Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Gator
Thursday rolled around, and we still didn’t have any idea where Wade Roarke had disappeared to.
I was all too aware of the fact that Julius was the only thing that actually tied him to the kidnapping and thus to the trafficking ring, but the longer it went with no sign of him, the more likely it was that the whole operation had cleared out of Vesper.
Not that I let my guard down completely. Julius was way too important to me to risk his safety at that point, but I did agree to station one of our guys outside the salon while he worked instead of me sitting inside all day on the condition that he kept the back door locked at all times.
We’d made a couple of trips to Julius’s place to get some of his things, clothes mostly. I swear I’d never seen so many shoes in one closet in my life, something that made me grateful my bedroom had two closets.
I was sitting in Wolfe’s office with him and Hawk, complaining about just that.
Hawk shook his head. “Dude, at least it’s shoes.
I now have an entire room dedicated to yarn.
I’ve never seen anything like it.” He could complain all he wanted, but he wasn’t fooling either of us.
If having a whole house filled with yarn made Mika happy, Hawk would smile while he helped his boy organize it by color.
“So Julius is settling in okay then?” Wolfe asked.
“He is. I’m thinking I might want to build an aviary for Trixie up on the roof. As long as the weather’s favorable, she could spend time up there while Julius and I are both at work. He hates leaving her in her cage.”
“You should put one in the lounge, too. I know the guys love interacting with her,” Hawk suggested.
“Oh hell no. I’m not leaving her unsupervised with those miscreants. There’s no telling what they would teach her.”
“Are y’all coming down to watch the game tonight?” he asked.
“We’re planning on it. Julius is looking forward to hanging out with Mika.”
Hawk nodded. “Yeah, Mika is excited to have someone else in the building who doesn’t carry a gun.”
“So, back to business,” Wolfe said, looking at me. “Now that you have Axel and Maddox swapping off while Julius is at work, are you up for some tracking training out at the camp?”
I shrugged. “Sure, why not. I didn’t know he had anyone out there right now.”
“He doesn’t, but a new group is coming in next week, and he was asking who I would recommend to do the training while you weren’t available. Usually, Knox does it if you’re on assignment, but he isn’t here right now.”
“I can do it.”
“I was thinking of having Diego go with you. He’s supposedly pretty good, so maybe you can evaluate his tracking ability and how he does as an instructor. If he’s as good as I hear, he might take some of those classes for you.”
“Sounds good. I like him.” I stood. “I have a ton of things to get caught up on since I have been out of the office for a couple of weeks. I’ll see y’all tonight for the game.”
A few hours later, I was up in the condo watching Julius get ready to go watch the game and trying not to laugh.
“I don’t do the whole sports ball thing.
” He rolled his eyes. “I mean, I understand the game, I was raised in Texas after all, but what I don’t get is why people like watching it.
” He was flipping through his closet trying to find something to wear when he finally stepped back and sighed.
“I don’t have anything to wear that’s game night appropriate. ”
“Julius, they aren’t going to expect you to dress up. Just throw on some sweats and a t-shirt.”
He stopped, put his hands on his hips, and raised one eyebrow. A look I was starting to understand meant I was clueless. “I would never show up at a party in sweats and a t-shirt. At least tell me what team we’re going for, and I can put on something in their color.”
“Well, the game is between the Saints and the Bills.”
He stared at me blank-faced. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay, who do we want to win?”
I chuckled. “We pull for the Saints anytime they play, unless they’re going against Detroit.”
“Cause they’re the best?”
“Oh no, they almost always lose. Well, they did great last year, but most of the time they aren’t all that good.”
“Then why would we cheer for them?”
I didn’t really want to talk about Moe tonight, but I was the one who opened the door, so I had to explain it. That didn’t mean I had to tell the whole story, though, but I could at least tell him enough.
“Maurice Johnson was a guy I served with. We called him Moe. He was from Detroit, and he was a good man. He loved the Lions with a passion.”
“Loved?” he said quietly.
I nodded. “Yeah, he didn’t make it back home.” I took in a deep breath. “Anyway, in his honor, I always pull for the Lions.”
“I think that’s a nice way to honor your friend. But they aren’t playing tonight, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay, then tell me what color I should wear.”
I walked over to my closet, pulled out my Saints jersey, and handed it to him. “Here, you can wear this.”
It was obvious he would be swimming in it, but he smiled at me and took the jersey. “What will you wear?”
“Mon petit, unlike you, I don’t mind showing up at game night in sweats and a t-shirt.”
“Well, okay then. He looked at the jersey. “I have a pair of Converse that will match perfectly. I just hope I brought jeans. I don’t wear them that often.” He dived back into the closet and then hopped out, a triumphant look on his face.
He held up a pair of jeans covered in what I assumed was rhinestones.
“I do have a pair of jeans with me. They’re sparkly, but they’ll work, won’t they? ”
“Yeah, mon petit, they’ll work.” I went to him and gave him a kiss.
“I know Mika makes most of the snacks, and when I offered to pick something up, he told me it wasn’t necessary.”
“Yeah, Mika has pretty much made it his mission to upgrade our game-day snack situation.”
“Believe me, he told me all about how pathetic y’all’s selection used to be. But anyway, he said I didn’t need to bring anything, but I figure I’ll bring a bottle of wine, so I’ll have something to drink.”
“That’s a good idea. I talked to the guys earlier about getting another cage for Trixie to put in the lounge, but for today, do you think we should take her travel cage with us? She wouldn’t have to stay in it, but it would give her a place to retreat to if she got overwhelmed.”
He went up on his toes and kissed me. “Thank you, Daddy. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you think about her. I know she can be a lot.”
“Mon petit, she matters to you, and in turn, she matters to me. Plus, I kind of like her. You go ahead and shower, and then we’ll head down.”
Julius
I made quick work of a shower and then took a little time fixing my hair. I was being ridiculous, and I knew it. I saw these guys all the time. Hell, I’d even hung out with them before, so it wasn’t like I needed to make a good first impression.
But this was the first time I would be there with Gator, and I wanted his friends to like me. Again, stupid, because they already knew me and liked me just fine, but there was no telling my brain that.
I put my favorite curl enhancer in and made sure my hair was on point.
Then I brushed on my favorite lip gloss.
I considered doing some kind of eye shadow that would match the jersey Gator had loaned me, but then I decided that was overkill for a game at home.
Wow, that’s where I was, at home. I still couldn’t believe I lived here. With Gator. And with all his friends.
It was different, but not in a bad way. I loved having Mika just next door, and there was pretty much always someone around to talk to. I could see why Gator loved living here like this.
When I came out of the bathroom, I heard Gator talking to Trixie in the next room, and that made me smile. He hadn’t been kidding. He really did seem to like her. I pulled on my jeans and then the jersey that was laying on the bed. It was huge, so I tied the corner in a knot.
I looked in the floor-length mirror that hung on the wall and grinned. It kind of made me feel like a teenager borrowing the boy I liked’s sweatshirt, and I realized I still got just as much of a kick out of it now as I did back then.
I walked into the living room, and when Gator looked at me, I could tell I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed seeing me wearing his clothes. Something I would for sure remember for later on.
“Damn, mon petit, you wear that jersey better than I ever did.”
I rolled my eyes, but the way my cheeks heated gave me away. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”
He chuckled, came over to tug the knot in the hem of the jersey, and then dropped a quick kiss on my temple. “Ready to face the wolves?”
“Wolves?”
“The guys. You know they’re going to give me shit about settling down,” he clarified, scooping Trixie’s travel perch off the counter with one hand and balancing the chips in the other. “Now let’s go watch some football.”
Trixie fluffed her feathers and muttered, “Saints suck.”
“Hey!” Gator barked a laugh. “Don’t start with me, bird.”
I covered my grin with one hand. “Pretty sure she learned that from Axel. I knew he was up to something when he asked if she could hang out with him and Maddox yesterday.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” he muttered. “Come on, baby boy. Let’s go.”
Sure enough, when we stepped into the lounge, the room went quiet for a beat too long.
Wolfe sat at the poker table with Crowe and another of the guys, Isaiah, I thought, but I wasn’t sure.
Axel sprawled on the couch, Tucker perched in an armchair with her ever-present energy drink, and Maddox leaned back with a grin already forming.
Diego was there too, sitting in the same armchair he’d been in last time we were all down here.
“Good to see you, Julius,” Crowe called over. “About time someone civilized the swamp monster.”
Gator just rolled his eyes, and Crowe laughed.
“Nice jersey,” Axel said. “Guess we know who the real Saints fan is now.”
Before I could respond, Trixie piped up, “Saints suck,” earning a round of laughter.
Gator shot Axel a dirty look that said retribution would be coming later, then he lifted the cage to eye level and looked at her. “Keep that up, and you can just stay in your cage.”
“Trixie is a good girl.”
Gator rolled his eyes again and set her down on a table. “Fine. Let’s get you out of there.”
While he got her settled, I sashayed my way over to the snack table, making sure to put on a show since I could feel them all watching me.
I opened up the bottle of wine. Yeah, it was screw top, but I figured it was game day, not brunch, so no one here would judge.
I glanced around the table and realized I should’ve thought about a glass.
I just shrugged and poured some into a red Solo cup. See, I could totally do this.
I turned around and sure enough, they were all looking right at me.
“I’m not really a beer kinda guy. I prefer red wine, then I can pretend I’m drinking the blood of our enemies.”
That got a bark of laughter from Maddox, and Tucker pointed her can at Gator. “Man, you’re screwed. He already has better game-day style than you.”
“Not news,” Gator said, dropping into a chair and pulling me down onto his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Seriously?” Maddox asked. “We’re gonna have to put up with this level of PDA now?”
“Jealous?” Gator fired back.
“Please.” Maddox snorted. “If I wanted to watch a couple making heart eyes, I’d turn on the Hallmark Channel.”
“Good thing you’re here for football then,” I said sweetly.
Axel threw a chip at him, and the bickering started up like always.
Diego cleared his throat, offering me a quick smile that was more polite than teasing. “Good to see you here, Julius. Adds a little balance to the chaos.”
“Chaos!” Trixie echoed, bobbing her head like she’d won the point.
Before I could reply, Mika appeared from the doorway carrying a plate of cookies with Hawk right behind him.
“Don’t let them scare you,” he said, setting the plate down on the snack table. “They bark a lot, but they’re all big softies.” He gave me a quick wink. “Besides, you’re officially one of us now that you live here.”
I leaned back against Gator’s chest, finally letting myself relax as the twins bickered, Tucker rolled her eyes, Wolfe shuffled cards, Diego sipped his beer, and Mika flopped down cross-legged on the rug at Hawk’s feet like he owned the place.
Trixie clambered higher on her perch, fluffed her wings, and said, “Sports ball,” like she’d been practicing all week.
Gator’s hand slid around my waist, low enough no one else could see, and he murmured, “Told you they liked you.”
I smiled, warmth spreading through my chest. Maybe he was right. Maybe this really could feel like home.