Page 41 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

“Thank you,” she said in a much softer, insecure voice that I didn’t like at all.

“Lily,” he shook his head as if he didn’t believe what he was about to say. “I always thought I’d be able to come back when you were done with school and take you away from this place.”

“What the fuck, man?”

He shrugged his shoulders at my question and basically blew me off. “It’s the truth.”

Lily just looked stunned, like this was news to her as well. “We didn’t even date.”

“No, but only because you weren’t ready, and I knew I was leaving for boot camp after graduation.” A car horn honked from not too far away and caught Killian’s attention. “Sorry, I really do have to go. Can I call you later?”

“Seriously, man?” I asked. The asshole shot me a look that said he knew I was probably a shit husband and he’d have no problem with stealing my wife out from under me.

“I think maybe that’s not the best idea right now, Kill.”

He leaned in and whispered something to her, and she responded just as quietly, the whole interaction putting me on edge as my son started to get louder. I picked the carrier up so that he could see my face and the minute he caught sight of me, the little guy quieted.

“Hey, buddy, we’ll get you fixed up in just a minute, okay?” I asked him in as gentle a voice as I was able to muster.

I glanced back over just in time to see them sharing another hug before Killian walked away and Lily headed back toward me. I didn’t miss the way the fucker turned to stare at her ass either.

“He can’t be hungry since I fed him before we left, but maybe he needs a diaper change?” Lily questioned as she made it to my side and peeked in at our son. His head turned slightly in the direction of his mother’s voice.

“Let’s head on in and we can check,” I agreed. Then I swapped the infant carrier to my other hand and put my now free hand on Lily’s lower back to keep her next to me. Was it a dick move to show Killian what he couldn’t have? Absolutely. Did it also strangely feel right? Yeah, and that shit was almost more upsetting than dealing with some dick being interested in my wife. At least I knew his ass was going to be on a boat out in the ocean before long. Hopefully, that fucker would sink with him on it.

Lily’s immediate response to my hand being on her back was to stiffen, but then she settled and walked in step with me to the store where we snagged a cart and fit the infant carrier to it. “Where the hell do we go in this place?” I asked because when she first said this was the store we needed to go to, it never occurred to me that the space would look like a giant warehouse for baby shit.

“Well, I think we can avoid that side of the store since we have all the furniture he needs for now. Let’s head to the smaller aisles where the pictures of bottles are, that’ll probably get us close, I think.” Good to know that Lily seemed just as overwhelmed as I did.

We made it closer to the bottles when something else caught her eyes. “Actually, I need to duck into the restroom really quick,” she seemed a little panicked, but stayed long enough to make sure I had the baby. While she was gone, I peeked inside my son’s diaper and didn’t see any shit in there, so I figured he would still be good to go for a bit. His crying had stopped the minute he could see me or his mom anyway.

“When I left to go shopping for my sister’s baby shower, I never thought I’d find Damon Donavon in the store,” a woman called out from behind me. I turned to find Abbi Spencer standing there looking like sex on a fucking stick in her crop top, jeans and boots. Her blond hair hung long in spiral curls, which were new for her, but didn’t detract from her beauty one bit. Even as I was enjoying the view, I wished her away because I didn’t need the day ruined for Lily.

I had most definitely hooked up with Abbi, quite a few times, and some of those since I’d married Lil. That fucking sinking feeling in my gut, while simultaneously feeling like I’d swallowed a bunch of steel dragons that were cutting me up inside hit hard.

Remembering Lily’s interaction with Killian outside, and how it made me feel, turned the volume up on all the bullshit turmoil swirling inside me. By the time I tuned into whatever the fuck Abbi had been saying, Lily was already approaching us, but her head was down and she appeared to be examining her shirt. I wondered if she ran to the bathroom so fast because she started leaking breast milk again, but there was no way I was asking and embarrassing her in front of one of my hook ups.

“Oh! Hi.” Abbi called out awkwardly, which had my wife snapping her head up in our direction finally.

“Hi,” she offered back tentatively while noticing how closely Abbi had moved to my side. Shit. This was not happening. I didn’t miss the way Lil’s eyes dragged down to our son and then the accusing glare she shot at me. She did not want some other woman – one I’d fucked – anywhere near our boy. Not that I could blame her. I’d probably have murdered Killian if he wanted to get close to Declan to try to get an in with Lil.

“Abbi was just saying something about a gift she had to get for her sister,” I told Lily, trying to make her understand that I had no control over who showed up in the store.

“Yeah? What are you getting her?” Lily asked, not at all ready to believe me. It hurt, but I didn’t blame her one bit. Abbi was reluctant to leave my side for some reason, but then she moved closer and showed Lily her basket.

“My mom gave me the idea. She said it’s the best present to ever get someone for a baby shower because no one else thinks of it. Of course, she also said that it will probably be the least popular gift until it’s needed and then suddenly my sister will call me in the middle of the night to thank me for it.” She laughed awkwardly.

“Tylenol and Motrin?” Lily asked.

“Well, yeah, it’s the baby friendly stuff. Plus, some gas drops, nail clippers, a thermometer, extra batteries, another one of those nose sucker thingies, and more burp cloths. I’ll probably add in a couple cute onesies in various sizes too that say #1 Aunt. Those are just to piss my sister off though. The rest is necessary stuff.”

“Huh!”

“New parents never think about their baby getting sick ahead of time, or so my mom says. That’s what makes it the perfect gift, because they aren’t having to run to the store when their kid gets a fever in the middle of the night, and they don’t have anything that can help it.”

“I guess that is smart.” Lily looked thoughtful, and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. We didn’t have any of that shit at the house either, and honestly, I wouldn’t have known that you could even give a small baby stuff like that, let alone that there were gas drops. What the fuck were those used for?

“So, anyway,” Abbi turned back to me then. “I haven’t seen you in a while and when I noticed you here, I figured I’d come let you know that my cousin Janie invited me to the clubhouse this weekend for some party you guys are having.” There was a hopeful grin on her face until Declan chose that moment to start squirming around and grunting.

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