Page 142 of My Forever Sin

A gentle tugging on my jeans pulls my attention below me, and I look down to big blue eyes that sparkle, and a cute, gap-toothed smile that beams.

“Hello, Cassian,” I coo, ruffling my nephew's black hair.

He giggles. “Da-ddy.” He points in a different direction, and I follow his tiny finger to see Dorrian perched on a barstool, nursing a drink. His hard eyes are glued to Cassian, his large, tattooed hand covering his mouth and his leg bounces restlessly on the footrest on the stool. Tattoo’s that Asher all too happily gave him.

“Yes, that is your daddy.” I chuckle. “Let’s go over and see him, shall we?” I pick Cassian up and perch him on my side. I blow out a steadying breath, willing my heart to not break my ribs as I approach Dorrian. Cassian squeezes his fingers towards him and Dorrian’s arms stretch out immediately, taking Cassian and sitting him on his lap, stopping its bounce.

I clear my throat. I’m not really sure why I came here in the first place. I didn’t have a plan, nothing different to say than what I normally do. “How are you?”

Dorrian grunts, sipping on his drink.

Neither of us say anything for a long time.

Jordan waltzes over—skirt short, and fishnet tights on. “Hello, little Cassian,” she coos, offering her hands towards him. “Should Auntie Jordie steal you away for a little bit?” Her eyes bounce between me and Dorrian. He has a better relationship with her than I do, but it makes me a little happier knowing that. Maybe he could confide in Jordie if he needed to.

“Yes! Jor-die!” Cassian’s tiny voice is pure joy.

“Come on, then!” she says excitedly, shooting me a wink, before disappearing into the crowd with him.

One day.

But not yet. Both of us have far too much healing to do.

“I’m sorry, Kain. I’m so fucking sorry,” Dorrian says.

“I know. You keep saying.”

“I don’t know what else to say.”

“Me neither.” I play with the zip of my leather jacket.

“There was no other way to protect you. They would’ve killed us all.”

I sigh. “Look, I don’t know, but I think we should leave the past in the past. Treat this as a new start. I don’t think reminiscing on what happened will help either of us.”

Dorrian nods. “I agree.”

“There’s no other way to move past this.”

He clears his throat. “I was actually—uh, I was thinking of leaving. Not—not forever. Just, taking a break… from here, not you—” He’s rambling. It’s all he does when we try to have a normal conversation these days.

“Dorrian. You don’t need to explain yourself to me. I get it.”

He nods, finishing off the rest of his beer.

“How are your tattoos healing?” I change the subject.

He laughs, examining the wolf on his hand. “Fucking itchy.”

I chuckle, kicking a plastic cup out of the way. “Yeah, they are.”

Blake and Asher look like they’re bickering over something again with others that are sitting around one of the tables.

“I better make sure Ash isn’t annoying Blake too much.” It’s a cheap cop-out of the conversation, but I don’t think either of us know how to get out of it anyway.

“Yeah, sure,” Dorrian says. “I’ll take Cass and head home for the night.”

I nod, giving him a tight-lipped smile. “Of course. Goodnight.”