Time Flies (Book 4) [l. hemmings]

Chapter 33

IT WAS SMALLA THEN A BUG

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Michael's P.O.V.

"He's so little, it's crazy." Brooke whispers.

She's leaning up against me, my arm wrapped around her.

"He is, and he's going to be okay." I reply, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"What time is it?" She asks.

"Late." I yawn. "We're going to have to go."

"I feel so guilty every time I leave." She mutters as we start making our way out of the room.

"That's normal. But you need sleep." I tell her.

"But my baby boy..."

"Is in great hands here. Brooke, you need rest." I reply.

"But I love him.." She whines.

"Brooke." I chuckle.

"I know you love him too.." She smiles up at me.

I smile back, "Yea, I do."

Is it weird to love him like my own? Since he is actually Ashton's son, but Ashton left yesterday.

His son just turned a week old, and he left. I guess he really did mean it when he said I should help Brooke raise him.

The little guy means so much to me though, so I'm happy to help raise him. I'm just sad that he's never gonna see his actual father.

"Ella can't wait to meet him, she keeps asking me when she's going to get to see him." I chuckle.

"She's asked me a few times. It makes me upset because he's not gonna be home for at least two months. What am I talking about? I don't have a home! I'm just living at your place-"

"Brooke." I interrupt. "My place is your home."

She stops walking and looks up at me.

"Michael. I-I don't think you understand-"

"Yes I do. We live together. Okay?" I whisper, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

She smiles, grabbing my face and slamming her lips to mine.

It's probably weird, kissing one of my best friends ex-wife, but she makes me feel something different. It doesn't matter what her past is, it doesn't matter what mine is, what matters in now.

She pulls away, smiling up at me, "You're the best, you know that?"

"Yea, I'm pretty fucking great." I smile.

She rolls her eyes, "Come on, let's go home."

-

I wake up in the middle of the night and I notice Brooke isn't beside me.

Quickly I make my way downstairs to find her, and Brooke is sitting on the sofa, her head in her hands.

"Brooke?" I call.

"What?" She sniffles, slowly looking up at me.

"What's wrong?" I ask, sitting next to her and wrapping my arms around her.

"I really miss my parents. I wish they were here to see him."

With Brooke, every time something major happened in her life, she'd just cry about her parents. They always treated her like shit, and she still loves them after everything she went through when she was a teenager. It was her choice to finally get away from them, which was when she moved in with Ashton. She still wants them around to experience these things, but they stay out of her life.