Chapter 36 Cash
THIRTY-SIX
CASH
“Looks like they fit right in.” Kane glanced between me and the kids. Face full of a prodding grin like he knew something that I didn’t.
I itched in my unrest.
“Yeah, knew Maci and Nolan would make them feel welcome,” I managed.
Those kids were the fucking best. Couldn’t stop the way pride billowed at the fact that Eva, Addy, and Colin were in the mix of them, little Finn on his knees on the rug trying to get in Colin’s line of sight to get his attention.
“You wike my car?” Finn bounced as he waved a toy Camero in Colin’s face.
Colin laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “Of course, I like your car. It’s so fast it’s like a race car. I’m gonna have a real one when I grow up.”
“I’m gonna have a motorcycle like my Daddy-O and my uncles when I grow up,” Nolan said as he carefully stacked another block on the fort they were building on the floor. “They’re the fastest.”
“Well, I’m gonna have a car and a motorcycle like my Mr. Cash,” Colin corrected like he needed to catch up.
“My Big Gwumpy Giant got a mower-cycle,” Eva drawled as she danced a doll on its feet on the floor beside the boys. “I go wide wif him.”
My chest squeezed so fuckin’ tight I was in physical pain.
Feeling like I was going to split apart at their sweet voices. At the way they looked at me when I didn’t deserve an ounce of their affection.
My brothers caught what Eva had said, and Otto swiveled back to me, shock on his face.
“Did you just let that kid call you my big grumpy giant?” He kept his voice low as he cocked his head.
I grunted.
Kane laughed low. “What else are they supposed to call him? About the most fitting name I’ve ever heard. Think you should get it changed on your birth certificate.”
I sent him a glare that had no heat behind it.
Disbelief filled his chuckle. “Seriously, though, man. This shit is insane. Way you just strolled in here like the four of them belong to you.”
There was no stopping the way my eyes traveled to Daisy. No question she was getting bombarded by the girls who clearly took making her feel welcome to heart, though I wasn’t so sure they were reconciled to the whole ‘don’t get attached’ part.
Their voices hushed and the cut of their gazes in my direction made it plain they were scheming.
Scheming in that sweet way that set them apart from anyone I’d ever met.
This family tight and supportive. Their hearts pure and their intentions honorable.
But what we all needed to remember was that Daisy and the kids couldn’t remain a part of it, and any ideas they were conjuring up in their heads were going to lead to nowhere good.
“Like I said, I have a part to play, and that part starts today.” The words were gravel.
“Huh, never knew you were such a good actor.” River eyed me up and down. Usually, I only had to grapple with Otto, Kane, and Theo giving me shit, but apparently, my whole crew was in for this.
“Think the fact that we still walk around free says that we’re all decent actors,” I said like it was going to distract from the issue at hand.
“You think everyone doesn’t walk by us and not know? We’re not good actors. We’re just good at not getting caught.” Theo punted me a menacing grin.
“And you, my friend, are the worst actor around.” Kane gripped me by the shoulder and gave me a jostle. “Look at you, standing there, twitching like a fiend. Wanting to claw your way through this room to get to your girl. You want to claim her right in front of us, don’t you?”
I swatted his hand away. “Do not want to claim her.”
Unfortunately, my cock had other things to say about that. Fucker straining in my jeans and aching for a replay of last night.
Stupid, going there. Letting myself cross that line.
Because now that I’d done it, I didn’t think I was ever going to stop wanting to do it again.
Her sweet scent and her soft skin and the taste of—
Otto cracked up. “Sure, brother. You’re as cool as a fucking cucumber over there.”
I roughed a flustered hand through my hair. “Only thing that matters is keeping them safe. From her bastard ex and from my world,” I reiterated, before my voice dipped in emphasis. “Worried one of them caught up to us last night.”
They all went rigid when I said it, the easiness draining away in a beat. “How so?” River demanded.
I blew out some of the strain, but it didn’t do anything to relieve the tension. “Thought I saw something in the woods last night after I got back from Sanctum’s meeting.”
“Thought?” Kane hissed, then his eyes blew wide when he suddenly noticed the gash taped closed on my temple. “Someone get to you?”
The shake of my head was harsh. “No. At least I don’t think so. I took off into the woods, trying to find whatever it was that I saw or sensed. It was pitch as fuck out. Tripped and fell down a ravine and busted myself up a bit.”
At least, that’s what I thought had happened. But I couldn’t shun the idea that it might have been more. That someone might have been right there, under my nose.
“And you didn’t see anything?” Theo pressed.
I ground my molars. “Nothing. Spent most of the night replaying footage and searching for something out of the ordinary, but I didn’t see anything.”
Didn’t mention the fact that the other part of it had been spent devouring Daisy.
Touching her.
Her touching me.
Taking her in a way that I had no right to.
Had almost crumbled and went back into my room so I could have her in every way I needed.
Didn’t know how the fuck I gathered the willpower to stop myself, but somehow, I managed to keep my ass in my chair so I could surveil the property the way I was supposed to do.
My only purpose guarding Daisy and those kids.
Not dipping my dick into the sweetest pussy I’d ever tasted.
“Could it have been an animal or something?” Kane suggested.
I huffed in discomfort. “I suppose it could have been anything. But I got that sense that somethin’ wasn’t right.”
River angled closer. “And all of us know never to ignore that intuition.”
I gave a tight nod. We’d all been through the most brutal shit. Had faced the wicked just as sure as we’d become the wicked ourselves.
Had been in so many situations where evil reigned that we could now scent it.
Feel it crawling over our flesh and winding into our bloodstreams.
A little cry suddenly erupted from the portable crib set up on the far-right side of the room.
Otto went from burly, raging beast to fucking heart eyes and smitten in a beat. “Sounds like Little Luna needs her daddy.”
The brute went stalking that way, and he dipped down and swooped his baby girl up. “There’s Daddy’s Little Luna. Did you have a good nap? Yes, you did, didn’t you?”
He held her up under the arms as he cooed at her, her tiny body curling into the sweetest ball as she made a bunch of adorable noises.
Addy, Eva, and Maci were all on their feet, running that way.
“My baby cousin Luna is awake! Oh my gosh, she is the cutest. I wanna hug her, Uncle Otto!” Maci crossed her arms over her chest and squeezed herself, swaying from side to side, while Addy and Eva basically tried to climb him to get to the baby.
“You need someone to feed her, and I’ve got you covered,” Addy told him. “I’m a really good babysitter, and I help my mom all the time, so I really know what I’m doing.”
“I wanna baby.” Eva grinned and beamed and tipped her precious face up to get a look.
Otto chuckled, just as enamored with the baby as the girls.
Luna had a thick head of black hair that stuck up all around her porcelain face. The baby so fuckin’ cute it was difficult looking at her.
“We’ll definitely let you all spend some time with her as soon as her momma gets her fed. But I’m thinking my little one is probably just as hungry for her mom as I always am.”
Otto tacked a slew of innuendo into it as he sent Raven a salacious look from across the room. Luckily the little girls were too young to pick up on it.
Raven and Otto were mad about each other, and Raven still fucking swooned every time he looked at her. Though right then, it was tender. All that love they held for their little girl pouring out between them.
It was that terrifying kind of love that would ruin you if you lost it.
But I guess it was the exact same expression every one of my brothers constantly wore when it came to their women. When it came to their kids. Their hearts and souls wrapped up in them, all while they continued to try to devote their lives to the purpose we found.
It was reckless.
So fucking reckless, trying to merge two worlds the way they did.
I could never understand how they gave in. The way they took on these families.
Didn’t they know what happened when you invited this kind of lawlessness into your life then turned around and tried to wrap it in some sort of normalcy?
People hunting us. Threats around every corner. Every second of our lives peril.
And then they wanted to sit down at the family dinner table at night.
It didn’t equate.
“Give me that baby.” Raven’s voice was wispy, adoration scored on her face as she took her daughter from Otto’s arms.
Love pulsed through the air.
Not just between the two of them.
But through every person in the room.
River gazing over at his baby sister and brother-in-law. The rest of my crew pausing to appreciate the moment, the girls in the kitchen with these awed smiles before their attention inevitably slanted to their children.
That same love profound.
Daisy looked at her kids, and a gush of it flooded free. A crash into the room before it was crashing into me.
She lifted her eyes to meet mine.
That endless depth of twinkling blue.
My guts fisted and my heart felt like it would fail.
And maybe for the first time in my life, I got it.
Got why my brothers would take the chance.
How could I even think it, though, after everything I caused?
The suffering I’d meted?
The sins I’d committed?
How could I even consider dragging someone into the dangers that we lived?
This was only supposed to be temporary.
Pretend.
A quick solution to give Daisy peace of mind before I gutted that motherfucker who wanted to do her harm.
But if it was me? If I was still that same kid who held her in his arms in the middle of the night on his bed? If I hadn’t done what I did?
I’d be on my knees begging her to really be mine.
Permanently.
I guess the whole problem was that I always chose her.