Life before Garrett hadn’t been perfect, but I’d come to accept it, and with his help, I’d finally stopped letting my past affect how I saw myself and my future. Life wasn’t meant to be perfect. A candle couldn’t change its shape without first burning. I wouldn’t have what I have, be the person I am, without my past.
I’d been a mother for almost ten years, and yes, eight of those years were really fucking hard, but what were eight years in the grand scheme of things? I’d take twenty hard years if it meant I got sixty good ones with Garrett after.
I washed my hands, thinking back to that Christmas I risked giving my heart to him. So much had happened since then. I’d graduated summa cum laude, gotten hired at a youth correctional facility as an intake coordinator, and quit every other job. I still had the dream of helping teenage mothers, but I was taking life one step at a time.
I no longer froze when my phone went off, worried who might be calling. I didn’t check around corners wondering if someone like Rob might catch me unawares. I didn’t work seven days a week, didn’t stay up half the night studying, didn’t miss out on Jamie’s events, and didn’t shy away from opening my soul to my boyfriend.
I still had people judge me for my history, especially with Jamie catching up to me in height, and the moms at school would never like me no matter how much Garrett threatened them, but I was doing better at not giving a shit. My little family was happy and that was all that mattered.
Happily ever after didn’t always mean pregnancy and a diamond ring. Sometimes it also meant only working forty hours a week and discovering who I was as an adult and as a woman. Who I was as Madison, outside of who I was as a mother and a friend.
And I was okay with that. More than okay.
Even if the tungsten wedding band hidden in my suitcase said differently.
Walking out into my living room, I paused at the mouth of the hallway, watching my boys drag the suitcases to the door. Jamie’s face was lit up while chest-deep laughter bubbled out of him at something Garrett had said. The love of my life reached over and ruffled Jamie’s hair before glancing up and winking at me.
I might not need a ring for my happily ever after, but I did need Garrett Rowe, and tonight I was going to make sure he knew it.
Chapter Eighteen 1/2
Garrett
Madison’s lush, pink lips wrapped around the neck of my bottle, and she threw her head back, letting the liquid pour down her throat like a fucking siren sent to lure me straight to hell.
I took in those lips, perfectly sealed around the bottle’s mouth, took in the way her fingers held the base in a firm grip, and shuddered. She’d look fucking glorious swallowing my cock.
Her legs hovered over me, an inch or less from touching mine. The urge to grip her thighs and slam her ass down on my lap so she could feel exactly what she was doing to me was too much for me to bear. I lifted my hands, more blood rushing south at the thought of—
Riiing. Riiing. Riiing.
I groaned, lifting my head off the pillow and squinting my eyes at the small device that dared to pull me from sleep. I glanced at the clock next to it and cursed, rolling over. Whoever was calling at this hour could fucking wait.
What—or more accurately who—was waiting for me just on the other side of my consciousness was far too tempting to risk waking up any further than I already had. When the incessant ringing ended, I readjusted myself and sighed only for it to immediately start back up.
I flopped onto my back, patting my hand across the side table for my phone. I yanked on it, letting the charging cable fall to the floor with a dull thunk. If this was a drunk dial from Sarah, I’d put a damn snake in her car.
Caller ID: Maddie
I launched into a sitting position, my pulse already picking up even before I hit the answer button. It wasn’t uncommon for Maddie to be up late studying, but she’d never called me before. That fact alone had me halfway to panicking by the time I raised the phone to my ear.