BEX
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dom was sitting at the dining table of our new safe house.
His arm was in a sling. He was at once groggy and moody.
At least the meds kept the pain away, but the kid was pissed off.
Not that I blamed him. I wasn’t exactly Sally Sunshine.
I wanted so badly to find the asshole who shot him.
As it was, I was instructed to bring Dom home and to stay there.
After several back roads and even more back-tracking, we eventually made it to the new house.
Ollie met me and talked me through all the security features.
It wasn’t necessary since I had a part in designing the security system.
We had cameras outside, and there wasn’t a single blind spot on the house.
The alarm was triggered once someone entered the driveway or came up the front porch.
Lights went on when activated by movement.
And everything required face recognition and a thumbprint.
No one was getting in the house unless one of us wanted them in.
“And once you’re in the house.” I was still giving Dom the security lecture.
“You reset the alarm by pressing ‘three’, ‘five’. That allows you to walk through the house but the doors and windows are covered. If we ever get a cat, we would need to rethink things since he wouldn’t be able to get out. ”
Dom did not look impressed. “Am I going to need to submit a DNA sample? Because I think that’s a violation of my privacy or something.”
“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes as I sat opposite him. “You’re a teenager with a heavy social media presence. Privacy is not a thing you’ve ever prioritized.”
“You’ve checked out my social media?” I knew what he was asking, and I hated the hesitancy in his voice.
I nodded and tilted my head towards him.
“Only once you came into our lives.” He narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t believe me.
“I mean, it wasn’t as if I wasn’t tempted, especially after Lilly checked up on you.
When she said you were fine and healthy, there was a big part of me that wanted to check for myself. ”
“Do you think Logan checked on me?”
Everything in me melted. He wanted to know if we thought about him.
I knew I could answer him honestly. “Lo is as nosy as they come. It was an open adoption and I had no doubt he watched your parents’ social media feeds to catch photos of you over the years.
And then, when you were old enough to have your own social media, he would’ve checked what you were up to. ”
His eyes turned serious but his voice went colder. “But you didn’t.”
“I tried once, but it hurt like hell, Dom.” I had to be honest with him. “Giving you up was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But I did take comfort that you had good parents.”
He nodded. “I did. It sucked when my dad died but my mom was awesome. And Bill was not bad to be around. He was just… I didn’t trust him.
He was pissed about my dad’s money being in a trust for me.
And that if anything happened to my mom, her portion would still go to me.
At first, I thought he wanted to replace my Dad, but I think all he wanted was access to my money. ”
Before we could continue, my phone chimed with a notification from the security system.
Logan’s car was pulling into the driveway.
I looked at my screen as the camera captured him getting out of the car.
I was so entranced by him. He took out the baby car seat and left it on the ground as he reached back and took Landy from the toddler seat.
Once he had Landy draped over his shoulder, he picked up the car seat.
I watched him from one camera to the next until he was at the front door.
He gently put the car seat down once more as he removed his key from his pocket and unlocked the front door.
Dom’s sarcastic tone pulled me back to him. “If I ever have that dreamy look on my face, please shoot me.” He rolled his eyes. “You are the most badass woman I’ve ever met and still you’re going gaga over a man carrying a baby.”
“Well, when it's the right man…” I smiled at Dom.
He made gagging noises and went to the front door to help Logan with the kids. My heart melted even further. What I didn’t tell him was that when it was the right man with your own children, then ‘gaga’ was an understatement.
As they walked into our new dining room, Dom holding Vicky’s car seat and Logan carrying Landy in his arms, my world shifted into place.
These were my people and we were in my home.
And to hell with the assholes who were trying to take it away from me.
I would fight tooth and nail to hold onto these people.
I smiled as I whispered. “Are they both asleep?”
“She’s out like a light.” Dom smiled, and it was beautiful. “I think she likes spending time with Grandma…” His face dropped. “I mean…”
Logan’s lips twitched as he put his free arm around Dom. “No, you got it absolutely right.” He turned to the kid. “If that’s okay with you?”
Dom nodded. “I want it, it will just take time to get used to it.”
“Fair enough.” He eyed the sling on Logan’s other arm. “How’s the arm?”
“Uncomfortable.”
I couldn’t resist chiming in. “The meds have done nothing for his mood.”
It was more than an hour later before all the kids were down for the night. Dom was no doubt reading in bed.
Logan walked out of the bedroom, hair wet and freshly showered. “We need to sit down and have a formal chat about the kids.”
I nodded but I was barely focused on his words.
In high school, Logan without his shirt was always a sight.
Seeing him with just sweatpants and nothing else, I could easily tell that High School Logan was clearly just a boy.
The man in front of me was… well… a man.
He wasn’t as tall as my brothers, but then again, very few people were.
Still. Broad shoulders and a sculpted chest told me he spent a fair amount of time in the gym.
Ridges at his abdomen and then that all too sexy V accompanied by a happy trail that led into his sweatpants.
“Bex.”
I looked up at him. The smirk told me he knew I was checking him out. I plastered on my innocent look when I answered him. “Yes. I think as soon as this shitshow of an investigation is over, we should look to formalizing this family. I mean, we could put in a petition sooner.”
Logan knelt in front of me, his face serious. “I want nothing more than to go where your thoughts led you a moment ago. But…”
“But what?” He sounded so serious. “Just tell me.”
“Bex, you watched our child get shot today, that couldn’t have been easy.” He took my hands in his. “I was here. Hearing about it and I knew Dom was alright, and I still freaked out. I had to listen to your brother mumble about leaks and plan Bs.”
“Yeah, he can get a bit intense when he’s figuring out all the angles.” I stood and pulled him up with me. “It's worse when it involves people he loves.”
“And what about the people you love, Bex?”
I shook my head trying to push away the images in my head.
“I’m fine. I’m used to this, remember. Yeah, it was a whole lot scarier because it was Dom, but I’ll be fine.
I thought I might need a good cry in the shower but I really am good.
” I stepped back. “Right now, I am going to use that new tub and make myself smell as nice as you do, and then I want to make good on the promise I made to the sexiest man I know.”
“I hope you mean me.”
I winked and headed for the attached bathroom in the master bedroom. We were using Logan’s bedding and the furniture came with the house. I would need to do some shopping to make it look less like a bachelor’s room. But it would do for now. Same with the kids’ rooms, really.
It had been an interesting few hours and I just needed some time to relax.
Once we had both kids taking a nap, we unpacked the car.
Logan couldn’t get everything packed, but he brought most of our clothes and all of the baby's things. He also remembered to bring all the devices and Dom’s school and sports things.
Without much thought, we placed the toddlers into the same room and Dom got his own room.
Logan mentioned he had put in an offer to buy the house from Salinger Security, who currently had a holding company on the paperwork for Dom’s protection.
Once it was all sorted, he would buy the house from the company.
He didn’t want the kids to move again. All the shuffling around had already played havoc on them.
Landon would start to talk to us and Logan didn’t want anything to jeopardize that.
Which was also why he asked Dom and I not to speak about what had happened while Landon was around.
I was happy to comply. Dom had already spoken to me and I had a good idea where his head was at. The kid was scared but he was not going to let the assholes win. He was pissed he needed to stay off school for a bit but he did understand the logic.
The bathroom would need updating as well.
The beige tiles with white finishings were not going to work for me.
I looked forward to redecorating the entire house once things settle down.
Once I turned on the water and ran the bath, I stripped out of my clothes while I waited for it to fill.
It had been a long and stressful day and I wanted nothing more than to allow the warm water to flow over my body. I actually needed it.
The thing that surprised me was that there was still no crying.
I didn't get that burn at the back of my throat and I didn’t feel the need to shed tears.
Maybe I was broken. That wouldn’t surprise me.
There was only so much a single human being could take and my family had been through a lot over the last few years.
From the time Debbie was killed five years ago until Dom had been shot a few hours ago, it had been one drama after another.
Intellectually, I knew we were not cursed. But it was hard not to buy into that when once again someone in my family was under threat and needed to be in hiding.
Still, the lack of tears surprised me. And there was only one explanation for that. The man on the other side of the door. He would comfort me. At the end of the day, he would know what I needed.
I wish I had known back in high school how precious it was to have someone who knew exactly what one needed. Someone who could leave you alone or hold you tight if needed. That was something I wanted to teach my children.
I don’t know how long I lay in the bath before the tips of my fingers went all pruny. I’d filled the bath several times but it was almost too full and the water was once again turning cool.
I stepped out of the big round tub and quickly toweled off. I twisted the terry cloth around my body and walked into the bedroom.
Oh my. Logan on the bed in just his sweatpants. Clearly commando, judging by the tent at his groin.
“Drop the towel, Bex.” I did as he asked and a whistle of breath escaped him. “Now, I do believe you offered to suck my dick while you sat on my face.”