Page 81 of My Boss's Sons

“I didn’t mean to scare you… I’m sorry. I just needed to talk to you, Sophia. Please.”

Mr. Jimmy appeared behind Gerald and he started whacking Gerald with his cane. “Get out of here! The lady said go! I know who you are, you old pervert!”

Gerald stumbled back into the yard and held up his hands again. “Stop! I just need you to tell the guys I’ve changed! Please, Sophia. Tell them I apologized and that I’m sorry. Tell them they can forgive me.”

“Excuse me, Soph.” Milo eased past me and stood in front of me with one of his biggest chainsaws in his hands. “We all know who you are around here and you’d better leave.”

“They took everything from me! I’ve got nothing. I took a cab to get here. Please, Sophia!” Gerald went to his knees and began openly weeping. “Tell them to help me.”

I wrapped my arm around Mr. Jimmy and directed him inside. Gently pulling Milo with us, I shook my head at Gerald. “Look at yourself. You’re not sorry, you’re just broke. If you come back here, I’ll press charges and testify to everything you’ve ever done to me. Do you understand me?”

“Sophia, please…”

I slammed the door shut and locked it. Milo put his chainsaw down and jogged to the back of the house. I heard him telling Ava and Lily to get inside and panicked at the idea of Gerald going around the house.

Mr. Jimmy squeezed my hand. “Milo’s getting them in, sweetheart. Everything’s okay.”

We all spent the rest of the day in the living room with the curtains drawn, having what we told Lily was an epic movie day. I held Jasper to my chest the entire time and tried to focus on anything but the way my hands still shook.

The sun had finally set when Ava gasped out of nowhere. “Look at what Jack just sent me!”

I glared at her for scaring me when my heart rate had just gone back to normal. “Jesus, Ava.”

She waved me off. “Save your drama. Look at this! Jack has been stalking the guys’ social media, of course, and Alex just made a public post for the first time in…ever, maybe?”

I turned my face away. “No, Ava. I don’t want to see it.”

“Shut up and look, Soph.” She shoved her phone in my face and squealed. “Push play!”

I pushed her away and watched as a silent clip started to play. Alex’s bare chest appeared in the frame and my breath caught.

“I know! Milo is about to have to get tatted up for me.”

Ignoring Ava, I watched closer. Alex’s face came into the frame when he bent forward to get something, but then it was just a video of his chest and his hands with a tattoo gun in one of them. I held my breath as I watched him tattoo something over his heart in the one mostly blank space there was.

“It’s your name!” Ava gasped again and jumped up and down. “It’s your fucking name, Sophia!”

My eyes widened and I skipped to the end of the video to see my name in perfect script over his heart. Just before the video cut off, the camera moved over two more freshly tattooed chests. Ethan and Noah. My name was tattooed over each of their hearts.

“It’s romantic! I mean, it’s not traditional, but neither are you! If you don’t see how much they care about you now, Sophia, you’re insane.” Ava grabbed Lily’s hands and they danced in place. “Tell Mommy to forgive and forget, Lily.”

Anger overpowered my self-preservation. I stood up and stumbled through the dark living room. I shoved my feet into the first shoes that fit and grabbed my keys.

“Yay! Mom’s going to get her groove back, again!”

I glared at Ava. “They can’t do that! They can’t just mark themselves like that.”

She let out a loud groan. “Oh, my god! You’re insane.”

“Be careful!” Milo called out just before I slammed the door shut behind me.

It was unfathomable that they would tattoo my name on their bodies. That was the craziest thing I’d ever seen. We weren’teven together. Did they think that I’d see that and take them back? I was going to burst their bubbles if they did.

65

***Alex***

“There’s a guest here to see you, sir.”

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