Spin My Love (My Love #1)(31)

I watch their retreating backs as they walk side by side, and I know I’ve made the right choice in letting Tane back into our lives.





Chapter Fifteen

Tane

We get home around seven o’clock, and Parker is beat.

“I’m just gonna put him to sleep. Make yourself comfortable,” Giselle tells me with a smile.

“Do you mind if I do it?” I ask tentatively. I want to get used to doing these things.

She looks a bit surprised, but nods.

“Come on, little man,” I say to Parker, who’s standing there, rubbing his eyes. He comes and takes my hand and I lead him to his bedroom.

I change him into his pyjamas, not worrying about a bath since he had a rinse-off after the swim. I tuck him into bed and sit down on the small cushion next to it. I’m sure Giselle could sit comfortably on it, but for a man of my size it’s a bit of a challenge to stay on.

“Daddy, are you going to come live here?” Parker asks, surprising me out of my balancing act. I fall off the cushion and look over at him.

I have no idea what to say.

“Why do you ask, Parker?” I bide my time, thinking of a way to answer. I don’t want to give him false hope, but I don’t want to crush that dream either.

“Bobby Pritchett’s dad lives with him. I’d like you to live here. Then we could do fun stuff all the time, and you and mama could tuck me in,” he says, the words rushing out of him.

“Well Bobby Pritchett is very lucky,” I begin. “For now, I will still be living at my house on the beach, okay? Maybe it will change later, but for now let’s just have lots of fun when we can, alright?”

Parker scrunches his nose in thought before nodding sleepily. “That’s okay I guess.”

“Shall we read a story?” I ask, hoping to cheer him up.

“Mm-kay,” he says. I get about three pages in before he’s fast asleep. I close the book and place it back on his bookshelf. Tiptoeing out of his room, I walk back into the kitchen where a freshly-showered Giselle is drinking a cup of coffee.

“I made you a cup,” she says as the blows into her own.

“Thanks,” I reply, sitting down on the stool next to her. “He’s going to get a good night’s sleep. He was exhausted.” I don’t mention the conversation with Parker to her. I don’t want her to feel pressured, and I feel like I handled his questions well enough.

“I’ll bet. Thanks for taking us out today. We both had a blast.”

“So did I. We should do it again soon,” I reply, then clear my throat. “You forgot to ask your question.”

She smiles shyly. “I didn’t forget. I’ve been thinking about what to ask.”

“And?”

“And, I think I’d like to know about your cousin, Keiran,” she says quietly. The temperature seems to drop a few degrees as that settles in the air.

I look down into my mug then place it on the table. “When I left Perth, I went to London to stay with him. He was good. I mean, he was loyal and caring, but he also had a bit of a wild side.”

“So what happened?” she asks, leaning her elbows on the table.

“I told you about how I started DJing at one of the local clubs there. Keiran was already dabbling in drugs when I moved in with him, but when we entered the club scene it got worse. I got better and better at mixing tracks and producing, working my way up, and started playing at some of the best clubs all over Europe.”

I pause, inhaling and exhaling deeply. “Drugs, women, money … At first it was just a few E pills. Then we were heavy on coke. We were barely sleeping for days at a time. The pills we were taking to come down just weren’t cutting it anymore, and then at one festival we were offered heroin. That was always my hard limit, but I was so out of my mind that night, I tried it. We agreed, just this once. It numbed my pain unlike anything I’d ever had … One time turned into … more than once …”

She puts her hand on my shoulder and gives it a little squeeze.

“He died of an overdose after one of my sets. He had left early with a woman, and when I walked back into our hotel room I found him dead. His pants were around his ankles and he was lying on the bathroom floor. It was … sad, really. That’s when I knew I had to get my shit together; that I couldn’t live like that anymore. I went to rehab for six months, and when I got out I came back here to take a break from everything.”

I swallow hard as I let her process this. I’m surprised when she puts her mug down and lays her head on my shoulder, wrapping her arms around my waist.

“You’re doing so well,” she praises me in a soft tone.

“I have two reasons not to screw up now,” I say against her hair.

“Two?” she asks.

“You and Parker,” I reply. “I don’t want to disappoint either one of you, or let you down. I want to be a father that he can be proud of. I will be a father that he can be proud of.”

“I know you will,” she replies, pulling away and wiping her eyes.

“Don’t cry,” I whisper, hating to see her upset. “I’m also going to make sure I can be everything you deserve.”

“You need to want it for yourself more than anything, Tane,” she says softly. “I think that’s the only way you’re going to beat this thing long-term.”