Page 65 of Bully's Second Chance
He snickered. “Yuslan. Just call me Yuslan.”
I walked over and sat back down in my chair. “Thank you for giving her the family she never had, Yuslan.”
He smoothed some hair away from her forehead. “It’s been my pleasure from the start. Our pleasure, really.”
I sighed. “Makes me jealous, though. It kind of shows me what I missed out on while I was growing up.”
“Well, then you know what to give your child when the time is right.”
His words hit hard. “I don’t even know if she’s going to want to keep the child. We never—I mean, the conversation never—”
But, my words only made him bark with laughter. “One thing you’ll learn very quickly about my Lily is that she’s only ever wanted two things out of her life: she wants to build her own business, and she wants to have her own children.”
I blinked. “What kind of business does she want to own one of these days?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Her passion’s never been with one particular industry. But, her passion has always been standing on her own two feet and allowing no one to own a particular piece of her life. Better get used to that now.”
I chuckled. “I’d never want to own her. I’d only want to give her the tools she needs in order to achieve whatever it is that she wants.”
And that made him look over at me. “I’m choosing to trust you with one of the most precious women in my life.”
I nodded. “I know.”
He stared me down. “Don’t give me a reason to hunt you down.”
“I won’t, Yuslan. You have my word. Whatever Lily wants, she’ll get. And our child, even if things don’t work out between us, will never know what it’s like to wish for a parent to be around because I’m never abandoning them. Ever.”
His stare fell back down toward Lily’s face. “All right, then. Make sure you can back that up with actions.”
I knew there was nothing I could say to comfort him, so I continued to open up. “You know, I can sympathize with wanting nothing more than to stand on my own two feet. I know what it’s like not to want to depend on anyone for anything because you’re afraid they might leave. Watching my mother leave when I was a child affected me more than I wanted to admit.”
“I’m sorry for what you experienced as a child.”
I shrugged. “It’s not your fault. I just want you to know that I actually, really, truly understand what that feels like, and I won’t ever put my own child through it.”
He sighed. “Then, promise me you’re going to take care of them.”
“You have my word.”
But, he lifted his eyes and pinned me to my seat with his stare. “Look me in my eyes and promise me, as a man, that you’ll never abandon them. Even if she wants you gone. Even if she kicks you out. Promise me you’ll make sure they’ll always have what they need.”
I smiled. “Yuslan, that’s the one thing I can promise in its entirety.”
His watery stare dropped back to Lily’s sleeping face. “Good.”
And as he leaned down to kiss her, I prayed Lily was sounder in mind and body by the time the sun started to rise.
She and I had a mountain of information to talk about.
24
Lily
Ihad no idea how long Yuslan and Jax had been talking, but I didn’t want to interrupt. When I came to, they seemed to be deep in discussion, and I didn’t want to disturb them. But, Jax’s promise that he made to Yuslan was so beautiful, and it tugged at my heartstring so much that I simply had to know if he was telling the truth.
So, I inched my eyes open. “Do you mean that?”
Yuslan gasped. “Princesa. Oh, my word. You’re awake. You need to sleep,mi hija. It’s still the middle of the night.”
