Page 84 of Biker's Enemy

Quin turns back to face me, unable to hide her surprise.

“Are you sure?”

“She might cry a little but… I can handle it. I miss her.”

Quin holds her out to me and in her sleepy state, Avery doesn’t react. At first. She feels no bigger than a burrito to me. Tiny. Innocent. So goddamn cute. I hold her against my chest and something strange happens. This overwhelming sensation pulses through my chest. My limbs. It’s like I never want to let this little baby go. It’s like I don’t even want to set her down and give her a chance to grow up.

Hugging Avery like she’s about to escape me wakes her tiny butt up even more and she starts squirming and questioning everything… smacking me with her little fists and making gurgling noises that sound a little like protest. Quin giggles.

“Being a baby must be crazy,” Quin says. “You fall asleep on a bed somewhere and then bam, you wake up in the arms of red-headed giant.”

We exchange a glance that feels like it should stop the damn world from spinning. I can’t handle it. Not without doing something. I kiss the top of Avery’s head and pull her closer to me. Her gurgling picks up and I kiss the top of her head again.

“DA!!!” Avery says.

Quin laughs. “She’s never done that before.”

I make eye contact with her. Avery, not Quin. I have to be honest, there’s a part of me that always avoided looking too deeply at Avery’s face. What if that baby had been mine, huh? The guilt would have torn me up in a way it never seemed to bother my father. I guess it’s because he wasn’t home to watch how all his bastards broke our mother’s heart.

Hurting anyone like that, especially someone I love would destroy me. I definitely couldn’t imagine doing that to Quin.

“She’s beautiful,” I whisper.

“I know,” Quin says.

“DA! DA!” Avery says. Then she laughs and points at me.

Quin gasps.

“Oh my God.”

“What?”

“I think she’s talking.”

“She is not talking…”

“DA!!!” Avery says again, pointing at me and casting some doubt on my self-assured claims.

“She’s pointing at you,” Quin says. “Let’s see if she does it again…”

“DA!DA!” Avery says, giggling again.

“She’s calling you dada.”

“But I’m not…”

I trail off. After a few arguments with Quin, I know when to keep my ‘stupid’ opinions to myself.

“Of course you’re her dad,” Quin says. “Who else would be her dad?”

I hold her close. Mine. Just like Quin.

“Come here, sugar plum,” I whisper, gesturing for Quin to join my embrace. “You’re right. Who else could it be?”

I put my arm around Quin’s waist and hold her soft body as close to mine as possible. I kiss the top of her head and vow never to let either of these women go…

Forty

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