Page 39 of Trust In Me

A big, cocky grin spreads across his face and for the slightest of seconds, I could have sworn I saw the glisten of a tear in one of his eyes. “Thank you, bro. You know I would do anything for the both of you, and I’m kinda blown away that you would trust me with her.”

With a small chuckle, I make my reply cocky to try and cut through all the emotion that seems to be clogging up the air. “Well, I don’t exactly have many options.” Liam knows I’m joking. There are a lot of other people I could leave Hallie with, but nobody I would trust more than Liam. Besides, I think Hallie would be pissed as hell if she went to anyone except her uncle Liam. She loves him more than she does me.

“Fuck you,” Liam retorts with a laugh. “Wait…who gets her if I’m dead. If we die together?” he asks, and I shrug my shoulders. This is a hard one, and it’s one I’ve been going over and over in my head recently.

“The honest answer is that I don’t know. I was thinking of Mia, but this is our first date, and I don’t want to scare her away by asking her to take custody of Hallie if anything happens to us. Bree is also in the running, obviously. The only hesitation I have is that if she doesn’t have you, I see her throwing herself into her job, and she could end up getting herself killed too. I don’t want Hallie to lose more people. At this stage she has already lost plenty. I think out of all our siblings, Freya would probably give Hal the best life, away from all our drama. I just need to make sure she’s kept away from my mother and Shayla,” I explain, and Liam nods his head.

“I think Mia would be more than happy. I think you’re right, if I’m not around, Bree will be very unstable for a while, but I think having Hallie would keep her grounded and give her an excuse to keep surviving. So, don’t count her out just yet. Freya is definitely a good choice. I know she’s young, but she’s so much older than her age. Freya’s the most likely to leave this life behind to live a normal life. She would give Hallie a lot of stability, but her age could be an issue if we’re dying soon.”

“Well, I have to give the plans to the judge this week, but I’m really hoping we don’t die anytime soon. I only have to give two names, so I’ll have to think about it. Maybe talk to Mia, and if she doesn’t want to do it, I will talk to Bree and Frey. Please don’t talk to them before I get a chance to. That includes Bree.” I give him a pointed stare, and he rolls his eyes at me.

“If you keep making me hide things from my wife-to-be, it will be me who dies first!” Liam states, and before I have a chance to reply, footsteps hitting the stairs in the hallway next to us pull our attention back to the room. Fuck, I almost forgot that I’m supposed to be freaking out about my date.

Bree and Hallie walk through the door first. Bree’s knowing smile, and the little wink she gives me, lets me know she’s no longer in the dark. She clearly knows we’re going on a date, and I can hear Liam release the breath he’s holding, as he realises his bollocks will live to see another day. Hallie gives me a small chuckle from in Bree’s arms, and I lean down to kiss her on the forehead, but of course she smacks me around the head, indicating for me to get out of the way so she can reach Liam. She wastes no time, squawking until Bree hands her over to him. Yeah, I’ve definitely made the right decision picking Liam.

I’m too busy looking at Hallie, I miss Mia’s entrance. But, as soon as I see her, I feel like I’ve been hit around the head with a frying pan. This girl is out of this world beautiful. I’ve heard people talk about their heart skipping a beat, and I always thought it’s just what people wrote about in love songs, to make them sound more chaotic. But, as I take in her beauty, for the shortest of seconds, my heart really does miss a beat.

When I first met Mia, she had bright blonde hair, and I liked the blonde, but her natural brunette colour makes her look so much more like Mia. Like she’s slowly becoming more comfortable in her own skin, which is something I love to see. Her darker hair, that hangs just below her shoulder blades, has a slight wave to it, and does an excellent job of helping to accentuate her beautiful brown eyes. She’s wearing a white flowy sundress that stops just above her knees, and there are beautiful blue flowers dotted all across the fabric. I’ve never seen her looking so feminine, and fuck does it suit her.

“Mia…you look…” I mumble, hoping my new-found confidence will start to kick in soon. Hell, at this rate, I would just settle for the anxiety being gone.

Mia gives me the biggest, most beautiful smile, and I realise it’s not the make-up she has on, it’s the sunshine that radiates from her the more she smiles. She looks like she’s about to answer, but Bree beats her to it. “You better be about to finish that sentence in a positive way.”

Everyone laughs, but I’m too busy losing myself in this woman’s beauty. I’ve woken up next to Mia on more than one occasion, and I’ve also seen her naked. I’ve seen her while she was recounting the worst moments of her life, and I would like to think that I feature in at least some of her greatest achievements. Throughout each of these, I’ve noticed how stunning she is. Yet, as she stands here in front of me now, I feel as though I’m seeing her for the first time all over again, and all I can do is stand here, open-mouthed, gasping, as she takes my breath away.

Ignoring Bree’s comment as though she never even spoke, I keep my eyes fixed on Mia, so she knows how serious I am. “You are beyond beautiful, Mia. You look so amazing.”

I take a step towards her, almost on instinct, and I notice her breath hitch before she starts breathing again, faster than she was a second ago. I don’t exactly know what I’m doing, it’s as though my body has a mind of its own. I think I want to touch her, to feel if she is real, maybe? But, I’m put off by Liam and Bree staring like we’re their favourite soap opera. I certainly can’t kiss her the way I would like to with them watching.

“Thank you. You look great too,” Mia replies, as a bright red blush floods from her cheeks to across her collarbones. I love that she’s more embarrassed admitting that she was checking me out, than she ever got while I was practically eye-fucking her in front of our friends. “Should we get going?” she asks, and all I can do is nod.

Liam stands from where he’s sitting on the sofa, picking Hallie up with him. She gives a loud shriek before her hand clasps onto some of Liam’s hair tightly. He tries to pry his hair out of her fingers, but to no avail. She holds on to it like a starved woman who just discovered a bar of chocolate. She isn’t letting go of that anytime soon, and each time he tries to get her to let go, she yanks just that little more.

Walking over to where he stands with her, I gently pry her hand off Liam’s hair, much to her annoyance. I give her seconds before she does it again, so I decide to capitalise on it while she’s still in a happy mood. Leaning forward, I plant a kiss on one of her big, chubby cheeks, and that’s enough to pull her attention away from Liam, even just for a few seconds. “Okay, Hallie Bear. Daddy and Auntie Mia are going out for a bit, and you are staying here with Auntie Bree and Uncle Liam. Please, try to be a good girl. I hope to take Auntie Mia on lots more dates, and I can only do that if you don’t scare away the babysitters. How does that sound?”

Hallie stares at me with those big, beautiful blue eyes that look so much like my own, and I can’t help but smile at her. She gives me a small squeal which I take as confirmation that she has heard and agrees with what I just said. Obviously, the chances of that being true are next to none, but I want to at least feel as though I tried.

I reach over to stroke the hair out of Hallie’s face, and she reaches out to grab onto me with her hand. Her little hand grabs two of my fingers and she holds on to them with a grip that’s impressive for a girl of her age. That’s when the babbling begins, and we all try desperately to hear whether she’s learnt to form any actual words, but no.

Mia takes a step forward and grabs hold of Hallie’s hand. “Hey, beautiful girlie. I’m only stealing your daddy away for a couple of hours, and I promise I will bring him back to you. Have a good time here with Auntie Bree and Uncle Liam, okay? I would say try to be a good girl, but we both know you are going to run rings around them. Try to be good all the same, please. See you in the morning, beautiful. Love you.”

Fuck. Hearing this gorgeous, perfect girl talk to my daughter in that way is doing ridiculous things, not only to my cock, but my heart too. I felt like it started to beat again. My heart skipped a beat, and with each new beat that follows, I feel them all. It’s like my heart is beating just for these two girls.

Liam must have seen the change in my expression, that bastard is in tune with everyone, and his voice seems to bring us all out of the mini trance we’re in. “You two better get going, before we change our minds about babysitting this little terror,” Liam jokes as he nuzzles his head into Hallie’s neck, much to her delight.

I lean over and give her a kiss again, but she doesn’t give a shit right now. She has Liam, and that makes me smile. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’ve made the right choice when it comes to caring for Hallie if I’m not here. The lawyers were right, I don’t want just anybody to raise my daughter. If I don’t have an advanced directive, the courts can decide who she lives with. That could be my mother, or even worse, it could be Shayla. I don’t want that. My mother couldn’t raise a plant, let alone a child. She will just pay a nanny to do it for her, and I don’t want that for Hallie. But even that is preferable to the thought of her going to live with Shayla and Whiskey in the Reapers’ compound. No way in hell is that happening.

Taking hold of Mia’s hand, we say our goodbyes, and I lead her to the garage. “Are you okay putting on leathers with that sexy dress on? If not, I can ask Liam to lend me the car,” I ask, pointing towards my bike and the bike leathers I already have laid out.

This will be the first time Mia has been on the bike with me, so I took the time to buy her some leather trousers and a leather jacket that she should be able to put on over what she is wearing now. I also bought her a black and purple helmet, which will do a perfect job of keeping her safe. I had to buy them all new as I’ve never had anyone on my bike with me before.

“I’ve always wanted to go on a motorbike,” Mia says, as she picks up the helmet I bought for her, turning it around to inspect it.

“Well then, it’s your lucky day. Do you need a hand getting into your leathers? They might be a bit tight to start with.” I hold the trousers out for her, and with a nod of her head I drop to my knees in front of her.

I’ve always thought taking a woman's clothes off is one of the sexiest things ever, but as I slowly pull Mia’s leathers up, over her creamy, silken skin, I have to hold back a groan. Thankfully, I haven’t put my leathers on yet, because my jeans are starting to feel impossibly tight, and I’m sure it would be damn painful if I had them on already. Pitching a tent in leathers is fucking torture.

As the leathers reach the top of Mia’s thighs, she slowly pulls her dress up, until it is bunched up above her belly button, revealing a sexy pair of black lace shorts. The intricate lace design barely covers her pussy, and I’m trying really hard not to rip them off her body right now. Instead, I turn her around under the guise that I'm trying to get the leather up over her ass, but really I just want to see what she looks like in the panties from behind. The curve of each cheek is beautifully exposed, as the material sits high on her ass. It looks like a perfect juicy peach, and it’s taking every ounce of strength to not take a bite out of her right now.

---