Vinny Ariza

— serious you are about us. And I hope you don’t about me either because I’m not going anywhere. No matter what happens. I got you. Always.”

— her. And showed me.” Kissing her cheek, I held her closer to me, setting the picture back on top of her wallet so that I could wrap both arms around her. In the last few days we’d both shared some deep secrets that we hadn’t told many others about if anyone at all. “I never once doubted how —

I couldn’t help but smile when she pulled the small photo out from her wallet, handing it to me. Standing behind her, I wrapped one arm around her, pulling her back against me while I held the photo out in front of us with the other. “She’s beautiful. Just like her mama. I’m happy you told me about—

— she wants around. E and I still gotta tell her about bringing her on as owner to the shop too. I think that might help make her feel a little better too. And I’d love to see even just a picture of her, pero a video is always better.” I smiled, squeezing her tight against me.

— “Yeah, I gotta get more clothes and shit too. I have some here, pero not enough. I think E and Belle are planning to get more stuff too. I don’t think any of us are leaving any time soon unless Lexi kicks us all out. Which, I don’t think she will. Even if she is mad at us, we’re always the ones —

“I know it doesn’t make it any easier, babe. Pero it’s not your fault. If anything we’re all at fault for not listening, and even then we did ask the doctors apparently we just asked the wrong doctors. Anyone in our positions would have done the same thing.” Rubbing her back, I held her closer. —

— The one that we lost eight years ago.” I held her tighter, there wasn’t much else I could do. We all felt like shit, but this was a new beginning now in more ways than one and in the end it would be better.

— her temple and sighed. “We should’ve listened to her better, pero we’re only human. At least Belle was able to realize this before it was too late. All we can do now is do better and be there for her while all this shit gets out of her system. On the bright side we’re gonna get the old Lexi back.—

“Hey…” I spoke quietly so only Nan could hear me as I held her tight against me. “I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t your fault. We’re all at fault here. And so are the doctors. We were all just doing what they told us to do. They all said it was okay. How were we supposed to know?” I kissed —

— making her take this shit like it was gonna produce some fucking miracle one day.

— fine. I could tell E was pissed. Shit, I was pissed too. Running a hand through my hair, I didn’t even say anything, I just leaned back against the wall. Nothing I said would make it better. We fucked up. We should’ve listened. We should’ve done our own research, but instead we just kept —

— E and I had seen there were about ten less than what was there on the floor now. Once Belle explained everything, I felt like shit. We all thought we were helping her, when in reality we were slowly killing her. What was worse though… her own mother was the one who kept telling us all it was —

“It’s a beautiful name, babe. And I’m sure she was just as beautiful as you.” I smiled, wrapping my arms around her. I nodded when she mentioned the text. What I never expected was the garage floor to be full of medications. What the fuck? How can any one person be on this much shit? The last —

— didn’t know if I was making it better or worse. I just needed to stop talking. All I really wanted was to be there for her. Especially today.

— time.” Sighing inwardly, I tightened my arms around her. “I’m sorry that happened to you. Fucking doctors. I hate them too. Especially since all they shit with my dad. I don’t know… I don’t trust them either. They should’ve listened to you. It’s malpractice that they didn’t…” At this point I —

Holding Nan close to my chest, pressing a kiss to her temple. “It’s normal to think about things like that. And you never know, it could happen again. I know it doesn’t always make sense. Pero things always happen for a reason. Sometimes that shit sucks though and it can mess with you for a long —

— you did what was best for her at the time. Pero I do think those doctors don’t really wanna treat her they just keep giving her more meds and that shit ain’t good. The good thing is we got the right people here now that can help bring her back to herself.”

— to do for a long time. He’s always been able to do that. Now, more importantly, are you okay? I’ve never been through what you went through with that, pero that doesn’t mean I can’t be there for you. If you need me for anything, I’m here. Always. And as for committing Lexi… it was a hard decision—

I didn’t say anything immediately. I didn’t want to interrupt her at all, I wanted to let her get it all out. My arm tightened around her as she spoke. My lips pressing to her temple softly. “First, I think E will definitely be able to get Lexi to do a lot of things that none of us have been able —

— good while. She stayed because she loves him, but their shit was complicated for a while. I just kept my arm around Nan, keeping her close to me. “If she didn’t break it… it’s badly bruised.” I chuckled, shaking my head thinking back to that fight back at the clubhouse before we left to come here.

“Yeah, I know…” I didn’t want to say much and cause a fight. But for a long while even Lexi was barely speaking to Marcus because she felt he was responsible. We’re all glad that’s not the facts anymore, but no one knew that at the time, even his own wife
Had a strained relationship with him for a —

— Pero also I think we all just really needed a good genuine laugh this past week has been hell for all of us. Laughing felt good.”

— there were several sick people in the house, probably meant the rest of us would end up sick too. Marcus’ comment about Belle had us all cracking up. Once Nan bolted for the bathroom, I stood up, still laughing and exited the pen after laying out new potty pads for the pups. “Honestly, yes. —

“They are tiny, and adorable.” Dogs were a soft spot for me, and helping with the pups made me feel close to my dad. Sitting down on the floor, I carefully checked each on, listening to their little heartbeats and making sure the were warm enough. Pedro’s cough did sound terrible, the fact that —

— do. They won’t open their eyes for a while yet. We can get some fresh warm water and just kind of clean around their mouths and wipe them down a little. When they’re not feeding they’re gonna be sleeping most likely.”

— open the gate, letting her step into the little enclosure first before stepping in behind her. “The good thing is at first glance they all appear to be feeding. And mama looks good, just sleepy. Which is normal. Honestly, as long as they’re feeding and seen otherwise healthy there’s not much to —

Smiling into the kiss, I nodded. “I’ll show you what we gotta do. I’ve been doing this since I was little. I used to watch my dad like a hawk when he was taking care of the puppies.” I helped her rinse the dishes and load the dishwasher before we headed out to check on the puppies and mama. I —

— done. Walking around the island, I wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder just watching her work. “Yeah, if you wanna keep working in here, babe, I can check on them. Or you can come with me…”

It didn’t seem to matter how much we secluded ourselves in this house. The drama found us anyway. For a while I spent some time with Esai, his dad and the boys before I wandered into the kitchen with Nan. “I’m not sharing my ice cream.” I joked, pointing to the one I knew would be mine when it was —

— each of the boys. He’s got both your names on the accounts along with the boys. Do you wanna keep them or transfer everything to one place?” I glanced between Lexi and E, turning my laptop around so they could both see the balance of each account and their names.