Chapter 6

Jayden

M y phone blares from the kitchen counter of the new apartment, and I hurry out of the bedroom where we're setting up Liam's bed to answer it. A couple of the guys thought I was out of my mind, moving out of the dorms and in with a girl, let alone one that had a kid. At least until they saw the photos of Liam, realized he's mine, along with getting a real look at Lucy. She's gorgeous even with no makeup on, her hair twisted up on the back of her head and wearing a comfy t-shirt and leggings. There's no pretense with her and I love it.

I take in the local number and answer, smiling when it's the delivery driver with the new bed, mattress, nightstand, and dresser which will go in the living room to hold anything that won't fit in the closet as well as the TV I'm ordering. That has me sending the guys upstairs to get started on moving the boxes, all of the big furniture is down here, so it'll just be the smaller stuff to deal with now.

The delivery men are bringing the mattress in when Lucy comes our way with a box, her brow lifting in surprise and I take the box, dropping a kiss onto her sweet lips, telling her a slight fib. "I saw it online yesterday and they had an opening to deliver today. I thought it worked out perfectly, and I also ordered some sheets and stuff online that should be delivered today, since it's not the normal size."

"Not the normal…what is it then and will it even fit?" Lucy asks, and I drop another kiss onto her lips confirming it will. I knew that much already with seeing the space on Monday and ordering the furniture on Tuesday after I already signed the lease for this place. I wasn't sure how long it would take to get Lucy on board with it, but when the manager agreed to let her switch her lease to be on mine instead of making her pay to break hers, I hoped she'd say yes. I just couldn't imagine sleeping on her couch forever and if nothing else, maybe could get her to come stay with me now and then until she was ready to move in, agreeable to letting me break her lease for her.

"It's a California King, so it's just a little smaller width wise than a normal king size, but it's a few inches longer than one. I usually end up sleeping diagonally on even a queen bed, so those four inches are worth it. It's only like six inches wider than than what your twin and the toddler bed together were, and this room is just a hint bigger, so it'll fit."

"I might get lost in it," she teases.

I lower my face to hers, promising in return, "I'll always come looking for you."

Her eyes twinkle and between all of us, it doesn't take long to get the rest of the stuff down to the new place. We can take our time putting it all up, being in here is the main thing.

The package with the new bedding arrives just as I'm giving the guys some cash to go get a pizza to get out of our hair, and I don't even argue when Lucy wants to run them through the washer first. We grab up the waiting baskets along with the new sheets before going to get Liam. Lucy normally uses the machines in the laundry room, but I steer us towards a laundromat that will do the loads for us and take them over to the store to get some decorations for Liam's room as we promised.

"I've got it," Lucy says when we're at the register, but I shake my head no. She lets out a little sigh and I lift her chin, giving her a soft kiss making her blush.

She's not used to PDA but there's no way I'm not going to kiss her whenever the mood strikes. I wouldn't be able to resist kissing her and Liam at least looks like he's good with me kissing his mama now. "I have two and a half years to make up for, times when you were the only one buying what he needed, especially when we're talking about diapers and formula and the tons of baby clothes."

"I didn't use that much formula," Lucy tells me as we're headed out of the store and I swear, my head buzzed for a minute there.

"You nursed him?" I ask, not shocked that Lucy would do that, just that she'd been able to with school and work. The time that must have taken to have enough to cover Liam at daycare makes me love her more.

"Primarily. I didn't think I'd be able to manage it, but it came really easy, and we loved it."

"You're amazing. I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you, but from now on, whatever you need, whatever Liam needs, I'm here for you both," I promise, kissing the top of her head as we make our way back towards the laundromat to pick up our stuff.

"We've always managed to get by. It's not money that matters to us, Jayden, so please don't go overboard, okay?" she says, and I hold her gaze smiling at the sincerity that's there.

"You know how Mom and Dad were with us. They always gave us an allowance, and I ended up using Joel's old car, so I didn't have to pay anything for it. That alone would give me plenty to get by on until I get my trust, but I also had a job for the last three years," I add, smiling at the surprise in her eyes at that news.

"Why? I mean, your parents never made Jessa get one and she definitely went through her allowance a lot faster than you ever did."

"True, and they didn't make me. I needed something to do with my free time though because I couldn't stand sitting around, pining for the most amazing girl in the world the whole time. The job kept my mind off you while I was working and it also gave me an excuse to pass on parties and dates with girls I felt nothing for," I add, watching the little smile that hits her lips at that news.

"No one questioned it? None of your friends thought it weird you weren't dating all the girls back home?" she asks me and I'm not about to lie to her.

"Some of them thought I was stupid for turning down the offers I got, but I didn't want to date any of them, not even to take them to a school dance. I wanted you so they would have been poor substitutes, especially after experiencing the real deal with you, baby. I didn't date anyone, didn't take a single girl to any of the dances. The only ones I ever attended was with a group of the guys and I never danced with any of the girls at them either," I add, lifting her face towards mine. "You're platinum, they're aluminum."

That pulls a laugh from the slightly dorky science girl inside her that I love, and she lifts up, giving me the first kiss initiated by her in public, sealing my soul entirely as hers.

"You never told anyone what happened between us?" Lucy asks as we're almost to the laundromat.

"Not about what happened. My buddy Will knew I had a massive thing for you since we were in junior high. When I got my acceptance letter to school here, he asked me if I was going to man up and finally ask you out if I saw you again. I told him hell yes, but it wouldn't just be asking you out. I told him if I found you, I was going to make you mine completely, so while he'll be shocked to learn about Liam, but he won't be surprised about our relationship."

"I like that. You're the only one that's ever kissed me other than Liam."

"I like that too, and so you know, I can sleep on the twin bed or even on the couch still, until you're ready for me to at least hold you at night. I don't want you to feel rushed even though moving to the new place kind of was. I know how to be patient, despite how it might have seemed three years ago. When you're ready for more, just let me know and we'll take it from there. And if I need to handle protection, I can. I'll never regret that we made Liam because I didn't think of it, but I don't want to do anything to upset you now," I add loving the flush that hits her cheeks.

"You really mean it, you want this. Me, Liam, us…always," she says, stopping at the corner and I pull her into my arms, nodding. "It's not just a reaction to finding out that Liam exists."

"No, the only thing that Liam does is make me love you more, baby. You could have given him up or not even had him, but you didn't. You kept him and loved him, made him the happiest little boy possible, and it just makes me want all of this even more. Want you even more, Lucy."

"Okay," she says smiling a bit brighter at me and I'm not quite sure what she means by that.

"Okay what?"

"I'm in, all in. You, me, Liam and maybe one day down the road…someone else," she adds, and I swear my knees almost buckle at the thought of filling her with another baby. Being there with her this time and god I want it more than I want to breathe.

"Someone else?" I state, a bit dumbly I admit, but I just can't get the idea of her pregnant out of my mind.

"If you'd want. Liam might be a little older than a new baby might be, but Joel's six years older than Jessa and me and it wasn't that big of a difference, was it? Another three years, you'd be almost done with school, Liam would be in school…" Her voice trails off, her eyes a bit cautious and it jars me out of my dumbness fast.

"Baby, believe me, I'd gladly take you home and put another baby in you right now if you'd let me. You tell me when you want another baby and I'll eagerly help you every chance I can to make it happen. I want it all with you, Luce. Marriage, kids…yes, we have Liam and I adore him, but I'd love to be with you the whole time you're pregnant, watch you nurse our baby," I assure her. "If anyone says shit about it, that we're too young, I'll tell them to take a flying leap off a very tall building and burn in hell, because you are everything to me and that's never going to change."

"I want it too, Jayden, and I mean it, I'm all in," Lucy says slipping further into my hold with a smile at me that wakes my body fast. "Marriage included. Having Liam…changed me. Made me stronger, admit to things that I wanted. I was just scared of what might happen if I admitted some of them out loud, worried that this was all too much, too fast for you when you found out, but it's what I want, and you're included in that…and I mean that in every way."

"Luce…"

"Maybe we can look into what we'd need to go to the courthouse for both us and Liam," she suggests and shit, my heart is beating out of my damn chest with awe for her. "I think we'd both like to share your last name."

"As soon as we're done moving apartments, you bet your sweet little ass we are," I whisper to her, claiming her mouth with a long, hot kiss that leaves my body shaking when Liam finally lets out a shout for attention from his stroller.

"Why don't you slip down to the pharmacy while we pick up the laundry," Lucy says as I try to get my rebel body under control.

"Why?" I muse looking over her then Liam. Neither of them look like they're not feeling well.

"Because while I want another baby, I'd like to wait until Liam's completely out of diapers and pull-ups, and I'm not supposed to start the pill I was prescribed until I start my next cycle, which is a little over two weeks away," she answers me and holy shit, I was not ready for that. "It was too late to start them this cycle and now would be an extremely bad time for us to do something without protection if we want to avoid making a baby."

"I fucking love you, baby," I groan, kissing her again before letting her head into the laundromat while I slip down to the drug store to pick up what we need. I also place an order for takeout, so we don't have to worry about cooking, while I look over the options in the store.

It's a bit daunting considering I've never shopped for condoms before. I didn't need to after Lucy left and what happened with her wasn't planned. I swear I didn't know this many types existed, and I've got no clue what would be best, so I grab a couple variety packs that are on a buy one get one half-off sale. Before I head to the check out, I toss a bottle of lube in the basket as well that says it's safe to use with condoms. We didn't have any issues without them, but the one thing I do recall is a couple of the guys talking about how they their girlfriends seemed to ‘dry out' while wearing them. I don't know if it's true, but I'm not about to risk hurting Lucy or a condom breaking and causing her to worry.

There's a pimply faced teenager at the register when I reach it and his smirk as I check out is one of the reasons I never mentioned to anyone that I wasn't the virgin they assumed I was. What Lucy and I do is our business. They don't need to know.

I pop into the Thai place, picking up our order, then head home, finding Liam and Lucy in the lobby waiting for the elevator. A smile forms as I drop a kiss onto her lips when she sighs drinking in the smell of our food.

"You're the best, you know that? I was just thinking how much I didn't want to cook after the moving and we still have to make the beds at least tonight. Add in all of the unpacking we'll have to do, plus bringing the rest of your stuff over, and cleaning my old place I was dreading dealing with dinner," she tells me as we take the elevator up.

"I've got you, baby. I'll always have you," I promise, eager for everything that's to come for us, especially if it happens tonight.