Conflicted (The Existing Series Book 2) (10 page)

“Toast, Daddy,” she said with the biggest grin as she attempted to hold the plate higher in the air to hand it to me. Before the French toast could fall, I caught the plate and sat it down before me.

“Thank you so much,” I replied as I ruffled her hair. She pulled back immediately a scowl forming on her lips.

“You mess my hair up, Daddy. I pretty,” she said as she stomped her foot at me.

“Your hair looks perfect, pumpkin. How about you sit up here with me and eat some toast?” I coaxed, knowing she loved this breakfast.

She climbed into my lap and waited as I cut up her portion. My dad brought me a plate over and I scooped hers onto her own plate and added a little syrup. I scooted up the chair and positioned her on my knee so she wouldn’t slide off as we dug into the breakfast. Another perfect memory in the making.

I
t felt so
nice to be going out and hanging out with the gang. So good that I felt guilty that Magdalena had Grace. Even though she offered, I couldn’t help but feel like a bad parent for leaving my child with someone else just so I could hang with some friends. She assured me for the twentieth time to go out and enjoy myself a few moments ago. I’d been texting her nonstop asking how Grace was doing and if she acted like she wanted to come home. If Grace had, Magdalena hadn’t told me. As a matter of fact, her last message said she’d turn her phone off if I kept interrupting the sleepover. And she had the audacity to tell me I was acting worse than a mother leaving her child for the first time. I was just being extra cautious since Grace had such bad anxiety right after Kenzie left.

Reluctantly, I took her advice. I pulled into the Davis’ driveway and veered off before I got to the house. The bonfire was out in the field off to the right of the house. I could see the light illuminating in the darkness off in the distance. I braced myself as I drove over bump after bump until I arrived where everyone was. I cut off the engine and pulled out my phone, putting it on vibrate. Magdalena told me to leave it in the truck, but I just couldn’t. Not when my baby could need me.

I shoved the device into my pocket and grabbed the hoodie that was in the seat of the truck. I threw it over my head and left the hood on. The night air in April was chilly tonight and I’d need the protection to remain warm even with the fire producing heat.

I climbed out of the truck and walked over to the group of people that had already gathered, recognizing most right away.

I saw Davis off to the left of the barrel of fire talking to a couple of guys we went to school with, Mike and Bobby. And good ol’ Trenton Quinn off to the right with a woman. A beautiful woman at that. We all joked on the computer genius turned Marine when we were in high school because he acted so awkward around girls. Oh the stories we could tell to embarrass him now. He was laughing at something that another buddy from high school, Miller, had apparently said.

“Hey, guys. Look who finally arrived,” Davis announced as he raised his beer into the air. It felt good to be around these guys again. I hadn’t gotten to hang out with them in so long, I honestly thought our friendship was over. But I should’ve known Davis wouldn’t let me go so easily. Hell, he’d never let any of us go. He’d always said we were stuck with him, and he’d been right so far. We hadn’t been able to get rid of him. Not that we’d want to.

“I’m not late. All of y’all are just early,” I joked as I walked over to Davis and gave him a one-armed hug. Trenton wasn’t far behind. He came up behind me and climbed onto my back, wrapping his arms and legs around me. If it weren’t for my quick reflexes we’d both be on our asses.

Instead of throwing him off, I took off running and he did his best to try and hold on. Without any warning, I stopped and started to turn around as fast as I could. Continuously going around and around until he called Uncle. Just like old times.

Only I wasn’t as young as we were back then and the dizziness caught up to me quicker than I expected. He climbed off and we both bent over to catch our breath. I didn’t know why he was out of breath. I was the one running and spinning around like a maniac.

“It’ll never get old,” he said through pants of deep breaths.

“Nah, not in this lifetime,” I joked while trying to catch my breath.

“I want you to meet someone,” he said. He sounded so sure of himself as he looked back toward the woman he was with earlier, who was bent over in a fit of laughter from our antics. This Trenton was different. In a good way. More confident, something he wasn’t when he’d signed up for the Marines. He stood taller. Talked with more firmness. The Trenton we all knew he could be if he got up from behind a computer and interacted with the living.

I took a few more deep breaths to calm my racing heart and shook my head. We walked a few feet over to where she stood, me following closely behind him. I put my hands in my back pockets to warm them up. The air was colder than I’d thought it’d be tonight. I stopped a few feet away from her as he walked to her side, pulling her closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder, a smile forming on her lips. A smile that could make a man weak in the knees if you’d let it. The happiness and love she felt for him radiated off of her with just that one look. Making me wish him all the best. Out of everyone, he deserved it the most.

He kissed her on top of her head and whispered something into her ear, instantly causing her to keel over in a fit of laughter.

“It’s not funny, woman. I’m telling you my little swimmers did the deed. No drinking for you, and I mean it,” he demanded with a smile on his face as he attempted and failed to take the beer out of her hands.

“You big buffoon. You’re full of yourself. I’m on birth control. That I take religiously, mind you. The condom broke. One that had spermicide on it. You didn’t get me pregnant,” she said as she held the beer up as high as she could. Standing on the tips of her toes to try and keep it out of his reach. Only he was taller by at least a foot. He easily took it from her and chugged it down, laughing when he pulled the bottle away from his lips and wiping his hand across his mouth.

“Now you can’t drink it,” he stated like he’d won. Only when I looked back at her, the look of determination spread across her features. He hadn’t won by a long shot. This was going to be way too fun to watch. Trenton Quinn was going to get his ass beat. By a woman.

“We’ll see, Mr. Quinn,” she stated as she turned on her heel to walk away. Only he stopped her. His hand rubbing across her stomach. The look in his eyes showed that he wanted a baby in there more than anything. Something I knew all too well was the most amazing feeling in the world. Instantly, I wished she would be just to see the look on his face when he found out.

“There is no baby,” she laughed as she smacked his arm. “Now stop being rude and introduce me to your friend. I’m sure he thinks we’re crazy by now,” she chuckled.

“I know he’s crazy. You, I don’t know well enough. Yet. I’m Weston Corbin. Friends with this knucklehead since high school,” I stated with an outreached arm as I introduced myself.

Shockingly, she shook my hand firmly. Not daintily like most women would. That I respected. It showed confidence. Which from what I’d witnessed tonight, she had tons of.

“Delaney Winters. I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough that I am in fact crazy. About Trent that is,” she laughed as she shook my hand, letting go after a few moments.

Trenton stood behind her and pulled her back into him, wrapping his arms around her waist. I took that moment to take her in. Her hair was a shade of blonde I didn’t see very often. The light hitting it showed off the red tint. A lot redder than I’d seen in any other woman with strawberry blonde hair. She came up to just under Trenton’s chest so I’d say she was around 5’2. Without trying to get caught, I looked her up and down quickly hoping Trent didn’t notice. The curves on her body were something I wouldn’t think about. She was Trenton’s woman. It wasn’t appropriate to even remotely look at her that way. But holy shit. That’s all I would even think about that.

“Why don’t we sit down and you can tell me all the embarrassing stories from your childhood?” she suggested.

“We’d be here for days talking about them. You see, Trenton here had tons of awkward moments in our younger years,” I joked.

We all walked over to the bonfire and sat down on the makeshift chairs that were made out of tree stumps. Trenton sat down and pulled Delaney into his lap. I walked over to the cooler and pulled out a water. Seemed like the safest bet tonight, since everyone else looked to be drinking, except for Davis, who appeared to have a water bottle in his hand. That didn’t mean much, though. Someone had to drive their drunk asses home later.

I walked back over to where Trent and Delaney were and sat down on the stump beside them. So ready to spill some of his embarrassing moments.

“Don’t even think about it, man. We aren’t talking about the craziness from high school. That shit’s behind us all,” he suggested. Only he wouldn’t stop me.

“Come on. Be a good sport,” I encouraged. So ready to tell her about the time he asked a girl out for the first time.

“Not in a million years,” he laughed.

“Yeah, babe. Be a good sport,” Delaney taunted as she turned in his lap giving him a seductive look. The fire illuminated her features as she slowly licked her lips and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. He whispered into her ear something I’m sure I didn’t want to know and suddenly I felt as if I was intruding on a private moment. She threw her head back and laughed, her hand going to her stomach. When Trent noticed her motion, he covered her hand with so much tenderness.

“I’m telling you my son is in here,” he announced louder than the last time, and she clasped her hand over his mouth to hush him.

“Weston, why don’t you go ahead and tell me something this crazy ass did in high school so I can keep him from spouting off this nonsense,” she suggested with her hand still over his mouth. All of a sudden she shrieked and stood up off of his lap. He reached for her instantly, but she was quicker, backing away even further than him.

“I know you didn’t just lick me, you asshole,” she screamed, continuing to back up. A little too far. I jumped off of the stump and pulled her forward before she got any closer to the barrel. Her small frame up against me, her hand still within my own as she trembled from the sudden movement.

“Sorry. I didn’t want you to fall into the fire,” I attempted to joke as I let go of her hand and backed away from her.

“Hands off, Wes,” Trent demanded as he walked up to her and pulled her into him, laughing.

I just threw my hands in the air and laughed at his antics.

“And you better not spill shit. She doesn’t need to see me as that dork. Not when she can see me as this,” he said as he moved his hand up and down his body. He was insane.

“That’s what I should do. Get the yearbook so she can see you in your dorky glasses and the pictures of you and the chess club,” I leaked out, and he lunged after me. Only I was quicker and ran away from him.

“You’re so not funny, Wes,” he said as he tried to chase me.

I sat down on the stump before he even made his way back over to me.

“And you’re still too slow,” I joked.

“You had a head start, jackass,” he said as he sat down and tried to pull Delaney down into his lap.

“I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” she stated in an attempted whisper, only everyone chose that moment to quiet down, causing all ten people to hear her. She didn’t seem fazed though as she looked over to Davis for direction.

“Go into the garage right there and it’s in the far left corner,” he stated as he pointed off to the left. The garage may be fifty feet away.

She kissed him on his cheek and skipped off into the direction of the garage.

Trenton had a goofy smile on his face as he watched her walk away.

“That woman is going to marry me someday, Wes.”

“Y’all look really happy. Congratulations,” I said.

“We are. We have been for the past year. She stayed by my side even though we’d met only a month before I left for Afghanistan. I thought she’d be gone when I called, but she answered every single time. And she was there to welcome me home. It was the best feeling in the world. I just need you to promise me something,” he seriously said as he took a swig of his beer.

“Anything. Name it.”

“If something ever happens to me, take care of her. She’s got no one. Her parents’ abandoned her when she turned eighteen, and she doesn’t have any siblings. I’m all she has. I can’t leave this world knowing she won’t be taken care of,” he said, choking up on the last part as if it pained him to even ask.

“Nothing’s gonna happen to you, but I’ll promise you. You know me nor Davis wouldn’t let anything happen to her. You’re my brother just as much as he and my two actual brothers are,” I promised just for effect. Nothing was going to happen to him.

“Good. Now tell me where I can find that bitch Mackenzie,” he demanded as he looked over at me all the joking now gone from his features.

“She’s not worth your time, man. It’s over, and I don’t even want to think about her. I just want to focus on Grace,” I said, taking a sip of my water, wishing it was something stronger at the mere mention of the mother of my child.

“I just don’t understand how someone does that,” he said at the exact moment Delaney returned to sit in his lap.

“How someone does what?” she asked.

“Leaves their child,” he said looking at me angrily.

“That’s awful,” she said as she touched her chest with her hand and looked back over at me.

“It’s my reality. I’m over it and making the most of the situation,” I said, not believing anything that just came out of my mouth. I didn’t know why I held back my feelings, but I didn’t want to dampen anyone’s mood. Not while we were all having fun. And not in front of Delaney. My confidence in the female population was minimal, and I didn’t need to take that out on her since she seemed like a great person.

“I call bullshit, but I’m not going to press. How’s my honorary niece?”

“She’s perfect. Oh and demanding and a diva, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“It’s the least of what you deserve,” he said with a laugh. I was a hellion growing up so I knew exactly what he referred to. My parents’ would die if they knew all the shit I’d done with these two.

“Hey, Marine. Wanna race the four wheelers?” Davis yelled across the circle that we’d formed. It wasn’t the best idea. Especially not out here in the dark of night.

“Y’all shouldn’t do that. We’ve all been drinking. Well, everyone except me,” I warned, hating that I had to sound like a parent to them, but someone had to think wisely.

“I’ve only had two and I’m drinking water now,” Davis confessed.

“Same here. Let’s do this,” Trenton agreed as he kissed Delaney deeply before he ran toward the garage following closely behind Davis.