Page 15 of Winning Brynn

One day, I was a single guy with no responsibilities other than playing soccer and sucking down shots from between random women's tits. The next, a father.

I didn't know Salem existed until the moment her mother's lawyer knocked on the door with legal documents in one hand and a baby in the other, totally unfazed as they blew up my entire fucking world.

I wasn't ready to be a dad.

But I didn't have a choice.

And on the nights when my new reality grew to be too much, when Salem would scream and nothing I did would calm her down, when I couldn't sleep for more than an hour at a time between feeds...I would look at her. This tiny soul with eyes the color of the clearest ocean. So tiny, so delicate. One look, and it reminded me why I kept going.

I wasn't ready for her. Yet she is the very best thing to ever happen to me.

"Me and you always, baby girl," I whisper. "I've got you, and you've got me."

And it's with those words that I know what I have to do.

Nothing will ever be more important than my daughter. And regardless of how uncomfortable it makes me, I have to do what's right for her.

My pride be damned.

"Daddy Sully and the bros" group chat

Roman:Yo, Sully? Where you at?

Alex:He’s probably fallen asleep putting Say Say down.

Roman:Eh. More pizza for us.

Alex:And we can keep talking shit about him.

Alex:Best believe we've got a lot to say.

Chapter Six

Brynn

"I don't get it.Why does he hate you so much?" Isabella, one of my closest girlfriends, scrunches her face in confusion.

Crossing my legs underneath me on the bed, I hold the phone in front of my face and cringe. "Because I blocked his car one time for, like, five minutes."

"That doesn't seem like such a big deal."

"Well, he was late to a meeting, and there were probably spaces free, but Starbucks was closing, and I needed to put up a story about their new drink for a sponsored post."

"Dude." Issy pulls a face.

"What?"

She shakes her head with amusement. "You're such a fucking diva."

She’s always been the quiet one out of the both of us, more reserved than I ever could be, and a much-needed complement to my wild, somewhat erratic nature.

We met last year in Bali while I was out there shooting a social media campaign for an e-commerce swimsuit brand. We’d been working alongside each other as models, but I hadn’t known then that she actually lived out there, in a little ramshackle cabin on the beach. Her income came mostly from her own online profiles, like me, but she picked up the occasional modeling campaign whenever one was being shot locally.

We’d bonded over a shared love of romantic period dramas and Mai Tai cocktails.

I stick my tongue out at her through the phone screen. “Yeah, but you love me.”

“Sometimes.” She shrugs with a giggle. "Anyway, back to your brother's friend..."

---