Chapter 6
Chapter Six
JETT
I was sure the guys had come to check on me, but that wasn’t the only reason.
A feeling deep in my bones told me they weren’t just there to shoot the shit, even though that’s all they’d been doing for hours.
When my brother-in-law finally said it was time for them to go, I was a bit shocked.
They flew in and were already flying back out? Why the short trip?
Just like the men who’d come to pay me a visit, I’d learned not to ignore that feeling that something was wrong or that something bad was about to happen.
I’d managed not to ask about Patience and Griffin all night, and the men didn’t bring them up. That, in itself, was odd.
But now, with them about to leave and my gut screaming at me, I couldn’t help it.
They were off their stools, standing in front of me. Looking at Lyric, I asked, “Are Patience and Griffin okay? Is there something you need to tell me?”
My brother-in-law gave me a look I couldn’t decipher but pointed at Gyth. “You’ll have to ask him. I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”
What the hell.
Turning my gaze to Gyth, I asked, “What is it?”
I knew they’d come for a reason, but I wasn't expecting what came out of his mouth.
Gyth’s expression hardened. “Griffin’s dad wants him back.”
Five words that had me flying off my seat and my blood boiling as a million emotions slammed into me at once.
“What the fuck?” I yelled, causing heads to turn in our direction.
“Since I never promised, I offered to be the messenger.” Gyth’s neck muscles bulged as if he might pop a blood vessel—maybe even two or three. “We’re working on it but thought you should know.”
I looked back at Lyric. “And why couldn’t you tell me?”
“Patience made me and Ruby promise not to.”
He had to be kidding. We told each other everything. “And why would she do that?”
“Because she didn’t want to worry you when you were already going through so much,” he responded.
I realized then that we had told each other everything, but since I’d stopped talking to her, maybe she didn’t think she could come to me anymore.
She was trying to protect me.
But I was doing a shit job of protecting her.
I’d royally fucked up.
I might not be able to have the relationship I longed for with her, but that didn’t mean I should have stopped listening and being there for my best friend.
Fuck, guilt was an evil bitch.
“We have to get going, we have a plane to catch.” Lyric extended his hand to shake mine, but once he released it, he clamped his palm on my shoulder and pulled me in for a man-hug. “You take care of yourself, brother.”
When he pulled back, Gyth took his turn, doing the same.
They swooped in, dropped a bomb, and then just wanted to walk away?
As they went to leave, I let them get about ten steps too many before I tossed money on the bar and called out, “I’m coming with you.”
They turned back to me, and with a glint in his eye, Gyth yelled over the noise in the room, “It’s a damn good thing we bought you a ticket then!”
When Lyric slapped some money into Gyth’s palm and grumbled loudly about how he hated to fucking lose, I managed to look appalled as I approached them.
“What were you assholes betting on?”
“How many steps it would take before you caved,” Lyric said. “I thought, as stubborn as you are, that you might just let us get out the door before you came running. You cost me twenty bucks.”
“Fuckers,” I mumbled.
They both chuckled. “Good thing Embry’s not here tonight. She’d have made a killing off that mouth of yours,” Gyth told me.
I thought back to my earlier conversation with Dusty. I’d given her shit about her potty mouth, and there I was, worse than her.
Gyth was right, though; I’d have owed her a load of money.
Lyric smacked me on the shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
When they started for the door again, I followed.
Looks like I was going home.
I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Pacing back and forth in the kitchen of one of the No Surrender condos, I scrubbed my hands down my face, bone-deep fatigue sinking into my whole body.
I’d said I was going home, and in a sense, I was, but not the way I knew my family would want me to. When the guys and I got on the plane, panic began to sink in. All the what ifs circled through my mind over and over.
What if I had a nightmare and scared the crap out of not only the adults but the kids too?
What if I couldn’t contain the anger that sometimes got the better of me when the thought of my teammates being tortured and then killed reared its ugly head and I lashed out at those I loved?
What if I had to stare at the pity or worry in my family's eyes at every turn?
And what if Patience cried?
All of it would hurt me, but the sight of tears when they fell down Patience’s face was my undoing every time and had been since the first day I’d met her.
As fucked up as it was to even consider, the torment inflicted on me would be easier than seeing the sorrow in her eyes.
But I wasn’t going to get off easy, was I?
My hands went to my hair, and I yanked on the strands in frustration. I’d already hurt her, and I knew that I deserved nothing but a monumental amount of shit, whatever she wanted to dish out, for that. Patience pissed off was something I’d take over seeing her sad any time.
Needing coffee, I swiped my mug off the granite countertop and brought the piping hot liquid to my lips. The special, dark roast, fancy blend—no doubt supplied by one of the ladies of the group—slid down my throat, warming my insides.
There were decisions to be made, and the answers were not coming to me on a semi-functional brain. If there was an IV caffeine drip available, I might actually think of using it right about then.
The information that Lyric and Gyth made me privy to on the plane had me hot under the fucking collar.
Who the fuck did Chaz think he was? He’d texted Patience several times, telling her he was going to get custody, that she had nothing to offer the boy, and nobody would deny their family what was theirs.
Champ wasn’t a piece of fucking property. He was the best damn kid on the planet! Rage swooped in, a fire flaring to life inside me, threatening to incinerate me where I stood.
I’d been searching for a solution all night.
One I hadn’t come up with.
After downing the remaining contents of my cup, I placed the mug back on the counter and began to pace the floor once again—if there was carpet, I’d have put a hole in it by then—racking my brain for the right answer.
That bastard, Chaz, thought he and his rich daddy could just waltz in, requesting that his son be placed with them on a permanent, full custody basis. And not just them, but Chaz’s stuck-up, evil, pristine, new wife.
But she wasn’t exactly new. While they may have been recently married, they had history from back in high school. Nope, I remembered Sloane all too well.
Lyric, Gyth, and the others had been doing their homework.
And these rich assholes seemed to think that because of money and their united front as a full family unit, they could win.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
Family unit.
Another text jumped into my head, one where Chaz had told Patience he and his wife were a family, something far better than a single mother would be in the court’s eyes.
I didn’t know that it was true, but shouldn’t we have done everything we could to squash any chances they had of ever being around my little man?
Mine.
I knew he wasn’t truly mine, but in my heart, he felt like he was.
The thing was, we had the most amazing family.
Not only with Gramps, Ruby, Lyric, Autumn and Tristan, but also our circle of friends.
But they were talking about a dad, a mom, and what they could provide.
I knew Champ was well taken care of; Patience had been doing that herself—with a tad bit of help—since the day Griffin came into the world.
But it was the other piece.
And suddenly the answer came to me.
I knew exactly what I had to do.