Brian scoffed. “Well spoken, Kels.”
“Shut up, Brian. I’m sorry, Ian, it’s just that…yeah, I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s so nice to meet you!”
“Same here.” She seemed genuine, so he hoped Brian had been correct. A little black-haired boy appeared at Kelsey’s legs, holding his arms up to her. But Brian promptly scooped him up and turned him upside down while he squealed in delight.
“Where’s Alex?” Brian asked, looking around in mock confusion. “I can’t find him.”
“Here, Bi!” the kid cried happily, while Kelsey shook her head. Laughing, Brian turned him upright again and gave him a high-five. “My nephew, Alex,” he said to Ian.
“He loves his Uncle Bi,” Kelsey said, reaching forward to tame Alex’s black mop of hair.
Brian gave Ian a death look. “If you tell Ghost he calls me Bi, I swear to Christ I will fire you.”
Ian grinned. “I’ll just file that away for future reference.”
“Good idea,” Kelsey agreed. “Ian, you’ve met everyone except Evan, right?”
“Yes, well, briefly.”
“He’s here to have a word with the parental units,” Brian said. “Have you talked to Gabby?”
“Earlier today,” Kelsey said. Her brow furrowed, and she gave her brother-in-law an uneasy look. Something about it raised the hair at the back of Ian’s neck. “Have you?”
“Not in a while…a week or so, maybe?”
“How about you, Ian?”
Shame settled hotly in his chest. Well, it had been there for a while, it just flared hotter. As well it should. He knew he’d been avoiding Gabby, thinking it was for her own good that he was out of the picture, though it was the last thing on earth he’d wanted to do. Probably the last thing she’d wanted him to do. “It’s been a couple of days,” he admitted.
“Oh, guys,” Kelsey said, taking Alex from Brian when he stretched his chubby little arms out to her. “I could kill her. I’m assuming you don’t know who she’s going out with tonight.”
Once, a long time ago during his short-lived JV baseball stint, Ian had taken a line drive to the chest. He’d fallen to the ground and lain there in helpless anguish, trying to force his lungs to fill with oxygen for what felt like an eternity. He’d been convinced something inside him was broken, that this was it; he was going to die.
Even that moment didn’t compare with this.
Gabriella going out with someone.
Who wasn’t him.
Both gazes swung toward him, gauging his reaction to this news. “Who?” he managed to choke out.
“Mark. Her ex.”
Jesus Christ.
“I’m really sorry,” Kelsey said quickly, and he had to wonder what had registered on his face to spur her to move toward him. She put a hand on his arm. “I don’t know what’s happening, but she’s miserable there without you. I’m afraid she might do something stupid.”
“Like go back with that ass**le,” Brian all but growled. “I should’ve whipped his ass when I had a chance.”
“Whose?” A man appeared at Kelsey’s side, slipping an arm around her waist. Piercing green eyes—almost identical to his Gabby’s—met Ian’s, and he suffered yet another blow at the memory of her endlessly green gaze. How he felt stripped to the core when she looked at him.
“Evan, this is Ian,” Kelsey introduced. “Ian, this is Evan, my husband.” Evan only gave him a nod and an almost surreptitious once-over. The conclusion he seemed to come to, judging from the look in those eyes that were so like Gabriella’s, was here’s the bug who dishonored my sister.
“My jackass brother,” Brian was saying.
“We’ve got to do something,” Kelsey said, ignoring him and gazing imploringly up at Evan. “Tell me you don’t agree with what she’s doing.”
“What she’s doing?” Evan said, the implication being that he damn sure didn’t agree with what Ian had been doing in comparison. “She’s all alone there. I really can’t say I blame her.”
“Look, I’ve been an idiot.” The words tumbled out, and Ian only hoped he could keep from causing a scene that would get him tossed out of here. “I know that. I let her go back alone, and I shouldn’t have. But it was only because I know she needs you guys. I didn’t want her getting in trouble with all of you because of me. So I stepped away.”
“Which is a pretty shitty thing for y’all to do, by the way,” Brian said, pointedly loud. A moment later, Mr. and Mrs. Ross walked in, looking none too pleased to see Ian standing in their house.
“Brian, what is this?” Mrs. Ross demanded.
“Please, dude, shhh,” Ian hissed at his friend.
“All right,” Brian said, standing back, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. “I got you in. It’s all on you now.” He smirked as if to say he couldn’t wait to watch the show.
Ian took a deep, fortifying breath. All eyes were on him, and if thunder could be personified, it would take the form of Alexander Ross. The guy looked scary as hell. It wasn’t so much that he was bigger or badder than anyone in the room—it was simply the authority he exuded that made him seem ten feet tall.
Or maybe it was just that he had the power to absolutely crush Ian’s dreams right now.
But, shit, what did it even matter anymore? At this very moment, Gabby was probably with Dr. Asshole. Reliving old times. She might have fallen into his arms at first sight, so pissed and upset at Ian that she couldn’t run back fast enough. Fuck. She’d tried to call him not twenty minutes ago, and he’d let it go to voice mail. “I’m sorry to interrupt your dinner. That wasn’t my intention. Brian brought me here only because I asked him to, because I have to tell you…how much I love your daughter. How much I want to be there to take care of her and the baby.” It sounded horrifically lame to his ears, as if he could possibly sum up his feelings in mere words. He’d never been much of a talker.
“We can appreciate that,” Gabby’s mother began evenly, but her husband cut her off.
“Tell us how you propose to do that, Ian.”
“Sir, I know I don’t have everything you do. I’m not ashamed of where I’ve come from, but it’s true I didn’t have it that great growing up. I fell into the tattoo business when I was young, and I stuck with it because I’m good at it. I think Brian will attest to that. But if you will just give us your blessing, I will work my a— I will work as hard as I can for her. I’ll do anything. I’ll go to college so I can be something more for her, if that would make you feel better. If I have to work seven days a week, I will. I only want to be everything she needs. Even if she asked me to stay home with our baby while she goes out to be everything she can be, I would do that too. I’m all about her.
“If you’d asked me even six months ago what my ambition in life was, I wouldn’t have had an answer for you. Since I met Gabby, that answer is easy. She’s it. She and our baby. Please, just…give us a chance. I swear to God, if I trip up one time, you can tell her to send me packing if you feel the need to, and I’ll go quietly. Just…give me a chance. Please. I won’t disappoint you.”