Page 90 of Slayin Villain
“I used to think love was something that broke you,” I said, standing beside her.
“It can be.”
“Yeah.But maybe it’s also what builds you after.”
She glanced over.“You think you’re building something, Villain?”
“I know I am.”
She didn’t answer.
But she didn’t walk away either.
We looked up at the stars together, in a comfortable silence.I didn’t reach for her.Not yet.
A few nights later, I found her porch light still on.I didn’t go up.Just stood at the bottom of the steps, helmet in hand.
She opened the door like she’d been waiting.
“You here to apologize again?”she asked.
“No.”I swallowed.“I’m here to say I’m proud of you.”
She blinked.“What?”
“You’ve done all this on your own.You didn’t wait on me.You didn’t ask for anything.You just did it.And you deserve someone who’ll stand beside you through it all.”
“I do,” she said, voice strong.
I stepped forward.“So let me be that.Don’t forgive me today.Hell, don’t forgive me at all.Just...let me prove it.”
“I’m tired of being disappointed,” she whispered.
“I’m tired of being the man who disappoints.”
And then, for the first time since she left, she reached out.
Took my hand.
Held it tight.
Chapter 40
Rachel
I didn't want to let him in.
Not again.Not after everything.
But he kept showing up.
Not just with promises, but with patience.With slow, steady hands that helped repaint the nursery.With soft glances that lingered on my growing belly like he finally saw it for what it was, a piece of himself he couldn’t run from anymore.
So when I agreed to go crib shopping with him, it wasn’t a declaration of forgiveness.It was… curiosity.A test.And maybe a little hope I couldn’t kill off no matter how much I tried.
“Damn,” Villain muttered, eyeing a wall of cribs.“These things made of gold or somethin’?”
I smirked.“Welcome to baby world.Everything’s overpriced and painted white.”
