“I want peanut butter jelly!”

I smile. “My favorite.”

Thankfully, Nate dropped the subject during lunch. Later in the day we’re sitting on the couch to watch some cartoons. He lets out a big yawn about twenty minutes in and snuggles into me. “Hey, Riley?”

“Yeah, bud?”

“It’s okay if you wanna be my daddy but you have to wuv my mommy because mommies and daddies are ‘posta be in wuv. Do you wuv my mommy?”

I wrap my arm around him. “Yeah, big guy; I do.”

Nate falls asleep in my arms and I just sit there watching him for who knows how long. He’s so fucking perfect I want to cry like a girl. He looks really uncomfortable so I scoop him up and bring him into his bedroom. I don’t know if he should be napping this late in the day but I can’t bring myself to wake him. The little guy wore me out; I can’t imagine how tired he must be. I hear the door opening right as I’m leaving his room. I look down at my watch and see that Devyn’s a half hour early. I walk down the hall to greet her and pause when I enter the living room.

Jackson sets his keys on the side table. “Hey,” he says. “Where’s the kid?”

I nod my head towards the hallway. “He fell asleep. I put him down for a nap.”

We stand there in some sort of silent showdown. Neither one of us seems willing to talk to the other. Fuck, this is awkward.

I decide to be the bigger man. “Devyn’s not home. But I’m guessing you knew that already.”

He smirks. “I did. But she’ll be home soon. I was hoping to talk to you before she gets here.”

I stare at his keys. “You have a key to her place, huh?”

“Of course,” he says dismissively.

“What’d you want to talk about?” I snap.

He walks across the room and takes a seat at the small dining table. “I wanted to clear the air—man to man.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Clear the air about what exactly?”

He sits back and crosses his ankle over his knee. “Look…I know you’re going to stick around so I figured we should get this out of the way. I know the real story between you and Devyn. I feel bad that you’ve missed out on being a dad when you clearly want to be involved. What she did may not have been right, but she wasn’t exactly thinking clearly at the time.”

I lean against the wall. “Devyn doesn’t need you to defend her. I’m not mad about it. We both made shitty decisions. What’s important is that I’m here now and I plan to stay.”

“Right,” he nods. “Well, I just thought you should know that the guilt has been plaguing her for years. She thought about finding you several times but she was afraid you’d reject the kid. He means everything to her and she was terrified that you wouldn’t react how she wanted you to.”

“It’s a moot point now,” I say. “I love Nathan. And she knows that. She also knows that I’m going to be the best damn father I can possibly be.”

“I understand,” he says. “That’s why I wanted to make sure there wasn’t any animosity between us. Let’s face it; this could be very awkward.”

“Could be?” I scoff.

Jackson is oblivious to my sarcasm. “Anyway, I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me for what?”

“For the way things panned out,” he replies. “Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying I wanted Devyn to go through the heartbreak, but everything that she endured has led her to me. She and Nathan are in my world because you screwed up once upon a time. I helped her move on and we forged a strong bond because of it. I know you’re going to be around since the whole paternity thing is bound to surface sooner or later, so we need to figure out a way to co-exist peacefully. For Devyn’s and Nathan’s sakes.”

“How mature of you,” I mutter.

He assesses me with a cold glare. “I guess being polite isn’t going to get my point across so I’ll just come out and say it.”

I gesture for him to continue. “By all means.”

He smirks again. “Look, I can tell that you have…feelings for Devyn. But the fact is, she and I will be married soon. Which means that I will officially be Nathan’s stepfather. I’ll be the one warming Devyn’s bed at night and the one who will hopefully give Nate a little brother or sister.”

I bite my tongue and clench my fists. “Married, huh? What makes you think that?”

He shrugs. “I proposed the other night. She didn’t tell you?”

“No, she failed to mention it,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Huh,” he says. “She must want to break it to you lightly. I guess I beat her to it.”

I nod towards the front door. “Yeah, well, I’ll be sure to bring it up when she comes home. I’ll let her know you stopped by.”

He chuckles. “I’m not going anywhere, Riley. Devyn asked me to come relieve you from kid duty. She’ll be home soon and we’d like some alone time if you catch my drift.”

“Well, as nice as it was of you to offer your services, I’m fine staying here until she gets home. Besides, I think Devyn would’ve called if she wanted me to leave.”

He eyes my cell phone that’s sitting on the breakfast bar. “Have you checked your phone lately? She said she was going to text you.”

I frown as I walk over to my phone. I pull up the messages and sure enough, there’s one from her.

Devyn: Hey, I’m running behind. The presentation went great. I can’t wait to tell you about it! Jackson should be there soon to take over for you. Thanks again for saving me.

“Well? Is there a message from her?” Jackson asks.

I shove my phone in my back pocket and grab my keys off the counter. “Yep.”

He stands and walks over to the door, opening it for me. “Thanks for babysitting. I’ll take it from here.”

I step into the hallway. “Tell Nathan I said goodbye when he wakes up.”

Jackson gives me a smug grin. “Will do. Have a good night, Riley. I know Devyn and I will.”

He shuts the door. It’s a good thing too because I was just about to punch that superior expression off his face. I can’t believe that asshole! He clearly thinks he’s won but he has no idea who he’s fucking with. I’m not giving up without one helluva fight. If he wants to play dirty, game on.

RILEY

BRODY INVITED ME TO Kelly’s Bar & Grill for drinks on Friday night. This place is my favorite kind of bar. They host a dozen screens broadcasting sports, a couple pool tables, darts, decent food, and a fine selection of beer. Our little group usually meets here because the atmosphere is great and the employees are cool. Normally, it’s the perfect place to unwind after a long work week. Tonight is the exception to that.

I hold my arm out to halt Brody. “What the fuck is he doing here?”

Brody follows my gaze and sees Drew, Rainey, Devyn, and Jackson sitting at a table.  Jackson’s chair is right next to Devyn’s and his fucking hand is all over her thigh.

Brody shrugs. “I don’t know, man. He’s never joined us before. Like ever. I’ve really only seen him in passing before now.”

I know exactly what he’s doing here. He must’ve known that I was joining them and he felt the need to remind me who Devyn belongs to. We’ll see about that.

“Asshole,” I mutter.

We continue walking towards the table when Brody whispers, “Don’t make a scene, dude.”

I take the empty chair directly across from Devyn. “Hey, Dev.”

I’ve been on edge ever since I left her house on Tuesday. I stayed up for hours that night waiting for her usual pre-bedtime call. It never came and she texted me the next day saying she crashed early. I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she and Jackson were together and my imagination went into overdrive. I’ve been blowing her off ever since, saying I’ve been working late. I needed time to cool off.

She blushes. “Oh. Hey, Rye. I didn’t think you’d be joining us tonight.”