Chapter 14 Texas
FOURTEEN
TEXAS
I stared off at the wall, remembering the talk Stone had with me a few days ago.
I remembered back to the night I had moved in.
The night when I’d found all that shit in Jett’s storage locker.
I drew in a deep breath as my mind pulled me back.
Took me back to that first load Stone and I hauled over to Ella’s house that night.
I replayed the conversation over in my head every time I felt myself growing too close to Keva and her mother.
“You know the rules with all this, right?” Stone asked.
I heaved a box I hadn’t unpacked yet into my arms.
“Yes, I know the damn rules. No touching Ella,” I grunted.
“And no playing house. They aren’t your family to play house with,” he said.
“Stone, I fucking got it. Okay? Quit repeating yourself.”
“For some reason, I feel like I need to with you.”
I paused and watched him load a box onto his shoulder. Then, the two of us stood there. Staring at one another. I didn’t know how he knew, but he knew. I wasn’t sure how much he knew, but I was almost certain Stone understood there was something going on between Ella and myself.
“I see the way you look at her. I saw the way she looked back at you whenever her and I were talking in the fucking kitchen,” Stone said.
“You’re out of your mind,” I said.
“Don’t you dare lie to me. We’ve been friends for fucking years. This isn’t all business anymore, is it?”
“Was it ever? I mean come on, Stone. This is Ella we’re talking about. She’s just as much a part of this crew as—”
“Stop twisting words. Stop being Jett,” he glowered.
In that moment, I wanted to slug him across the fucking face. How dare that asshole compare me to that abusive, murderous fuck.
“You’ve crossed a line with my sister you’ll never come back from. I don’t know what all’s happened between you two, but you better hope for your sake it’s just some stolen fucking glances,” Stone said.
“Then why the hell am I moving into her place if you're so damn paranoid we’re screwing around?” I asked.
“Have you touched my sister?”
“You first,” I growled.
Stone’s nostrils flared. “That’s the least of our worries right now.
My gut’s telling me exactly what you thought back there.
That Jett’s out to really do some damage to my damn sister.
So, here’s how this is gonna go. You’ll move in.
You’ll watch over them. But if you so much as lay a finger on my sister and I found out about it?
You’re done. You're out of the crew, for starters. And you better make damn sure you know how to cover your tracks. Because I’ll come for you, too. ”
“What the hell is it with you? You know me better than this. Even if I was fucking around with—”
Stone gnashed his teeth at me. “I’ll deal with you later, you backstabbing son of a bitch. Right now? Our focus is my family’s safety. And it damn well better be your focus too.”
I hadn’t spoken with Stone since. Not a text.
Not a phone call. Nothing. He’d come by once to see Keva and Ella, and not once had he looked my way.
He was feeding updates through Ella, which pissed me the hell off.
She had enough on her shoulders. The last thing she needed was her brother pestering her multiple times throughout the day because of some bullshit man she was trying to get away from.
I didn’t like leaving things like this with my best friend. But I also wasn’t a fan of the tactics he was using so he didn’t have to speak with me.
They were the moves of a coward, if anyone wanted my opinion on it.
“I said the ‘mashic’ word, Tex.”
Keva’s voice pulled me from my trance, and I looked down at her.
“What was that?” I asked.
“I said it. So now you gotta put it on,” she said.
I picked up the crown she placed into my hand and inched it onto my head.
I pressed it down, feeling the plastic combs rake against my scalp.
Keva smiled brightly with her massive green eyes, just like her mother’s, sparkling with delight.
Every time that kid smiled, I couldn't help but smile back.
Keva had roped me into playing tea party with her and her stuffed animals.
And I told her if she wanted me to put on a crown, she had to say the magic word.
Please.
“You look pretty,” Keva said, giggling.
“Why, thank you,” I said as I fluttered my eyelashes.
Keva fell apart in a fit of giggles before she reached for her wand.
“Ready to start?” she asked.
“More than ready. Will there be food here too?” I asked.
“Well, if you’d wait for me to wave my wand, you’d see.”
“Oh, oh, oh. Sorry for interrupting.”
“You should be,” she murmured.
I balked at her sassiness as I tried to hold back my laughter.
“One, two, ‘free!’”
Keva waved her wand around in the air before she reached behind her. She tried distracting me with the wand long enough to pull out what was sitting behind her on the floor. She fumbled with a package of Oreos and a small bottle of apple juice, both of which she sat in the middle of the circle.
“Ta da!” she exclaimed.
“Looks like a party’s about to happen,” I said, grinning.
“The ‘roybal’ tea party has begun.”
“Oh, it’s a ‘roybal’ party now?”
“Of course. Because I’m a pretty princess.”
“I thought I was the pretty princess,” I said.
“No, you’re the queen, silly Tex. That’s why you have the crown.”
I laughed as I reached up and fiddled with the crown on my head.
Keva opened the small bottle of juice and took a sip of it and then handed it to me.
She coached me through how to pour a little into everyone’s small as hell teacups and then she ripped open the package of Oreos and watched them spill out onto the floor.
“Oops,” she murmured.
I grinned as I helped her pick up the fallen cookies.
Whenever she wanted me to play with her, I relished the moments.
I wanted a family. Always had. And I’d be a lucky man if I ever had a girl who was half as creative, beautiful, and sassy as Keva.
Growing up, I spent most of my years in the foster care system.
I bounced around from home to home, being passed on while some of my other friends were adopted by families I wanted to stay with.
For the longest time as a teenager, I didn’t know why people didn’t want me.
I didn’t know what about me repelled families instead of pulling them to me.
I was a young boy with so much love trapped in my heart. But no one ever wanted it.
I found myself wondering if Ella could ever fall in love with a damaged man like myself.
“Cookie?” Keva asked.
“I’d love one, thank you,” I said.
“Just one?”
“Can I have more than one?”
“Well, yeah. You’re big, so you get more. I’m little, so I only get one.”
I chuckled. “Is that how that works?”
She shrugged. “That’s how Mommy says it works when I only get two pancakes and she gets four.”
I almost spit out my apple juice trying not to laugh.
I ate cookies and toasted to random things every time we took a sip of our juice. Keva toasted things like, “having a good day with Mr. Frog,” and “eating all the cookies we wanted.” And me? I toasted things like, “to always being happy,” and “to making dinner tonight so Momma doesn’t have to.”
And all the while, I kept wondering about Ella. About her feelings toward me, if she had any.
It was obvious from my conversation with Stone that she kept looking at me a certain way.
Did that mean she had feelings for me? It wasn’t like I was a good person in the traditional sense of the word.
I was the V.P. and a brute enforcer with a biker crew.
So, I’d done my fair share of ruining people’s lives to benefit our customers and our bank accounts.
I mean those we destroyed deserved it, but there were some out there that would argue we had no right to deliver justice in the first place.
I knew that the courts of law were just as corrupt as the judges who presided over them, though. So, I was proud of the work I did. Making sure those who deserved a particular punishment got exactly that.
But that didn’t mean I was a good person.
“Can I have a piggy back ride?” Keva asked.
“Are we all done with the tea party?” I asked.
“Yep. And now, it’s time for us to take them home. I think they had too much juice,” she whispered.
“Oh. Well, that might be a problem. We should definitely make sure they get home safe.”
I’d never played with a kid before like I was with Keva throughout the couple of days Ella was off work, but I figured a mild back injury wouldn't be too bad. I got onto all fours and Keva climbed up, then she reached for a few of her stuffed animals.
“To the bedroom!” Keva exclaimed.
“To the mighty bedroom!”
“You know, I never thought I’d see the day when a grown man like yourself would be on his hands and knees for a four-year-old,” Ella said.
“Mommy!” Keva exclaimed.
“Hey there, Momma,” I said as I turned my head.
Ella stood in the entryway of the kitchen that separated it from the living room.
She had her arms folded over her chest and a telling smirk across her cheeks.
It warmed my heart to see her face filled with so much joy.
It seemed as if whatever conversation she’d had with Joanne across the street really did the trick.
“Thank you for giving me the morning,” Ella said.
“I figured you needed it. But if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do,” I said.
“The guests had too much juice, Mommy,” Keva said.
“Oh, well. Might want to get them home before they get tummy aches,” Ella said.
“I would if my horsey would move,” Keva said, pouting.
I chuckled. “Princess Keva’s wish is my command.”
As I shuffled my massive body down the hallway and into Keva’s bedroom, I wondered what a real life with the two of them would be like.
I mean, I knew it would never happen, but it didn’t hurt to have dreams. To envision it and see how things would pan out.
And I smiled at the sight of it. I smiled at all the breakfasts we’d share and all the Saturday afternoons we’d spend having tea parties and going to the park.
Keva and I worked together to get all her stuffed animals back into her bedroom and then it was time for me to lay her down for a nap.
“Can you read me a story, Tex?” Keva asked.
“How about I do that tonight, yeah?” I asked.
“But that’s far away,” she whined softly.
“It won’t be that far if you take a nap like you need to.”
“Will you stay?”
“Hmm?”
“Here, until I fall ‘sleep.”
I watched her eyes flutter closed as I slid my fingers through her soft blonde hair.
Hair that reminded me of her mother’s.
“I’ll be right here, sweet girl,” I murmured.
I sat on the edge of her bed and watched as she slipped into a peaceful slumber. And as I watched her fall asleep, my heart clenched in my chest. She was beautiful. The light of the world in my eyes. Keva was the most incredible little girl, and in that moment, I admitted something to myself.
I knew I cared for her and her mother greatly.
And I was willing to give my life in order to make sure they were safe.
“Sleep well, Princess Keva,” I whispered.
Then, I bent down, kissed her forehead, and slowly backed out of her room so she could sleep.