Page 69 of Bully's Second Chance
“All right, all right,” the nurse said as she opened the door, “the two of you are going to have to cut that out. Her heart rate can’t handle such a skyrocket right now. She needs to rest.”
I giggled as Jax pulled back. “Stopping now, nurse.”
“Uh-huh.”
Then, after the nurse closed the door, Jax climbed out of bed and pulled up a chair beside me. I rolled onto my side, keeping him in view as he took my hand within his. He slid his free hand beneath the blankets and pressed his palm against my belly button.
“I know you can’t hear me right now, little one, but it’s Daddy. You got a great Mommy who’s going to take really good care of you for the next little while. But, once you come out, you’re just gonna have to deal with how overprotective I am of you, okay?”
I blinked back tears. “Right.”
He leaned forward and kissed my tummy through the blankets. “We’ve already lost your sibling, and I’m not going to lose you. So, forgive me now for the parameters I might put around you. Just know that I already love you, and I already cherish you, and I’m going to make sure you have the absolute best start in life possible.”
My lower lip quivered. “Exactly.”
Jax’s eyes met my own before he smiled. “And your Mommy? She’s going to make sure you’re raised with the right morals. She’s always going to fight for you, no matter what. So, don’t screw it up because her tongue is sharp when you piss her off.”
I scolded him softly. “We’ll have to watch our language when the baby comes.”
He leaned forward and kissed my stomach again. “All the more reason to get it out now, right, Little Jax?”
I snickered. “I hate to burst the bubble, but it feels like a girl.”
His eyes whipped up to mine. “Really? It does?”
I nodded. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it just feels… wrong to call her a boy.”
I’d never seen such joy and fear on Jax’s face. In fact, I’d never seen the face he just made in my entire life, and that was a hell of a history of faces. His eyes fell back to my stomach before he pushed the covers out of the way and pressed his lips against my bare stomach. And as he pressed soft kisses against my skin, I ran my fingers softly through his hair.
“I’m gonna kill the first boy who breaks your heart, mark my words,” he whispered.
And I knew, then and there, we’d have to revisit the question of me moving in with him.
Because I couldn’t live another second without this beautiful version of Jax at my side.
Epilogue
Jax
Three Years Later
“Ge-me, Daddy! Ge-me!”
“Here I come, princess. Watch out!”
“Oh, nooooooo!”
Little Angel came zooming around the corner in her electric Barbie Doll SUV, giggling up a storm with her brown curls bouncing all around her while she belly-laughed. I took a few steps back toward the stairs, filming the whole thing as she giggled profusely to herself.
And when I saw Jax come around the corner on her trike trying to chase her down, I fell apart, cackling.
“Daddy can-ge-me!” Angel exclaimed.
Jax leaned forward, his ass almost swallowing the trike seat. “You better run! The tickle monster is right behind you!”
“No!” she shrieked.
I cupped my hand over my mouth to keep filming so that I could actually hear them on the video whenever I played it back. I always watched their videos at night after they had both gone to bed. They warmed my heart and settled my soul whenever I started grieving over the loss of her twin sibling. There were days when Angel seemed to be looking around for someone as if she knew there was someone who was supposed to be there with her who wasn’t.
