Page 22 of Her Baby Daddy

Her hands come up to dry her eyes but a few more tears are left to shed. Only after she has herself composed the best that she can does she meet my gaze.

Honey brown eyes that are glassy meet my dark stormy hazel. Sorrow is etched on her features, but she stands tall.Dressed in a simple black dress paired with black tights to fit the somber mood she somehow still burns brightly.

"Don't stay too long. People will be waiting for you," Caitlin says to me. She doesn't sound upset. She didn't shed a tear. It makes me wonder if she even cares.

I don't spare her a glance. I don't even mention a word.

Instead, I keep my eyes on Alice, the one who should be by my side. The one who deserves to be next to me.

Caitlin sighs, a show of annoyance more than anything and leaves me behind.

With her disappearance Alice comes to stand by my side.

Clearing the path she moves elegantly, as if she's walking on air and stops until she's next to me.

We are close enough to where I can feel the heat of her skin but not touching.

Her voice is soft and a bit hoarse from the crying when she says, "She was a beautiful woman, Reed. Inside and out."

She doesn't ask me how I am doing. Doesn't offer an apology. No, she simply remembers my momma how she was. And it's a breath of fresh air. It's exactly what I need.

"She was," I reply gruffly. My throat is clogged from holding back all the tears.

"If there was a star to wish on to take away your pain I would. But sometimes we need to feel it. We need to grieve," she tells me gently.

I choke back on another sob as a tear manages to escape.

"What if it's too painful? What then?" I whisper, strangled with sorrow and agony.

"Then you take all the time you need." She then intertwines her pinky with mine continuing to stare ahead. "And I'll be here the whole time," she promises me.

With our pinkies intertwined I silently cry for my momma and thank every star that there is for Alice Hall.

I lost my momma when I was nineteen. A couple of months later I decided to join the Vipers MC to help fill the whole that my momma left behind. To try and regain that sense of my family that she had given me.

The real truth is I had everything I could ever need in Alice, but I was running from myself. Except she never once left my side.

I can't believe I left hers.

I need to make this right.

I have to do right by Alice.

Parking out front of her trailer I ring her phone instead of knocking on the door. I don't want to alarm or scare her.

She answers on the second ring, and I can hear the rustling of her footsteps from outside her door. "Snake," she answers. It still kills me inside how she doesn't call me Reed.

"I'm outside your door. Will you let me in?" I keep my voice low yet soft at the same time.

I hear her breathing through the phone before she replies, “I don’t know. Why should I?”

“Because I’m a fucking asshole but I’m your asshole. And I’m making good on my promise. He’s not going to lay another finger on you.”

“Fine,” she relents. “I’ll let you in."

A rush of relief washes over me because I was expecting her to reject me.

When she opens the door, her beauty still affects me even though I saw her two and half hours prior.