22. Colt

Colt

I haven't talked to Chloe for a week, and it's killing me. The only communication we've had was me asking when she needed me to watch Christian and her telling me she had it covered.

I hate it, but I meant what I said to Dallas. If she makes me choose, I'm going to choose him. Though I'll never stop trying to have a relationship with her, Dallas is it for me. He's the love of my life, and I have no doubts about that.

"Morning." Speaking of Dallas, he's here in my bed, and I couldn't be happier about that. Waking up with him last Saturday was the highlight of my life, until Chloe walked in and everything threatened to shatter. But I wasn't going to let him go.

I hope she can understand, but right now, I have Dallas in my bed on a Saturday morning. When he told me he'd stay last night, if it was okay with me, I nearly lost my damn mind with excitement.

I didn't ask him about his parents and what they would think because it's up to him. He knows what he's doing, and all I can do is settle in for the ride alongside him. I'll be here. I'd have him move in today if I thought he wanted to or was ready for it. I'm completely and totally all-in.

"Morning," I say and kiss his sweet lips. "You okay?"

He nods and kisses me again. "More than. Three orgasms in one night somehow makes you sleep like the dead."

"Does that mean you're too tired for more?" I ask, but he's already climbing onto my body, his hard cock sliding against mine. "Fuck. Yes."

We're insatiable for each other. I went to his game last night, so damn keyed-up from the long week without him, we barely made it through my front door before I got my mouth on his gorgeous cock.

But just as we're getting close, rutting together, I hear a loud, and I mean really loud, knock on my front door. Followed by another one. "Fuck. Me."

He laughs shyly. "That was the plan."

I laugh and swat his bare ass just as another loud knock comes from the front door. "I better get it."

He nods in agreement before climbing off me, and my eyes are glued to his firm, sculpted ass when he climbs off the bed. He must sense my gaze because he looks over his shoulder at me and shakes his head. "Door."

"Fuck the door," I say, leaping for him, but there's another loud knock just as I reach him, and I groan loudly. "Goddammit."

"Later," he says. "We have all day."

Okay, that is definitely the bright side. I grumble as I find a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, pulling them on as I make my way to the door. I yank open the door without seeing who it is, and I'm met with my irritated-looking sister and my very happy nephew, who's already holding out his pudgy little arms for me.

I look at Chloe for permission, and when she nods her head, I take my nephew into my arms and cradle him close. "God, I've missed you, little guy," I coo, looking at his chubby little cheeks.

"Sorry," Chloe says, directing my attention at her.

"You okay?" I ask her, and while I can see some hurt there, she does give me a small smile.

"Yeah. I'm sorry for how I acted. I was just..."

"Surprised," I supply for her, and she nods.

"Extremely. Never thought I'd walk in on my brother naked with the father of my kid."

I cringe. "Yeah. That's some daytime-talk-show bullshit. I know. But it isn't like that."

She nods her head, but then I hear padded footsteps and see her eyes focusing behind me. I pray to everything that Dallas isn't naked, but since her eyes aren't bugging out of her head and I don't hear an embarrassed gasp coming from Dallas, I'm assuming he got dressed before coming out.

"Oh God, this is so weird," my sister says, but I don't hear any anger in her tone. "Hi."

Dallas reaches my side, but I can tell he's shrunk into himself a little bit, and I hate it. "Hi. I, um... I can leave," he says to her.

I'm about to argue, but Chloe answers first, "No. Please don't. I was hoping you'd be here. I think we all should talk."

"Oh." He sounds surprised, but all I feel is relief. I know Chloe. She's thought it over. Had time to process, and it's all going to be okay. But Dallas—he doesn't know that.

He's so used to his life blowing up and people letting him down. I'm going to show him what it's like to be loved—truly loved with no exceptions.

She looks at me expectantly as I hold on to Christian. "Can I come in?"

"Oh," I laugh and finally move back. "Sorry about that. Of course you can." She brushes past me, shaking her head, and heads into the living room. I turn to Dallas, who's eyeing the baby in my arms nervously.

Please don't run, Dallas, I silently plead.

"It's going to be okay," I say to him, and he nods his head slowly, still staring at Christian.

"He's beautiful."

I grin at him and kiss his sweet lips softly but keep it chaste. "He is. Don't worry, okay? It's going to be just fine."

I see only trust in his eyes as I close the door and lead him to the living room with Christian in my arms.

Chloe took the chair next to the couch, and we take the couch. Christian is squirming around, and I let him down on the floor onto his little belly, finding a couple of his toys that make him squeal with happiness.

"I'm really sorry," Dallas starts, and I realize he's talking to Chloe.

I can see she's thinking over what she wants to say. I think she must realize how vulnerable Dallas is. My sister is very kind and observant, so it doesn't surprise me at all. "I'm okay, Dallas. Really. I was just completely surprised. I never in a million years saw that coming."

"Colt would never hurt you on purpose. You have to know that." I put my hand on his thigh, hopefully comforting him a little bit because he sounds frantic, and I don't want him to feel this way.

"I know that," Chloe says, and I'm grateful. Her eyes meet mine. "He's always been just a little too protective of me," She grins at me, and I roll my eyes because nope , there's no such thing as being too protective of the people you love. She looks back at Dallas, but she's speaking to me. "But he has to realize I'm a grown woman, and I can make my own decisions."

"He loves you so much," Dallas says softly, and I squeeze his thigh gently.

"I love him too. But I chose not to tell you, Dallas. I found you almost as soon as the pregnancy test was positive. It wasn't hard to track you down."

I didn't know that, but I remain quiet. "You didn't want me to know?" he asks quietly, and I can hear the hurt there. I want to pull him to me and comfort him, but this is a talk that needs to happen.

It's the whole reason I came here. Even if Chloe didn't want him to know—I don't think it would have been fair for him to never have known. Right or wrong. Overbearing asshole or not. I just couldn't let that happen.

"I..." I can tell this is hard for her, and I want to comfort her too. Damn, this loving people really sucks sometimes. "I didn't know you. I just knew that you were in the grade below me, not even out of high school yet, and I figured you'd blame me for wrecking your life."

Dallas immediately starts shaking his head. "I wouldn't have. I thought I ruined your life."

Chloe smiles sadly at that, looking down at her son, who's playing happily with my bare feet. Banging his little rattle against my toes. "Christian is my life. I never thought I could love someone as much as I love him. He changed everything for me, but not in a bad way." She smiles and looks up at Dallas. "Yeah, I'm really tired, and I'm pretty sure I'm never going to sleep again, and I stress constantly about being good enough, but I wouldn't change anything."

"But you didn't want me involved?" Dallas doesn't sound offended or accusatory. He seems to be truly curious.

I am too because it's something I just didn't understand. Our fathers never wanted to be there for Chloe and me. But if Dallas wanted to be, why wouldn't Chloe want that for her son? It's never made sense.

"Well, Colt kind of forced our hand at that." She glares at me, but it's kind of playful, and I laugh.

"Sorry?" I tease, and she rolls her eyes because I'm not. God, I can't regret coming here and meeting Dallas. Not ever.

"I... I can't blame you," Dallas says, taking the joking out of it all because he looks pretty pale now. Unsure. "I don't think I'd be a good father."

"Damn it, Dallas. You have to understand how incredible you are," I say softly, wanting to find everyone who hurt him and make them pay because it's not fair that this beautiful, kind man has such a low opinion of himself.

"I don't know anything about babies, Colt," Dallas says as he looks down at Christian, and I see the adoration he has for the baby already, but he also looks scared shitless as he looks back up at me. "Nothing. I wouldn't know what to do. And... what if I said the wrong thing? What if I wound up like my parents?"

"That would never happen," I quickly cut him off because he's nothing like the horrible people who squandered the opportunity of having a kid like Dallas.

"Dallas." We both look over at Chloe, whose eyes are very kind and patient as she looks at him. "It wasn't about you. Not at all. I didn't know you, and because our fathers were total shitheads who didn't want anything to do with us, and our mom was..."—she thinks about it a moment before settling on way-too-kind of a word, in my opinion—"distant." I snort but don't say anything because yeah, she was never there. Chloe ignores me. "I was afraid to introduce anyone else into his life. He's everything. And I won't let anyone take him away from me either."

"What?" Dallas looks startled. "I would never try to do that. Ever." He's totally flustered. "No one would ever give me a baby anyway, but I wouldn't do that even if they would. You're an incredible mother."

She is. And she's a great person because she only smiles at him. "Thank you. It wasn't fair that I didn't tell you about him. But I was scared to death. I can't lose him. I was afraid that maybe you or your parents would think I wasn't good enough and take him away from me."

"I would never let my parents anywhere near him," he vows, and my heart soars. I think I just fell even more in love with him.

"Maybe we can just take it slow?" Chloe suggests, and Dallas moves his eyes back to the baby on the floor, who looks up at him curiously but is definitely not afraid.

"I, um..." He looks back up at Chloe. "I don't know what to do with a baby. I've never even babysat before. I don't have siblings..."

"It's okay." She looks over at me, and I smile at her. "Seems like you and my brother are spending a decent amount of time together. And he happens to be really good with babies—at least this one." She looks down at Christian, who's started to fuss, wanting his mom. She scoops him up, grabs a bottle from her bag, pops it in his mouth, and cradles him expertly as she sits back down—all in one perfect mom motion. I can't help but feel pride, and Dallas looks in awe of her. "I think he can help you learn, and I can too." She looks down at her son as he sucks on his bottle. "Slowly."

Dallas nods, watching the baby. "Okay. Yeah. That would be good. Really slowly." His eyes move up to Chloe. "But I won't take him from you. Not ever. You're an incredible mom. I'm so sorry you had to do it all alone, but it's clear he was in good hands."

I wrap my arm around him and fall even harder because my little sister is beaming now.

"Thank you, Dallas. Do you want to take a DNA test?" she asks hesitantly, and I know that was hard for her. I see now how scared she was that she was going to lose Christian. It pains me that she didn't think the world would see what an amazing mom she is.

"Is it okay if we hold off on that?" Dallas asks carefully. "I know he's mine. I have no doubt. And if that's what you eventually want, we can, but for now..."

"That's fine with me," Chloe says, and I see she looks relieved.

"Okay," he says, and I can tell there's relief there for him too.

I'm happy as hell. I have the three people who are the most important to me here in my house and talking. No more secrets. No lies.

Just slow and steady.