Page 66 of Ugly Duckling
I scratched my head. “I don’t know…”
“You help with Lottie, and I’ll one hundred percent cover your entire trip,” Gunner offered. “She’s a handful at the best of times. She’s really a handful at the beach.”
“Oh, we’re bringing kids?” Milena whined.
Cutter squeezed her neck. “You wanted the kids, remember, darling?”
“Yeah.” She nodded with resignation. “I guess I did.”
I snickered. “Are kids that bad?”
“They’re not bad,” Chevy offered up. “They just have a really good knack for draining the battery out of your soul.”
“Oh.” I snickered. “Well, that sounds like a glowing review for going.”
Gunner caught my chair and scooted it closer to him. When I was where he wanted me, he threw his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into him. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”
The rest of dinner went fantastically, but I managed to never agree to go to Hawaii with them and run.
But the plans were in full force as we made our way out of the restaurant we’d been hanging out in for hours.
Gunner went to his truck, I went to my car, and funny enough, Lottie chose to go home with Audric.
When we got to the house, it was quiet and freezing.
“You just let her go wherever she wants?” I wondered.
Not that I was judging him or anything.
“Audric and Creole are one of the only ones that take her with any consistency. Laney was their best friend, and Lottie’s their best friend’s daughter. Audric pretty much raised her with the help of the club for the first few years of her life. I usually don’t put my foot down when it comes to them. But yeah, sometimes it still burns that she chooses them over me.”
I patted his shoulder as I passed him to slip my shoes off near the shoe rack by the door.
“If it makes you feel better, she might’ve gone to everyone at that table, but she always came back to you. The love she feels for you is clear as day on her face, and though Audric, Creole, and Lottie share an obviously special bond, Lottie’s devotion belongs only to you.”
His shoulders slumped. “It’s nice to hear you say that. Sometimes I feel like I still have no idea what I’m doing.”
I smiled as I ripped my socks off next. “You’re nuts if you don’t think you’re doing a great job, Gunner. Even at seventeen, I was amazed by how well you took to fatherhood. Now, I’m even more impressed watching you juggle a huge business, a young kid that you just found out about, and maintaining relationships with everyone in your club. Don’t doubt yourself.”
With that final comment, I scooted around him to the bedroom that he’d given me.
It was either that, or I throw myself at him, and Lord knew that wasn’t the best idea ever.
I needed to stay away.
Far, far away.
Right?
Sixteen
Drinking a large amount of water every day helps you avoid other people’s drama because you’ll be too busy peeing.
—Gunner to Sutton
GUNNER
I woke up after a mostly sleepless night tossing and turning, telling myself not to go downstairs and walk into the room of the woman that had the power to fillet me with her words.
