Page 18 of Dirty Daddy

I’ve never wanted to share this life with anyone. I love living in the mountains and never being burdened by a woman trying to make me choose between this place or her. My own mother couldn’t stand living out here, I don’t know why I thought Tess would be any different.

“Have you read the email?” I loll my head to the side to see my brother standing in the open doorway.

“What email?”

Tyler rolls his eyes and shakes his head, then moves toward my side table where my phone rests. He grabs it and inputs my passcode. I scowl at the little shit, no matter how many times Ichange the code he always figures out my pin somehow. When he finds whatever it is he is looking for he tosses my phone to me. I grab it and peer at the screen with a frown.

“What the fuck is this?” I press.

“It’s the book she was writing for her English class while she was here. It’s not finished.” My brows hit my hairline at his answer. “The ending isn’t complete, brother. There’s a reason for that.”

I focus back on Tyler and frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugs and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “She can’t write the ending without the three main characters. Read the book, Kaiden. Seeing our life through her eyes might help you understand her a bit better, and then you can finally let go of this anger so we can go after our girl.”

I snort. “You and Dad can go right ahead and chase her, I’m not going anywhere.”

Tyler scoffs and shakes his head in disappointment. “Read the fucking book, dipshit. You know very well Dad and I won’t go after her without you. Don’t make us lose the girl who stole all our hearts. I love you, Brother, but I’ll never forgive you if you can’t get out of your own damn way and see that she is meant for us and this life. We just need to be patient until she finishes school.” Tyler doesn’t wait around for a reply, he slams my bedroom door on his way out. I growl in annoyance. I want to toss my phone and ignore the email but the truth is, I’m desperate for some sort of connection to her again so I begin reading.

How do you fight the magnetic pull you feel toward three men? You can’t, because they aren’t something you can ever replace. They are a partof your very being, ingrained in your DNA, they are your reason for thriving and wanting more. I was never anything special in my small hometown. I didn’t have the courage to chase my dreams or wants until I met my best friend who showed me it doesn’t matter what your family thinks of your choices.

I left my town and enrolled in college. I thought that was as exciting as my life would get until I met a man online who set my blood on fire. He listened and heard everything I said. Never did he judge me for my choices. He was a stranger who showed me more compassion than my own family. I never thought we would actually meet until we did…

That moment didn’t go as I pictured it would.

I snort out a laugh at the memory of her fainting in my arms and carrying her inside.

Not only did I meet the man who started helping me see I was worth more than my family had me believe I was worth, but I met his sons. Instant attraction doesn’t seem like the right word. The three of them set me ablaze and forced me to embrace who I truly am.

Over Thanksgiving break I fell in love with not just one man but three.

My breath hitches as I reread the line three times, letting her words sink in. Hope begins to bloom inside me. I try to fight it but now that it’s burning to life inside me, I have no choice but to allow it to consume me.

Not only did I fall in love with them, I fell in love with their place. I see a life here for the four of us. I want nothing more than to explore them and this place but I know I can’t have my dream and them.

I hate that I have to choose because I want them with every fiber of my being. I want the life I know I can have with my guys in the mountains. God, I want it more than anything in this world, but if I give in and stay, I lose my dream.

If I ever get the courage to share this essay with them, I would tell them that I love them and wish more than anything that I could stay. I hate that I have to leave them in the mountains while I go back to the city. I’ll never move on from them, I’m not who I used to be and that’s because of the three of them. That they helped me see I’m worth more than some small town and that I can be more than I was raised to believe.

Society will judge us but I don’t give up easily and I just hope they will see that?—

I scroll and try to find the rest of the fucking story but there’s nothing. I leap from my bed and rush across the room, then yank the door open, only to slam to a halt at the sight of my dad and brother leaning against the wall across from my room with their arms crossed over their chests.

“Do you see now, Son, that she didn’t choose the city life over you or us? She chose to go back so she could finish what she started because we all showed her she was more than some small town girl. We helped her believe in herself enough that she wanted to go back.”

“I want her back, Dad,” I grit out. A broad smile scratches across his face as he nods.

“Took you long enough, dumbass,” Tyler adds. I shoot the shithead a glare that just makes him laugh.

Dad holds up his car keys and wags his brows. “Road trip?” he asks.

“Fuck yes.”

“Hell yeah,” Tyler and I both say in unison. The three of us all rush down the stairs. I side step Dad’s mattress that’s still in the living room as I grab my coat off the sofa and shrug it on.

“Are we expecting anyone?” Dad asks, drawing both mine and Tyler’s attention toward the front of the house. I stalk across the room and peer out the front window to see headlights coming down the driveway. That bud of hope that was burning inside me is now a raging inferno. Tyler throws the front door open and steps out onto the porch with Dad and I hot on his heels.

I squint my eyes, trying to get a better look at the car, but it’s too fucking dark. When the car finally comes to a stop in front of us, the hope inside me dies. It’s not her car. When the driver steps out, my brows slam together in surprise.

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