Page 32 of Dangerous

“Yup. It’s good for him. And Katy looked good, a little stressed though, and I think she’s lost a little weight. It makes me a little worried that something’s going on that she isn’t telling us about.”

“Things have settled down at school for her right? At least I thought Peter had said that. That the rumours had stopped.”

“Yeah, that’s what he said which is why I’m worried.”

“Think we should intervene?” I asked. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have cared, I would have just goneover to her house when I knew Marie wasn’t around and cornered her, holding her against me until she spilled her secrets. But now I held back, unsure of how I was supposed to play this out. She knew we were here for her; we’d told her that so many times, but we were trying to respect her wishes for time. It left me feeling unsettled.

“I’m not sure. Maybe give her the week and if she doesn’t come to us by then, we go to her.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I took another mouthful, swallowing it down before grabbing his hand. “Speaking of plans…”

He laughed.

It was amazing what a little sex, a little time with the people you love could do. It took a shitty day and made it wonderful. The only black cloud on my horizon was Katy and even that would be taken care of within the week because try as she might, Katy couldn’t resist our brand of comfort. We might not still be together in the way that I wanted, but I would always be her protector, her support. And I knew she needed that.

24

Katy/Katherine

One deep breath later and I pushed open the door to the daycare. School had been in session for six weeks already. Liam had finally settled into the daycare, but I still checked in on him from time-to-time, usually a couple times a week during lunch so I could help feed him. The days varied as I’d check to see if Peter was in with him first before heading inside. Seeing Peter daily in class was more than enough, I didn’t want to spend time watching him with Liam.

And that was a lie.

A big, fat, giant fish story of a whopper.

On the days that I showed up to find Peter already there, I stuck around, hiding so he wouldn’t see me, but I watched. Watched and ached, wishing I was there with him. It was—had been—my dream for as long as I could remember. Me, holding our baby as he and Jason—later Jarrod was added—watched. Or the reverse with one of them holding our baby. Instead, I had to watch them act out my dreams with someone else’s child. Andin what could only defy science, as I watched, my heart both shattered and melted.

I was a mess. A big fucking mess.

I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. If I wasn’t thinking about them, I was worrying about Ethan’s question which I still hadn’t answered. But with the dance happening next week, I really needed to make a decision. One I couldn’t make without discussing it with them.

Crap-fucking-tastic.

Oh, yeah. All of this caused me to start swearing in my mind.

“Katy. How nice to see you. Liam will be excited.” Susan pointed to where Liam was in his exersaucer, banging on some of the toys.

“Thanks, Susan. Do you know who’s picking him up tonight?”

She canted her head to the side as she examined me, knowing I’d just spent the last hour and a half with Peter. “I think it’s Peter…”

I nodded, but didn’t offer her more information, knowing she wouldn’t push. She was like that. It’s why, when it was just the two of us, she always referred to him as Peter instead of Mr. Evans because she heard me calling him that when I spoke to Liam. Instead, I placed my backpack with Liam’s diaper bag and then made my way over to him.

As soon as he saw me, he smiled, held up his little arms, started kicking his feet, and used his new trick of babbling. Unable to resist, I swooped in, lifting him out of his seat as I pressed kisses all over his chubby cheeks.

He laughed.

My eyes grew large as I held him away from me so I could watch his face. “Did you just laugh, Little Man? Were you laughing at my kisses?”

He laughed. Again. His first full-blown belly laughs that I’d heard.

“Well, that’s a wonderful sound to hear.” Susan patted my back. “That’s the first time I’ve heard him do that.”

I grinned. This would be just one more milestone I could lord over his fathers. So far, if there had been a competition, I would be winning since Liam seemed to do things first in front of me. He rolled over for all of us almost a month ago—early for his age—when he’d been on the floor doing tummy time after we’d had supper.

“Next thing you know, he’ll be crawling,” Susan said from somewhere behind me.

My grin grew bigger as I focused on Liam. “Watch this.”

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