Knightly
“That makes sense,” I laugh because her logic is flawless.
“I promise it’s not personal, Knightly. But they mean everything to me. I didn’t have a good childhood growing up and I don’t want that for them. I swear I’ll let you and your mom see them whenever you want. I think it would be amazing for Aizen. But he doesn’t need this,” she taps the screen. “He’s a sweet innocent little boy and I will do anything to make sure that he stays that way for as long as I can help it. Ayrie too. She‘ s got my temperament, but she’s such a sweetie,”
“You have a temper?” I laugh. “I don’t see it,”
“You think I got to where I am being nice to people?” she scoffs. “You’re lucky you’re a pretty boy with beautiful green eyes. That’s my only weakness. I’m so lucky my son is a good boy and doesn’t take advantage of that weapon,” we both laugh. “I can take that paternity test. If only to squash any doubt,”
“I have none,” I shake my head. “I wouldn’t be here if there were doubts, Phoebe,”
“You know nothing about me,” she looks up at me.
“I’m a really good judge of character. If it were anyone else, they would have tried to get to me the moment they found out about this. Someone else wouldn’t be sitting here with me even when they’re terrified out of their mind,”
“I am,” she nods looking down at her hands. “I’m really scared,”
“You don’t have to be. Not of me anyway. My mom on the other hand is already baby- proofing her house and buying toys,” l’admit. She laughs.
Holy shit, that sound is what drew me in when we met. I could have walked away after that picture but the sound of her voice, the sound of her laughter. The way her face. turned bright red with embarrassment. I almost broke all the promises I had made to my family that night. I considered throwing it all away for her. Sitting here with her now, I can’t exactly bring myself to regret walking away. I didn’t know if I was going to make I can’t exactly bring myself to regret w
it very long. I probably wouldn’t have if I had marked her. I would have taken her down with me. Things would be completely different for us.
“She did come off fiery,” she looks up at me.
“If you like, this house can be yours. No one uses it anymore. If you’re looking for a house. Personally, I think it’s a whole lot better than Barbie’s,” I need her close. Somewhere I can keep a close eye on them.
“You are going to spoil the shit out of her, aren’t you?” she sighs.
“Oh, yeah. She is going to walk all over me and I am going to do nothing to stop her,” I confirm.
11
“You are going to regret that for the rest of your life,” she laughs. She stands up to face. me. “I think we need a proper introduction,”
“Okay,” I stand up and step down so we’re at eye level with one another.
“Hi, my name is Phoebe Altaha and I am the mother of your children,” she sighs with relief and holds out her hand for me. “It feels so good to say that,”
I look down at it knowing that if I take it, if I make that connection, there will be no going back for either of us. If Perry or Violetta were here, they’d be laughing. I can’t imagine how much she’s tortured herself with this secret. As innocent as it is, I know how heavy a lie can be. I myself carry many.
“Knightly Blake,” I put my hand in hers.
“Ah,” she lets out the little squeak that got me into all this mess. A bolt of electricity shoots through my body and feel him stir inside of me. “That was weird,”
“That was-” I rub my hand over my chest. “Would you like to see the house?”
“Um, I’d like to go home. I want to be with my kids. You know before things get heavy. I
have to talk to them,” another no.
“If that’s what you want,”
“That’s what I want,” she says a little more relaxed.
“I’ll drive to my place and you can go from there,”
“Right, we drove here in my car,” she nods. “I can’t fucking believe I got in a car with a stranger. You have a way of making me seem helpless,”
“Trust me when I say that no one believes you’re helpless, Angel. I saw what you did at
that school in Paris. They lost some of their biggest donations because of what happened,”
“They should have fixed things the first time that kid put his filthy hands on my son,” she scoffs. “The first two times, I didn’t do anything because he asked me to ignore it.
There was no way I was going to let it go. Fuck the people. He still has those marks,”
I try to hide the smile on my dumbass face because holy shit. She really does have a temper. Her face is red and she genuinely looks upset over two kids fighting. That’s what kids do, but there’s a sense of pride I can’t overlook.
Someone threatened her baby and she responded the way any she wolf would have. Tooth and claw. She’s going to need that. Even if she doesn’t shift when I mark her. My world demands it. I’m worried about how she’s going to react when I tell her the t
truth.
But not about how she will fare in it. She’s come this far without me and she’s not alone anymore. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure the three of them are protected.
There’s no going back. I fucked us both and I’ll make sure I make things right. Whatever it takes.
