Deadliest addiction

Deadliest addiction
(Bella)

I spent the rest of the day in Ivy's new home, while looking after the kids together.

I must say they've been a handful but we wouldn't have it any other way, watching them play, giggle, and talk makes it all worth it.

Dean said he has something really urgent to take care of, he did call on his way to work, asking for Ivy's home address.

I figured he'd want to come see the kids so I sent those in a jiffy.

I'm on the couch going through a book I had picked from Ivy's room, while she goes to check on the kids as they nap.

I hear Ivy's footsteps as she walks back to the couch and when I peer up to look at her, I see a smug smile. "You need to see this," she says shrugging down next to me and extending her phone.

I take it and it's a clip, I give her a look before tapping on it. My heart did a little flip as I see Dean in a press conference.

I straightened up, my interest piqued. Dean stood by the lectern, dressed in his three-piece suit, ready to address the audience.

A small smile tugs at the corner of my lips, he looked so confident, so strong and so incredibly hot… I barely resisted the urge to bite my lips.

Dean begins with his eyes sweeping around the room, and when everywhere goes silent, he says. "I want to clear the air regarding the photos that has been causing chaos since yesterday," Dean's voice comes out confident and steady. "Bella Brennan is no gold-digger, and those photos were fabricated to discredit her and appropriate lawsuit has been filed regarding that,"

My chest flooded with warmth and I blink back the tears threatening to slip out.

Dean's standing up for me, defending me publicly without any prejudice, how incredibly thoughtful.

I didn't even —

I force air down my lungs and continued watching.

Murmurs erupted from the crowd and by the time Dean cleared his throat, everywhere went dead silent, the power this man holds.

"As for the divorce, I'd like to debunk those lies, because Bella and I were never divorced. We're two people in love, navigating through life together and being the best parents to our kids,"

Heat crept through my chest, crawling up my neck and spreading across my cheeks.

The moment Dean mentioned we have kids together, the crowd rolled, murmurs, whispers and even loud chatters erupted through the crowd, it seemed like they didn't expect to hear that.

Looking at Dean, I could feel my heart racing with pride, I can't help but love this man even more.

"Mr. Brennan, are you saying you have kids with a woman who allegedly cheated on you?" A reporter huffed with a chuckle, aiming to crumble Dean's confidence.

Dean doesn't get mad, instead he straightens up and puts a hand into his pocket. "I believe I mentioned lawsuits served to the perpetrators of peddling false news, no one's exempted," a smirk crosses his face and I see color drain from the reporter's face. "And to answer your question. Yes, we have two beautiful twins together and I wouldn't have had it any other way,"

The crowd that seems to have gathered to bash me further turned around clapping and cheering as Dean makes his way out.

It was so clear that after this, no one would dare to bring this up again, that tag of a vicious gold-digger and all sort of awful names ends here.

Back then, this was exactly what I wanted Dean to do, stand up for me, defend me against his mother, Ashley and the world.

Hearing him say it now with absolute confidence warms my heart to no end.

Ivy taps my shoulders and when I look at her, her smirk widens. "It's safe to say you've got yourself a finished man, sis. Putting my indifference about his gender aside, I beg to differ only when it's Dean Brennan, I love the way he loves you," she breathed out, her smirk evolving into a smile.

I roll my eyes. "Come on, sis. Don't say that, there are still a lot of good men out there,"

Ivy's gives me quite the look and shakes her head. "Trust me, sis. You've got the last one and I really do not care if there's even a chance that there's thousands of them out there, I have no interest in them anyways," Ivy says with a firm tone and I can't help but think, what's her story with Aria's Dad?

Or perhaps I should just ask?

No, I'll wait till she's ready to talk about it.

She takes her phone, snapping me back to earth. "You seemed lost for a second there, are you okay?"

I exhaled. "Uhm…mm..yeah, sure.. I was just —," the sound of the doorbell cuts me off and we both turned to look at the door.

"Are you expecting anyone?" She asks me and I shake my head. Ivy's new here, she barely even knows anyone, hence the reason she's asking.

I tilt my head. "It could be Derrick though. I'll get the door," I say, standing up and she nods, typing away in her phone.

I opened the door and standing before me isn't Derrick but a delivery guy, wearing a polite smile.

"Miss Bella Brennan?" He asks, looking at me.

I roll my eyes at the 'Brennan' tag. Dean had called me that this morning. I love it though. It's just…

Johnson, my maiden name has been with me for the past five years.

Again, that's something I'll learn to get use to once more.

I offer a small smile and nod. "Yes, that's me," I say as he holds out a clipboard to me.

"This is for you, ma'am. I just need your signature here, here and here." He says while pointing to the clipboard in his hands.

After I sign, he says goodbye and leaves me standing, confused at the package in my hands.

I walk back to the living room and give Ivy a confused look.

"It's for me but I have no idea who could have sent it," I say, settling back to where I was. "I better take a look,"

"Wise decision," Ivy says with a light chuckle.

I pull a medium sized box out and slowly opens it.

We both gasp as I bring out a stunning red dress and a pair of fancy heels. And then lying at the bottom of the box was a short note.

"This will look so gorgeous on you, babe. Please wear it for our date tonight. Dean,"

I read through with Ivy, only then did a smile, one as big as the world creep up my face.

My chest swell with an indescribable joy, butterflies fluttered wildly in my stomach.

I stayed still, reminding myself how to breathe.

God, what will I do with this husband of mine?

He's easily my most sweetest and deadliest addiction.