Текст книги "Rage"
Автор книги: Elizabeth Reyes
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Текущая страница: 21 (всего у книги 22 страниц)
It wasn’t exactly a proposal, but it may as well have been. Instantly, her face crumbled, and AJ laughed again, pulling her into another crushing hug.
Epilogue
AJ
“Put that away,” AJ said with a frown as he walked into the nursery, determined to get through this with his dignity still intact.
“No way,” Clair said, holding her phone in front of her as she continued to narrate the video she was taking for her sister to watch one day. “AJ’s second attempt to change Chloe’s dirty diaper.”
“I’ve changed her diaper plenty of times,” AJ protested as he laid Chloe down on the changing table.
“Correction,” Clair said as she maneuvered to get a better angle of AJ’s face and not the diaper, “AJ’s second attempt to change Chloe’s loaded, dirty diaper.” She looked up at AJ, who was already preparing not to panic. “Changing her diaper when she’s just wet doesn’t count. Even I can do that.” Clair pinched her nose as AJ undid the tape that fastened the diaper together. “The waste basket is right there.” She pointed.
“I’m not gonna need that,” AJ insisted, but he wasn’t so sure as the smell of his precious baby girl’s diaper assaulted his nose. “I got the first one out of the—Ugh!” He gagged as he opened the diaper and saw what Addison referred to as “Chloe’s presents.”
“Presents, my ass,” he muttered. “Ugh!” He gagged again, leaning over the waste basket because he felt his stomach turn.
“There you are,” Clair said, turning to the doorway.
AJ turned to see Harrison cautiously peeking in. “Where’d you go?” she asked. “I thought you wanted to see this.”
Harrison shook his head, wide-eyed, as AJ wiped his already running nose with back of his arm. Then Harrison walked back out. “Get back here, you coward,” AJ called out as he wiped some of the mess away with a wipe and promptly gagged again. “I could use some help here.”
Clair giggled even louder as he leaned over and dry-heaved into the waste basket. “Yeah,” she said, laughing even more. “My hands are full or I’d help.”
Looking up from the waste basket, even as his hand still held Chloe’s ankles in the air, he peered at his adorably evil little girl. She shrugged then covered her mouth with the same hand that still pinched her nose, but continued to video tape the whole thing. “And Mom thought I was exaggerating about the last time you did this.”
“You were,” he said as he attempted wipe away some more of his baby’s offensive presents. “Ugh!” He gagged a few more times before leaning over and actually throwing up a little.
Chloe babbled loudly, moving her little arms in the air as if even she were enjoying watching Daddy’s pathetic attempt to change her without being sick.
“Oh, was I?” Clair said, enjoying this way too much. “Harrison,” she called out. “You gotta come in here and see this. It won’t be the same just watching the video. Look at him; his eyes are crying and everything.”
Despite his churning stomach, it still couldn’t flatten the instant smile on his face when his eyes met Chloe’s beautiful bright eyes. “You are enjoying this, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
AJ finally made it through the diaper change, but not before gagging a few more times and throwing up again. When it was all over and he’d cleaned up the whole area, Clair stepped up to help. “Yeah, you get the easy job,” AJ said as they walked into his bedroom and placed Chloe on his and Addison’s bed for Clair and Harrison to watch while he went out back to throw out all remnants of his heroic diaper change. But he stopped at the doorway when he saw Harrison climb on the bed with his girls. “Harrison.”
The wide-eyed little boy turned to him curiously. “Yeah?”
“Did you forget the rule?”
It took him a second, but AJ saw the moment it hit him. Immediately, Harrison had one foot on the floor. “Sorry, Mr. Romero,” he said.
AJ smirked, shaking his head as he walked out of the bedroom. He wasn’t sure how or why it happened, but it was sometime around the time he decided to adopt Clair. Ever since it was established that, while they’d still be best buddies, AJ was now going to be Clair’s dad and she his daughter, Harrison had gone from calling him Mr. AJ to Mr. Romero. The adoption wasn’t even final yet. But he was glad the transition from best buddies to being a family now living in the same home had been a smooth one. He just wished the damn adoption would be too.
Even though he was already referring to her as his daughter, the issue of Clair changing her last name hadn’t been discussed too much at first. Addison had offered to hyphenate hers back when they first got married so Clair wouldn’t feel left out, since Chloe would be a Romero. But once her little sister arrived, Clair decided she wanted to be part of the Romero family all the way. Getting her name legally changed had surprisingly been a much easier task.
The wait on the adoption being finalized was an exasperating one though. There was so much red tape and none of it even had anything to do with Bigsby. He’d cooperated completely. Addison had been right about the asshole. It was nothing but a bruised ego. The moment he found out how much he’d have to shell out in back child support and how much he’d have to pay for another ten plus years, his supposed eagerness about getting to know Clair was squashed.
Addison’s lawyers had since made it clear that AJ would be Clair’s father now. AJ had also made sure the guy knew through her lawyers that there’d be hell to pay if he ever came near or tried to mess with his family in any way. So it was handled with far more diplomacy than if AJ had delivered the threat himself like he’d originally hoped to.
With the generous deal and bonus he’d gotten for resigning with Padres, especially since they not only won the World Series but he’d been named MVP, AJ had no choice but to invest in more property. He bought one with two adjacent homes on the lot. Nathan and Isaiah were now each living in one, and, of course, the two stubborn asses insisted on paying him rent.
The gate to the driveway opened just as AJ was making his way to the back entryway from where he’d dumped Chloe’s diaper in the trashcan. He smiled when his eyes met his beautiful wife’s eyes. Stopping to wait, he continued smiling as she drove up and into one of the carports.
“Now you get here,” he said with a smirk as soon as she was out of the car.
“What do you mean?” she asked, coming around the car, and AJ met her halfway. “I told you I’d be gone a few hours.”
“I changed a loaded diaper again.”
Addison laughed as he leaned in to kiss her. “Oh, man,” she said with a playful frown. “I missed it again.”
“Don’t worry. Your daughter got it all on video.”
Addison laughed even more now. “Oh now she’s my daughter? I see a pattern here. Just like when Chloe loads her diaper and I’m home to take care of it, it’s my daughter that needs to be changed.”
“Exactly. And when Clair kicks ass in her Mathletes competitions or recites one of her flawless speeches, I tell everyone that’ll listen about how brilliant my daughter is.” He pecked her again as he slipped his hand in hers. “You catch on quick.”
They walked in the house together. As soon as they were in the bedroom with the kids, Clair was queuing up her phone. “You have to see this, Mom. It’s hilarious.”
Clair and Addison watched it more than once, laughing hysterically the whole time. Curiously, Harrison didn’t seem to want to watch it even on the phone. He actually stepped out of the room again, and Clair turned to AJ, shaking her head. “The sound of you gagging alone makes him gag.”
AJ sat on the bed, holding his precious Chloe. He kissed her nose and smiled when she smiled at him. Hearing his other two girls still giggling about the video made him smile even bigger. “Does it get any better than this?” he whispered to Chloe.
The giggle fest was interrupted momentarily when Addison got a call. She stepped out of the room because Clair was still blasting the video and laughing.
“Alright, alright,” he said as she finished watching it for the third time. “She saw it. You can delete it now.”
“Are you kidding? This is going on my Instagram. I’ll probably have thousands of likes within hours.”
“You better not!” He laughed nervously, hoping she was kidding, but the wicked smirk she wore as she walked backwards toward the door said otherwise. “Clair?” he said, but she kept walking. “Clair Bear, you better not. I mean it.”
“I’m gonna go check on Harrison. Knowing him, he’s probably in the bathroom, puking.” She shook her head. “Such a weak stomach on that one.”
Before he could further inquire about her plans for that video, she was out the door. AJ glanced down at his cooing baby girl. “You’d never do something like your evil genius sister might, would you?”
She kicked her little legs and made even louder noises. AJ had to wonder if Chloe would be like her sister. His sisters had already established that she was a very vocal baby. Even if it was nothing more than cooing and baby babble, they said she did so a lot more than they remembered their babies doing. Emi’s boy, who was just a month older, wasn’t nearly as vocal. All AJ remembered about Liv’s new baby when he was this age was how he was always either sleeping or eating. It was no wonder her boys were both huge.
Chloe had gotten so loud he almost missed the exchange outside the bedroom door, but he caught one part and he froze. “Mom?” Clair sounded nervous. “Why are you crying?”
Instantly, AJ was on his feet. His heart was already racing. Despite the legalities of Bigsby being airtight and the guy seeming to have completely disappeared from their life—as appreciated—the niggling feeling that he might be back someday remained. His ego would be too big for him to just walk away so empty-handed.
The memory of nearly colliding into Addison way back that very first time he’d seen her this close, in what felt like a lifetime ago, came crashing at him when he almost did again just outside their bedroom. Her eyes were just as startled as that first time. But now they were red and full of tears.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, searching her eyes.
“That was the lawyers,” she said as her brows pinched and her lips trembled. “The adoption is final. You’re legally Clair’s dad now.”
AJ stared at her, stunned, but at the same time overcome with relief and something else. He glanced down at Clair, who brought her hand to her mouth, and her eyes were suddenly overflowing now too.
He handed Chloe to Addison then squatted down in front of Clair. “Does that make you happy, baby girl?”
For a little girl, she so rarely cried, so it choked him up to see her this way as she nodded, unable to speak. He hugged her tightly, and she gripped her little arms around him.
“I love you, Clair,” he whispered in her ear.
“I love you too . . . Daddy.”
He groaned in an attempt to hide the emotion that made him feel, and he stood up, lifting her with him as she clung to him. They shared a family hug for a few silent moments until he finally pulled away and his eyes bounced from Clair’s to Chloe’s to Addison’s.
“I’m the luckiest man alive,” he said, when he was finally able to speak, and then turned to Clair. “And you spoiled me with just the one time. I don’t ever want you to call me anything else but that again.”
“Okay, Daddy,” she said, hugging him again and burying her little face in his neck.
He’d never get tired of hearing his little girl call him that. His eyes met with Addison’s as he felt a tear escape the corner of his eye. She reached over and wiped it away, and he mouthed the words, “I love you so much.”
Even though he knew she would, his heart unbelievably swelled even more when she mouthed the same words right back.
The video of Clair’s dad, “Rage,” changing a loaded diaper? It got well over a thousand likes the first few hours and was shared over a million times within the first week alone.
The End
Coming in 2016
His to Guard
Isaiah Romero’s story
Uninvited
Nathan Romero’s story
Also by Elizabeth Reyes
Seventeen-year old Sarah’s life is turned upside down when her single mom is sent to jail. She’s forced to move, leaving behind everything she’s ever known, including her best friend Sydney. Lost and bitter in a new school, her one goal is to save money and move back home. Then she meets Angel Moreno. Enigmatic but gorgeous, Angel is almost too good to be true. Except for one thing, his archaic belief that guys and girls can never be “just friends”. The problem? Sarah’s best friend Sydney is not a girl. With their unexpected romance intensifying to places neither ever experienced, how long can Sarah keep Angel in the dark about the guy waiting for her back home?
Her entire life Sofia Moreno has dealt with her overprotective brothers. With three overbearing brothers always lurking, no boy would dare reach out to her. Luckily for Sofia the one boy she’s got her heart set on has always been within reach: her brothers best friend Eric. Even though his loyalty to her brothers runs deep, Sofia knows there is only so much he can do before giving in to her.
Two years older than her, Eric Diego has always known there would be hell to pay if he messed with his best friend’s kid sister Sofia. Through the years he watches as she blooms into a beautiful young lady right before his eyes. With teenage hormones raging and Sofia more than willing, Eric agrees to the unthinkable. A forbidden secret romance. Feeling emotions and a feverish passion that’s new to them both, neither is ready for how quickly their romance spins out of control.
Angel Moreno and Sarah Fiero fell in love in Forever Mine, but for a couple of high school sweethearts, forever is a really long time…
Catch up with them and the whole gang in college as past insecurities resurface. As if dealing with her best friend Sydney wasn’t enough, Angel now has two more men to deal with in Sarah’s life. There’s no shortage of edge-of-your-seat, angsty drama, tears¸ and laughter as Angel and Sarah’s love is put to the ultimate test in this addition to the Moreno Brother series.
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It’s the only way Valerie Zuniga can justify her ongoing addiction to the amazing but ever, elusive Alex Moreno. Mesmerized by the profound connection neither has ever quite understood, Valerie accepts their crazy relationship for what it is—non-exclusive.
That is until the incredible highs no longer numb the sting of the intense lows.
As tasteless and slippery as pride can be, for Alex it’s always been the hardest pill to swallow.
Faced with a final ultimatum, the choice is a no-brainer for Alex. Despite his insanely busy life he’s determined to prove to Valerie, that not only is he ready to commit, it’s what he’s always wanted—to claim Valerie as his exclusively.
But just as it kept him from admitting his real feelings all those years¸ will his obstinate pride once again step in and ruin things just when they’re finally getting it right?
After one heartache too many, Valerie Zuniga vows to never let Alex Moreno hurt her again. A year later, she is forced to reunite with him at a party where one unexpected sizzling kiss tells her she’s far from over him. No way will she allow herself to get sucked back into that torment. She’ll resist him even if that means using the one thing that’ll stop Alex dead in his tracks: another man.
Alex is coming off one of the worst years of his life. He spent so much time wallowing in self-pity, he never realized how much he’d missed Valerie. That is, until that kiss. Now, he’s determined to get her back one way or another, and no other man will stand in his way. Especially after discovering that Valerie may be in danger, a danger he blames himself for.
Prim and proper middle school teacher Isabel Montenegro always runs the opposite direction from men like Ramon Romero. A foul-mouthed, uneducated, loose cannon has no place in her careful plans. But instead of running away, Isabel is completely captivated. The intensity of his nature, while a bit daunting, mesmerizes her in ways she can’t begin to understand. She’s unwilling to walk away—even when her instincts are screaming at her to run.
Romero has no idea what he’s getting himself into when he first kisses Isabel. Shocked at the passion she invokes in him, he believes he can keep his usual short fuse under wraps. Falling fast and hard for someone so flawlessly sweet only makes him more aware that he’s far from perfect. If she is ever witness to his biggest imperfection, he’s sure she’ll bail. But when her meddling sister does the worst thing imaginable—bring other men between him and his Izzy—that fuse is lit and all bets are off.
Can two people who are worlds apart teach each other how to love, or will the reality of their differences drive them apart?
Always in control, the meticulous and professional Salvador Moreno is thrown for a loop when the newly hired bartender Grace Zendejas suddenly invades his family’s restaurant, and infuriatingly, his every thought. For the first time in his life, Sal is fumbling. But after recovering from a few blunders he discovers his feelings for Grace run much deeper.
Things begin to heat up between him and Grace, but then the ever-perfect Sal does something even his brothers never did—screws up royally. Now he’s scrambling to cover up a mistake he knows could cost him dearly. As his relationship with Grace grows even more serious, Sal’s secret is a ticking bomb, threatening to destroy the one thing he now lives and breathes for—his relationship with the love of his life—Grace.
Just when Romero thought he’d conquered his anger issues…
Now that Izzy has earned her credentials to teach at a college level, Romero is doing his best to be supportive. Even after she informs him she won’t be teaching.
She’ll be assisting a professor—a recently divorced professor whom she’ll work with side by side.
Isabel loves being home with her kids, but she’s ready to get back to her career—back to a world where she can enjoy some in-depth political conversations with someone who really gets it. The brilliant Political Science professor she’s assigned to assist seems to be the perfect fit.
But when those conversations get a little personal, Isabel isn’t sure if she’s just being silly or if the professor is sending insidiously veiled messages.
Romero’s knack for picking up on her unease only complicates things, especially because Isabel also has a big Christmas surprise for him. With suspicions awakened, Romero’s interpretation of Isabel’s sneakiness stirs that dormant rage he hasn’t had to deal with in years, and emotions become furiously Tangled.
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Noah Quintanilla has his eye on a boxing title—someday. Down for a few months with an injury, his maintenance-boy pay at 5th Street Gym won’t cut it. He’s finally given the opportunity to train. The catch? His trainee is an out-of-shape woman with a free week pass. Taking on the challenge, Noah stumbles into one of the closest friendships he’s ever known, and before he knows it, he’s in love. But Veronica’s not having it—the age difference is too much. Their platonic relationship means having to watch her date other men—something that would make him crazy. Believing he’s the man for her, Noah sets out to prove that age is but an illusion, and there’s more to him than just a number.
