Sinner: A Bad Boy MC Romance

by Romi Hart

  “That’s not what I’m saying,” Dex backtracked, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’m saying that he’s talking about having her for an extended stay on a vacation. That’s not going to convince him of anything. You can tell him to take her on a trial basis, at home, like a real father. He’ll either refuse or do it and regret it. He’s a great dad now, but he’s not made to do it twenty-four-seven.”

  Krys nodded slowly, in shock that he would have such an idea. “And what are we doing in the meantime?”

  “Carrying on the same as usual. Like I said, we plan visits to see Amy so that Jordan feels more comfortable with me around, too.” He spoke in such a sensible tone that Krys almost questioned why she couldn’t do it.

  But then she shook her head and shot to her feet. “No, Dex, that’s never going to happen. And actually, as much as I hate to say it, there’s only one way to resolve this until I can make Jordan realize how wrong he is. You can’t be here.”

  This time, it was Dex who registered shock. His eyebrows rose, and he stiffened, staring at her in disbelief. “You want me to leave? You want to end this because of his childish issues? Boy, did I picture the situation wrong.” He looked wounded, and Krys hated it, but she didn’t know what else to do. “You know what happens if you send me away, Krys? Jordan wins, and he’ll walk all over you for the rest of your life.”

  “He’s not usually like this, Dex, and I’m not talking about forever. I can change his mind. I just need a little time.” She started pacing, nerves the only thing keeping her from feeling truly devastated. She was stuck, and she had no choice here. She had to choose between Dex and Amy, at least temporarily, and there was no competition, regardless of how much it broke her heart.

  “You can say it’s not forever, but I know you too well already,” Dex told her, standing up and locking eyes with her. His were sad, and she fought the urge to cry. “But I’m not an asshole. Not like Jordan, trying to throw my weight around. I won’t stand in the way of you keeping your daughter. That would be wrong, and I know in my head it’s not because you don’t care about me. My heart will eventually understand that, too.”

  Krys bit her bottom lip as he stepped toward her and cupped her cheeks, forcing her to keep eye contact. “For what it’s worth, Krys, I love you. And if you want me back, I’m a phone call away. But you have to be sure because I can’t go through this again. You’re shattering my heart, whether you want to or not.”

  Lips trembling, Krys closed her eyes as he planted a soft, chaste kiss on them. Then, he walked away toward the bedroom, likely to take his things. She wanted to call after him to leave them, that it wouldn’t be long before she had Jordan under control. But a part of her knew that this would likely be goodbye. She couldn’t expect Dex to just hang on and wait. He might find someone else, move on, before any of this went away.

  Even though he’d said he loved her.

  “Mama?” Krys jumped and turned guiltily toward her daughter, who stood yawning as she leaned against the door frame to her room. “Is everyone gone?”

  “Yes, love. Your father had to go, and Dex is leaving now.” She didn’t offer any explanations. She couldn’t lie, and she couldn’t exactly tell her nine-year-old daughter the truth about what was going on. What a dilemma.

  Amy frowned. “Why is Dex leaving?”

  “He has to take care of some things. We probably won’t see him for a while, so you should make sure to say goodbye.” She blinked hard, but the tears came anyway.

  “But I don’t want Dex to leave!” Amy’s eyes were suddenly wide open, and she looked panicked. “I was going to tell you it was okay with me for you to have a sleepover when I’m here, and I won’t bother you. Please don’t make him go, Mama.”

  Amy’s words startled her. What was going on with her daughter? “Sweetheart, calm down. It’s okay. We’re just going to sort some things out, and then Dex can come back.” She winced, realizing she might be lying now. She took a step toward her daughter, but Amy had other ideas.

  The girl ran toward the bedroom just as Dex stepped out with a duffel bag full of the things he’d left here – like deodorant, a couple of pairs of boxer briefs, the cologne he kept on her bathroom counter, and a dozen other things Krys could probably list off without even thinking hard. Amy threw her arms around him, looking so small against the much larger man, and cried, “I want you to stay, Dex. Please don’t leave. I don’t know what happened, but I’m sorry and so is everyone else. Just don’t go!”

  Dex laid a hand on her head and gave Krys a concerned look. Krys only held her arms up in question. She had no idea what had gotten into Amy. Dex pushed the girl back and squatted down in front of her to make eye contact. “What’s going on, Amy? Why are you so upset?”

  Amy sniffled and looked down at the ground. “I know you and Dad don’t like each other, but I don’t want you to leave. I like you. And Mama likes you. She’s so happy now that you come and take her places and come and spend time with us. If you leave, she won’t be happy anymore. I won’t be happy.”

  Krys’ heart ached, and her rage swirled toward Jordan. Why couldn’t he ask his daughter her opinion? She obviously knew what she wanted and could think logically for herself. And here her own father was, hurting her emotionally and not even knowing it. She exchanged another glance with Dex, giving him a slight nod. She wasn’t going to have him leave if it really bothered Amy so much.

  To her daughter, she said, “Maybe you need to have a talk with Dad, Amy. You should tell him what you really feel. He loves you very much, and he’ll listen to you more than anyone.”

  Amy nodded and swiped at her eyes, turning back to Dex. “I want to tell him that you aren’t bad. You’re nice, and you’re fun, and you love Mama. Can you stay?”

  He smiled at her. “Well, I could, but I have two conditions.”

  “What?” Amy asked, growing serious and screwing up her face in concentration.

  “Well, first, when you talk to your daddy, you should tell him how much I care about you, too. You’re special to me, Amy.”

  She smiled through her tears. “I can do that. What else?”

  Dex scowled. “Your mama and I agreed that I should leave. You convinced me it’s okay to stay. Now, you have to ask your mama if it’s alright.”

  Two questioning faces turned toward Krys, and she couldn’t help but smile. She had no idea if Amy could talk her father into changing his mind, but with the turn of events, she knew without a doubt she had to make this work. “I would love for Dex to stay.”

  Chapter 10

  Admittedly, Krys had been nervous all day, thinking about how this would go. She’d imagined a hundred different scenarios, with a multitude of different reactions from Jordan, and while many of them were quite outlandish, some of them were very real possibilities and made her halfway consider not going through with this.

  But if her daughter was brave enough to have a conversation about it with her father, Krys couldn’t give up and walk away.

  She’d arranged for Amy to spend a couple of hours alone with Jordan this afternoon, and her daughter had been determined to say her piece about having Dex around. With that preceding what Krys intended to say, the door should be wide open for a conversation that didn’t get too heated.

  She knocked on the door, knowing for a fact that Kylie wasn’t there; she was out with Reesa, picking out a wedding dress. So, there was no surprise when Jordan answered the door, his jaw set in a hard line. She couldn’t read his expression, his eyes giving nothing away, and he stepped back to let her in. “I’ll get Amy,” he muttered.

  “Not yet,” she told him, earning a raised brow and a frown. “I want to talk to you first.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I don’t want to talk anymore, Krys. I’ve got nothing to say right now.”

  “That’s fine. I want to do the talking. You can just listen.” He crossed his arms, and she saw a hint of emotion. So, Amy had spoken to him, and he was hurting. He waited, and Krys squared her shou
lders, reminding herself that this was the only option she had to make things right. “I’ve decided to consider that I might be making rash decisions. You don’t like Dex, I get it. Well, I don’t like Kylie, and I don’t want my daughter around her anymore.”

  “Yeah, whatever, Krys,” he scoffed. “You’re full of shit.”

  “No, I’m serious, Jordan, and if you want to continue to see your daughter, you’ll pay attention.” This was exactly what she expected. “I feel like she’s starting to try to take my place as a mother, and that’s not fair, considering how much work I’ve put into raising Amy. I can’t have her encroaching on my territory. I know you care about her, so I’ll give you the choice. Who’s more important, Amy or Kylie?”

  “You’re fucking kidding me, right?” He glared at her, and she saw the panic starting to set in. “That’s the craziest thing you’ve ever said to me. You know Kylie. She would never do anything to hurt you or Amy, especially not stepping in to take your place. What is this really about?”

  “It’s about trying to make you choose between the two most important people in your life, Jordan.” She saw him open his mouth to protest but pushed forward, not letting him interrupt. “You can’t tell me that this is different, either. You had a whirlwind relationship with Kylie, even if you led her on to think otherwise. You were in love with her almost the moment you met. And I feel very much the same about Dex.

  “Now, you claim he’s this horrible man who uses women and casts them aside. But your teammate actually proposed to me, just to prove to you that he was committed. On top of that, he was walking out the door by my request because he cares about me, when your daughter started crying and begged him to stay. Tell me, does that sound like the guy you paint Dex to be?”

  “It’s all for show, Krys—”

  “It’s not!” she stopped him. “If that’s the case, then this huge wedding of yours is all for show. Now, when you called me to tell me about Kylie, I knew how much you’d sacrificed for Amy, and I didn’t know anything about this woman. But I encouraged you to do the right thing and move on. I even came here to set things straight for the two of you when you screwed it up by lying to her about me. Don’t argue, omitting our marriage and our daughter was a lie,” she told him before he could interject.

  “This is different,” he hissed through his teeth.

  “You keep saying that, but it’s really not. Actually, the situation is less terrifying. We’re all here together, so we all know each other. And you’ve known Dex for a while. I had never met Kylie before I came to beg her to understand and take you back. I wanted you to be happy, even if she was an ugly, bitchy, horrid woman. After all the sacrifices I’ve made, don’t I deserve happiness? And shouldn’t you support me the way I supported you, blindly, if necessary?”

  He obviously didn’t like the comparison, but he said nothing, turning away to stare off at nothing in particular. When he finally spoke, he was quiet and a bit hoarse. “Amy told me today that she likes Dex. She said he’s nice and that he loves you and makes you happy.” He took a deep breath and scrubbed a hand down his face. “She said it makes her happy to see you like that, for the two of you to be together.”

  “She told me that, too. And Dex. Like I said, she begged him not to leave.”

  Sighing heavily, Jordan dropped onto the couch, resting his elbows on his knees and hanging his head. “I’ve been pigheaded, haven’t I? I judged Dex the way people judged me, and I have no right to do that. Part of me is jealous. I thought you didn’t want to find someone, and I had this grand idea that no other man would ever be involved in Amy’s life. At least, not until she was grown and ready to get married.”

  “You said Kylie would never try to take my place, and I know that. I actually welcome her into my daughter’s life because she adores Amy. They have fun together, the way a girl and her stepmother should.” Krys had never harbored any ill feelings about Amy’s blossoming relationship with Kylie. “Dex wouldn’t try to muscle into your place, either. He cares about Amy. He bought her a special gift he thought she would like. We do things together. He wants to take her to the zoo this weekend. He worries when she’s extra tired and asks if we should make a doctor’s appointment, in case the cancer has come back. And that’s just in a couple of weeks, Jordan. Think how great he’ll be in her life as someone extra to lean on. You know, a lot of children only have one adult responsible for them, and while you’ve always been here for Amy, she’s mostly only had me because of us living so far apart. Now, she can have four adults looking after her. And who knows what the future holds? What if Dex and I had a family? She could have a brother or sister or both. This isn’t bad for her. It’s good for her, and we’ve all been so concerned about how it makes us feel we didn’t think about her.”

  "We did," Jordan corrected, "but we made decisions for her, imagined thoughts in her head. At least, I have. And I was wrong to do that. Amy's strong-willed and smart as hell. She doesn't need us telling her what to think."

  “I agree.” A sense of relief washed over her, and Krys walked over to sit next to Jordan. “I’m in love with Dex, and he loves me, Jordan. I don’t need your blessing on this, but I’d like it, if you’re willing.”

  “I know that,” he told her. “And if he truly makes you happy, then I can accept that and wish you all the best.”

  “He does make me happy.” Inhaling deeply, she bumped his shoulder. “I appreciate that. I know it’s not easy for you.”

  “I’m not going to let my pride and jealousy get in the way of your happiness. That wouldn’t be right. You were willing to take big risks to assure mine.” He turned to look at her and smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Krys. Really.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled back. “So, are we good?”

  “We’re always good, even in the worst of times.” He laughed softly and shook his head. “The way you framed all of this, comparing the situations. That was genius and all kinds of unfair.”

  “All’s fair in love and war, Jordan. You know that.” She laughed with him, and Amy came bounding into the room.

  “Is it okay? Dex can stay? You aren’t mad at each other anymore?” she asked in rapid succession, excitement lighting up her features.

  “We’re not mad anymore,” Krys assured her.

  “And Dex can stay,” Jordan added. “In fact, if you want, we can plan our trip to Disneyworld so Dex and your mother can come, too.”

  “Really?” Amy squealed, throwing her arms around Jordan’s neck. “That’s wonderful! Yes, yes, yes!” She turned to Krys. “Please say you can come. Please!”

  Krys suddenly felt like Cinderella, who’d bend slaving away all her life and dreaming of something more, only to finally meet Prince Charming. In her version, though, her wicked stepmother approved and gave her blessing. “I’ll speak to Dex, and we’ll all coordinate.” Amy started squealing and bouncing again, and they had a good laugh. “That’s enough,” Krys told her. “Get your things. I’m hungry, and I want to go home and have dinner.” Hopefully, Dex would come over, and they could celebrate.

  “Let’s plan to get together for a drink this week, okay?” Jordan offered. “I’ll give Dex another chance and see if I can’t get to know him properly.”

  “That sounds great,” Krys told him appreciatively. With a smile on her face and a song in her heart, she took Amy home, suddenly looking forward to the life she was creating for herself.

  Chapter 11

  Krys fell into the recliner, exhausted but happy. Dex was right behind her, dropping their bags and collapsing on the couch. “So, when are we going to tell everyone?” he asked through a yawn.

  Feeling giddy at first, Krys had considered making the announcement right away, but with Jordan and Kylie having just gotten married a month ago, she didn’t want to steal anyone’s thunder. Besides, there were other things on her mind than making an announcement to the entire extended family.

  “Let’s wait a bit. Maybe a month or so,” she said, turning her head to look a
t him. “They might be concerned with the quickness and secretiveness of it all. Why are you in such a hurry?”

  Dex leaned over and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet and then onto the couch with him. He leaned back so she was practically lying on top of him. “I just want to brag that I have the most beautiful and intelligent and caring wife on the face of this earth. That’s all.”

  Krys preened under his praise, even if she still didn’t take compliments easily. “You’re a charmer, Dex Collier.”

  “I try,” he chuckled. “Besides, you were the one in a hurry to elope. Why were you in such a rush?”

  Amidst all the controversy and trouble at the start of their relationship, Krys had come to greatly value their privacy. Several times over the last four months, Dex had proposed to her, and she’d hesitated, terrified that something would change in their blissful world if she agreed and made things official. But since the wedding, she’d been thinking about it, and she’d started to long for the chance to feel like she really belonged to someone.

  So, when Dex had brought it up again two weeks ago, Krys had agreed, deciding to suggest they elope. In a way, she knew she’d been ready a long time ago and didn’t want to wait anymore. Another bit of her worried that another chaotic meltdown would occur, and she couldn’t stomach another rift in her world. Mostly, she hadn’t felt the need to parade herself down an aisle, all dressed up, just to prove to a bunch of people she barely knew that she and Dex were committed to each other.

  So, they’d taken a weekend trip to Las Vegas, partied through the nights, and gotten married. They would probably have a small family party to celebrate eventually, perhaps even invite the soccer team and some of her friends from work. For the moment, though, she felt perfectly justified in keeping it to herself.

  “I suppose my reasons were very similar,” she said aloud, smiling at him. “I couldn’t wait to call the handsomest, kindest, most humorous man I’ve ever met my husband.”