Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Check this out.”
Wearing an oven mitt, Marco grabbed the cast iron skillet from the stove, jerked it up quickly, and watched as the pancake inside of it flew into the air, turning several times up high before landing in the pan once again.
Sitting nearby at the bar, Kelsey, Trixie, and Stephanie all clapped and cheered.
“Can I try it, Daddy?” Kelsey asked.
“No, babydoll. That pan is hot. That’s why I have to wear this.” He took the mitt off and laid it on the counter. “And the pan is heavy. I don’t want you to burn or hurt yourself. Best to leave stuff like that up to Daddies.”
He was glad when she didn’t argue. It was only a matter of time until she felt emboldened by her friends though, and she’d test his authority.
Littles did things like that.
The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if he’d be around long enough for that. Yeah, it was a matter of time. But time was something he didn’t have a lot of.
Ironic, he thought, just as he was hitting his stride as a Daddy. Last night had felt like a real turning point. There was still a long way to go and he had much to learn. Perhaps he could continue his journey once he got out of jail.
If he got out of jail…
There was still that pesky little problem of the cartel boys wanting him dead.
He thought of Paul and Benny. Shit. What was he doing here having fun, playing Daddy while they were in danger?
So many emotions and ideas ran through his brain. It was overload.
Hearing his babygirl’s voice pulled him out of his head. “Where did you learn to cook like this, Daddy?”
“Well, being on my own—or with my brother in the early days—I just sorta had to get by. Know what I mean?”
He grabbed a spatula and flipped the finished pancake out of the pan. It turned once in the air before landing on top of the stack of other pancakes that sat on a plate on the counter near the stove.
“Whoa!” Trixie said. “You could be one of those chefs at restaurants. You know, the kinds who do tricks and stuff?”
Marco sat the plate in front of the ladies on the center of the bar. “I never thought about that. Might be something to it, though. I’m changing careers.”
He gave a wink to Kelsey and was rewarded with a sweet smile.
“Marco Ruggieri, professional flapjack maker. It has a nice ring to it,” he said.
The Littles laughed.
“You wouldn’t be called that!” Kelsey said. “You’d be Chef Marco.”
John and Breaker walked in.
“What’s all the giggling about?” John asked.
Breaker just looked as grumpy as he had since the moment he’d laid eyes on Marco.
“Just making these cuties breakfast,” Marco replied. “And there’s plenty for whoever wants some.”
The coffee maker hissed to life as John stood in front of it, waiting for it to finish emptying its life-giving nectar into the mug he’d placed at its base. “Thanks. I might eat in a minute. Right now, we have a delivery coming in we need to unload.”
“Delivery?”
“Yeah. A big-ass server that Stryker and Harrison had shipped to us.” John grabbed the mug of steaming coffee and looked at Marco.
“They’re two of our benefactors. Sort of our bosses, if you will.
Anyway, they’re wanting to beef up our data system.
So, they had some stuff delivered. I don’t know how to set it all up, but they said they’ll come handle that soon.
” He took a sip of coffee and then said, “In the meantime, we just need to help get it off the truck that’s due here any minute now. ”
Marco nodded. “Gotcha. I’ll lend a hand.”
“Hey, thanks,” John said genuinely.
Breaker just grunted as grumpily as ever.
Fifteen minutes later, the guys were preparing to unload the eight-foot black server racks that the driver had made quite clear he couldn’t touch.
“Union rules,” the guy explained. “I drive. I don’t unload.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” John said as he, Breaker, and Marco stood at the edge of the unloading dock in the back of the giant warehouse. The rolling door was raised, and the driver had done a great job of getting the truck right up to the bay with not an inch to spare.
“I’ll get the dollies,” Breaker said.
He went back through the open garage door and came out a minute later pushing two handcarts.
“I guess we really only need one,” he noted, looking in the back of the semi. “Because one of us will have to steer and the other two will have to steady the server. Those things are bigger than I expected.”
John’s boots thudded loudly on the wooden slats that lay across the semi’s floor as he walked to one of the racks and tried to tip it. “Heavy, too. Damn.”
The three of them got busy.
It took a good five minutes to get the first rack into the room that would house them. There was already some computer equipment set up, and Marco had no idea what any of it did.
“It’s freezing in here,” he noted, surprised he couldn’t see his own breath. “Colder than a meat locker.”
“Guess you know a lot about meat lockers. That’s where you guys keep the bodies, huh?” Breaker muttered as he hurried past, rolling the empty dolly back out of the room, making it quite clear he wasn’t there for chit-chat.
When he was gone, John put a hand on Marco’s shoulder. “Sorry, man. He’ll come around.”
No need, Marco thought. I’ll be in jail, so it doesn’t really matter. He left that part unsaid, though.
As they went back toward the loading bay, John explained, “The server room is on a different cooling system. Stryker says it has to stay cold because all the equipment generates so much heat.”
“Makes sense,” Marco said.
When they got back to the truck, Breaker was already inside the trailer, lining up the dolly with the next server. John went inside to help him, but something Marco heard kept him out.
Walking a few paces past the truck, he looked down off the loading dock and saw the Littles were down on the concrete pad, next to the semi.
Trixie was pushing the second dolly while both Stephanie and Kelsey rode on it. Or, rather, tried to ride on it. It was tough for both of them to stay on with the limited amount of space.
“Go faster!” Stephanie said.
“Yeah!” Kelsey called out. “Super-duper fast!”
Not far from them was a stack of lumber gathered neatly a pile. Marco assumed it was left over from when the warehouse had been modified and built out to make the Daddy Guard headquarters.
He could see it all play out in his mind. Those cuties were so wrapped up in their fun that they didn’t even realize they were on a collision course. They were going to crash right into the stack of wood.
“Girls! Stop!”
But they were laughing and encouraging one another too loudly to either hear what he said. Or maybe they were just being naughty. Either way, Trixie didn’t seem to be stopping, and Stephanie and Kelsey were egging her on.
Things were about to go bad unless he didn’t stop it.
Still yelling for the girls to end the dangerous fun, he leapt off the loading dock and felt a jolt of pain shoot into his ankles and knees as his feet absorbed the impact of landing on the hard concrete below.
He stayed upright though and didn’t break or even strain anything, so he was good to run forward in an effort to head off disaster.
“I can’t stop this thing!” Trixie yelled as the momentum of the slight decline of the concrete pushed her to go faster.
Just what Marco had been afraid of.
Pumping his legs faster, he managed to catch up to Trixie. “I got this,” he said as he gripped the metal handle of the dolly just below her hand.
She let go and Marco concentrated all his efforts on slowing the thing before his babygirl or Stephanie fell off it.
He was successful with just an inch or so to spare.
“Thank you!” Stephanie cried.
“You saved us, Daddy!” Kelsey cheered.
But apparently, disaster hadn’t been completely avoided. The women came off the dolly so fast that they accidentally knocked it over, right onto the pile of wood.
Boards and two-by-fours along with other pieces of scrap teetered and then tumbled.
Without hesitation, Marco threw his body over the women, sending them to the ground and shielding them with his massive frame.
The world went black as darkness claimed him.