Page 54 of Secret Baby Daddies
“Before I ended up in the system I was in what was supposed to be the perfect family. I don’t remember much about my parents but from what I’ve found online about them, they were loved by everyone. My dad was a preacher in a small church and my mom was the church secretary. They were married and decided to start a family. There was even an article in the local paper when they had me.” He rubbed his hands down his thighs and took a deep breath. “They were teaching members of their church how to parent. All the while stealing every bit of the tithing money for pills. They’d get high and fight like hell. I remember the fighting. That’s what I remember. The never-ending screaming matches that turned violent. The sound of flesh hitting flesh. And eventually the feeling of getting hit.”
I scooted closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“I’m so sorry, Luc.”
“I’m okay, little bunny. Come here.” He pulled me into his lap so I was straddling him and pressed my head down to his shoulder. “I just want to hold you right now.”
I sniffed as my tears dripped onto his neck.
“How did you get away from there?”
“The money ran out. My parents knew their grift was up and ran. It took a couple of days for one of the church deacons to find me alone in the house. I was four and I’d been taking care of myself for long enough that I was doing fine without them, I guess. Nevertheless, they took me to the cops and the cops handed me over to child protective services.” His grip grew tighter. “How ready you are on paper to have a kid means nothing, Harley. My parents had everything going for them. They were teaching parenting classes, for fucks sake. You being worried about being a good parent is reason enough for me to trust you with our children.”
“What happened after that, Luc?” I had a feeling I didn’t actually want to know but I had to. I had to know what he’d gone through.
“The foster system wasn’t great. I was in a small town and no one wanted the kid of the druggie grifters. I was bounced around between a lot of people who didn’t want me and made sure to let me know they didn’t want me. Finally, a group home in the city had a spot for me so I was shipped to Dallas and I was there until Margaret Silver saw me stealing a piece of candy one day.”
“Jace and Mad’s mom?”
“Yeah. She took one look at me and knew I didn’t have a home. I was a rough kid by then and I said more than a few nasty things to her to get her to leave me alone but she didn’t give up. Within the week she had me moving into the ranch house. I never understood it or questioned it but she treated me just like Jace and Mad from the very first day. Which didn’t win me any points with them. Not that I gave a fuck. I was angry and two little rich assholes weren’t about to get away with anything with me. We fought nonstop for the first year.”
I gasped. “No!”
“Yeah. From the time we woke up until the time we went to bed, it was on. There were two of them but I’d been on the streetsfor long enough to know how to fight and to fight dirty.” Luc let out a small laugh. “It still pisses Jace off that he could never beat the shit out of me.”
“I can’t imagine. Y’all are close now, though. Right? Did you grow closer over the years?” I was so interested in everything he was saying that I sat up so I could see every expression on his face.
“I don’t know. Some days I think we’re close and we love each other. Other days I think it’s just because of what their mom did before she died.” His face pinched in anger and he blew out a sharp breath. “She got it in her head the three of us needed to stick together, that wehadto stick together. She changed the will and leftmethe family company. I’d been working my way up already but she just left it to me. She left the home and the ranch to Maddox and the land to Jace.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she made it so we had to stick together. Maddox can’t run the ranch without Jace letting him use the land. He can’t even live in the house without Jace giving him permission to cross the land. Jace can’t run the ranch he loves without doing itwithMad. And none of it works without the company. Before we expanded it, the company solely controlled the distribution and business operations of the ranch. Without me, they lost everything. Without them, I lost everything. She made goddamn sure we were locked together for life. There’s not an inch of wiggle room in the will. If any of us want out, we have to walk away from everything forever.”
“That’s…that’s either the most diabolical thing I’ve ever heard or the sweetest. She wanted y’all to stick together.”
“Yeah, well, she almost blew up everything. Jace and Mad couldn’t understand how Margaret could leave me the company. They were furious. It’d been their father’s company. She’d handed it over to the orphan she brought in and treated just asgood as them. We’d all been getting along okay before then. We didn’t really talk but we were cordial. They hated me after the will came out. They were so angry they convinced themselves I’d tricked her into changing the will.”
“Those jackasses. You would never.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” Luc sighed heavily. “That was years ago. We’ve all grown up. They know I didn’t do anything to trick Margaret now. We made our peace with it and we stick together these days. We still fight about everything. Everything except sex. At least before you.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned, thinking he meant that since me they no longer got along during sex, either.
“Now we agree about you. We all chose you from the beginning. Not just for sex, either. We were all interested. That’s never happened before. It was easy to agree on a random woman to fuck but we never once agreed about keeping one around for more than a night. Literally everything but the sex was a fight.”
I scowled.
“I could do without hearing about the other women.”
“What other women, little bunny? I haven’t thought about anyone else since the first night. There’s something just…rightabout you. We all feel it. We all want you. It’s a need I don’t think any of us ever felt before you. It doesn’t make any sense to feel this way so soon but it is what it is and I’m not going to try to change it.” He took a deep breath. “As much as I want you for you and for the things you let me do to your perfect body, I can’t deny I haven’t loved the way you’ve changed our lives for the better. You’ve made dealing with my brothers tolerable. A woman strong enough to deal with us is a woman strong enough to raise a kid or seven. You’re going to be a great mom, Harley. I’m not worried about that at all.”
A shiver of desire worked through me.
“You mean that.”
“Fuck, yeah, I mean it.” He smiled and cupped each side of my neck. “You don’t need to know the size of the baby or what’s currently growing. I’ve got that. And for the record, knowing that doesn’t make me a good mother.”
I giggled and thumped his shoulder. My heart felt lighter as I rested my head on his chest and watched the skaters land a few decent tricks.
