The Jackpot Screwer: Enemies to Lovers (Love In Dayton Valley Book 2) Read online

  Tears rolled down her cheeks and plopped onto her gown. “I’m trying to be brave, for you and the baby, but it’s real hard.”

  Blowing out a breath, I ran a hand down the braid that Annalise had put into her hair. As she looked up at me, I could practically hear my heart beating in my ears.

  “I know what I can do.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, through gritted teeth.

  I cleared my throat and started to sing. “When your heart is black and broken. And you need a helping hand…”

  ‘Ten Storey Love Song’ by The Stone Roses was Bronte’s favorite song and as I sang it, badly, I finally got a smile from my girl.

  There were no words to describe how I felt about Bronte. I thought I’d loved her before, but to watch her give birth to our son, only determined that the damn woman would own my heart forever. If I could have taken her place and suffered the pain for her, I would have. She was braver and stronger than anyone I’d ever met. No pain relief and the added worry that the baby would be taken from her pretty much straight away, didn’t faze her. She dropped her chin, gritted her teeth and was a fucking rock star.

  As for my son. My boy. Fuck he was beautiful. He had my eyes and his mom’s nose and lips, and I was pretty sure he was going to be a heartbreaker. He was most definitely mine, the attention he was giving to his momma’s boobs was testament to that.

  “I’m so sorry, honey,” Annalise said. “They’re going to have to take him now.”

  Bronte had worried she wouldn’t take to motherhood, but she practically growled when the nurse reached for him.

  “Hey, come on, he’ll be good,” I whispered against her sweaty brow. “They need to check him out.”

  “He looks fine,” she protested.

  She was right, he did. He was small, but still six pounds dead on the nail, so was a good weight. He really was a strong little guy and pretty impatient if his early arrival was anything to go by.

  “I know, but we need to check those lungs.” The nurse smiled softly and held her arms out to take the baby. “You decided on a name, or shall I write Baby Maples for now.”

  We’d discussed names and while we couldn’t fully agree there’d been one that we kept coming back to. I looked to Bronte and decided she could make the final decision—she damn well deserved the honor.

  “Everett Carter Maples,” she replied, looking down and stroking his head. “Rett for short.”

  I breathed in shakily. I thought we’d agreed on Joseph as a middle name for a boy, but I’d been wrong.

  “Hey, Rett,” I whispered and brushed a kiss on his downy blond hair.

  “You know Everett means strong, right?” Annalise said as Bronte finally handed over the baby to the nurse. “I think you chose well.”

  “Yes, I think we have,” Bronte replied, her gaze intent on the nurse taking the baby away.

  “Okay,” Dr. Baskin came up next to me and scribbled something on a chart before looking up. “No stitches, Bronte, so that’s good.”

  “What about Everett?” she asked. “Is he going to be okay?”

  The doctor grinned. “Great name. My great grandpa was Everett. He was a good man.”

  Bronte and I looked blankly at him, having no interest in his family tree, we were more interested in our own.

  “Sorry,” he said. “You want to know about your son. The good news is his lungs seem okay—”

  Bronte shuddered out a, “Thank God.” But Dr. Baskin held up his hand.

  “We don’t know for sure, until we do the tests. All I’m saying is on quick examination they seem fine. He screamed pretty good too.”

  I smiled as I had to agree with him. He screamed blue murder, only stopping once he was skin on skin with Bronte. As Everett snuggled against her, Dr. Baskin had a quick listen to his chest and because he was happy with what he heard, we’d been given a little more time with him than we’d expected to have. Enough time for him to latch on to Bronte and feed for a couple of minutes. I thought I’d seen a lot of beautiful things in my job but watching the love of my life feed my son had to top everything.

  “Right,” the doc said. “I’ll leave you to get some rest and let your families know the good news.”

  I held out my hand and when he took it, I shook it hard. I couldn’t thank him enough, even if he was too damn handsome to have been hanging around Bronte’s pussy as often as he had.

  “Thanks, Dr. Baskin,” I said, taking in a breath. “Thank you. So much.”

  “No problem. I’ll pop in and see you before I leave, but rest assured Everett is in good hands.” He pointed at me. “In fact, I do believe your sister works in pediatrics, right?”

  “Yeah,” I replied, actually feeling an unusual swell of pride for Ellie. “She does.”

  “So, you know how great the staff here are.”

  “Will Rett go onto Ellie’s ward?” Bronte asked, reaching for my hand.

  “Probably NICU for a short time, while we do the tests and make sure he’s all good. Then after that possibly.” He smiled at us both. “Or even home. Now, go tell that huge gang of people in the visitor’s room that they have a little boy joining the family.”

  A few minutes after he’d left, Annalise made her excuses too. She’d been amazing in helping to keep Bronte calm and I made a mental note to buy her the biggest bouquet of flowers I could find. We thanked her, Bronte cried, Annalise cried, they hugged and then it was just us two left in the dimly lit room, with the rising sun peeking under the blind at the window.

  “I hate he’s not with us,” Bronte whispered as she brushed a tear from her cheek. “He might be scared. Do you think he thinks we’ve given him away?”

  I chuckled softly. “No, baby, I don’t. He knows we love him.”

  The door opened and a nurse came into the room carrying a blanket and two takeaway mugs.

  “Something to drink and for you.” She nodded at the blanket. “In case you want to stay with Bronte until you can go and see the baby.”

  “We can see him soon?” I asked, clutching Bronte’s hand.

  The nurse grinned. “Sure can, honey. Once Bronte’s had some sleep and maybe a little bite to eat then we’ll take you to see him.”

  She deposited the blanket on the end of the bed, the drinks on a side table and then left as quietly as she’d come in.

  “You should go and see everyone,” Bronte said around a loud yawn. “Show the pictures you took. But not that one of me, I look awful.”

  “You look beautiful,” I replied, kissing her eyes as they fluttered closed. “Get some sleep and I’ll be back in a few.”

  She nodded and snuggled down under the blanket. I was pretty sure she was asleep before I’d even reached the door.

  “Oh my God, he’s here,” Mom cried as I walked into the visitor’s room. “Tell us, is everything okay?”

  Everyone gathered around me, but Mom and Darcy pushed them all out of the way to get closest to me. When I pulled my phone from my pants’ pocket Darcy shrieked like a teenage girl.

  “You have a picture. Oh, my goodness.”

  “Okay, honey,” Jim said, pulling her back against his chest. “Let Carter tell us all about it first.”

  She grumbled under her breath at him, but I knew she meant nothing by it. They were back on track. Jim had been home a month and it had meant everything to Bronte that all was good between them again.

  “Do I have a niece or nephew?” Ellie asked, leaning tiredly against Hunter.

  “Please let it be a nephew.” Austen’s voice rumbled from behind her and I was surprised he was there, seeing as he no longer had to have a sitter and had been home alone. “It’s bad enough Mom insisted Dad come fetch me when I could have been sleeping, so please God I hope it’s not another girl to really top my night off.”

  So, that explained that. I laughed and took a breath, looking at all the expectant faces staring at me.

  “We have a son,” I rushed out. “He’s beautiful. A little tuft of blond hair, my
eyes, Bronte’s mouth and nose and—”

  “Does he have your winky, honey?” Mom asked in all seriousness. “Because I gotta say, you may have been covered in poop but your winky and cahoonas were pretty impressive for a newborn. Weren’t they, Henry?”

  “Sure were. You were a Maples through and through.”

  “I still am,” I protested. “And yes, my boy is packing, okay?”

  Mom slapped my back. “I knew he would be. Anyway, less penis talk, we want a name and a picture.”

  I rolled my eyes—she’d been the one who started the conversation.

  “Yes, c’mon, buddy,” Hunter added. “What’ve you named him?”

  “Baby,” Ellie cooed to him. “I’ve told you. It won’t be Hunter.”

  She rubbed his chest as he pouted and I kind of wished I’d just stayed in the room with Bronte.

  “Just tell them the name, Carter,” Austen groaned. “Then I can go home and back to bed.”

  “Okay, he’s a strong little guy and we didn’t know when we both said we liked it, but this name means strong and fierce. I let Bronte pi—”

  “Dude, really.” Austen sighed and slapped his forehead. “Just tell us, show us a picture and then go back to my sister.”

  God, he was getting to be a little turd.

  I pulled up the picture on my phone—my favorite. It was one Annalise took of the three of us. Bronte and I were gazing down at our son, while he looked right at the camera; already loving the limelight.

  “This is my son, Everett Carter Maples. Weighing six pounds exactly and he came out screaming from what we hope are a good set of lungs.”

  Everyone cooed and gushed how gorgeous he was, and I’d never felt prouder. I got slaps on the back and hugs and I knew that deep-down he was going to be okay. My son was perfect and even though he was early, he was a fighter and we would all be home together before long.

  “Hey,” Hunt said. “Something I need to ask.”

  I turned to him with a smile, thinking he was going to ask if he’d be Godfather. “Yeah, what is it?”

  “Did he shit himself like his dad?”

  I have no idea why everyone thought he was so damn funny—I thought he was a dick and no, he was not being Godfather.

  It was time. We were going home with our baby.

  Nine days after giving birth, it was finally the day that we started the new chapter in our life. Everything had been great with Rett’s lungs and all the other tests came up negative too. Which was why when his weight and temperature dropped overnight, the NICU doctors wanted to keep him in. For three days Rett’s weight dropped each day and I had never been so scared in my whole life.

  Carter was amazing. So strong and dependable. If I’d ever worried about his ability to be a parent or whether he was committed, he’d certainly proved me wrong over the last nine days. He’d held me, he’d soothed me, and he’d listened to everything the medical team told us when I was too much of a wreck to take it in. He was a total rock.

  Finally, Rett’s temperature went up and his weight climbed over the next four days, stabilizing enough for us to take him home.

  “You got everything?” Carter asked, making one last sweeping look of the room that my dad had paid for me to stay in so we could be near to our baby.

  “Yep,” I replied, feeling a buzz of excitement rushing through my veins. “All set.”

  Carter grinned at me, his eyes shining with anticipation as he then turned to Rett in his baby carrier.

  “Hey, little dude. We’re going home now.” Softly dropping a kiss to Rett’s head, I heard him draw in a shaky breath.

  “You okay, baby?” I asked, rubbing a hand down his back.

  He looked at me over his shoulder and let go of the air he’d inhaled. “Yeah, just can’t believe we finally get to take him home.”

  Both our gazes strayed to Rett and just as we’d done for many minutes and hours over the last nine days, we simply stared and marveled that he was ours.

  “We are so lucky, Carter.” I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “Things could have been so much worse.”

  His hand came to rest on top of mine on his shoulder, and he gave my fingers a squeeze.

  “Yeah, I know. They weren’t though and now it’s time to go home.” He checked the straps, for the fourth time and then picked it up, holding out his other hand to me. “Okay, Lollipop, let’s go home.”

  “What the fu-flip are they doing here?” Carter groaned as we pulled into the parking lot of the apartment block.

  I could see at least four vehicles that I recognized. It appeared that pretty much the whole of our combined family had turned up to welcome us home.

  “I told Mom we’d call when we were settled.” He turned the engine off and slammed the truck into park. “Stay here, I’ll go get rid of them.”

  As he moved to get out, I pulled on his arm. “Baby, it’s fine. They’re excited is all.”

  They hadn’t seen Rett apart from in pictures, so it was no wonder they’d all turned up to welcome us home.

  “I wanted to get you alone.” Carter pouted and looked up toward the window of our apartment.

  “You do know I’m not really able to have sex yet, right?” I winced at the thought of him even pointing his mammoth penis in the direction of my vagina.

  “What do you take me for?” He turned on me, looking totally pissed.

  “I could maybe manage a blowie, or a hand job,” I offered.

  A huge smile broke out on his handsome face. “You think?”

  I slapped his arm. “No, I don’t.” Narrowing my eyes on him, I then leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “Maybe tomorrow, baby.”

  He sat up like a little puppy and practically wagged his tail. “You really think?”

  Rolling my eyes, I unbuckled my seatbelt and looked into the back where Rett was fast asleep. The love in my heart for him was immense. I felt like I had a balloon inside it that was getting bigger and bigger, pushing it out of my ribcage and forcing the air from my lungs.

  “You ready for the rest of our lives?” Carter asked, leaning in close to me and watching our son too.

  “Yes, I most definitely am.”

  He pulled me into his side and kissed my temple, breathing me in and I knew I would never want to ever be anywhere else, other than with this man.

  “We’re going to be awesome, Lollipop, you know that, right? The best parents on the fucking planet.”

  “Carter,” I scolded, nodding toward our sleeping baby. Right at that moment, Rett let out a huge fart, followed with a noise that pretty much told me he’d filled his diaper.

  “What the hell has that kid been eating?” Carter cried, holding his nose.

  “Just milk.”

  Carter’s eyes came directly to my tits and he licked his lips.

  “No,” I snapped, but with a little twitch to my lips. “Don’t even think about them.”

  “Not even a little?” he asked, frowning and holding his thumb and forefinger inches apart.

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  He tilted his head on one side and narrowed his eyes as he thought about what I’d said.

  “Okay, Lollipop, consider this,” he said and then paused to look at Rett. “Damn, son, that shit stinks.” He then turned back to me. “As I was saying. Consider this, I take a picture of your tits and then I can use that to look at and obviously think about that rather than the real thing. How does that sound?”

  I just couldn’t look at him, because no matter how infuriating he was, he made me want to laugh so much. As I pretended to consider his proposition, Rett let out a huge scream, a hungry scream. I’d already learned his cries in the nine days he’d had my heart—his tired one started off as a grizzle and built up to a crescendo, while his hungry one was a straight-out scream.

  “He’s hungry.” I grinned at Carter. “Sorry baby but looks like he gets first dibs on the tits.”

  Carter’s mouth dropped open and his head swiveled to Rett,
who was in full flow.

  “Son, we’re going to have to have words,” he said, reaching over to unclip the baby from his carrier. “We both have a thing for Momma’s titties, and they were mine first. However,” he said, cradling him in his arms. “You need them much more than I do at the moment, so I’m going to loan them to you. Remember, though, when you get a little older and maybe get some teeth, well they’re mine again and mine alone. We got that?”

  It was probably gas but Rett actually looked at his daddy and smiled. His eyes seemed to be following Carter’s lips as though he fully understood what he was saying. Then he let out another huge fart.

  “Okay,” Carter said with a chuckle. “I think we have that cleared up.” He looked up at me and smiled. “Ready to meet the crazy crowd?”

  Feeling like the sun was beaming down on me and warming me from the tips of my toes to the top of my head, I reached my arms around both of my boys.

  “I love you so much, Carter Maples,” I sighed resting my brow against his. “I don’t think there’s a man on this planet who I’d rather have as my baby daddy. You’re right, we’ve got this and we’re going to be awesome parents.”

  Carter’s hand came to cup my cheek and he let out a soft breath. His eyes searched my face as his fingers gently caressed my skin.

  “I love you more than you will ever, ever know,” he said softly. “We are going to rock the rest of our lives and this kid is going to be glad he was born our son. Now, about that picture of your titties.”

  Watching my son and seeing the way he looked at his girl, reminded me of how I was with his mom. Sondra had been the love of my life and when she went, I’d never felt pain like it. We were supposed to grow old together, watch Hunter settle down and have kids of his own but I guess that wasn’t the greater plan for her. I found it hard to say it was God’s plan because I wasn’t sure I believed in a god any longer. If there was one, why the fuck would he let someone as sweet and beautiful as my wife be taken from me and Hunt.

  Okay, so years had passed, and I was finally moving on with my life, but it didn’t mean I’d ever forget her. She’d always be with me and I was pretty sure that was why I’d never met anyone else I wanted to settle down with. I’d played around a hella lot in the last couple of years because let’s face it, there’s only so long a man can go without fucking. I thought I’d done well going without for four years before I’d got back on the horse. That was how much I loved Sondra. Any sooner and it would have felt like I was cheating on her.