Page 49 of Her Forever Daddies

Reaching out, Zane wiped her falling tears away as he began rocking her.

“We’re so sorry you had to go through that, baby girl. You were treated like a burden when you are anything but that. You’re a gift to us. Something we will always cherish, protect, and care for,” he told her.

“Do you still have contact with your parents?” Jace asked.

She nodded. “I hear from them every couple of months or so. They still travel a lot. I haven’t actually seen them in over six months, but I’ll see them again next weekend at their anniversary party. I’m kind of dreading it but my mother insisted I go.”

Yeah, he didn’t like that one bit. He didn’t even know her parents and yet he already disliked them. And the thought of her having to go to a party for them that she didn’t even want to go to made his stomach twist in knots.

“Sounds like you have no reason not to move in with us,” Zane blurted.

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.

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