22. KO
“Daddy! Be careful!” I looked over my shoulder to see Dakoda standing in the middle of the living room with both hands on his hips like a damn shift manager. “Be careful with my box of dinosaurs.”
“Boy, I got it.” I shook my head.
“Those are extinct.” A laugh escaped my mouth as I carried the last box of things from Lyrius’s apartment through my front door.
The last two and a half months had been a blur of therapy appointments, press, police interviews, school meetings, and trying to figure out what life looked like after everything that had happened.
The craziest thing was that Dakoda had somehow turned into a little celebrity overnight.
Between the fight, the kidnapping, and that interview he gave to the sports channels, everybody knew who he was.
It got so bad that kids were stopping him in the middle of class to ask for an autograph.
I was a little happy it had happened because it helped Lyrius decide to quit her job and move to Azalea.
Dakoda was going to finish kindergarten in private school at Azalea Prep.
For the first time since finding them, it felt like we were building something instead of surviving it.
Lyrius and I had talked about getting a new place and starting fresh, but in the end, we decided this was already the best neighborhood in Azalea County.
The house wasn’t the problem. It just needed Lyric and Dakota’s touch.
“Dad, you almost dropped it.”
“I did not.” I gazed at Dakoda. He was about to get the damn dinosaurs tossed in the trash.
“You did.”
“Boy, if you don’t take this box upstairs and unpack your dinosaurs before I change my mind and leave them outside.” I grinned.
Dakoda gasped then snatched the box out of my hands and took off toward the stairs. “They’re going to get Ali on you.”
I shook my head and headed toward the kitchen. Lyrius was standing by the island unpacking Dakoda’s dishes when I found her. The second she bent over to reach into another box, my hand landed on her ass. I couldn’t resist watching that big motherfucker jiggle.
“KO.” She jumped.
“What?”
“Would you stop?”
“Never.” I pressed my body against hers, backing her into the counter, and a smile tugged at her lips.
“Dakoda is literally upstairs.”
“Exactly. Upstairs.”
She laughed and shook her head. I stepped behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. For a second, neither one of us said anything. I just held her. After everything we’d been through, I found myself doing that a lot. Just holding her, making sure she was really here.
“You okay?” she asked softly, and I kissed the side of her head.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
I looked around the kitchen at the half-unpacked boxes, the pictures of Dakoda waiting to be hung, and Lyrius, and all I could see was the life we’d somehow built after all the chaos.
“Yeah,” I said again. “I’m good. That was the last box, and your G-Wagon gets delivered tomorrow.”
“So, me and Dakoda are officially moved in, huh?” Lyrius turned in my arms.
“Yeah.” I kissed her neck again. “Y’all officially moved in.” The smile on her face softened. She looked around the kitchen, then around the house, like she couldn’t believe it either.
My hand slid up her neck as I stared at her. Something had caught my attention. I frowned and brushed my thumb against the small gold hoop hanging from her ear.
“Wait.” Lyrius’s eyes lifted to mine. “How’d you get this?”
“I found it at the training facility.” Her hand came up, covering mine. For a second, she looked almost shy. I stared at her.
“The one you threw away.” A laugh escaped me. “You dug an earring out of the trash?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds a little crazy.”
“A little?” She rolled her eyes. I shook my head, still smiling, then reached into my pocket. “Guess it’s a good thing I already had a replacement.” I pulled out a little black box.
“What’s this?”
“Open it.”
The second she did, her eyes widened. Inside was a pair of hoops identical to the ones I’d given her years ago.
“Dakota . . .” She gasped. “They’re beautiful.”
I took one of the earrings from the box and put it in her ear.
“Now I have three.” Her fingers lifted to both earrings.
“Good. Now you got a backup.”
She laughed and shook her head. The crazy part was that when I’d ordered those earrings, I had no idea she’d somehow ended up with one of the original hoops.
I’d thought I’d successfully thrown it away.
I bought them because five years ago, they were the first thing I ever gave her, and starting over with Lyrius felt like the kind of thing that deserved a first gift all over again.
“I think we’ve unpacked enough for one day.” I slid my hands under her thighs and lifted her before she could protest.
“Dakota, put me down.” A surprised laugh escaped her mouth the same way it always did whenever I picked her up, as if she hadn’t yet figured out that carrying her was one of my favorite things to do.
“Nah.”
“KO.”
“I gotta welcome my pussy home.” I tightened my hold on her as I headed to our bedroom.
“You’re crazy.” Her laugh got louder.
“About you.” I kissed her forehead.
“I love you, Dakota Knox.”
“Yeah, I know.”
She smacked my shoulder, and we both laughed.
“I love you too, Bad.” I headed up the stairs, my hand already finding its way into her wetness.
After everything life had thrown at us, after every hit, every setback, every damn knockout, one thing was finally clear.
The storm was never the end of our story; it was what finally brought my family home.