Page 55 of Broken

needed to cry a little is all. Are those all your prize tickets?"

She amazed me with how quickly she recovered and assured Aine things were fine. I thought back to all the times my own mom did that. My parents rarely fought, but they weren't perfect. Even now, after his death, she didn't let us see her cry, my mom had always been strong for us, and Sin was the same way with Aine.

"You and your mom should go cash them in. Maybe she can help you pick the best prize. She chose the best prizes when we were kids." I smiled at Sin; they needed their time together as much as I needed time with both of them.

I stood up to let Sinclair out of the booth, and Aine didn't hesitate to hug me. "Thank you so much..." She stopped mid-sentence, the look on her face blank, questioning.

"You can call me Kai if you're not comfortable calling me dad yet."

"Can I call you dad?" Her eyes were big, her smile bigger. She started up at me with so much love for someone who just met me.

I turned to Sin, panic and pain lingered on her features. I didn't know how I was going to fix this for all of us, but I needed to find a way.

The second Aine set eyes on her mother, the panicked expression disappeared. She was all smiles and love. "Mom, can I call him dad?"

"Of course, honey, he's your dad. Let's go cash in those tickets" Sin slid out of her seat, ready to lead her daughter to the prize counter. I reached for her hand stopping her for a minute.

"I love you, my sweet Sin," I whispered; my eyes glued to the two of them as they walked away hand in hand. God, I loved that woman. She broke my heart, more times than I could count. She’s left me broken every chance she's had, but I couldn't help myself, I was in love with Sinclair Grant, and I always would be.

Aine picked a purple octopus as her prize. She had enough tickets left for a ring pop and some Pixie Stix candies. She thanked me with another hug, and we made plans for me to come over and swim with her at their apartment tomorrow.

I hugged them both and told Sin we needed to sit and talk soon, but I wanted things to be okay between us. She nodded and they left me to walk back to my hotel.

I was impressed with how bright and happy Aine seemed. It was no surprise, considering Sin had been raising her alone all these years. Sin was bright and incredible, smart and loving. She was a great mother who had obviously sacrificed a lot for her daughter.

It brought up my anger to think about how much Sin had to sacrifice, raising Aine alone. If only she had told me. Why the fuck didn't she tell me? Why did she think she would hurt me, ruin me?

I reminded myself of my own mother's advice, she had reasons, that possibly the years of abuse and neglect from her parents pushed her to make the choices she made.

It still hurt and still made me want to punch something. Angry tears fell down my cheeks. I wanted a relationship with my daughter, I wanted to be there during the challenging times. I wanted to comfort Sin, love her, and hold her, and she took that from me. She took nights like tonight away from me.

I still didn't find out her last name. This was absolute bullshit. I wanted to yell at Sin, I wanted to fight with her, I wanted her to yell at me back. Fuck, she could slap me, and I would take it. Anything but the defeated, broken person I saw today.

The thought of yelling at Sin and her slapping me made me partially hard. Fucking hell, I wasn't into that kind of kink, but the passion in her, the fight. It hid somewhere inside her, and I wanted nothing more than to bring the fire and passion out in her.

I'd get over my anger and hurt, but I was nothing without Sinclair in my life, and now that I've met Aine, she was the second half of my heart.

I pulled out my phone and sent Sin a text:What's her last name?

Sin:Grant. But we can change her last name if you want. I'm sorry Kai.

Her immediate reply shocked me.

Me:Meet me, Sin. Just the two of us. Tonight.

This time though, her text didn't come through right away. She didn't reply at all. After waiting a couple of minutes, I put my phone back in my pocket and walked the rest of the way to my hotel room.

I would win Sin back, I was going to be the best father possible to

Aine, and I would give up everything to make it happen.

twenty-nine

Sinclair

Fuck.Kaiwantstosee me, again. My heart pounded in my chest as I stared at his text. What was I going to fucking do? We were still sitting in the car near Great Shakes. I never drove when I felt a panic attack coming on, and I'd been fighting one since we sat down to drink our milkshakes.

I couldn't believe Kai knew what shake to order for me. It had been so long, and he still remembered how much I loved anything cherry flavored. He ordered the same thing for him and Aine, I thought it a little odd, but not surprised when I realized they shared a love of blueberries.

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