Defending Bridget - P.J. Fiala Page 0,66

work of his shower, opting to not shave, again, he hadn't shaved since he'd found out he had a son. He didn't want Aidyn to be afraid of his face and the scar on it, so he thought if he camouflaged it, it would be less noticeable and therefore less scary.

He dressed in loose gray sweatpants and a darker gray t-shirt, which felt great.

Brushing his teeth, he looked forward to wings and a couple of beers and some time with Bridget. He wanted to know things about Aidyn, about his life and his health and his every day. He wanted to know it all.

He left the bathroom and found Bridget rummaging in her suitcase. She smiled. "Aidyn would love to hear from you. I texted you my mom's phone number so you can call him."

The smile that stretched across his face must have been huge, it felt huge. It also felt thrilling that Aidyn wanted to talk to him. "Thank you."

He sat on his bed, the one without Bridget's suitcase on it, and leaned back against his headboard. Grabbing his phone from his pocket on his sweats, he pulled up Bridget's text, saved her mom's phone number into his contacts, then called Vivian's number to speak to Aidyn.

"Hi, Vivian, it's Axel. I understand Aidyn would like to speak to me."

Vivian laughed. "Oh, he's been so excited to talk to you. Aidyn, it's your daddy."

His heart thumped in his chest. Just hearing that was thrilling.

"Hi, Daddy. Momma said you caught a bad guy today. I'm gonna catch bad guys when I get bigger."

"You are? Well, we'll have to make sure you train good so you can do that."

"Un huh. And today we played in the gym."

"What gym?"

"Sophie made a gym downstairs so I can work out. I have energy Grandma says."

He chuckled. God, he was adorable.

A knock on the door between their room adjoining it to Josh's sounded and he got up and opened the door to the amazing aroma of wings.

Josh's huge grin greeted him along with a beer in his hand for Axel. Josh looked around to hand one to Bridget, but Axel nodded to the shower.

Josh tapped his bottle to Axel's and went back into his room.

"I know you do. Did you have fun working out?"

"I did. I runned. And I jumped really high."

He chuckled and pictured Aidyn's little face as his excitement came over the phone. This little man made life worth living and worth what he did to ensure his young life was filled with all things good.

The phone shuffled a little and Vivian came on giggling. "He just ran off to jump on the bed. I'm afraid he had a piece of cake a while ago and he just got a sugar high. We may go back down to the gym for a while to wear him out."

"So, Sophie created a gym in the house?"

"Yes, down in the workout room because the rubber mats on the floor are safe. She brought in some fun little equipment for the kids, Aidyn and Shelby, to play on to burn up some energy."

"That's wonderful. Where is everyone sleeping?"

"Well, we're still trying to figure that out."

"I'll call Sophie. You and Aidyn should feel free to sleep in my room. Jax can have her room back if she's coming to the house with the babies."

"Thank you, Axel. We sure feel safe here but if we have to leave, we can go to a hotel."

"No. That's not safe at all, Vivian. We'll figure this all out. Thank you for watching Aidyn, hopefully we'll be home tomorrow."

"It's my pleasure. You take care of my girl."

"Will do."

He heard the call end and he quickly typed out a message to Sophie about letting Vivian and Aidyn in his room.

The bathroom door opened, and a fresh, delicious smelling Bridget emerged looking less tired and wrung out than she had when they arrived.

"Food's here if you're still hungry."

"God, I'm starving."

He stood and walked to the adjoining door to Josh's room and opened it. Propping it open with a chair, they walked in and immediately began filling their plates. Axel finished his beer, pulled out one for Bridget and himself. Glancing at Josh, he held up his empty bottle and Axel grabbed another for Josh.

They ate wings, drank beer and chatted about neutral subjects, but it was pleasant.

Bridget began collecting the discarded wings containers, empty bottles and used napkins and set them on the floor by the wastebasket, then turned to Josh and him and said, "Good