.:Author's Note:.

Please excuse any mistakes.

***         

Jonathan's POV:

Sunlight shone through a small gap in my curtains, partially blinding me as I awakened the next morning. I groaned, somehow hoping that the irritating sun would go away so that I could get a couple more hours of rest. Unfortunately for me, it didn't. Winston shifted in his sleep, unconsciously turning away from the sun's glare to bury his face in my chest. My arm that I had around his waist tightened once he settled and a small serene sigh passed my lips.

I half mindedly reached for my phone on the bedside table, pushing a few condom wrappers to the floor. Once I got it, I checked the time, noting that it was only a few minutes after seven-thirty. There was more than enough time for me to fall back asleep because my girls wouldn't be up until ten, and the way I tired out Winston, he probably wouldn't wake until eleven.

However, a text on my phone seemed to erase all thoughts of sleep from my mind.

Not wanting to wake Winston, I gently untangled myself from him, quietly got out of the bed, unlocked the room door, and headed to the kitchen. Once in the clear, I called Amanda, feeling as though I was a few seconds away from bursting in anger. She answered immediately.

"Hello?"

"Why are you such a selfish bitch?" I snapped.

"Good morning to you too, Jonathan." She replied, and I had to bite my tongue before I said anything that I would come to regret.

"I don't care if you want to threaten me with a court appearance; the only way you are seeing my girls is over my dead body."

"Whether you want to admit it or not, they are my girls too!" Amanda yelled.

"No, they're not! You said so yourself that you never wanted them, and I'm keeping my promise to you that you won't be left with them."

"Jonathan, that was five years ago." Amanda spoke softer. "I was hurt that my ex-wife wasn't trying hard enough to save our family, but I'm more mature now, and I've realized the mistake I've made."

"This is not just some small mistake! It was a decision you made to up and leave your kids when, at any moment, they could have had nobody. I refuse to put them in a situation where they are left abandoned, again, by their own birth mother no less." I explained harshly. Amanda sighed, most likely in annoyance, before replying.

"You know what? I see that we won't get anywhere trying to talk this out. How about just letting a judge decide because I'm not wasting any more time trying to convince you." She stated as if I should be grateful for being able to speak to her.

"So be it." I muttered before abruptly ending the call. In a moment of frustration, I threw my phone at the kitchen wall, cursing lowly when it broke and the pieces fell to the floor. Not caring much, I turned to head back to my room, but I froze a second later when I saw Macy just standing in the entranceway.

"Looks like you need this more than I do right now." She said cheekily as she held up a thick – almost too perfectly rolled – blunt. She didn't even wait for a response before she headed to the backyard and I followed behind her. We wasted no time getting comfortable in the patio chairs and sparking up the blunt.

I didn't even care that it was cold outside and I was wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants. The stress from the conversation with Amanda made my blood boil to the perfect temperature. Also, Macy's weed was doing wonders, seeming to make all of my concerns slip away.

We passed the blunt back and forth until we couldn't smoke anymore without burning our fingertips. After, we just sat back and enjoyed the silence. I was definitely higher than a kite right about now. My sister was in the same boat as she giggled beside me at nothing in particular. While I was a mellower person when stoned, Macy tended to be giggly and emotional, switching between the two in the blink of an eye.

"You know that Amanda won't win this court case, right? No judge in their right mind will grant her visitation rights or partial custody." Macy said after some time, making me sigh.

"No, I don't know that, Pebbles. Who knows what judge we'll have and how their mind works? I can't believe I actually have to go through this shit." I paused. "I can't lose my girls..."

"And you won't. Have a little faith, Bugsy."

It was quiet between us again after that. Macy and I stayed outside for half an hour more before deciding that we didn't want to freeze our asses off any longer. We went back inside, and I picked up the pieces of my phone before going to check on my girls while Macy turned on the TV in the living room.

My lips stretched into a small smile once I saw that they were both still sleeping peacefully. I headed back to my room and made sure to properly close the curtains before getting into bed next to Winston. He stirred as I laid down, opening one eye lazily to peek at me.

"You smell like weed. Is it time to get up already?" He mumbled tiredly, seeming to not really care that I had been smoking. I shook my head no as I tangled our limbs together and pressed him against my chest once more. "Good, because you were a total animal and I need some more time to recuperate." He mumbled before promptly going back to sleep.

Staring down at the man in my arms, with a small smile, I thought to myself; I just couldn't handle ever losing him either.

***

The next time I opened my eyes, it was at a more reasonable hour and I felt more awake than I did earlier. Winston was no longer lying beside me, but his spot was still warm so I knew he had recently gotten up. I groaned as I got up to brush my teeth before following the smell of hash browns and bacon.

"Hi, Daddy!" April and Alyssa said cheerfully as I entered the kitchen. I grinned, kissing the top of their heads in greeting. They giggled and continued eating while I walked around the island. Winston was at the stove, flipping over a couple of hash browns in the frying pan, but I carefully spun him around so that I could plant a big wet one on him.

"Good morning to you, too." He said with a laugh after I let his lips go. My girls were in the background making playful noises of disgust, but I was too interested in the way Winston's plump ass felt in my hand to comment.

"How are you feeling?" I questioned lowly, giving his butt cheek a small squeeze.

"I limp when I walk." He deadpanned, making me laugh. "How do you think I feel?"

"I think you feel amazing." I teased. Winston's eyes widened in realization before he thumped my forehead and pointed to the stool next to April with the spatula. Silently following his orders, I gave him one more, quick, kiss and then took my seat while also stealing a bacon strip from my daughter's plate. "Where's Macy?"

"Aunty is sleeping." Alyssa answered. "Daddy, how did you hurt your back?"

"Hm? I didn't hurt my back, Princess. Where did that question come from?" I replied absentmindedly, too busy eating Winston's delicious hash browns to pay attention.

"Your back has a lot of scratch marks on it." She pointed out, causing my eyes widen slightly and Winston to pause midair with the frying pan in his hand.

I smirked as I finished the rest of my food while my boyfriend seemed to quickly get out of his state of shock. He looked at me with a small glare, silently telling me to behave myself, but I loved the moments when he turned red due to my playfulness, and I would never miss an opportunity to see his face light up. I raised a challenging eyebrow at him.

"Oh, that." I answered Alyssa after some time. "You know, I don't quite recall how I got those marks. Winston, do you remember? I think it was some time when I was with you."

If looks could kill, I'd be six feet under. I wanted to laugh at the way Winston was glaring at me for putting him on the spot, but that would only ruin how epic this moment was. As I expected, his cheeks tinted red as he took the hash browns out of the frying pan before returning it to the stove.

"I actually don't remember either." He said, returning to the island but avoiding eye contact. "I think you were attacked by a cat or something. Can't say you didn't deserve it though." He stated pointedly as he sent me another glare.

While Alyssa seemed satisfied with his shitty explanation, I grinned knowingly, making Winston roll his eyes to hide a grin of his own. We finished the rest of our breakfast after that and settled on the couches for a lazy Sunday. Macy emerged from her room two hours after we had settled, but instead of joining us, she said she was stepping out for a few hours. I did the brotherly thing of asking where she was headed, just to be safe, but I only received the middle finger in response before she left. Don't you just love family?

I smiled as I watched Winston, April, and Alyssa sing and dance to the Moana Sing-along DVD. Despite the hiccup this morning, I couldn't help the happy feeling that seemed to incase me from head to toe. In less time than I had expected, Winston had become one of the few very important people in my life; he was family now and looking at the three of them interacting, intensely warmed my heart.

I couldn't help it as my mind came up with images of, what I hoped, our future together would be like. Remembering how incredulous I was about it, in the beginning, I almost wanted to laugh. There was no doubt in my mind now that Winston was my soulmate, and as I longingly looked up at the ceiling, I silently thanked Miranda for sending him to me.

***

Monday morning was a drag. After spending all of yesterday with my girls and Winston, I felt almost miserable walking into my office and sitting at my desk. It also didn't help that my boyfriend hadn't spent the night in my bed like he did so often. He had to get home to feed his pet bunny, and since his car was fixed, I didn't need to give him rides in the morning anymore.

This week, the photos for the billboard advertisement were being edited before Winston and I would make the final decision on which one would be used for the world to see. That meant that we wouldn't have to be back in Mr. Montego's building until Wednesday or Thursday.

Maybe I was exaggerating, but it felt like it would be forever before I saw him again. At least we still had texting and phone calls.

Around noon, Paisley knocked at my office door with a stack of letters from my mailbox. She wordlessly placed them on my desk before leaving. I still think she was holding a grudge against me for canceling our date all those weeks ago, but I didn't care much. As a grown woman, she should've been able to let the small issue go; it was nothing to spend longer than a month dwelling over.

Putting down the stylus for my touchscreen desktop, I sorted through the mail, groaning when I came across bill after bill. I was ready to just stop going through the entire stash, but I stopped on an envelope that had my first name written on it in neat cursive, and nothing else. Frowning, I opened it, taking out the folded letter that had one sentence written across the middle.

"Stay away from Winston, or else."

As I read the phrase over and over, I could only come up with one thought. What a total waste of paper.