Page 103 of My Only

And it wrecked me.

It wrecked her.

“Aw, baby, damn,” I whispered, my throat tight, my chest aching, eyes watering. “Baby.”

She cried harder.

I kissed my teeth, blinking back my own tears. “Come here, baby. Come here.”

I didn’t wait for permission. I scooped her into my arms, holding her close, feeling her fists ball into my shirt as she buried her face against me.

Her sobs broke me all over again.

“Fuck,” I intoned quietly against her hair, pressing my lips to the top of her head. “I’m so sorry. I forgot tonight was the night, baby. I forgot.”

She didn’t say anything. Just nodded against me, holding on tighter like she wasn’t trying to let go.

I sat at the edge of the guest room bed, adjusting my hold on her before standing up again.

Still cradling her against my chest, I carried her out of the room, up the stairs, taking them one at a time, slow and steady.

She wasn’t heavy, but damn if my heart didn’t feel like it was carrying everything at once.

I fought back my own tears because that’s how it always was.

Whenever Ayla cried, I felt it.

Every time.

I climbed into bed, keeping her close. I held her.

Until her sobs faded into soft sighs.

Until her body relaxed against mine.

Until she finally fell asleep.

But me?

I didn’t sleep at all.

I stared through the skylight for hours, lost in thoughts of her sitting at that dinner table alone, going through one of the biggest shifts in her life… without me by her side.

And as much as work mattered, as much as I had told myself I couldn’t afford to drop the ball on the Greene Gardens Project…

I had dropped the ball on her.

And that?

That was something I wasn’t sure how to fix.

CHAPTER 13

THEN – EARLY SUMMER 2023… TWO MONTHS LATER

Hassani

I ran a hand down my face slowly and sighed instead of grunted. My eyes were heavy as hell, and my pulse kept ticking higher the longer I stared at my computer screen.

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