Men in Charge: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by Natasha L. Black

  “That’s a very mature way to look at that, son,” I said, hugging him tightly. “And I know you’re right. Wherever your mom is, she knows how much you love her, and she’ll be happy to know someone is taking care of you as good as she would.”

  “Do you ever miss Mom?” he asked.

  “Sometimes,” I said.

  “Me too. Okay,” he said, snuggling down in the bed next to me. “Good night.”

  “Night, buddy,” I replied, flipping off the light.

  I turned over on my side and laid my head on the pillow, staring into the darkness of the room. I knew it was going to be hard for me to get any kind of sleep, but I had to at least try. I was already nervous about the next day, and I hadn’t even settled in yet. It was going to be a difficult conversation, especially with her whole family betting against me, but if I knew Aly like I thought I did, she would make up her own mind when it came to our life together.

  After everything, it took her leaving for me to realize she was the woman for me. She was the woman I wanted to grow old with, to help me raise my son, and to raise our baby with. I was determined to get her back, no matter what.

  36

  Aly

  I had only been home a few days, and I was about to tear out my eyeballs. I just wanted some peace and quiet, just someone to shut up. When I lived in this house before, my sisters and brother never came around, but now it was like they were camping out. Just that morning, I’d gone out to the kitchen super early to get a cup of coffee, and there they were eating breakfast and talking up a storm. I loved my family, I really did, but it was hard to focus when they were constantly talking about me, my personal life, or Blake in some way. I knew not much happened in our family, so my situation was like Jerry Springer, but seriously, it was getting old.

  I had started locking myself in my room, just to not hear them. They all thought I was depressed, but little did they know, they were the ones causing an issue. I tried to get out of the house for a little while, telling my mom I had to get some things from the store, but that failed since she jumped in the passenger seat and talked the entire time we were gone. I had this feeling they all decided I shouldn’t be left alone, which was why every two hours on the dot someone different came knocking on my bedroom door to check on me. I felt like I was living in the crazy house only the doctors were the crazy ones.

  Hunger was beating me up, though, and I knew my mom had just finished dinner. I sighed and pulled on my sweatshirt jacket, zipping it up to my chin and pulling the hood. I walked out of my room and was instantly greeted by my brother, who seemed to be just standing there.

  “It’s quiet in here,” I said, reveling in the near silence for a moment.

  “Yeah, the girls went bowling tonight.” He laughed. “They were going to invite you, but mom told them you were too fragile.”

  “Too fragile to throw a five-pound ball down a hall and hit stuff?” I scoffed. “This isn’t 1937 for Christ sake Hollis.”

  “It’s okay,” he said, putting his arm around me and walking me to the kitchen. “You can hang out with me.”

  “Joy,” I said sarcastically.

  “Hey, look who’s up,” my dad said as I walked around the corner. “Hi, sweetie.”

  “Hi, Daddy,” I said, kissing him on the cheek and sitting down at the table.

  “I made spaghetti tonight,” my mom said, setting the bowl of noodles on the table. “I hope that agrees with your tummy.”

  “I think I’ll prevail,” I said with a sarcastic smile.

  “So, I was thinking, doll,” my dad said. “How about I go find Blake and punch him square in the nose?”

  “Too late, dad,” Hollis boasted. “I already beat you to him.”

  I sat there with my eyes squinted just watching the two of them laugh it up. It was like Blake went from the man of the year to the worst person in the world because he did what a million other men did. It was really, really getting old.

  “I know,” my dad laughed. “We could go stuff potatoes in the tailpipe of his pretty cars.”

  “And shaving cream the hood,” my brother laughed. “But I don’t know. The dude’s loaded. He would just throw it away and get a new one.”

  “I sure do hate people like that,” my mother chimed in. “They don’t appreciate anything, and I know his mother didn’t teach him to be like that.”

  I leaned my elbow on the table and rubbed my head, rolling my eyes into the back of it. I sat there for another thirty minutes, eating my spaghetti and listening to my parents and brother make a list of all the things they would do to Blake. All the things I knew they would never actually do, but that didn’t stop them from talking about it. It was driving me batshit crazy. Finally, I got so fed up, I slammed my fork down on my plate and stood up, throwing my hands into the air.

  “You are all freaking crazy,” I yelled, turning and stomping away.

  “Sheesh, what’s wrong with her?” I heard my brother say.

  “Hormones, dear,” my mom whispered.

  I growled, opening my bedroom door and slamming it behind me. I shook my head, pacing the floor back and forth. I needed space, air, anything that would make me feel like the room wasn’t closing in around me. I turned quickly and looked back at my window, tapping my foot for a moment. I changed my clothes and put on some shoes before opening my window, slipping out, and shimmying down the trellis. I jumped the last two feet and landed, looking around like James Bond. I used to sneak out the window all the time when I was a kid, and my parents had never caught me. They always just thought I was the good child, but I was more like the smart child, never getting caught. It was, however, pretty sad that I had to, at twenty-three-years-old and about to be a mother, sneak out of my bedroom through the window.

  I crept passed the window, poking my head up to watch my parents eating chocolate cake while my brother found Wheel of Fortune for them on the television. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my debit card and some cash, glad I’d chosen those pants because getting back up to the window was a very interesting prospect, something I didn’t really think through before I jumped out.

  I shrugged, figuring I would deal with it later and headed out toward town. Luckily, my parents lived in a flatter area of San Francisco, so I didn’t have to brave too many crazy inclines. I walked around town, window shopping, and just enjoying the evening air and the freedom. I stopped at my favorite food truck and got a freshly squeezed juice before continuing on. As I walked, I thought about what had happened, and I began to wonder if I’d made the right choice. What if I had done a stupid thing? At first, I shook my head, telling myself I made the best decision for me, and that I was just having buyer’s remorse because my family was so insane.

  However, the farther I walked, the happier couples I saw walking along, and the more I cleared my head, I started to change my mind about it. I loved Blake, and though I made the assumption that he didn’t love me, I never even stopped to find that out. I was having his child, so I knew I would see him again, but what if I’d made the wrong choice and couldn’t go back and change it? What if he moved on, and I was left behind?

  I had dropped an atom bomb on his ass in the middle of dinner with my brother. I had shocked the hell out of him, and before he could even chase after me, my brother was punching him right in the face. He’d had absolutely no time to process what I said, no time to think about it, and no time to respond. I literally told him, got up, and ran away like a scared little child. I backed him into a corner, and then I split, and he was left shocked, confused, and unable to even get a hold of me by phone. Not to mention he had to tend to his son, who I’d also walked out on.

  “Oh God,” I groaned, stopping on the sidewalk and looking out at the bridge. I hadn’t only walked out on Blake, but I’d walked out on Cooper, too, and the kid didn’t even know what was going on. If that wasn’t fucked up, I didn’t know what was. I’d made a rash decision, I panicked, and in that panic, I left a wake of heartache, including an eight-yea
r-old little boy. I shook my head and tossed my juice cup in the trash can, feeling like a total asshole and a coward to boot. I couldn’t bear hearing Blake tell me he didn’t love me, so instead, I’d bolted.

  I walked along the sidewalk until I came to the overlook, one of my favorite views of the bay and the bridge. It was starting to get dark out, and the lights on the bridge shimmered and shined in the distance. I really did love California. It was so beautiful and always had a way of calming me in my deepest storms. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, leaning forward on the railing and looking down through my texts. Blake had texted me several times asking me to call, but I hadn’t responded. Today was the first day I hadn’t gotten a call or a text from him. I figured if I was coming to this epiphany, then it meant something, and I needed to talk to him.

  I nodded and scrolled through my phone, stopping on his number. My finger hovered over the call button as I fought myself on whether to call him or not. Finally, I pressed send and pulled the phone up to my ear. It rang and rang, but nobody answered. I hung up before it went to voice mail and opened a new text.

  “I’m sorry. Can we talk?” I texted him.

  I sent the message and looked out at the bridge, hoping beyond hope that he would at least text me back. I stood there for over an hour, but he never texted me back, and it made my heart sink into my stomach. I turned and started back toward home, figuring my parents were probably in bed by then. Either way, I needed to get home and get some rest.

  I thought about Blake the entire way back, and by the time I had reached the house, I had come to one very important conclusion. What I needed to do was really simple. I needed to go back to Boston and face Blake. He deserved the chance to talk to me, and he deserved the right to help make the best decision for him about the baby. I wanted him to be part of our child’s life, regardless of whether he wanted to be in mine or not. When he wasn’t depressed, he was a really good father, and I didn’t want to raise a child who didn’t know their father. In the perfect world, we would be a family, me, Blake, Cooper, and the baby, but at this point, I wasn’t sure if it was even in the cards.

  I got back to the house and sighed in relief, finding the front door key under the pot like it had been my whole life. I opened the door and tiptoed through the darkness, going into my room and shutting the door carefully. Everyone was in bed, which was perfect because I was ready to jump a plane back to Boston.

  37

  Blake

  When I woke up that morning, I had butterflies in my stomach. I rolled over in the bed, but Cooper was already upstairs, and I could hear him talking to my mom. I got out of bed and jumped in the shower before getting ready to see Aly. I picked out my clothes carefully, brushed my hair, my teeth, and shaved my face. When I was done with that, I spritzed some cologne on and went upstairs.

  “I’m heading out,” I said.

  “Oh, honey, good luck.” She smiled. “We’ll be here when you get back.”

  “Good luck, Dad,” Cooper said, motioning for me to bend down and then grabbing my cheeks. “Tell her you love her, you can’t live without her, and then kiss her right on the lips. That gets them every time.”

  “I’m not sure how you know that, but okay.” I laughed.

  I waved goodbye as I headed over to the jewelry store. I spent about an hour looking through every ring they had until I found the perfect one. It was a fluke, really. I thought I’d decided on one, and as I was walking to the register, I saw this giant square diamond in the middle of the watches. I called the woman over, and she said it must have dropped in there during a fitting. It was the perfect ring, and I could already see it proudly displayed on Aly’s hand. They put it in a box and stuck it in my sports coat pocket, signing my credit card receipt and heading back out to the car.

  I thought about grabbing a coffee, but with my luck, I’d end up spilling it on myself. I was awake enough as it was, so I put the car in drive and headed over to Aly’s parents’ house. I pulled up to the house and looked over, my nerves growing until I could feel them in my throat. I turned off my dad’s truck and sat there, trying to figure out exactly what I was going to say to her. I wanted it to be perfect, I didn’t want to fumble through it, and I wanted Aly to know how much I loved her. I practiced what I was going to say over and over again, talking to the steering wheel. A woman pushing a stroller slowly walked by staring at me. I waved and awkwardly smiled, and she shook her head and walked away quickly.

  Great, if it wasn’t bad enough, now her neighbors were going to think I was some whack job sitting in the truck talking to myself. I had about gotten my speech down when I heard a car pulling up behind me. I looked up in the rearview mirror and saw Hollis putting his car in park and throwing his door open. He looked pissed, and I knew I was going to struggle through that conversation. I just hoped he didn’t punch me again. He stalked forward toward the truck, and I sighed, taking the keys out of the ignition and opening the door. I climbed out and turned toward him, putting my hands up in the air in surrender.

  “Of all the people to show up here, you have to be out of your mind,” Hollis growled. “I thought I told you to fuck off!”

  “You did,” I said, holding up my hands. “You did, and I heard you, but I’m afraid it’s not that easy. Your sister is pregnant with my child.”

  “I’m going to enjoy knocking the fucking shit out of you,” Hollis growled, stepping toward me with his fist raised.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” I said, putting my hands up higher. “Before you hit me, you have to know something really important, something I left out last time that I saw you.”

  “What?” he yelled.

  “I love her,” I shouted. “I love her more than I’ve ever loved any other woman in my life. I have to admit I may have been a little slow on the uptake, but she’s the only woman in the world for me. I want to marry her, I want to make her my wife and I want to raise our child and Cooper together. I’ve been through a lot in the last year, and when Aly came into my life, she was like a ray of sunshine I’d never experienced before. She made the world brighter for me, for Cooper, and for everything she touched around us. When she left me, she took the life from our home, and it made me realize it wasn’t me getting better that made our home a wonderful place, it was that Aly was there. I fell in love with her long before I knew I had. I don’t want to go through this life without her, Hollis. I want her to grow old with me, to teach Cooper how to be a good man, to teach me how to be a better man. I didn’t come here to make empty promises. I came here to win back the love of my life.”

  Hollis paused just long enough for me to think that he’d changed his mind. Slowly, I lowered my hands and stood up straight, wanting desperately for him to know how much I loved her. Without him, I would have never even reunited with her in the first place. He was an important part to our story, and he was still my best friend, no matter how angry he was at me. I stared at him for a moment and then flinched as his fist hit me right across the chin, knocking me backward onto my ass.

  I groaned, rubbing my face and shaking my head, trying to straighten out my vision. He had one hell of a right cross, that was for damn sure. I was a big guy, but he could have seriously knocked me out had he put his weight behind it. When my vision settled, I looked up at him, moving my jaw from side to side.

  “You still deserved that,” he said, pointing down at me, his voice softening.

  “You’re probably right,” I said, nodding my head. “But can you please let me try to win her back now?”

  “I’m not the only one standing in your way,” he said. “And my father is not as nearly as nice as I am.”

  “I remember,” I sighed.

  Hollis rolled his eyes and reached his hand down. I looked at it for a second and then took it, letting him help me to my feet. He looked me up and down, still not trusting me, but at least he wasn’t punching me over and over in the face like last time. I guess it all had to start somewhere, and as long as it got me in the house
, I was fine with it.

  “All right,” he said. “But you can’t just walk in there and expect my parents to step out of the way.”

  “I understand,” I said.

  Hollis nodded and started toward the front door with me trailing quietly behind him. I fiddled with my jacket, smoothed down my shirt, and brushed the gravel off my pants. I was sweating bullets, nervous as hell to face her family. I had to do it, though. It was important that I had their approval, just as important as it was to get Aly’s. Hollis’s family knew me. They watched me grow up from a boy to a teenager to a man. They were at my wedding, and they were at my wife’s funeral. They had trusted me, and I had broken that trust in the worst way. For me to have any chance of fixing things with Aly, I first had to fix things with her family.

  They were a stubborn bunch of people, and it would be a fight to get them back on my side. They were a tight-knit family, and when someone messed with one of them, they messed with all of them. On top of that, I had managed to pick the baby of the family to hurt, which made things ten times worse. Hollis stopped at the front door and turned around, looking me in the face.

  “And you are one hundred percent sure you want to go into the snake pit?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said, nodding my head. “It’s the only way I even have a chance at getting Aly back, and I’ll do anything to make that happen.”

  “Alright.” He shrugged. “It’s your funeral, but don’t say I didn’t warn you first.”

  I nodded my head as he opened the front door and stepped inside. He turned and put his hand up, motioning for me to stay there right inside the door. I nodded again, wiping my forehead and turned, closing the door behind me. I stood and watched as Hollis disappeared into the kitchen. I could hear him talking to someone, or multiple someones, but I couldn’t tell exactly who it was. I looked around, noticing pictures of Aly when she was little, something I had never noticed in the million times I’d been inside their house.