Toxic

Toxic: Chapter #59 | The Good Father

Zach's Past

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⚠️ Warning: ⚠️

This chapter contains bad parenting, emotional abuse, replacement of a child, mature themes, sexual elements, brief orgasms, a lot of sensuality, hurt/comfort, a good dad and some mentions of possible violence. Take care!

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Kansas.

I tell you what, I was so happy to be back home again and not only that, but I was so happy to have Giana there with me. I couldn't imagine anything better than that and we spent every minute of every day together, except for showers and such. I was so tempted to ask her if I could join her a few times, but I resisted. Temptation was a slippery slope and as much as I had previously claimed to have always liked playing with fire, I wanted this to be perfect.

Kissing? Yes.

Cuddling? Definitely.

Sex? No. Not yet.

Anyways, I was thrilled that we had accomplished so much as far as wedding planning was concerned and I had not really realized that my state of mind was the best it had ever been until I decided to go for a run during the last week of June.

Giana insisted it would be good for me even though I was extremely hesitant to go and worried about leaving her on her own. It wasn't that I thought she couldn't fend for herself, nor did it have anything to do with anything like that, but rather it was because the last time I went for a run and left her at my house by herself, I lost her. "I'll be all right, Zach. I promise. Please, go running. You know you love it and we both know that it's good for you."

I smiled and kissed her gently. "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, returning my kiss and then playfully swatted at my ass. "Now go."

Blushing, I grinned and stole one more kiss before heading to my room. Once there I changed into a pair of blue shorts, my running shoes and, with the confidence she had helped me gain back, I went shirtless. I grabbed my phone, my armband and my headphones. Then I was ready to go but I made a quick stop in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water first.

Giana saw me come out and leaned against the island, just admiring me.

I closed the door of the fridge and looked over at her, stilling when I noticed how intent her gaze was. "Everything all right?"

She blinked several times, as if coming out of a trance and cleared her throat. "Hm? I'm sorry. What was the question?"

I smirked and tilted my head, teasingly asking, "Flustered much."

She blushed, and tossed back, "Gorgeous much?"

I laughed and shook my head. I closed the fridge and made my way over to her. "It's a big ego boost for me to see how much you enjoy me shirtless. I didn't think my confidence could grow any more than it already has but the way you look at me proves me wrong on that front. Feel free to look your fill."

A darker red flush took over her face and she tentatively reached towards me, but she hesitated right before her fingers would have grazed my abs. "You're beautiful, Zach. So, of course, I am going to admire that."

Desperately, in that moment especially, I wanted her to touch me. "You do realize you can touch me, right?"

Stepping closer, she swallowed another lovely blush coating her cheeks. Slowly, she started tracing my muscles with her thumb, the rest of her fingers splayed out on my front. "I-I mean yes but I didn't know if I should."