Bambi was impressed. Curtis hadn’t fussed or complained about taking care of Beau. He’d just jumped right in there, eager to learn and participate. After walking him through a diaper change, she’d taken over to feed him.
Curtis had sat by and watched.
She wasn’t sure if his intense interest was because of their son and all of it being new to him or because she had her breast out or a combination of both.
But she was enjoying his attention and his company.
She was on her way back into the living room after putting Beau back in his bassinette, feeling exhausted herself after everything, when Curtis cut her off at the pass.
“We need to talk.”
Four words had never sounded so ominous. “Okay,” she said, her nerves instantly on edge as she looked up at him and waited for him to drop whatever bomb he was holding on her.
“I want you and the baby to move back.”
That was not what she’d expected to hear. Frowning, Bambi said honestly, “Curtis, I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have a life here, for starters,” she reasoned. “I have a job and a mortgage, and most importantly, this is a safe place for Beau.”
“You didn’t move that far away. He can be just as safe there as he is here. He’d have the entire brotherhood looking out for him. You know I would never let anything happen to him. I promise.”
Bambi could feel herself getting upset. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with him again, but she already knew the chances of avoiding that were slim. She wasn’t going to give in, and neither was he.
“Curtis, you can’t make that kind of promise—”
“I am though,” he said, cutting her off. “Nothing would happen; I’d make sure of it.”
“How? I’ve been watching the news and reading the papers. Things are bad, and you’re only one man. You can’t protect him from everything. It’s just not feasible.”
“Bambi—”
“No, Curtis. I’m not moving back. I like it here, and this is where we’re going to stay.”
“Why are you so fucking hardheaded?”
“I’m being reasonable. I’m being a mom,” Bambi argued. “My first and only concern is my son.”
“Our son,” Curtis snapped, his gaze suddenly filled with anger and frustration. “You made all the decisions for his care up to this point by yourself. You never even tried to include me, but I’m here now. I deserve a say.”
“Not about this,” Bambi said, forcing herself to stay level. This conversation was going south fast, but she had to hold steady, reminding herself it was always bound to come to this.
“Look, that’s my kid in there too. You get to see him every day, watch him grow and change. All things you’ve cut me out of. I won’t be cut out anymore, and certainly not by something like fucking distance,” he snarled.
Bambi wanted to scream and shout at him, as much as she wanted to make him happy and bend. Guilt was responsible for the latter, but she wouldn’t be ruled by her emotions. As wrong as her reasoning may have been in the beginning, she’d made the right choice. Her son had and would have a better life now than he ever would have in a town that was overrun by crime and violence.
She would not take him into that kind of environment. There was no argument Curtis could ever make that would change her mind on that. Tossing her hands up in the air, Bambi walked away from him. He wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Don’t walk away from me.” He grabbed her by the arm, holding her in place and taking the necessary steps to stand in her path rather than haul her back to him. That was the only reason she didn’t flip out on him right then and there.
Folding his arms across his chest, Curtis stared her down. “I want you to go in that room and pack some bags. You two can stay with me for a while until we can find you another place. Or shit, stay forever, I don’t give a shit. But I want my kid there when I come home each night from here on out.”
“You can’t just walk into my home and start making demands like that. That’s not how this works. It’s not how any of this works!” Bambi stepped around him, her irritation growing when he sidestepped to cut her off once again. “Look, you want to see Beau every day, fine. I won’t stop you. But you’ll have to be the one moving, not us. I’m not uprooting our lives for you. It’s just not going to happen.”
He glared, his eyes so intense, they made Bambi cower inside. But she’d faced off with worse—murderers, soulless killers who wouldn’t think twice about strangling the life out of her. Curtis was hardly a threat in comparison.
“You’re not going to meet me in the middle, are you?” he asked, his tone accusing.
“Not when the middle is all the way on your side of the fence. You’re being unreasonable. Like I said, you have to be the one to make the changes. If you want us to come to you sometimes, we can do that. I can bring him to visit someplace that I know he’ll be safe, but there’s no chance in hell I’ll give up what I’ve built here.”
The muscle in his jaw flexed. “That’s your final answer?”
She lifted her chin, standing her ground. Whatever they’d shared earlier was gone now. Bambi was well aware that they were right back at square one, and what she was about to say next was probably going to be the final nail in the coffin, but there was nothing to be done for it. “I’m afraid it is.”
Several heartbeats passed in silence before he finally spoke again. “Fine, Bambi. If that’s how you want to play it…” He stepped past her, heading toward her bedroom.
A mix of confusion and panic lanced through her, and Bambi hurried after him. “What is that supposed to mean?” As he went around the side of the bed toward where Beau was fast asleep, she experienced a fleeting moment of horror that he was going to take her child and run.
But Curtis stopped short, releasing the button on his jeans and pushing them down his narrow hips, kicking them into a heap near the foot of the bed.
“What are you doing?” she asked as she watched, shocked, as he climbed into her bed and got settled.
“You said I was going to have to make some changes if I want to be a part of my kid’s life, so that’s what I’m doing.”
Frozen in place inside the doorway, Bambi just stared at him. “By sleeping over?”
“No, dollface,” Curtis said, letting loose a yawn and then stretching his long limbs. He was so tall and so sexy, she had a hard time keeping her head around him and on the pressing matter before her. “I’m moving in.”
***
It wasn’t right what he was doing, he knew that, but she’d given him no alternative. He could either drive the several dozen miles back and forth every single day to grab a couple hours with his son, or he could make sure he was right there to experience them whenever he wanted.
Taco hadn’t had much of a relationship with his own father. Well, not unless you counted the screaming and fist fights. They did that almost every day from the time he turned thirteen until he moved out at seventeen. Before that, he’d just taken the abuse.
He wasn’t about to abandon his own kid, and he sure as shit wasn’t going to let him grow up not knowing his own father. Some people used their shit upbringing as an excuse to rinse and repeat. Taco always thought that was bullshit. He was viewing this as a chance to break the cycle.
He still wasn’t sure he was ready to raise a kid. Hell, he still lived like one. And he didn’t think he was exactly father of the year material either, but he was willing to work on it. Tonight he’d held a baby for the first time, changed a diaper for the first time too. There were a lot of firsts, and there would be plenty more to come.
He said bring ‘em on! Taco was going to be the best badass daddy in the neighborhood. Hell, the state. Maybe even the whole country! He was going to rock this shit like nobody’s business, and he was going to show Bambi that she was wrong about him and all of it. He had exactly what it took to make this work.
She felt bad for what she’d done. Any idiot could see the remorse in her eyes. Taco had thrown it in her face during their argument, hitting home more than once, and while he might not act like it, he had forgiven her. How could he not? She was the mother of his child.
And it wasn’t as if he’d stopped caring about her.
The longer Taco stuck around, the more he wanted to stay. So his reasoning for doing so wasn’t just because he intended to be a dick and piss her off while proving his point and getting his way. It was also because he couldn’t imagine going back home where they weren’t. Something about it, just picturing it in his mind, didn’t sit right. Every time he thought about it, a lead weight settled on his chest.
So he decided to stick around.
Bambi wasn’t too happy about it. After a lot of huffing and puffing and harshly whispered words of protest, she’d torn the blanket out from under him and taken the extra pillow on what would now be her side of the bed and stormed off into the living room, presumably to sleep on the couch.
Whatever. He wasn’t going to chase after her. It was her house, as she’d so helpfully pointed out, so it wasn’t as if she was going far. So he settled in, got under the blankets, and closed his eyes. Tonight, he’d won the battle. Tomorrow, they’d start the war. No way was he delusional enough to think she wasn’t going to fight him on this. And no way was she delusional enough to think he wasn’t going to fight right back.
If there was one thing he’d learned about the two of them during their time together last year, it was that when it came to being stuck between a rock and a hard place, they were both the rock. It was very possible that at the end of it all, all they’d accomplish is knocking heads, but that didn’t mean he would stop trying.
Taco knew what he wanted, and come hell or high water, he was going to get it.