What had I said to warrant that reaction? “What did I say?”

She shook her head quickly, before turning to me and kissing my cheek affectionately. “You are the most incredible man I’ve ever met, Nate Peters,” she whispered. She took my hand and gave me a little tug in the direction of the door, while I just let her lead me along having no clue as to what had just happened.

When the intercom buzzed, Rosie was still sorting out her clothes and unpacking from the weekend. “Want me to get it?” I called.

“Yeah, thanks. That’ll be DJ and Josh,” she shouted from the bedroom.

I buzzed them up and opened the door, waiting for them to get there. DJ skipped up the stairs, grinning happily so he’d obviously had a nice time.

“Hey, Kid.” I greeted, happy to see him again.

“Hey, Nate!” he cheered. “Here, I made these for you and Momma,” he boasted, holding up a little clear bag with two cupcakes in it.

I laughed at his thoughtfulness. “Thanks, DJ. Why don’t you take those in to your mom?” I suggested. He nodded and immediately skipped off to the kitchen. I looked back at Josh’s tight jaw and hard eyes. “Can I have a quick word with you?” I asked, nodding back into the hallway.

He frowned, and his eyes darted behind me, probably looking for Rosie to help him or something. Without a word, he sighed and strutted back into the hallway. After flicking the latch on the door so we could get back in, I followed him out there, pulling the door closed so Rosie wouldn’t hear anything.

Josh’s arms were folded across his chest as he glared at me like the arrogant as**ole that he was, and I wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face. I gritted my teeth and pushed the angry thoughts away. This was DJ’s dad at the end of the day, so I needed to respect that.

“Did you get the money for DJ’s ticket to the show?” I asked curiously.

His body tensed as his eyes narrowed. “If she’s asked you to threaten me or something then you can just back the hell off. I don’t have the f**king money; if I did, I’d give it to her! Why is the little bitch getting you involved? This isn’t any of your business; you’re just the new boy toy. She’ll soon kick you to the curb as soon as she realises she can do better than a cop,” he growled, sneering and looking me over like I was something he’d stepped in.

My hands itched with the need to grab him around the throat and choke the life out of him for calling my girl a bitch, but I couldn’t do that. Technically, I shouldn’t even be getting involved now; she’d probably kill me if she knew I was doing this.

I gritted my teeth and pulled my wallet out of my back pocket and counted out fifty bucks, holding it out to him. This was my plan, and I should stick to it even if he had just disrespected both me and my girl. I still needed DJ to go on the trip, and I couldn’t let the kid down like that. Rosie wouldn’t take the money from me, so this was the only other option that I could see. Sure, I knew this would give him a leg up in the, so called, ‘competition’, and if I really wanted to get ahead then I wouldn’t be doing this now – but the thing was, I liked them both too much to play this game with him. DJ desperately wanted to see the show, Rosie couldn’t pay, she wouldn’t take my money but yet she’d take his, so there was no other choice here.

“What’s that for?” he asked, frowning at it and not taking it out of my hand.

I slapped it against his chest. “Go pay for the ticket and grow some f**king balls. That’s your kid in there that you’d be disappointing again. You don’t even seem bothered by how upset he’d be if he couldn’t go,” I spat angrily.

“It’s just a f**king show, he’ll get over it!” he cried.

“It’s not about him getting over it, it’s about you breaking your promise to your kid and his mother. You said you’d get the money, so go give her the f**king money. Man up, stop pulling this shit all the time, they don’t deserve it!”

He snorted and shook his head. “So you’re gonna let me go in there and give her the money, and then make me look like a prick when you tell her it’s yours. Then you’ll look like the good guy, and I look like the freaking waste of space dad, borrowing from her new boyfriend?” he retorted.

“I’m giving you the money to pay for your son, Josh. Just go in there and pay her for the ticket. I don’t want any glory and I don’t care about the money, I just don’t want to see my girl or her son upset because of it. You don’t need to pay me back, just try and keep your promises from now on. You can’t keep letting them both down like this,” I stated, frowning.

“So, what are you getting out of this?” he asked, nodding down at the money that was clenched in his fist.

I shrugged. “I get to see Rosie smile when you give it to her. I get to see her stop worrying about how she’s going to tell DJ that he can’t go and see Buzz and Woody. That’s all I want.” Unable to look at his distasteful expression any longer, I turned and headed back into the apartment. Voices from the kitchen caught my attention so I walked in there. DJ was sitting on the counter, grinning happily as Rosie fussed over him with a huge smile on her face. “Let’s see this cake then, Kid.” I smiled, leaning on the counter next to him.

DJ grinned and passed me a cupcake with blue frosting and some sort of silver flakes over the top. It didn’t look edible. Forcing a smile, I took a bite. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad. “Wow, you and Nanna Juliet do make the best cakes,” I lied, looking at him with wide eyes.

He smiled proudly as I stuffed in the rest of the cake, forcing it down where it was a little dry. Behind me, Josh walked into the kitchen, and Rosie looked at him with a fake smile. They obviously pretended they had a great relationship in front of DJ.

“Hey, did he behave?” she asked him, poking DJ in the ribs playfully, making him giggle.

“Good as gold, the same as always,” he confirmed. His eyes flicked to me before he stepped forward and held the money out to her. “For the ticket,” he said quietly.

Her eyes widened as she squealed and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. “Oh God, Josh, thank you!” She bounced up and down on the spot as she hugged him.

He laughed uncomfortably as he patted her back awkwardly, looking at me over her shoulder. “Thank you,” he mouthed behind her back. I smiled and nodded. Hopefully he’d try and stick to it and not disappoint them anymore. It wasn’t just the money, it was promising something and then backing out and leaving someone else to pick up the pieces, and then not even understanding how important it was to his son.

Rosie pulled away, grinning happily as she clutched the money to her chest as if it was the most important thing in the world. She sighed happily. That happy expression on her face was totally worth it.

“Well, I’d better get going. Thanks for looking after me for the weekend, DJ,” Josh teased, ruffling up DJ’s hair. DJ laughed and pushed him off. “I’ll see you in two weeks, and I’ll call next weekend too. Maybe Momma might let me take you out to play ball for a couple of hours? If you’re not busy that is…” he trailed off, looking at Rosie hopefully.

She smiled and nodded. “Sure. Call me, and we’ll sort it out.”

“Great. Well I’d better get going. See you next time then, Buddy.” He kissed the top of DJ’s head, hugging him tightly.

“Bye. Daddy.” DJ smiled, hugging him back.

He smiled at Rosie, and she hugged him too, kissing his cheek. “Thanks, Josh,” she whispered, looking at him tenderly. I gritted my teeth and prayed that this didn’t come back to bite me in the ass.

Josh nodded awkwardly, his eyes flicking to me again for a second before going back to her. “No worries. I’ll call you.” He turned and walked out of the kitchen without another word.

Yeah, bye, Josh. Asshole.

Rosie grinned and grabbed DJ off the counter, spinning him in a small circle, making him laugh and grip her shoulders. “Right then, Baby, bath time and then bed,” she announced, setting him on his feet.

He skipped out of the kitchen, and she walked to my side, gripping the collar of my shirt, pulling my face down to hers. She kissed me softly for a second before pulling away and following her son, but not before she turned and blew me another kiss at the door. I grinned proudly. I didn’t need any recognition. That smile and that kiss was totally worth fifty bucks.

Chapter Thirty

The following two weeks passed quickly. I was hanging around Rosie and DJ like a bad smell; I literally couldn’t get enough of their time. The kid seemed to like me more and more each day. We hung out, laughed, played and joked around, it was fun.

Even though it wasn’t his turn to have him, Josh had kept true to his word and had picked DJ up for a few hours, taking him to the park to play ball the following weekend after I’d given him the money. Although it was nice to get some alone time with Rosie, deep down I didn’t like the fact that Josh was making an effort. I knew that I should like the fact that he was trying to turn over a new leaf, but part of me wondered how long it would last for, and if he would hurt them both again in the long run. DJ especially would be hurt if he suddenly changed and stopped calling him every other night and turning up when he was supposed to. Rosie had obviously hardened herself to it because they’d been apart so long, but the kid would be crushed. He was definitely enjoying his dad’s attention. Another part of me didn’t like Josh seeing them at all; the jealous part of me, the possessive part, just wanted him to crawl under a rock and die. I couldn’t stop wondering if maybe he was doing this to try and win them back, that his tactic for the ‘competition’ was to be a great dad, clearly that would score him a few points with Rosie. If that was the reason, the only thing I could do about it was to be myself and pray that Rosie chose me in the long run and that she wouldn’t be impressed by Josh’s pathetic attempts to win her back.

The day of Cameron’s christening also finally came around. I was driving today, picking up Rosie and DJ, and we were all travelling there together. The only thing I didn’t like the sound of – I was also driving her parents.

Because they knew Rosie’s parents, Anna and Ashton had invited them along to the ceremony too. They’d caught the train in from Barstow this morning, and were currently at Rosie’s apartment where they would be staying the night. To say I was terrified of meeting her dad would be a ridiculous understatement. From what I’d heard, Rosie was a bit of a daddy’s girl, and he was slightly overprotective of her. After what happened with Josh, I could understand why, but I was hopeful that I’d win him around with the old Nate Peters charm. All I needed to keep in mind was that I was to make no slutty remarks to my girl in front of them. For me that would be a feat in itself considering it was the first thing that usually fell out of my mouth around her. Hopefully, I’d be able to keep my hormones in check tonight; otherwise there was no chance of him liking me.

Sitting in my car that I had spent a painstakingly too many hours cleaning, washing, waxing and vacuuming yesterday in the hopes that it would help me make a good impression, I fiddled with my tie and took a few deep breaths. I wasn’t prepared for this at all.

By the time I’d made the short walk up the front door of her building, my hands were sweating and I felt slightly sick. Rosie had, of course, assured me that everything would be fine, that he would give me a hard time, but she was confident that I would win him over because I was, in her words, incredibly adorable. The girl still refused to use macho words for me.

I didn’t let myself up to her door, like I usually would when I came to visit. Instead, I pressed the door buzzer and waited for her to answer and buzz me up. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me,” I replied, closing my eyes, trying to take deep breaths so I didn’t punk out and run to the car, crying like a little girl.

She didn’t say anything, the door just buzzed and the lock clicked, allowing me to open it. I made my way upstairs, fiddling with my suit jacket nervously.

Remember, no slutty jokes, Nate. Do not make any slutty jokes!

When Rosie opened the door, my mouth popped open in shock. She looked incredible in a pale blue dress with a little white cardigan thing over the top. Her hair had been curled and hung loose, framing her exquisite face. I raked my eyes down over her body, taking in every glorious detail from her delicate neck, right down to her stiletto, open-toed, blue heels that she was wearing. Instantly, my mind was taking off the dress, imagining her in just the heels.

I dragged my eyes back up to her face, unsure what was going to come out of my mouth. “Holy shit, you look so scorching hot that I could jizz in my pants right now.” Hmm, not quite the opening I was going for…

Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open as her gaze raked over me. I waited for her reply or to scold me with a ‘you’re a pervert’ comment – but she was just staring at me.

After a couple of seconds, I frowned and looked down at myself. “What? Did I leave the price tag on or something?” I questioned.

She blew out a big breath and shook her head. “God damn, you look good in a suit. Seriously, I just…” she swallowed, “…yeah, you’re wearing that next time you stay over, okay?”

A predatory smile crept onto my face as I stepped closer to her. “Oh, I look good in a suit, huh? Maybe we could start some little office worker fantasy. I can be the boss, and you could be my secretary wearing those hot little glasses of yours. Also, don’t forget to wear the f**k me shoes that you have on right now,” I breathed, my mind already working out the details of the game.