Page 42 of Zac

“Yeah.” Jace nods moving his body around mine. “That guy isn’t stable, Zac,” he says pausing at my side. “It was pretty obvious he was on something. I can’t force it, it’s not really my place, but she doesn’t need to be alone in that apartment. Grant was seconds from snapping, I’m just glad I showed up when I did.”

He walks away leaving me feeling sick to my stomach. What could have happened had Jace not shown up isn’t something I want to imagine.

As I make my way to her car and open up the passenger door, she doesn’t even turn to look at me. Instead she is focused on her lap, where she twists her hands nervously. Once I’m inside and the door is closed we sit in silence for a few minutes before either of us speak.

And when she starts, I force myself to listen, even though there are a million things I want to say.

“I wasn’t always such a mess.” She takes a deep breath, continuing to focus on her lap. “I had plans.” Presley shrugs. “Goals and so many dreams. I wanted to be so much more than my father ever made me feel I could be. I wanted more than anything to prove him wrong.”

I’ve never wanted to take her into my arms and hold her close more than in this moment. Presley isn’t one to admit defeat, but I can see it in her. She seems so small, her body frail, almost like she is attempting to hide.

“When I met Grant he made me feel like I could be anything. He encouraged me and said all the right things. Until he knew he had me brainwashed, believing he was on my side. Then one day it was like a switch had been flipped and the nice, protective guy was gone. He quickly became someone I didn’t know. A completely new version of himself, one I hated, and yes, feared.”

I fist my hands, trying to hold myself together.

“I’d just had Grayson and was still trying to heal and figure things out. I came home, trying to juggle a baby and an armful of groceries. I never expected to walk in and find him with another woman in the middle of the living room.”

What the fuck?

“I reacted. All the emotional stress, the lack of sleep, and just being fed up, all of it hit me at once. I snapped and well,” she finally looks up at me, “he snapped too.”

Reaching out I place my hand over hers and am thankful she doesn’t pull away.

“I know Aurora knows something big happened.” Presley turns her head once more staring off at nothing in particular. She was lost in thought. “But she never asked any questions. It was the middle of the night and I showed up on her doorstep with a baby. She just opened her door and stepped aside so I could enter. She made me feel in that moment like everything was going to be okay and she never even spoke a word.”

I wanted to break something and cuddle up with her all at the same time. How could anyone hurt her? How could any man hurt a woman? I could barely stomach the idea of anyone hurting Presley or Gray for that matter.

Things may be a mess, but in my heart I felt like the two of them were already mine and had been for months. I’m in love with the idea of them. In love with their smiles, their laughter, in love with everything about them both.

I want more.

So much more.

“But Aurora has always been like that. Her own life could be falling apart, the ground crumbling under her feet, but you’d never know.”

When she looks back up at me, it’s the first time I see that tough exterior crack.

“I’m so tired, Zac.” Her lower lip trembles. “I’m tired of pretending to be unaffected and unbreakable. I’m tired of being scared to fall apart.”

It’s then I reach out and wrap my arms around her. “Break, baby,” I whisper near her ear. “I’m here, ready to hold you up. We all need to fall apart, and it doesn’t for a second mean you aren’t strong. Pres, you are one of the strongest people I have ever met, what you’ve put up with, what you’ve fought through. But it’s time for you to stop fighting so hard and share the weight. I want that, and I’m not him.”

“I know,” her voice shakes with emotions, “but you scare me, Zac.”

“Why do I scare you?”

“Because you make me want to knock down all the walls I’ve spent so long building. I said I’d never give another person the chance to break me. Yet, here you are, threatening to do just that.”

“I don’t want to break you, Presley. I want the complete opposite, I want to give you every reason to feel confident, I want you to know without a doubt in your mind that you have me, and nothing can change that. Breaking you would destroy me, but you have to trust me.”

She turns her head, burrowing into the crook of my neck. Her heated breath fans out over my chest.

“I can’t promise I won’t be difficult.”

“I never expected this to be easy.” I smile, pressing a kiss to her temple. “But I know what I’m getting myself into.”

“Do you?”

“I do,” I assure her. “We may have started out unplanned, but nothing in my life has ever felt so right. We are building something here.” I lean back, doing my best to get a clear view of her face. “I don’t just want this baby, Presley, I also want you and I want Grayson. I knew that the first night I had you both under my roof.”

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