Bringing Home Daddy Read online

  Begrudgingly, I get into the backseat and slide over to inspect that the car seat was installed correctly. War swings the door closed and walks around to the other side of the vehicle. He has a few words with Tucker before opening the door and putting Walker into his car seat and starts buckling him up. I watch making sure he does it correctly.

  “Did I do it right?” He asks me.

  When I nod, he kisses the top of Walker’s head then closes the door to speak with Tucker for a few more minutes.

  “Why do I feel like I’m in trouble?” I say softly to my son, holding his tiny fist in between my fingers.

  Walker giggles thinking its playtime. I sigh, I wish life was as easy as he makes it look.

  A couple of minutes later War gets into the SUV on the driver’s side and closes the door. “Ready?” He asks, looking at me in the rearview mirror.

  “What about Tucker?”

  “Tucker is driving your car somewhere safe. If there’s anything in there that you need, I’ll text him to make sure he grabs it.”

  “War you can’t just get rid of my car! What am I going to drive?” I ask in outrage.

  “Dial it down Magnolia, I don’t want you to upset my son,” War warns me then pulls out of the parking lot.

  God, I’m furious. This is not how I saw this afternoon going. I thought I would tell War about Walker and we’d set up a time for them to spend some time together. Sure, I figured he might be pissed since I never told him about Walker, but I didn’t think he’d go all dominant asshole on me and tell me what to do.

  Once we get back to his place, I’m going to let him have it. I’m going to grab my stuff and call Birch to come and get Walker and me. I won’t let another man tell me what I can and cannot do. There’s a reason I left my parents’ home, and this is exactly it.

  The car ride back to town is a quiet and tense one. Walker falls asleep about ten minutes into the drive and I’m not much better. After stewing in my anger for about thirty minutes I drift off to sleep.

  When I wake up, I’m lying in a dark room on a bed. My shoes have been removed and I’ve been covered with a soft blanket. It takes me about a minute to get my bearings and realize I have no idea where my baby is. I jump out of bed and open the door to a dark hallway. I pass a few rooms before the hallway opens up to a large living room where War is sitting with Walker in his lap.

  “How long was I asleep?” I ask leaning against a wall with my arms crossed over my chest watching them together.

  “Look who’s finally awake?” War says to Walker with a smile on his face then pats the space beside him on the couch.

  I walk over and sit facing him with my knee on the couch.

  “You’ve been out for a few hours. You looked exhausted so I figured I’d let you sleep.”

  “Sorry.”

  War gives me a weird look and shakes his head. “No reason to be sorry baby girl.”

  Hearing War call me by the pet name he gave me from the first day we met still has butterflies fluttering in my belly and brings everything back like it was yesterday.

  I was working at the diner in town trying to get some work experience and money I could call my own. War sat down in my section and ordered a piece of pie and a cup of coffee. He stayed there for hours that first day, asking me questions, flirting with me until eventually, he asked me out for dinner. I was so shy back then, still am, but it was worse, and I refused. What would a man like War ever see in a girl like me? He came back day after day for almost a week, and every day he’d ask me to spend time with him, and every day I would refuse. On the seventh day, he told me he wouldn’t quit asking until I accepted. He didn’t know this would be my first date, my first everything, but I accepted. He was so different from anyone I had met before and I needed to know him.

  “What are you thinking about so hard over there?” War asks in a tone I remember from before. This is the War I met in the diner. The War who sent my heart racing.

  “Just thinking about when we first met.”

  “One of the best days of my life.” He says smiling.

  “Me too,” I admit, smiling back at him.

  Just then, Walker leans over and grabs at the top of my dress pulling it down and exposing my bra. “Come here little man,” I say, grabbing Walker off of War’s lap.

  I unhook my bra without thinking and set him up to begin nursing. When I look up, War is looking down at us with a sappy look on his face. “What’s that look for?”

  “I always imagined the day I’d get to see you take care of our children.” He says, still staring at Walker.

  “Children? How many did you think we’d have?” I laugh.

  “Oh, you know, five or six, maybe seven.”

  I throw my head back laughing. “Maybe seven? Are you crazy?”

  Chapter Four

  War

  Magnolia has no idea what she does to me. I doubt she ever will. The night I was arrested had started out innocent enough. I had planned on taking Magnolia out to a nice dinner, but she said she’d rather go to the lake and hang out. The woman had me by the balls and if she wanted to talk under the stars all night, that’s what we were going to do. We spent two hours talking about everything and nothing under the light of the moon and the stars. We joked and laughed until one heated kiss turned into another, and another.

  It quickly went from zero to a hundred in a matter of minutes as I pulled her onto my lap and devoured every kiss. I ran my hands up her thighs, pulling her flowy skirt up and around her hips as she rocked her perfect virgin pussy, covered by a scrap of fabric, against my rock hard cock. I tried being a gentleman and pushing her away. Her first time should have been on satin sheets with candles, and flowers, and romance.

  That all went out the window when she moaned my name and asked me for more. I lifted her shirt over her head and kissed a path from her mouth to her breasts. When I removed her bra, her nipples were hard, needing attention only I could give her. Magnolia laid down on the blanket and pulled me to lie between her thighs as I made love to her mouth and rested my hand against the slope of her waist.

  I unbuttoned my jeans and slid them down just enough to release my cock. I needed inside her like I needed air to breathe. I pulled her panties to the side and slid the head of my dick through her wet slit and barely pressed inside her tight opening. Jesus, I was never going to fit inside her, but I was hellbent on trying. Slowly, I worked my way into her tight pussy, getting further and further each time until I was fully seated inside her. The entire time, our fingers were entwined together above her head and our eyes were locked on one another’s. I felt as much as saw the moment I claimed her innocence.

  I wasn’t going to last long. It had been years and she was gripping me tightly as if she was hanging on by a thread. I felt it too. I strummed her clit, rubbing steady circles against her and started to feel her pussy contract around me. One more thrust and the grip we had on each other and reality snapped. I had enough brainpower to pull out just in time, coming on her creamy thighs.

  I cleaned her up with an extra shirt I had in my truck then pulled her into my arms. We stared up at the moon while quietly soaking up the moment. It was then that I realized how deeply I had fallen for this woman and how much I loved her. She had just given me everything, but what had I given her. If I had only put words to what I was feeling that night. There are so many what-ifs. The one thing I can say is that I’ve never stopped loving her. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of her and the life we would have together. My only worry was how she’d feel about joining the family.

  She had no idea who my family was, and she never told me who her father was. I had Tucker run a background check on Magnolia the first day we met. Of course, I knew who he was and the hate he held for my family before I knew he was Magnolia’s father. Judge Silas King was a cold-hearted hardass who looked out for number one. He was the kind of man who cheated on his wife but was careful that no one found out, not to protect his family, no he needed to protect hi
mself. After all, he had an image to uphold.

  After our time at the lake, I convinced Magnolia to grab a bite to eat at the diner. I needed to make sure she was taken care of. When we finished our meal, we were walking out to the parking lot on the side of the building when I realized I forgot my phone in the diner. I shouldn’t have left her alone, no matter how safe I thought our town was. When I came back out, not even two minutes later, I found a creep pressing her against the brick siding of the diner attempting to lift her skirt as she pushed it down. I saw red. All reason went out the window. I pulled him off her and threw him to the ground where I proceeded to beat the shit out of him. I wanted him to take his last breath in front of me, but something caught my attention and I looked up to find Magnolia standing a few feet away crying as she watched what I was doing.

  The cops just so happened to show up and I was arrested on the spot then put in the back of their cruiser. That was the last time I saw Magnolia.

  I knew going after Magnolia would be dangerous, and I was right. She was worth it though. Every day behind those bars was worth it because I knew she’d be there waiting on the other side.

  Chapter Five

  Magnolia

  After Walker is finished nursing, I pat his back, and eventually, he falls asleep in my arms. If I were home, I’d lay him down in his crib, but I’m not, so I lie him on the couch between War and me.

  “We could lay him on my bed, surround him with pillows.” War offers.

  I shake my head. “No, he’s rolling over and crawling like crazy. I can only imagine how that will end and it’s not good.”

  “Babies need a lot of stuff, don’t they?” He asks rubbing his hand softly over Walker’s head.

  “So much stuff.” I sigh.

  “If you make me a list, I’ll get someone to pick it up and deliver what he needs.”

  “I have everything he needs back at my house if we could only-”

  “You mean the crappy townhouse in the bad part of town? The one you share with another man?” He growls.

  “I’ll have you know that it’s not the prettiest on the outside, but my home is clean. Walker wants for nothing. And what are you talking about? What man?”

  “Tucker told me that you settled down with another guy after I went to prison.” He snaps.

  “Well, Tucker needs to get his facts straight because the only man in my life besides Walker, is Birch.”

  “Who the fuck is Birch?”

  I can’t help but laugh. War looks so pissed off right now and there’s no reason for it. When I see the vein in War’s temple twitch, I reign in my giggles. “Birch is my cousin, my very gay cousin. He’s also my best friend. There is no way we are together or ever will be. That is just disgusting.” I laugh.

  “Fucking Tucker.” He sighs shaking his head.

  “How long did you think I was with someone else?” I ask, putting my hand on his forearm.

  “Tucker told me about it a couple of months after I went away, then he brought me pictures. I couldn’t believe that you would leave me so quickly. When he told me you were pregnant though, that’s when I started to have my doubts. I didn’t know what to think, but I knew what I felt for you.”

  I suck in a breath. I can’t even imagine War with another woman without becoming enraged at the idea. To know that he thought for over a year that I was with another man, and possibly had another man’s child blows my mind. “There’s one thing I don’t understand, why did you bring me back here if you thought I had someone else?”

  He smirks. “I didn’t care if you had someone waiting for you at home. You were always going to be mine, no matter what.”

  “I didn’t know what to think after you were arrested, War. It all happened so fast. If that’s how you really felt, then why didn’t you write me any letters?”

  “I did!” He growls and gets up from the couch to grab a large manila envelope that’s lying on the counter and hands it to me. When I open the envelope, I see well over twenty letters inside. “I wrote you letter after letter, but they all got returned. Eventually, I stopped writing.”

  “War, you have to believe me, I had no idea. Does that mean you never received my letters?”

  “God, I wish I had baby girl.” He murmurs, brushing his knuckles against my cheek.

  There he goes again with that baby girl business. Talk about instantly wet panties. Now is not the time to start lusting after my… what is he to me now? Baby daddy? “Where does that leave us now?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Are you my… boyfriend? Are we dating? Are we doing the whole co-parenting thing?”

  Now it’s War’s turn to laugh uncontrollably. When I cross my arms and give him the look, he settles down. “Let’s get this straight so we never have to talk about it again. First, get that co-parenting bullshit out of your head, it isn’t what either of us wants. Second, I’m your man Magnolia, not your fucking boyfriend. We aren’t dating, we are together. Forever. Period. Third, give me twenty-four hours and I’ll have a ring on your finger and your name changed to Hayes.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah baby girl, oh. Never question my devotion to you because it’s never wavered, not once.” And with that, War cups his hand behind my neck and pulls me in for a kiss that makes my heart flutter and my head spin.

  I pull away gasping for air then get up from the couch and begin pacing. What am I supposed to do, just pack up everything at the townhouse and move in here like the last year and a half didn’t happen? What about Birch? What about my job? And my car? It’s all happening so fast. Too many changes in the span of a few hours.

  When I turn around, I bump into War who’s standing in front of me. He places his hands on my shoulders then slowly drags them up until he’s resting his hands behind my neck. “Take a deep breath then tell me what is bothering you.”

  “That night I realized I was falling for you and then we made love and everything seemed like it was falling into place. I never could have imagined what would happen later. I’ve spent the last eighteen months dreaming about what our future would be like once you got out. What if what I was holding onto was just a foolish girl’s fantasy? Now you’re here, out long before you were supposed to be. How did that even happen?”

  War sighs and looks around the room before turning to look at me. “Do you know who my dad is?”

  “Your dad? No, who is he?”

  “We should sit down for this conversation.” He says grabbing my hand and guiding me to sit down on the couch again. Once he’s sitting where he was earlier, he stares at me for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to say. “My dad is Judd Hayes.” He says like I should know who that is.

  I shake my head. “Okay?”

  “My dad is a good man that engages in bad things.”

  “What kind of bad things?”

  “He runs the crime world here in Jefferson County and a few others. Drug dealers, gun smugglers, prostitutes, he’s the one they all answer to. He’s the reason drug deals only happen in a certain part of the county. He provides protection to businesses that need it and loans money to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get it. He does bad things Magnolia, but he is a good man. He protects his family and puts my mother and sister on a pedestal.”

  “But you were in the military. You weren’t part of his world back then, right?”

  “Not back then.”

  “But you are now?” I ask, my brows pulling together.

  “When I went away, I did so knowing I’d be out a lot sooner than I was sentenced to. Dad needed me to do a few things for him, make a few deals, things he couldn’t do from the outside. I was his inside man.”

  “So now that you’re out, what happens? Are you going to work for your dad?”

  “Yes.

  “Yes?” I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. I fall back against the couch in shock. Like a stack of cards, everything I thought our life would finally be, comes falling down like a stack of cards.
War’s family are a bunch of criminals and so is he. “This is why you were worried about our safety earlier today?”

  He nods but says nothing as he studies my reaction.

  “There’s so much I never got a chance to tell you before everything went down.”

  “I would say so,” I mumble, crossing my arms across my chest.

  Before we can continue our conversation there’s a knock at the door. War stands and goes to the front door and looks out the peephole. Happy with what he sees, he looks over and gives me a tight smile. “I didn’t invite them over.”

  “Who?”

  War opens the door and a beautiful woman with dark hair in a sleek bun who looks to be in her early forties and a man that looks like an older version of War, walk inside carrying several gift bags.

  The woman kisses War on the cheek and gives him a long hug before releasing him and eyeing Walker and me on the couch. My heart jumps to my throat and I look down at my rumpled dress and wonder what she thinks when she sees me. As she walks towards us, I build up every defense I can think of hoping to protect myself from every judgment she’s making about me. I tell myself I’ve been a single mom who has done the best she could with what she had.

  “May I?” She asks gesturing towards the couch.

  I nod and she sits next to me, putting the giftbags she’s carrying on the ground.

  “Magnolia, right?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Oh sweet girl, you can call me Mom, but if you don’t feel comfortable with that you can call me Jen.”

  “Mom? You look like you could be War’s sister?”

  She laughs and looks over at War and the man talking with him near the door. “Did you hear that Judd? Magnolia thinks I look like War’s sister.”

  “Don’t let her fool you Magnolia, she’ll be fifty in a couple of months,” Judd says with a warm smile on his face.

  “Magnolia, these are my parents Jen and Judd Hayes.”