Chapter 5
Drew
“Uncle Braeden, what’s pronouns?” Andi asked as we all settled in for another one of Rome’s family meetings.
They were just as frequent as pancake Sundays around here.
B made a choked sound.
Romeo laughed out loud. “You walked right into that one, man.”
“Yeah, Uncle Braeden, do tell,” Rimmel said, pushing the glasses up on her nose.
Ivy twisted to stare at Braeden, expecting an explanation.
“Words we use to describe a person without using their name,” Braeden told her. “Yours are princess/peanut/precious.”
“What are mine?” London asked like it was some kind of game.
“Oh, that’s easy,” B said. “Angel/strawberry/smalls junior.”
“He’s just making stuff up,” Nova told the girls. “It’s the terms we use for a person’s gender identity. Mine are she/her like both of you. Jax’s are he/him just like all the other boys. Some people don’t identify as a girl or a boy, so theirs would be they/them.”
“Mine are funner,” B said, and Ivy elbowed him.
“This conversation is entertaining and all, but can we get back to the stuff we need to discuss?” T said. He was clearly still in protective alpha mode, and frankly, it was sexy.
He was totally one of those DILFs.
DILF = Dad I’d Like to Fuck.
Romeo sat forward, Lolo still tucked into his lap. She seemed even smaller against his large frame, and my stomach tightened thinking of her and Andi in the crosshairs of some money-hungry psycho.
Unable to shake the unsettling image, I went to where Andi and Rimmel were tucked under a blanket and lifted the corner. “You got any room under there?”
Andi pulled the blanket back and stood up, her sock-covered feet sinking into the oversized couch cushions. I sat down, and she plopped into my lap. Rimmel tucked the blanket around us and leaned her head on my shoulder.
I’d never survive if something happened to them.
Whipped by fear, I sought out Trent to find he was already looking at me. Our eyes connected, and I knew he knew what I was thinking.
His eyes slipped to our daughter and then back to the room. “We need to take care of this. Efficiently.”
“What’s going on?” Blue asked, picking up the heavy vibes in the room.
Some of the kids hadn’t been in the room until Romeo called the meeting.
“Travis took the girls out for ice cream earlier tonight,” Romeo replied. “And while they were there, a woman approached Andi.”
“She didn’t approach her. She came up to the table and yanked her away, tried to put her in her car,” Travis said, clearly still rattled.
A sense of helplessness enveloped me. I should have been there.
Nova gasped. “Someone tried to kidnap Andi?”
“She said she was my mom,” Andi said, looking up at me. “And that you and Daddy took me from her.”
Trent started to pace, a dark scowl twisting his face.
“She’s not our mom, Andi,” Travis deadpanned. “Our mom is dead.”
“Travis,” Trent snapped.
“It’s true.”
“Doesn’t mean you need to say it like that.”
“I know she’s dead, Trav,” Andi shot back. Turning confused, upset eyes on me, she asked, “But why would she say that?”
We’ve never made a secret of them being adopted.
It was openly talked about and part of them, part of our story as a family.
It made no sense to tiptoe around it and try to sugarcoat where they came from—especially since Travis was five when we found him.
Even though Andi had been just a baby and wouldn’t remember, Trav did.
Asking him not to talk about any of it around her would be like telling him he had to be ashamed of where they came from.
These kids had nothing to be ashamed of. They were survivors. Fighters. I was proud as hell of them, and I would never say otherwise.
Yes, their story was hurtful and dark, but learning to own and accept it was part of life. Knowing we loved and accepted them no matter what was something we worked hard to teach them.
However.
Trying to explain to an eleven-year-old why some batshit insane woman tried to kidnap her was not easy.
“Remember how we told you that some people might try and take advantage of us?” I asked.
“Because you’re famous and rich?”
“Yeah, because I drive race cars and am on TV sometimes. And your uncles were famous football players. Aunt Ivy is in magazines.”
“And Mom saves animals,” Lolo put in.
“That’s right, strawberry. Because your mom is an angel,” Romeo answered.
“Uncle B said I’m an angel,” Andi said.
Seriously, my girl was so angelic I could practically see her halo. My throat was too tight to swallow, so I nodded and glanced at Rim whose eyes shimmered behind her glasses. Clearing my throat, I said, “You must get that from her.”
Trent appeared, dragging back the coffee table so he could drop onto his knees in front of the couch. One of his hands fell on my knee, and the other reached for our daughter. “Some people are jealous, and they want to have the stuff we have. It makes them do things they shouldn’t. Bad things.”
“Like lie?” she asked.
Trent nodded. “That wasn’t your mom, baby. Your mom passed away not long after you were born.”
She nodded, familiar with the truth. “And Trav took care of me until you and Daddy came.”
Listen, we didn’t talk about the part where her mom was a raging drug addict and Andi was born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Just because it wasn’t a secret didn’t mean we needed to divulge every detail. She was still a child.
Trav knew, though. Trav watched his mom overdose.
Trent nodded. “Yeah. And we have all the official paperwork that says you’re our daughter. We didn’t take you from anyone.”
Andi nodded. “I belong here with you and Daddy.”
He nodded. “You can see the papers again,” Trent offered. “Anytime you want.”
“I don’t need to see the papers, Daddy. Papers don’t make us family.” She laid her hand over her chest. “Our hearts do.”
Someone sniffled somewhere in the room. I didn’t bother looking. I couldn’t. My entire being was riveted on my husband’s face when my daughter repeated the words he always said back to him.
And though he didn’t move an inch, he crumbled.
A storm of emotion rewrote his expression.
His eyes were stripped bare and openly raw.
The guard he was always armored with fell, giving an unprecedented look at the softness shielded behind his heart.
A place I’d only seen myself a handful of times, a place so delicate it was basically an open wound that would never heal.
His lower lip trembled just slightly, and then he cleared his throat. “Come here,” he rasped, reaching for her.
She went right to him, folding her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his torso when he stood. She looked like a little koala clinging to a massive tree.
I rubbed my chest, the ache there so intense I could barely breathe.
The room was thick. Everyone was still, the intensity of T’s emotion overriding everything else.
He walked toward the fireplace, big hand rubbing up and down her back. “I love you so goddamn much,” he said, voice thick. “Don’t ever doubt that.”
“I don’t need a mom anyway. You and Daddy are better.”
His footsteps halted, and he swayed on his feet. He dropped his face to her tiny shoulder, and I watched his shoulders rise and fall.
Untangling from the blanket, I stood and went to them. The second my hand slid across his back, his muscles tensed. “Why don’t we make some coffee?” I suggested quietly.
He nodded.
“Can I have some?” Andi asked.
“Yes,” Trent replied instantly. She could ask him for a pony right now and he’d go out and get three.
“I think it’s a little late for you to have coffee, peanut. It will keep you awake half the night,” I said, tugging her from his arms.
“Won’t it keep you awake?” she asked.
“No, I’m old.” I lied.
She didn’t need to know I wouldn’t be sleeping tonight anyway.
I turned, and Romeo was right there, blue eyes knowing.
“Here, go sit with Uncle Romeo while we get some coffee.”
“Can I have a cookie?” she asked. “My ice cream fell on the ground.”
T made a noise behind us, and I handed her over to Rome. “I’ll bring you a cookie.”
Romeo tickled her as soon as she was in his arms, and she laughed, the sound too innocent for this world. The second he sat down, Ketchup leaped up on the couch and laid his head in her lap.
“Come on, frat boy,” I murmured, tugging him toward the kitchen.
“Let’s go over safety protocol,” Braeden told the room.
A few kids groaned.
“We know, Dad!” Jax moaned. “You’ve told us a thousand times.”
“It’s time for a reminder,” Romeo said. “Now listen up.”
“Safety protocol didn’t stop my daughter from almost being abducted,” Trent muttered, voice dark.
I’d been expecting this. The break in his calm, cool exterior. I just expected it later tonight when we were alone.
“I know,” I murmured, settling a hand between his shoulder blades. “But it’s still shit they need to know.”
“If Travis hadn’t been there,” Trent whispered and looked up with wild eyes.
“I know, baby,” I murmured, pulling him in to wrap my arms around him. “They’re okay, though. They’re all okay.”
“Did you hear what she said?” His voice broke.
“Pretty sure it tattooed itself on my heart.”
“Mine too.” He agreed, wrapping his arms around me. “How is it she’s the one who almost got hurt and I’m the one falling apart?”
I smiled over his shoulder, staring toward the cabinets. Ivy had new ones installed last year. I still wondered what was wrong with the old ones.
“You aren’t falling apart, T. You’re just getting a glimpse at how well you love our kids.”
He pulled back just enough to see me. “You love them too. We all do.”
I half smiled. “Of course we do. But there’s something about your love, T. It hits different.”
He shook his head, and I grabbed his face to kiss him.
He relaxed against me, and I carded my hands through his hair while slipping him a little tongue. His edges seemed smoother when I pulled back, swiping my thumb along his lower lip.
“I’m making you some coffee,” I told him and turned to grab a pod out of the basket on the counter next to the fancy Nespresso machine.
If you asked me, these were just a marketing gimmick. And probably bad for the environment. Sure, these little pods were recyclable, but how many people do you think actually recycled them? Not many. Wankers.
Besides, coffee in an old-fashioned pot tasted better. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You could pry my Mr. Coffee out of my cold, dead hands. Though, you’d get it easier than my fries.
That being said, this stupid machine was nice for brewing a single cup. It was kinda late in the day for a whole pot.
After slipping the pod into the machine and hitting the button, I watched it begin to brew. Trent wrapped around me from behind, his body pressing me against the counter.
“I want you,” he rumbled beside my ear.
All the hair on my body stood on end. Jolts of desire shot through me like my nervous system was experiencing an electrical storm. Leaning into him, I reached around and slid my hand into the back pocket of his jeans.
“You have me.”
When he shifted, his hard dick stabbed against my ass. “What else am I supposed to do with all this pent-up emotion, baby? I need somewhere to put it.”
I arched against him. “Lucky for you, I have just the place.”
“I am lucky.”
I turned in his arms. “No, T. You deserve everything you have.”
He leaned in to kiss me, and I slipped away, grabbing his cup and going to the fridge for some creamer. When it was made the way he liked it, I handed it over.
“After we talk to the kids more, I think we need to involve the police.”
“Yeah. I think you’re right.”
“They’re going to want to talk to the kids. Get a description from them of this woman.”
“Not tonight. Andi’s been through enough.”
I nodded. “I’ll call down there and see if they can come out tomorrow. Doing it at home might be easier for them.”
“T?”
“Hm?”
“Do you think we did the wrong thing by not contacting them about the letters?” I asked, the mere suggestion a knife to my gut.
His attention went inward as he considered my words. I waited on pins and needles for what he would say. It wasn’t that I didn’t have my own thoughts, just that I valued his a little more. As I said before, he was our rock.
After a sip of the coffee, he shook his head. “No. I think drawing attention to it would have caused more panic. And if it got out to the press, it would have become a circus.”
“And inspired copycats.”
“Exactly.” He agreed.
“I still feel guilty,” I confessed.
Trent cupped the side of my face, scratching against my beard. “Because you’re a good father. But you didn’t do anything wrong.”
The compliment made me warm inside, and I pulled the coffee from his hand to help myself. He let me have it and went to the cupboard to rummage around. When he came back, it was with an entire pouch of cookies.
“She only asked for one.”
“And?”
I laughed. “You are wrapped around her tiny finger.” Shaking my head, I started back to the meeting, still drinking his coffee.
Coffee sloshed over the rim and splashed my hand when I was yanked back. I barely noticed the warm liquid stinging my skin because of the distracting body pressed against me and the hot whisper against my ear.
“Later, I want you wrapped around my dick.”
Desire slid down my spine, making me shiver.
“Dad! Where’s my cookie?” Andi hollered.
“Later,” he promised and pulled away to see to our daughter. Before I could join them, I had to reach into my jeans to adjust the rigid dick behind my fly.