Chapter 158 Once upon a time...

Chapter 158 Once upon a time...
Tegan

A high-pitched, breathless squeal tore from my throat before my filters could stop it, completely shattering the silence of the dark shoreline.

I threw my arms around Hayes’s neck, burying my face into his shoulder as hot, frantic tears spilled over my eyelashes in a violent rush.

I was laughing and sobbing simultaneously, my body shaking against the rigid, heavy padding of his chest as the sheer, overwhelming reality of the pink mist settled over the sand.

"Look at you," Hayes rumbled softly, his deep, gravelly baritone vibrating straight into my collarbones.

He pulled back just a fraction, his large, calloused thumbs reaching up to gently wipe the wet paths cutting through the pink dust on my cheeks. A rare, breathtakingly soft smile pulled at his mouth. "You're crying."

"I am not crying, Hayes," I choked out, a watery, stubborn laugh escaping my lips as I swatted his hands away, though I immediately leaned back into his touch.

"It’s a localized ocular secretion due to the high density of the chemical aerosol. My lachrymal glands are just reacting to Sophie's organic powder." I rambled.

"Right. Ocular secretion," he murmured.

His pitch dropped into a quiet, intensely possessive register as his hands slid down to press flat, heavy, and frantic over the warm, rounded swell of my belly. He looked down at the pink dust coating his white-wrapped knuckles, a profound, unyielding pride flaring deep within his pupils. "So... it’s a princess."

I paused, my fingers tightening around the collar of his suit as I arched an eyebrow, a sudden pout pulling at my lip. "A princess? What do you mean by that, Captain? Are you implying that I’m not already the undisputed royalty in your world?"

Hayes let out a low, genuine chuckle, the dark, victorious sound rumbling deep within his chest as he pulled my hips flush against his rigid thighs, sealing out the wind.

"No, sweetheart," he whispered roughly, his head dropping low until his lips brushed the sensitive skin right beneath my ear, his breath a warm promise in the freezing November night.

"You aren't my princess anymore. You got an upgrade. You're my queen now. The baby... she's the princess. You just have to share the crown."

A bright, uncontrollable smile broke across my face, completely fracturing my defenses. I quickly ducked my head against his shoulder to hide it, feigning a dark, dangerous glare as I looked back up at his rugged features.

"She’s going to be a menace, Hayes. If she inherits your stubborn, unhinged genes, I’m going to have to prescribe myself sedatives by the time she turns three.”

"She’s going to look exactly like you," he corrected flatly, his grip tightening around my waist as we slowly resumed our walk, his boots cutting deep, synchronous paths through the rose-colored sand.

"Dark hair. High, untouchable chin. And a mouth that cuts through my security like a scalpel. I'm already building a bigger cage for the perimeter."

"Don't you dare lock her in a room, Hayes," I laughed softly, my heart doing a slow, beautiful flip inside my chest as we moved further down the shoreline.

As the quiet hum of our bickering faded into the steady, rhythmic crash of the dark ocean waves, my thoughts drifted from the shoreline and wandered back through every impossible step that had led us here.

I looked down at myself. I was standing on an island, wrapped in the warmth of Hayes's suit jacket. My hands were stained with two different stories, one coated in bitter black soot, the other dusted in brilliant pink powder. One marked everything we had survived. The other promised everything we still had left to live.

It felt strangely fitting.

My mind wandered back to the night of my nineteenth birthday.

Back then, my world had been pristine, polished, and suffocating. I had been the campus golden girl, trapped beneath impossible expectations from Papa and terrified of falling from the pedestal everyone else had built for me.

Hayes Ashford had been the complete opposite. The feared hockey captain, my greatest rival, the one person capable of getting beneath my skin with a single look.

We hated each other with the kind of intensity that convinced everyone we'd never survive the same room, let alone the same lifetime.

Then came one reckless night.

A drunken decision that was supposed to become nothing more than an embarrassing memory by sunrise.

Instead, it became the beginning of everything.

I lifted my gaze to Hayes beneath the pale moonlight. The white tape still crossed his eyebrow, pink powder clung stubbornly to his white hair, and there was something beautifully ordinary about the way he walked beside me now. For so long I'd seen him as the storm. Somewhere along the way, without either of us realizing it, he'd become the safest place I'd ever known.

A slow, breathless smile found my lips as I rested my head against his shoulder, our fingers weaving together so tightly that not even the sand between them could pull us apart.

"Hayes," I murmured, tightening my hold on his hand.

He didn't look away from the waves, but his thumb traced a lazy circle across my knuckles.

"Yeah, koala?"

"We're going to have to baby-proof the entire island."

"For her?"

"No." I looked at him. "For you. You'll encourage every bad idea she has.”

He let out a chuckle as he stopped walking. His hands gently framed my face before he leaned down and kissed me, slow and certain, like a promise neither of us would ever have to speak aloud again.

Once upon a time, Hayes Ashford had been my enemy.

Then he became my mistake.

Then he became my chaos.

Then he became the person I couldn't imagine losing.

Funny how life worked.

That one reckless night that was supposed to ruin everything, gave me everything instead.