smacking his ass.

“I don’t want you sad, Baby,” he tells me through his laughter, and I bury my face in his neck, nipping at his throat to make him laugh harder because he is ticklish there.

He grabs my hands and puts me on the table. I smile at him. I am so happy. I am blessed to have someone like him.

He smiles down at me, his hands on either side of my face.

“I love you, Liam, so much.”

He smiles wider, his dimple popping out. “I love you too, Paisley, you have given me a life that I never thought was possible. You’re my whole fucking world and have been for years. I thought for years about how it would be if we were together, but I never expected this. You’re beyond my expectations.”

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