Saved By A Bad Boy

Epilogue

Four Years Later

I stepped back and exhaled. It occurred to me that I might not have exhaled that entire time. After all, when I'm painting, I sometimes forget the breathing part.

Was the painting good? I couldn't really tell. But even if I messed it up here and there, I loved it. I actually loved something that I had painted.

Let me tell you, this almost never happened.

"Alyssa! I need assistance!" Maya was shouting. "Alyssa! This little brat is attaching!" I wiped the wet paint off of my fingers and onto my overalls. Whose idea was it to leave Maya alone with Russ?

I walked downstairs—and, admittedly, I was taking my sweet time. Maya could handle a baby for ten seconds...as long as she didn't dropkick the kid before I got there.

On second though, I decided to move a little faster.

"Maya," I began reprovingly as I entered the kitchen. "You'll never get him to say 'aunt' if you make him hate you."

"I'm not making him hate me. I'm doing everything right! I gave him the boob juice, he just won't take it," she explained, exasperated.

"Maybe stop calling it 'boob juice'? Perhaps he'll start to like it," I suggested with a smile, picking up the bottle.

"Oh, come on, the kid can't even say 'aunt.' He doesn't care what I call that stuff," she huffed.

"C'mon, Russ, don't you want your milk?" I asked him. "Just a little bit?" But apparently, it didn't matter what I called the milk. It repelled him.

"Leave it to Milo to make a kid who doesn't like boob stuff. It's because Josie is so flat," Maya muttered. I rolled my eyes. Milo and Josie had started dating three years ago, they've been married for two, and they've been parents for almost eight months. And Maya still couldn't help making jabs at Josie. Fortunately, it didn't matter, because Josie was the most resilient woman I had ever known. Besides, no one talked about it, but we all knew that—deep down—Maya thought Josie was the coolest girl in the world.

The front door swung open, and the foyer was immediately filled with the sound of uproarious chatter.

The second Russ heard Jax's voice, he started squealing with excitement.

Little turd.

Jax swept into the room, with Milo tagging along behind him. They were holding paper bags filled with hamburger buns and chips.

"I think we got everything," Jax announced, "But Milo forgot the list."

"I didn't forget the list," Milo rebuffed him. "I gave it to you before we left the house."

"You didn't, and you need to stop saying that, because you're lying to people," Jax told him.

Milo responded by jabbing Jax in the side with a pen, and I responded by saying, "Hey, guys. Maybe set a good example for the tiny tot?"

Jax went to set the groceries in the kitchen, while Milo took his son in his arms. Russ smiled at him and started babbling.

"Hey, buddy," Milo crooned, rubbing his nose against the baby's.

"Spawn won't take his bottle," Maya announced.

"Stop calling him 'Spawn,' and it's probably because you upset him," Milo said. He picked up the boob juice (great, now I'm calling it that) and tried to get Russ to take some, but the baby pushed it away.

"See?" Maya said, incredulous. "He doesn't like it. Tell Josie to change up the recipe."

Jax reentered the room and quickly grasped me around the waist to plant a kiss on my cheek.