Chapter
Twenty-Four
Vice
Another laughed fell from my lips as Trent once again complained about how he’d acted like a fucking idiot. Not that he cared what Jenny thought, of course, nor was she his type, plus he was still in love with his deceased wife. Still, he wouldn’t shut up about Jenny, which told me he was full of shit and wanted to get to know Jenny. Turning the steak, I glanced through the windows and saw Drew sitting at the table with Noah. Young Noah had taken a huge liking to Drew right away in the indoor swimming pool room; it was understandable since Drew was an amazing kid. Makala was sitting on the floor playing with toys and kitchen utensils that Adalyn had found for her.
“I think Molly’s getting clucky,” I told Clint.
Clint glanced in to see Molly sitting with Makala on the floor while Adalyn and Kenzie were in the kitchen getting the salads, no one would eat, out. “She has been for a while. So expect to be an uncle soon.”
Trent scoffed. “The way Adalyn was eyeing you earlier with Noah, you’ll have her knocked up just as fast.”
I tensed. Adalyn wanted more children?
Trent barked out a laugh. “And the way you’re smiling, you like the idea.”
Grayson lifted his beer, his eyes meeting mine. The dick had been right all along. I’d found the one.
Shit, as sappy as that sounded, I was glad my one was Adalyn. Trent was right. Even though we’d be older parents, I still wanted my own child with the woman who was currently running from the kitchen outside.
“Careful, baby. It’s been raining,” I called and put the lid in the barbecue.
She didn’t stop though. She came right for me, and it was lucky I had my feet planted firmly on the ground because she hit the front of me hard, grabbing my tee and shaking it.
“Did you see? Oh my God, Vice. I can’t believe it. Mom left her phone in the car, and I left mine at home, so she’s gone to get it to check my site, since she’s in charge of all that, so I don’t know if it’s affected sales yet. But I can’t believe she was wearing my work. Talking about my work online!” she cried.
“Baby.” Taking her head in my hands, I ordered, “Calm down and—”
She spun out of my hold when her mom called, “Adalyn, Adalyn. Oh, dear it’s, oh my, I can’t believe….” Jenny came running out waving her phone around.
“Be careful, it’s slippery,” Trent called. We all looked at him, and he glanced back at us, then muttered, “Shit.”
“Adalyn, look, come look. I don’t know how you’re going to make it all, but it’s happening. It’s finally happening for my baby girl.”
Jenny thrust her phone at Adalyn. Once my woman had it, she looked at it for a moment before letting out an excited cry. Then her breathing changed. Her hand went over her heart, and her eyes widened with a shimmer of moisture.
“How am I going to do this? I can’t… that’s… I… never, how. Oh God.” She groaned. “I’ll be ruined before even starting.” She spun back to me and asked, “How can I do this without failing?”
It struck me in the chest how she sought out my help right away, when whatever it was scared and yet thrilled her.
“Tell me what’s going on, baby, and I’ll help the best I can.”
She nodded. Sucked in a breath and nodded again, more to herself. “Right, um, okay.” While she worked out where to start, I glanced over her to see Molly, with Makala and Kenzie standing close.
Kenzie stepped up further when it seemed Adalyn was still struggling with what to say, or she was in shock about whatever it was. “I mentioned to Adalyn how Evelyn loved the site I showed her and brought some of Adalyn’s work. She also wore it to an event, and when asked where she got it from, Evelyn mentioned Adalyn’s site.”
It happened. I hadn’t actually asked Kenzie if she’d gone through with showing Evelyn, but she had. And Evelyn must have loved it enough to mention it to everyone.
“This is good, Adalyn. Many follow Evelyn and, once she shares online that she loves something, they’ll want it too,” Grayson said.
She nodded and then forced the phone in my face. I took it and… “Fucking hell.”
“Yes,” Adalyn whispered. Then she screamed, “Five thousand orders! How am I going to do it? I mean, I have some in stock already, but the rest I’ll have to make.” She threw her hands in the air and started pacing.
“I never thought something like this would happen when I mentioned to Kenzie to show Evelyn,” I said, more to myself than anyone and certainly not to Adalyn, because she didn’t know I was behind it… well, until then.
She turned, tangled, and would have hit the ground if it wasn’t for Trent reaching out and straightening her up. He patted her back and ushered her toward me. “You?” she screeched. “You asked Kenzie to mention it to Evelyn?”
“Haven’t we just been over that?” Clint asked. Adalyn and I sliced a glare to him. He zipped his lips with his fingers and took a step back.
“Adalyn,” I started in a calming voice. “To start with, I only asked Kenzie because I had refused to change the contracts at work and I wanted you out of… fuck.” I had really put my foot in my mouth.
“Idiot,” Trent coughed into his hand.
“Keep going,” Grayson urged.
“It’s okay, Grayson. I don’t think I need to hear any more. I can see it clearly now. Vice wanted my business to do well so I’d quit because he wanted to screw me. Simple.” She went to walk away, but I grabbed her wrist.
“Adalyn, please it’s not like that at all.”
She snorted, shaking her head and frowned. “Mom, can you get Drew ready to leave—”
“No,” she stated with a snap, causing Trent to laugh. “You’ll stand there and listen to what he has to say. I will not let you walk off in a huff when I think he didn’t mean to hurt you by asking Kenzie to help.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and I wanted to pick her up and hug her tightly to me.
“Clint,” Molly called. “Come inside and help with the kids.”
“But I’m hungry,” he whined. Grayson tagged the back of his neck and shoved him Molly’s way.
When they left, Grayson picked up the tongs and opened the lid to the barbecue. “We’ll take care of the meat.” He gestured with his head to the end of the deck, where we’d be out of hearing distance.
Nodding my understanding, I pulled Adalyn along behind me and walked us to the end of the deck. I moved her around until she had her back to the house. Glancing back down, I saw Jenny eyeing us, while Trent stood quietly beside her. Grayson had Kenzie curled into his front while he flipped the meat over. It would probably be well done by the time we got to eat it, but I didn’t care. I had to sort things out.
Looking down to Adalyn, who wouldn’t raise her gaze to meet mine, I sighed and started anyway. “I hate you’ve taken what I asked Kenzie to do as a means to sleep with you. I didn’t do it for that reason. I did it because I took a look at your site also and your work is amazing. It just wasn’t getting noticed like it should have been. I wanted to help, that’s all. I didn’t want anything in return.” I groaned in frustration when she glared up at me. “Okay, at first I asked because of the contract, but it was never with the intention of fucking you. I want more. I want there to be a relationship where it could lead to marriage and more between us. You mean so much to me, Adalyn.” She bit her trembling bottom lip. “Do you trust me enough to believe my intentions were good?” Adalyn remained silent, her bottom lip disappearing completely beneath her top teeth. “I also asked Kenzie to show her if she thought she would like your work and to tell her not to buy it if she didn’t absolutely love it.”
When she continued to say nothing, and I still didn’t have her eyes, I asked again, “Do you trust me?” Taking her chin between my fingers, I gently pulled her head up and saw tears welling in her eyes. My stomach churned, my heart ached. All in all, I was gutted from seeing the hurt on her face. “Baby, please. I don’t want things to end when they’ve just started. We can be something wonderful, Adalyn. Do you still want that?”
“Y-yes.”
My whole body relaxed. Christ, the thought of losing her cut me to the bone.
“I’m sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusion.”
“Don’t, baby. I get it.”
“No, I should have trusted you right away, but I think things were overwhelming me, and I couldn’t handle… I didn’t want to think…. You mean a lot to me, Vice, and the thought that popped into my head, of you using me for one thing only, hurt. Still, I shouldn’t have thought it in the first place.”
“You’re wrong. I went about things the wrong way. I should have come to you first and asked if it would be okay to have Kenzie share with her friends.”
She smiled softly. “We’re still learning about each other. Things will happen, but I’m glad I didn’t walk out and instead listened to you.”
“Listening is good.” I smiled, until worry clutched my heart and I had to ask, “Are we okay?”
“Yes, of course. I may be stressed for a while though. I’ll need to see if I can fulfill the orders before I, um, leave the job I have now. Vice, how will I do this?”
I let out a sigh of relief. I hadn’t lost her. Happiness made my smile widen when she’d asked me for advice. “Hire some help.”
Her eyes widened. “Can I do that?”
“Soon, yes, you should be able to, but for now you’ll have to see what you have in stock, what you need to make, and figure out if you’ll be able to make them by the set time. How much time do you give yourself?”
“I’ve stated on the site if it’s not in stock, the turnaround time would be a month.”
“Good. Until you have the answers, we’ll figure the rest out after. But no matter what, you’ve got me, your mom, and I’m sure Molly, Clint, Grayson, and Kenzie will help you out. Although, not sure Grayson and I would be any good with delicate jewelry.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought me down to touch her lips to mine. Of course, every time I had a taste of Adalyn I wanted more, so I deepened the kiss, sliding my arms down to her ass and gripping.
“Hey, keep the PDA to a minimum,” Trent bellowed, breaking us apart. Adalyn’s cheeks heated, the way I liked to see them, especially if I was the one making them that way.
“We’ll figure it all out,” I said.
“Together.”
“Yeah, baby. Together.” Another peck and then, “Come on, I better rescue the barbecue from Grayson. He can’t cook at all.”
She gasped. Her hands landed on my chest, and she pushed. “Hurry then, we can’t have our first dinner party ruined.” Her eyes bugged out. “Have I already ruined it from having my little—”
“Hell no. This, the people here are family. They won’t care about any of it.” Taking her hand in mine, she nodded, and I led her back to the barbecue. I left her with her mom, who hugged her tightly and reassured her everything would work out, while I stole the tongs out of Grayson’s hands.
“All good?” Grayson asked quietly after Kenzie went over to Adalyn.
“Yes, thank fuck.”
My stupid move could have caused Adalyn to leave. If she had, I would have lost it… then soon after chased her to see reason and drag her back to my house where I’d lock her and Drew away forever.
Christ, that sounded crazed, but the thought of her walking away from me made me that way.