26. Jace

Jesus.

He was seriously going to kill Zane. The man had no filter. But at the same time, after hearing the way Ruby’s parents treated her growing up, he also wanted nothing more than to move her into their house so they could coddle and care for her in a way she’d never experienced. But it was too soon for that, and Zane just had to open his big fat mouth.

“Zane,” he hissed.

Zane looked up at him with questioning eyes as though he had no idea what he’d just done.

“What?”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Jace scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Do you not want me to move in with you, Daddy?” Ruby asked quietly.

Huh?

Reaching over, he patted her thigh and squeezed gently. “Baby girl, if it were up to me, you would never leave our sight. But we don’t want to rush you or scare you.”

“I don’t mind rushing you,” Zane cut in.

Looking at his friend incredulously, Jace shook his head. “Zane doesn’t mind rushing you but neither of us want you to do something you’re not ready for. We’re all still getting to know each other.”

Her bottom lip trembled so slightly that if he weren’t studying her so closely, he would have missed it. Reaching over, he lifted her from Zane’s lap and snuggled her on his own.

“Baby, we know you’re ours and we don’t ever want to let you go. I would move you in tomorrow if you wanted to. But I also want you to be sure that you’re ours,” Jace explained.

Leaning her head against his chest, she nodded and brought her thumb up to her mouth. Before she could start sucking on it, Zane grabbed a pacifier from the side table and popped it into her mouth as Jace started rocking her.

“How about this? We don’t make any decisions tonight. It’s late. We’re all tired. But you need to know that if you decided to stay here and never leave, we would be two very happy Daddies. But if you still need your independence away from us until we all settle into this relationship more, we would respect that and still make it work. Okay?” Jace asked.

She nodded again and sighed contentedly, twisting her fingers in his shirt until she drifted off to sleep in his arms.

“I want to shake her parents until their heads pop off,” Zane said as they sat at their desks at The Playground.

Ruby had gone home before they came to the club. She was expecting a video call from her parents that evening and didn’t want to be at the club and have to explain where she was to them.

Both Jace and Zane hated that they couldn’t be there with her when she spoke to the people who were supposed to love and care for her. They sounded like terrible people and Jace felt terrible for what he’d initially thought when he’d seen her SUV. He’d figured she was some spoiled rich girl who lived a lavishly spoiled life and that’s why she was such a brat.

She was a rich girl and she had lavish material items, but those weren’t the things that were important to her. They weren’t the things she really wanted. He’d come to realize her acting out was a way she knew she would get attention. They would just need to teach their little girl that she didn’t need to act out to get their attention. She just needed to ask and they would happily give her as much of it as she wanted.

“She looked so sad and lost when she left our house. I hate that just the idea of talking to her parents made her feel that way. What the hell do they even need to talk to her about?” Jace asked.

Zane shrugged as he scowled at his phone. They were both waiting for her to text them to let them know she was done with her video call and then they were going to see if they could pick her up from her apartment and bring her home with them again. Jace had a feeling she might need some extra affection and care after dealing with her egg and sperm donors.

“Maybe we should go over there,” Zane said.

Yeah, because it wouldn’t be at all awkward for Ruby to have to explain to her prim and proper parents why two men were in her apartment. Not that Jace gave a shit what they thought, but he had a feeling they would give Ruby hell for it and he wouldn’t be able to just sit by and listen to them say nasty things to her about her relationship or life choices. They hadn’t really even raised her. They shouldn’t get a say in how she lived her life.

“She’ll text us. We need to give her space. I know you don’t know what that means so you might need to look it up in the dictionary,” Jace told him.

Zane’s scowl turned toward him and he grinned when his friend flipped him off.

“She’s different than any of the others,” Zane said quietly as he flipped his pen between his fingers.

Letting out a sigh, Jace nodded. “I know. She’s the one. I feel it, too. I’m in love with her, Z. I know it’s crazy to say that but I am. She’s so lost and sad but at the same time she’s playful and sweet and she lights up everything inside me.”

His friend grinned. “I love her, too. I love her so fucking much and it scares the shit out of me, but at the same time, I feel alive for the first time in years.”

“Are you saying I wasn’t enough to keep you feeling alive?” Jace asked playfully.

Waggling his eyebrows, Zane tilted his head. “No offense, bro, but your ass isn’t nearly as cute as hers, and you’re not even close to being as sweet as she is. Besides, you probably suck at giving head.”

Throwing his head back, Jace burst out laughing. Sometimes Zane could be so weird and off the wall and it was one of the reasons they were best friends. They balanced each other’s idiosyncrasies.

By the time he got his laughing under control, he practically had tears coming out of his eyes.

“You’re fucking crazy, dude. Come on, let’s go do some rounds out in the club to keep ourselves busy so we don’t drive ourselves insane waiting to hear from our girl,” Jace said.

Zane stood but grumbled under his breath. “I still think we should just go over there.”

Yeah, he needed to keep his friend busy because it was only a matter of time before Zane actually did show up at her apartment.

“Love you, man,” Jace said, slapping Zane on the back as they walked out of the office.

“I love you too, bro,” Zane said with a warm smile.

Now they just needed to show their little girl how much they loved her.