Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
From the moment Briley became mine and mine only, I made it a point to always ensure that Briley would know about her mom.
“Dad,” Briley said. “Let’s go on the lazy river with her.”
Briley pulled my hand, and we went down the stairs fast.
Finally, we made our way to the bottom, and we were heading toward where we saw her sitting at the edge of the steps right outside of the slide she’d just launched herself down.
“Did you see that?” one of the moms whispered.
Yeah, I’d seen it.
“Leave,” I snarled as I passed them. “She’s embarrassed enough, I’m sure.”
The mom who’d said it held up her hands. “Hey, I’m sorry. Your wife was hilarious, though. That video’s gonna be viral in an hour.”
I gritted my teeth.
“Hey, aren’t you Slone Day?” someone called out.
I ignored it and everyone else who started whispering about something else—i.e., me—and walked to where Caristonia was still sitting.
Briley walked up to her and sat down next to her, catching Caristonia’s hand. I walked up to the other side and took a seat.
I didn’t take her hand, even though I really wanted to.
“Um, since when did you get married, man?” another dude holding a toddler asked. “I thought you were single.” His eyes narrowed in on my daughter. “Oh, is this her child?”
I gritted my teeth.
I went out of my way to keep Briley out of the spotlight.
I’d seen what it’d done to Titus’s daughter, Annabelle, when shit had gone down with his own baby mama. Annabelle was splashed on every single gossip rag in the world.
Which fuckin’ sucked, because people were gross and disgusting.
I’d paid attention to how it had affected Titus when he found his daughter’s photo shared on one of those Saygram websites. It’d been shared by a sick fuck who had a hundred thousand followers. Every single one of those followers being a fuckin’ perv.
Titus had sued the fucker and won, but the damage had already been done. His daughter’s photo—an innocuous one of Annabelle in her diaper holding a football—had been just a fun little photo op picture with Titus’s game ball.
It’d ended up being sexualized by the perverts of the world, and Titus had been sickened—as had we all.
Needless to say, Briley was in a bathing suit today. I went out of my way to make sure that she was always covered—but I’d thought that it being some random hole in the wall water park, paired with no phones being allowed and my disguise, that it’d be enough to keep attention off of her.
“Baby,” I said softly. “Stay with Ari.”
I wasn’t sure where the nickname had come from, but it worked for me because one of the men who were crowding around asked who Ari was, and what her real name was.
I gritted my teeth, stood up and walked closer, before saying, “I’m trying to enjoy a day with my family. Please respect that.”
I turned to leave, catching the eye of Ari, and jerked my head toward our cabana.
Titus and I had gone and bought all of the private cabanas to ensure that our privacy was respected.
I hated that we fucking needed it.
Ari, sensing that I was about to lose my shit, squeezed Briley’s hand and started whispering to her. Meanwhile, I jerked my head toward the security guard that followed Titus and I around and gave him a “take care of this” look.
He stepped in behind me and stopped them before they could follow.
“Fuck,” I grumbled as I passed through the cabana.
Annabelle and Titus looked up when we entered.
“Were you run off, too?” he complained.
“Yeah.” I nodded at Ari. “Ari was luckily there to help save the day or I might’ve lost my shit.”
“Ari?” Titus asked, looking confused.
I jerked my chin toward Caristonia. “Ari. She’s gonna have to go by a nickname when she’s around us. They think that we’re married.”
“What?” Titus asked with a laugh at the same time that Ari said, “I’m sorry, but what?”
I sighed and jerked my chin toward them. “We were headed your way when they stopped us. Assumed we were married. And now I’m fairly sure that it’ll be plastered all over the world by noon.”
“Why would that be the case?” Ari asked. “I’m no one.”
“You’re a beautiful woman that is suspected of marrying one of the most eligible bachelors of football,” Briley muttered. “Dad and Uncle Titus made it to the Sports Page Magazine. Apparently, they’re football’s most eligible bachelors because they’re hot.” Briley paused. “Though, I don’t see it.”
Titus pretended to stab himself in the chest. “Damn. Solid burn branch.”
Briley shrugged.
“I…” I paused in my next statement when Banner, the third to our high school best friend trio, walked in with his wife and baby.
Perry looked annoyed. “What did you do, Slone? It’s a madhouse out there.”
Banner walked up to me and planted his baby in my arms before saying, “Hold Jett. I have to go take a shit.”