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I mentally don’t have room to worry about anything else right now. None of it matters. Just her.
“No, you were friends with him,” I correct. “I tolerated him in the name of hockey.” He snorts. “Well, let’s hope that the puck you shot straight into his balls made it so he can’t reproduce.” “He won’t have a dick to reproduce with by the time I’m done with him.”
“No,” she replies tiredly. “There are worse things in the world than being handcuffed to you.”
“Keep up that attitude and the only one who will be having fun later is me,” I warn.
My bottom lip juts out as I pout, coming closer and patting him on the cheek. “Aw, don’t look so sad. I told you if you ever came back to town, I was going to slit your throat. You’re getting off easy!”
“Oh. Well, I hate to break it to you, but he’s married.” Her jaw drops. “Is he really?” “Yep,” I tell her, looking over at Hayes. “His wife is a total bitch, but he won’t divorce her for some reason. I don’t know.”
But just as he grabs my hand and tries to pull me into him, Hayes comes out of nowhere and decks him straight across the face.
“Well, good to see his caveman tendencies are as strong as ever.”
“H, you can’t punch someone just because they tried to get with me.” “The fuck I can’t,” he growls. Without taking his eyes off me, he corners me between the shelf and the wall as he turns the lock on the door. “I will always protect what’s mine.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t love it when I get possessive over you.”
“Laiken isn’t your father.” “No, but she left the same way he did.” She sighs and nods once. “Okay, I’ll give you that one. The similarities are there. But you’re forgetting the biggest difference between the two of them.” My brows furrow as I look at her. “What’s that?” “Your father’s biggest love was the bottle,” she says. “But Laiken’s is you.”
And just like that, I’m the same twenty-year-old that fell head over heels for the girl who broke all my damn rules like they never applied to her in the first place.
But while she was gone, she fixed herself, and it only made her stronger. And then the universe brought her back to me. It gave me a second chance at my happy ending, and I’d be stupid not to take it.
The feeling I’ve been missing is this. It’s him.
“Every fucking ounce of your pleasure belongs to me,” he growls. “Get that through your head because it’s not fucking changing.”
“Anything else?” I sass. “Yeah, actually.” He drops the cord and the blade to the floor and comes closer, grabbing me and throwing me over his shoulder. I kick and punch him, shouting for him to put me down, but he doesn’t care. He carries me into the bedroom we used to share and throws me down onto the bed. “You sleep there!”
“What did that stool ever do to you?” I groan as I sit up, feeling the twinge in my back. “It’s fucking unreliable.” Cam chuckles. “Man, really? I specifically ordered the ones with the loyalty feature on them! Those lying bitches.”
“Oh my God, you’re not listening,” she grumbles. “She. Isn’t. Going. Anywhere.” “And how do you know that?” She throws her hands in the air. “Because she quit the studio two weeks ago, you blockhead!”
“But that job is your dream.” “No, H,” she says softly, looking right into my eyes, “You are my dream.”
“I want you to know that I’m yours,” I tell her. “There’s still a lot that I’m working through, but I don’t want to lose you. It’s not going to be easy, but I want to be with you. I want the future we talked about.”
I put my hand on Laiken’s leg and tap three times, just like we used to do. I. Love. You. Because I do love her. I’ve never loved anyone but her. I might still be working on being able to say it again, but she needs to know that I do.
The alarm I set on my phone goes off, letting me know it’s 11:59 p.m. I refuse to let anyone else be the first person to say happy birthday to her as it strikes midnight.
“Pretty Poison?”
Because that’s what she’s been for me—a pretty poison. She runs through my veins and attacks every inch of me, making it so I can think of nothing and no one but her.
*inserts Leonardo DiCaprio snapping and pointing gif* THEY SAID THE THING
Especially since I’ve got my girl back. Things couldn’t possibly get any better.
“What the fuck are you doing in here? Playing musical clothes?” “Saving you from going to jail, buddy,” Hayes says.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Hayes asks. Cam looks up at him as if it’s obvious. “Don’t think I don’t know that you two fuck like rabbits. If I’m staying here, I’m wiping down every damn surface before I touch anything.”
cam still being grossed out by laiken and hayes will never not be funny
And I don’t care how many lights end up behind me—I’m not stopping until I get to Laiken.
“I was trying to end this. You’re trying to take on so much, and you claim you’re fine, but I know you’re not. I just want you to be okay.” I take her face into my hands and stare into her eyes. “Laiken, if something happens to you, I will never be okay again.”
I’m ready to put their asses in an adult daycare center while we’re not able to watch them.
Oh dear God. “Cam, are you taking this one?” He shakes his head. “I’m too weak when it comes to her. You do it.” “Fair point.”
cam is so gone for mali, I need more Cali content!!
“Anything from the peanut gallery?” I ask her. She smiles sweetly. “Have I told you today that you’re hot and a sex god among men?” Yeah, definitely calling adult daycares in the morning.
“Well, since you so kindly invited a total stranger off the dark web into my house, I may as well hear what you’ve got.”
If I have gray hairs, it’s because I married half of this generation’s Thelma and Louise.
God, things would be a lot more convenient for me if I was able to stay mad at her. But I totally get what Cam meant when he said he’s weak when it comes to Mali. Laiken has the same effect.
“I made your firewall almost impenetrable.” “From what? A kindergartener with an iPad?” I scoff. “Get the fuck out of here.”
can I have a list of every comeback in this series pls
“It may not have been so pointless after all,” Laiken calls out. “Did any of us look into Riley?” Riley? Cam nods. “I did. Why?”
THANK YOU LAIKEN FFS
“But I need you to be more careful. Losing you again would absolutely destroy me, and living without you isn’t something I’m willing to do anymore.
and I exhale because this is what I needed. What I’ve always needed. It’s her.
I go through the process we created, starting with her social media. There isn’t much on it, really. No pictures with friends or family.
I WONDER FUCKING WHY
And I have no choice but to swallow my pride and admit that they were right. It doesn’t look like Riley is our stalker.
GOD DAMMIT
The baby in this picture looks almost identical to the picture I saw on Riley’s Instagram—even down to the birth mark on her right temple.
AH HA I KNEW IT
“Isn’t Laiken taking care of you? You look like you could use a hug.”
bitch go away
“I know you don’t deserve him,” she says. “I don’t know why he even gives you the time of day, if I’m honest. As far as I’m concerned, you’re just an ex who doesn’t know when to let go.”
PLS PUNCH HER
“By the way, I hope after that you see that she should be your ex wife,” she tells me. “You could have anyone you want. Even if it isn’t me.”
GO AWAY BITCH
“You can say it,” she teases. “I’m a badass.” I chuckle. “You’re a crazy ass is what you are.”
Taking my time, I press one kiss to her eye, followed by another one over her heart, and lastly, one more to her lips. It may be cheesy, but the way she giggles makes it worth it. “I love you, too,” she says.
*cries in single*
But if that’s true, that would mean I let Laiken attack one of my employees on a hunch. A wrong one at that. So, it’s a bit of a conundrum.
bitch deserved it😌
“Sounds good, babe. I need you with me, right where you belong.”
“Please, God,” I beg as the tears start to fall. “Please don’t take her from me. Give her back. I just want her back.”
