Page 38 of Cruel Alpha

“It’s nothing,” I attempted, but Julia was having none of it.

“It’s definitely something. I didn’t wanna push you, but I heard through the grapevine that the guys knocked some sense into him about the kids.”

So that was how Caleb found out—I had been wondering.

“Which of them’s on your payroll?” I teased, and Julia mimed zipping her mouth shut.

“That would be telling,” she said. “I assume he came over to beg for forgiveness?”

“He did,” I confirmed. “Two days ago.”

That earned me a playful smack on my thigh.

“Two days ago? And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“I just—I don’t know,” I admitted. “I felt like if I told someone, then I’d suddenly realize it had all just been a dream. Like it would stop being real.” It was a stupid fear and completely illogical, but the whole thing felt too good to be true.

“Well, it’s real,” Julia confirmed. “What happened?”

That was a much less simple question than she realized, but I supposed I should just start from the beginning.

“He came over, looking like he’d fallen off a cliff—”

“Leo beat the shit out of him,” Julia interjected, stopping me short.

“Really? Why?”

“Because Argent has better sex ed than we do, and Leo has daddy issues, it’s a whole thing. Continue.”

I definitely wanted the rest of that information out of her at some point, but I was in the hot seat now, and now the opportunity was before me; I needed to get this off my chest.

“Right,” I continued. “So he asked me if he was the twins’ father and I said I’d already told him he was and—well, it took a hot minute, but he came around. He apologized. Promised to make it up to me.”

I hoped she would let me leave it there and move on to Caleb’s visit today, but I had no such luck.

“And?” she prompted.

“And what?”

“Oh, come on. You’re beet red right now,” Julia said, and then her eyes widened. “Oh my god. Did you…?”

I wasn’t going to deny it, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to admit it, either.

“Maybe,” I said, unable to look her in the eye. Julia was quiet for a few moments, then she said,

“Wait—where were the twins at this point?”

“Napping.”

“Napping,” Julia repeated. “In your bed.”

“Yeah.” I knew exactly where this was headed, and I’d been banking on Julia really not wanting to know.

“So where did you…” Julia looked down at the couch we were both curled up on, a look of horror dawning on her face. I rushed to reassure her.

“No, no, no. It’s fine, you’re fine.”

“I am not fine,” Julia insisted. “Where?”

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