Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
SAVANNAH
“ A ll I’m saying is that if he touches you again, I’m going to break all the bones in his body and then leave him in the woods,” Goran said. I didn’t put it past him, but I was done arguing the point. I’d told him not to worry and that I had everything with Shawn under control. Goran didn’t care.
I pointed to the house we were going to, and all of the SUVs parked in a long line, blocking off the driveway and half the street. Goran and the guards seemed to have things down to a fine science and proved that their synchronicity was not a fluke.
“Do you want me to kill your tenants?”
I looked up at him and shook my head. “No, what the heck do you do for Nathan?”
Goran’s lip turned up in a devilish grin. “You don’t want to know.”
“No, they have already moved out,” I said.
“Then whose car is in the driveway?” That was an excellent question.
“I don’t know.” I took a step forward and was blocked by his large arm.
“If you don’t know, then you stay behind us.” My lips pursed together, getting ready to argue the point. “Nathaniel’s orders, you can take it up with him.” Another truckload of the guys surrounded us, and soon, I couldn’t see anything other than black suit jackets.
There was simply no point in arguing. They took orders from Nathan, and I’d promised to do things his way if I came here, but this felt suffocating. We marched up the steps, and Goran didn’t so much as knock but pounded on the door like we were SWAT.
Music was playing inside, and I could hear laughing, but footsteps were coming closer to the door. It swung open, and I was immediately assaulted by the smell of weed.
“Yo man, what’s up?”
I stepped around Goran and glared at the guy holding the door. “Where are Lindsay and Josh?”
“Oh, they moved out. But they said I could crash here for a few days. Apparently, the bitch who owns this place is really mean but never around.”
“Is that so?”
He nodded, movements slow. “We just needed a crash pad and party spot. Did you want to join? I have enough weed for everyone.” He smiled, and my frustration boiled over.
“How unlucky for you that I’m the bitch who owns this place, and you’re all in here illegally,” I said, stepping into my house. I might not have loved it, but I’d always taken great care of it, and right now, it was hard to recognize with all the dirt.
“Oh shit, sorry,” the guy said. “But we don’t have another party spot.”
“Get out, all of you. Get out right now, or I’ll let my guards throw you out,” I yelled. Goran, Vlad, and Guy stepped up beside me, cracking their knuckles.
The small group of five scrambled to grab their things and hightailed it as fast as they could on weed and whatever else they were doing. I wasn’t amused as one of them ran for the door and crashed straight into the wall, denting the drywall. There was not a chance in hell any of them were in a state to drive.
“Vlad?”
“Yes, Mrs. Mikhailov?”
“Take them to a local motel and have someone follow with their car. Pay for them to stay the night so they don’t try to drive anywhere.” He nodded and disappeared outside as I stepped further into my home, which looked like it had been used to house animals. There were stains on the walls, floors, and even the ceiling. Pieces of tile were ripped up, and a burn mark the size of a basketball was in the middle of the living room carpet. The stench of weed was so strong that it was choking me, and I shook my head. This was going to be more than a day or two of clean-up.
“Want me to call someone to help clean,” Goran asked as I slipped my jacket off.
“No, this is the perfect distraction. Besides, I’m not used to being waited on all the time. It kinda feels appropriate to get my hands dirty. If you wouldn’t mind finding and bringing me every cleaning supply you can, I’d appreciate it.”
“Sure, and if there aren’t any, I’ll send one of the new guys shopping.” He chuckled as he walked away, and I knew he was going to have way too much fun sending someone for way more than I would need. Then again, I might need an entire store’s worth.
Rolling up my sleeves, I got to work.
NATHANIEL
“This is fucking strange,” Aaron said, and I looked at my cousin, who was sitting on the bench beside me.
“What is?”
Aaron looked around the park at the laughing kids on the playground and the beach beyond. “Dude, we are sitting at the beach in suits like two old weirdos staring at a group of kids. If it weren’t for the guards standing around, someone would have called the cops.”
I hadn’t thought about it like that, but I guess he was right. “There are other dads sitting over there.” I pointed.
“Have you noticed they look the part? Jeans, shorts, T-shirts and polos. They have strollers and coffee from down the street. We seriously look like we are up to no good.”
“You worry too much,” I said and crossed my arms, my eyes following Cutter as he climbed up the ladder to the platform that would take him to the slide.
“Why are we here anyway?”
“Do you really think my son wants to hang out with me in the office all day? Besides, Savannah said he has a hard time making friends, and keeping him away from other kids isn’t going to help.”
“So this is a social experiment?”
I shot him a glare. “No, you dick. My son is not an experiment. I’m trying to give him the space to be a normal kid.”
“Honestly, you just sound like Titus when he needs to socialize a new puppy. Oh, we could get him a collar.”
“Don’t make me kill you in front of these kids,” I said, and Aaron laughed.
We hadn’t spent a whole lot of time together since I quit hockey. He still played pickup with a couple of competitive rec leagues and worked as the manager at three of my locations, which kept him on the move all the time. Not to mention the list of girls he was always dating and dropping like they were disposable. Aaron brought a whole new meaning to the term, man whore. We’d had to have a few talks about not fucking the girls who worked at the clubs.
“You won’t kill me. You’ll never find someone else who can sell out a Wednesday night like I can.”
That made me smile. “True.”
“Are you really okay with this? I mean, I never saw us getting married, not like this. Dimitri was always going to force us to marry, but it was more for show than anything else. I definitely never want kids or to settle down with one person. That seems torturous. Like eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day. Eventually, you need a nice steak with a spicy peppercorn sauce, or maybe a pizza with all the toppings, hell four pizzas at once.”
“Are you comparing your sex life to food?”
“I’m hungry. It’s the only thing I can think about,” he said, and right on cue, his stomach growled. “See?”
“To answer your question, I never thought about any of this until I met Savannah. Cutter was a surprise, but I’ve wanted her every day since we decided to go our separate ways. She’s like the whole buffet, including dessert,” I said and smirked as Aaron’s stomach growled again.
“I’m happy for you. I just don’t think this life is for me. Dimitri did find someone for me to marry. He made the arrangements, but I don’t meet them until next summer.”
I turned my head away from Cutter and stared at the side of Aaron’s face. “No man, don’t tell me….”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, she doesn’t graduate until then.”
I rolled my eyes. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Ah!” The sound of Cutter’s scream had me up and running before I knew what was even wrong. He was sitting in the sand, cradling his arm, his eyes full of tears, but he was holding them back even as his lip quivered.
“What happened,” I asked, squatting down, but he was covering his arm so I couldn’t see it. Cutter looked up to the top of the jungle gym, where a boy was glaring down at him.
“I need to see your arm,” I said, and he shook his head. “Let me take a look, and we will stop at the ice cream place on our way home.”
“Bribery, great parenting skills there,” Aaron chirped at me.
“Shut it,” I hissed under my breath.
“The one with the really big cups and like ten scoops of ice cream?”
“Yup, that’s the place,” I said. Cutter looked down at his arm and then slowly moved his other one away. I sucked in a sharp breath but kept calm. His wrist was twisted at an odd angle and very obviously dislocated. He would probably need a cast. Great, Savannah was going to kill me.
“Loser, maybe you should watch where you’re going,” the boy above us snarked. He looked to be three or four years older, and Aaron grabbed me before I could jump to my feet and grab the little twerp.
“You pushed me.”
“No, I didn’t. Don’t lie, you big baby.”
“Hey,” I growled at the kid, and he swallowed and took off. Snapping my fingers, Ivan squatted down beside me. “Find out who that kid’s father is. I want their address.”
“Yes, Sir,” he said, and I turned my attention back to Cutter.
“I’m going to pick you up, okay?”
Cutter nodded. “Just don’t touch my arm,” he said softly, and my heart broke for him. I wanted to tear the world apart and protect him from all the assholes, but I knew this was only a taste of what was to come, and it hurt. The world wasn’t a nice place. There were some decent people, but it was mostly toxic. Around every corner was someone looking to stab you in the back, hurt your feelings, and kick you when you were down.
“I won’t, but we need to go to the doctor,” I said, scooping Cutter up and holding him with one arm.
“I don’t want to go, Dad,” he said, and those five words almost broke me. How the hell had Savannah done this all alone?
“I have an idea to cheer you up, Cutter,” Aaron said as we walked to the car. Cutter still hadn’t cried, but his tear-filled eyes turned to look at Aaron. “I understand you like hockey?” Cutter nodded. “Well, since you’re going to be a big boy and let the doctor look at your arm, I’m going to get us seats for the Kings playoff game tomorrow night. Would you like that?”
“Really?” His eyes bugged out, and Aaron nodded.
“Really, and you can eat as many hotdogs as you want,” Aaron said. I didn’t say anything, but he was already well on his way to, at the very least, being an amazing uncle.
“Can we, Dad?”
“Only if we get your arm all fixed up. Besides, your mom wouldn’t want you in pain, and we don’t want her to worry, do we?”
“No,” he said, his voice soft.
The guard opened the back door of my stretch SUV, and I sat Cutter inside before whispering to Aaron. “Now look who is using bribery?”
He shrugged and smiled. “It worked.”
Now, I could only hope that bribery worked on Savannah so she didn’t kill me.