Page 91 of Truths

“Not possible. Nice try, though.”

He follows her down the ladder. “How do you figure?”

“I popped two kids out of my hooha for you. One of which came without drugs. That's more love than you can ever imagine.”

Opening his mouth, Colt closes it again with no real argument coming to mind. The memories of her screams as she pushed Noah out after she stubbornly refused to go to the hospital when the contractions started because she was convinced she was experiencing false labor flash before him. Too far along for pain meds. “You can only use the whole birthing thing for so long.”

“No, I think that's pretty much an argument to win everything,” Max says. “I can't even imagine passing a kidney stone.”

“That's because you're the second most pierced dude in the club,” Colt says, holding the door open for everyone to walk inside. “But, I'll concede. You win, baby.”

“I always win,” she says with a bright smile. “Even when I lose, I win.”

Laughing, he shakes his head at this sexy, intelligent, and difficult woman he somehow tricked to fall in love with him. How he did that, he'll never know, but he does thank his lucky stars tonight for her.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Griffin's Beach

Dax

One, two, three, four, and five.

“Dani?” Dax calls out gently as he opens the door Lex directed him to.

“Dax?”

He steps inside to find her sitting on a bed with the bedside lamp on, her knees tucked up to her chin. “Are you okay?”

“I think we need to talk.”

His stomach drops. “About what, exactly?”

“I'm not sure this is going to work, Dax.”

It feels like she just shot him through the heart with a .50 caliber bullet. “Don't say that,” he whispers. “Please, baby, don't.”

“I'm not the same person as before. I'm not the woman you married.”

“I'm not the same man, either.”

Tilting her head, she sighs. “I know you think-”

“I lost my fucking mind when I lost you. When I thought you were dead, I did everything and anything possible to die right along with you. I got us out of drugs with the fucking cartel. Do you know how much divine intervention had to have played a part in getting out of that alive? No matter what I did, I was meant to be here. For you and for us. I needed to be here when you got back, and I needed to be here to kill the motherfuckers who hurt you.”

Tears fall from her eyes. “I don't know who I am anymore. When I'm with you, I feel like you see someone I don't think I can ever be again. That girl... she's gone. She's gone, and I want her back so badly, but it's not possible. I can't be her anymore and seeing your devastation every time I pull away from you kills me inside. She just keeps dying inside of me when you look at me like I'm breaking your heart.”

“I want you. You're my girl, and you always will be,” Dax says and tugs off his leather and T-shirt to show her the tattoo Daphne did for him. “I mourned you once, and I can't do it again. I can't lose you, Dani, and I can't let you go. Whoever it is you are, I love you. Iwill alwayslove you. Those vows we exchanged, the good and the bad, baby, we're in the bad. But it does not take away any of my love for you.”

“That's my face,” she says with a laugh. “You put my face on your back.”

Turning around, he shows her the tattoo of her name over his left peck. “There is only you. For me, it's only you.”

“I don't know how long it'll take before I figure out who I am and what I can handle.”

He sits down on the bed, conscientious not to touch her. “I'm not going anywhere.”

“It might be easier for you if you just moved on, Dax.”

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