Always His (Crazed Devotion #1) (13 page)

Nicole looked back over her shoulder and smiled at me. “You hungry?”

“Yeah,” I replied as I stepped up behind them and leaned over kiss the top of Victoria’s head. I couldn’t help but notice Nicole was watching my reaction to Tori closely. I tickled her side, and she giggled. “Did you make breakfast, Princess?” I asked her as I tugged on her braid lightly.

She nodded and beamed over her shoulder at me in pride.

“Well, it sure does smell good,” I added before I leaned to the side and gave Nicole a kiss as well. I took a chance and traced her lower lip with the tip of my tongue, and she opened her lips and sucked on the tip. The response sent a streak of desire through me, and I wished for just a moment that we were back in her bedroom, tucked beneath her sheets together.

“Ew,” a little voice interrupted my dirty thoughts, and Nicole smiled against my lips. When I pulled back and looked at Nicole, I could tell she was feeling hungry for me too. After all those years without her, it was hard not to touch her and want to be near her every chance I got.

“Sorry about that, little lady,” I said as I looked back to Tori, who was watching us closely. “But I just love your momma.”

She smiled and looked between Nicole and me a few times before settling back on me. “Do you love me too?”

I stared at Tori with a knot lodged in my throat. I took the spatula from her and placed it in the sink to her left, then lifted her from her mother’s arms and held her close, making sure she was looking directly at me when I spoke.

“Yes, Victoria,” I began. “I love you too. But how could I not? I had no hope when I met you, because you, little lady, are easy to love.”

Her little features lit up as she smiled wide and wrapped her arms around my neck, squeezing tight. I looked over at Nicole and found her eyes filled with unshed tears as she watched the exchange between me and Tori. Without hesitation I hooked my arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close, and we all shared a hug.

These two girls had stolen my heart, and there was no way I ever wanted it back.

I
sat at the kitchen table folding socks as Ryker and my dad talked about the game on television. Their voices carried from the living room, and every so often I heard Tori giggle and knew that between my dad and Ryker, she was more than entertained.

When Ryker told Tori he loved her, my heart ached with such joy I could barely breathe. My little girl was blessed with not only my daddy who adored her but now Ryker too. She had those two men wrapped around her little finger, and that thought made all the shit from Tyler seem minor. If he couldn’t love the special little girl we created, the two men in the next room showered her with enough love to make up for him abandoning her.

My phone rang in my purse only a few feet away, and I reached out to answer it before it went to voice mail. The words
unknown number
flashed across the screen, so I hit Answer quickly. “Hello?”

“Hey, Nic.” I cringed at the sound of Tyler’s voice. “Where’s my daughter?”

“Why do you care?” I asked as I pinned the phone between my shoulder and my ear and went back to folding socks. Tyler always made these random phone calls in order to attempt to get beneath my skin, and I knew this was just another pointless game. He played them often and since Ryker was now back in town, they’d become more frequent.

“Because I wanna see her. I got something for her,” he slurred, and I rolled my eyes. It would have been a damn miracle if he was able to stay sober for one day. Hell, he was the one who got me drunk that night we were together anyway. I was too young to buy alcohol, and he willingly offered. Now I know it was a just a ploy to get me inebriated, which led to me letting my guard down.

“You’ve been drinking,” I replied with annoyance.

“Just a few beers with my brother earlier,” he explained.

“Tyler, it’s only two in the afternoon. What did y’all do, shots for breakfast?” I had stopped folding laundry and closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. His shit was so exhausting.

“I wanna see her,” he said, straining to keep his voice as steady as possible. “And I wanna see you. I think we should work things out for our daughter.”

I didn’t mean to laugh, but honestly I felt like this had to be some kind of joke. “Work what out?” I asked. “Tyler, there is nothing to work on. We were never a couple, and we never will be. If you want to know Tori, then that’s a different story, but you and I will never be more than just two people who share a child.”

“This has to do with him, don’t it?” he asked, anger lacing his tone.

“Are you kidding me right now?” I hung my head in frustration. I knew his so-called attempt to be there for Tori had everything to do with Ryker and nothing to do with love for his daughter. “When you sober up and decide you want a relationship with Tori, then call me. Other than that, just stay the hell away.”

I ended the call and tossed the phone back in my purse. Almost instantly it began ringing again, and I chose to ignore it.

“Everything okay?” my dad asked from behind me, making me jump in surprise.

“Just Tyler and his weekly attempt.” The closeness I had with my dad made him feel as if he was my best friend. He was always there for me, through the good and the bad.

“That kid is a mess, sweetheart,” he said as he squeezed my shoulder.

“Don’t I know it.” I looked back at him, rolling my eyes in irritation. Tyler was a subject we discussed often.

“Things appear to be going well between you and Ryker,” he said as he took a set at my side.

I couldn’t help but smile.

“And there’s my confirmation,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s good to see you smiling.”

“Feels good,” I confessed.

“You gonna tell me about it?” Ryker asked as we drove back to my place after dinner at my dad’s.

I looked over at him with a confused expression, and he kept his eyes forward as he drove down Montgomery Lane. “Tell you about what?” I asked, and that triggered a look.

“About your phone call from Tyler earlier.” He wasn’t smiling. Ryker’s face had always ticked when he was irritated or angry, and that hadn’t changed in five years. His jaw was set, his nostrils were flared, and his eyebrows were scrunched. He almost looked like a scorned child.

“It was nothing,” I said, attempting to brush it off, but it only backfired.

“Nothing,” Ryker repeated as he turned into the parking lot of my apartment building. “Well it sounded like a helluva lot more than just nothing.”

“He just—”

Ryker placed his truck in park a little rougher than I’d expected and turned to face me.

I was suddenly happy Tori had fallen asleep in the backseat on the way home.

“What happened between you two, besides the obvious?” he asked as he looked back at Victoria. “I mean, I don’t need the details about how he slept with my girl but—”

His girl?
“We weren’t together.”

“No, but you were still mine, and that fucker knew it.”

Since Ryker had returned, he’d been so sweet and kind. Now he was being possessive and protective, like the Ryker I remembered.

“He always used to make comments about you when we were together. He was just waiting for the chance to get to you, and he took it,” he said as his eyes met mine. “What I wanna know is, was it more than just that one time?”

“No,” I replied, still wondering how the hell we had gone from relaxed and peaceful to on edge. “I was upset and drinking one night, and things just happened. But it was never more than that, before or after that night.”

“So what was the call about?”

I was half tempted to tell him to stop being an ass, but I figured in his current state that may have the opposite effect I was hoping for. “He wanted to see Tori and he said he and I should work things out. As if there was anything to work out.” Ryker kept looking at me. “He was drinking, like he always does. There wasn’t much more than that.”

He stared at me in silence, making me feel slightly uncomfortable.

“What?” I asked when I’d finally had enough.

“I think I’m gonna head back to Huntsville,” he replied, and my heart sank. “Gotta work in the morning, and it would be easier if I was at my uncle’s.”

“Why are you being an ass over some damn phone call?” Forget trying to keep the peace. Ryker had just killed that thought. “He called. So what? He said a bunch of shit he won’t remember when he sobers up, and you’re being a dick about it.”

I grabbed my purse and climbed out, then opened the extended cab door to get Tori.

“Let me help you,” he said as he started to get out.

“Don’t bother, I got it,” I said, ignoring the look he was giving me. I had no idea what the hell was going on, and I just wanted to get inside and close the door on this bullshit.

He stood at the side of his truck and watched as I walked up the stairs to my apartment. “Nicole,” he hollered up, but I just kept walking. He already had the chance to talk about whatever was bothering him. But instead he pulled this caveman,
she my woman
bullshit.