a smile.
When James turned his head back into me, Cassie quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Cassie continued, and James peeked over at her.
“Why don’t we sit?” I said, moving toward the bench.
“I want to climb,” James said.
“Do you like climbing?” Cassie asked, sitting on the other side of James.
He still clung to me, but he focused on Cassie.
“Yep. I climb to the top,” he boasted.
“And Mommy doesn’t like that,” I said, ruffling his hair.
“I bet you’re a good climber,” Cassie said, placing her hand on the bench between them. She probably wanted to give him a hug, but she was letting him lead and I was grateful. This was the best option for them to meet each other.
“The best. Swings are great, too,” he said.
“Would you let me push you on the swings?” she asked.
James looked at me.
“Yes, Cassie can push you. Swings, then?”
“Yep,” James said, hopping down from the bench and darting toward the bucket swing.
“Whoa. He’s fast,” Cassie said with a laugh.
“You have no idea what he manages to get into.” I paused. Shit. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Evie, it’s fine. We’re going to stumble figuring all of this out. Thank you for telling me about him. You could’ve kept him a secret forever,” she said, and the hitch was back in her voice.
“Honestly, he hasn’t asked about his father. He’s too young to fully understand. But when he eventually asked, I would’ve told him the truth,” I said.
“Makes me happy that you bumped into Tristan then, so I didn’t have to wait for that to happen. I do understand why you didn’t tell us years ago.”
“Thanks,” I said. Did I deserve how amazing she was being about this?
Probably not.
I lifted James into the bucket swing and took a step back so Cassie could start pushing him.
“Higher,” his little voice demanded.
“Yes, sir.”
I stood back and watched James interact with his aunt.
Those words felt insanely weird. It still amazed me how one crazy night could alter my life so completely. For the better and the worse. At least so far, the good had far outweighed the bad. But my skepticism told me it couldn’t be this easy.
I didn’t want to think about what would happen when the world found out. What people would say about me. What they would think. How they would judge me.
All that mattered was James, and I had to hope that I hadn’t made his life worse by introducing him to Cassie. And eventually to the rest of Steelwolf.
It was yet another small moment that would alter my life. I just wasn’t sure how the good and bad would balance when the world learned about my precious boy.
TRISTAN
“Just a heads up, Cassie wants to introduce James to everyone. They’re bringing over lunch in a little while,” Bash whispered as we sat on the couch in my studio.
“What? With Evie?”
I shouldn’t have asked about her, but I couldn’t help it. It’d been almost two weeks since she walked out of this house after telling Cassie the truth. I’d ignored her I’m sorry texts, like the moody bastard I was slowly turning into.
I hated what she’d done, and I hated that I missed her.
And I hated that part of me understood why she’d done what she had.
I was a fucking mess, and the guys had called me out on my shit more than once in the last fourteen days.
“Uh, yeah. You going to be okay with that?” Bash asked.
I pulled myself together.
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t bullshit me.”
“What do you want me to say? I had feelings for her and she lied to me. To all of us. Add to the fact that she got knocked up by Jamie, which means nothing else can happen between us.”
“Sounds like a shit ton of excuses, man.”
“Seriously? She kept a massive secret from all of us. Cassie was wrecked when she found out. That doesn’t bother you?”
“Of course it bothers me. But be reasonable. If she had shown up right after Jamie died, would we have scoffed and turned her away? Probably. I hate that we missed James’ first three years, but that changes now, and we move forward. You two had something. We all saw it. Don’t throw that away because of this. Don’t waste any more time than you already have.”
That last part was for him. I knew he was thinking about the years he’d stayed away from Cassie. They’d both been stubborn and miserable,