Chapter 28 #2
“I’ll regain your trust, Santi. One way or another.”
“It’s not my trust you have to worry about reclaiming,” I tell him.
At this, Ledger’s mouth shifts into a small smile. “I think Blair and I hashed it out pretty good while you three were gone.”
I consider this answer. Ledger could be telling the truth. Before we started talking about her dad, Blair did seem to be in better spirits tonight than she has been. But what if he’s lying?
Deciding that I won’t believe him until I hear it from Blair, I turn my attention back to my work.
“I’m assuming Dixie is an alias, not a real name, just like Sparrow and Anchor,” I tell him.
“But those aliases must’ve come from somewhere?
I’m guessing that Dixie could’ve been the name given due to the geographical location of where he grew up?
Or maybe he had a particular accent that someone clocked and gave him that name? ”
Ledger nods. “That’s possible.”
“Where did the name Sparrow come from?”
Ledger chuckles darkly. “To communicate with my closest buddies during tours overseas, I’d use a sparrow’s birdcall. They populate most areas so hearing it randomly wouldn’t naturally draw suspicion. Anchor was the one who gave me the nickname back during basic training and it stuck.”
“Where’d ‘Anchor’ come from—”
A soft thump from upstairs redirects our attention.
Ledger’s hand goes to his hip where his gun is kept but I’m familiar enough with the sound that I remain relaxed. I smile as a heavy shuffle follows.
“What the hell?” Ledger asks as he turns to put himself between Blair and the entrance to the living room.
“Relax,” my attention returns to the computer. “The others are coming to join us.”
“They went to bed hours ago.”
I smirk. “Well, it sounds like they couldn’t sleep.”
“What are they—”
“You’ll see.” I chuckle. “We’ve been doing this ever since Blair and Rhett got back. We haven’t done it in a few nights but I’m glad we’re all on the same page this evening.”
A few minutes later, Wes is dragging his mattress into the room. His comforter is thrown over his shoulder. Sandwiched between his body and the mattress are a few pillows—making for less trips up and down the stairs.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ledger demands.
“Getting ready for bed,” Wes explains vaguely. “Move the coffee table toward the wall, will you?”
Ledger hesitates for a second before grabbing the coffee table to shove it out of the way. Just as he finishes up, Rhett appears with his mattress and blankets in-tow.
Both Ledger and I watch as Wes and Rhett plop their beds down onto the floor in the middle of the room before pushing them close together.
“Good lord, it’s like a pillow fort,” Ledger mutters as he watches quietly.
“Not like, it is a pillow fort,” I correct with a wide grin.
With everyone down here and getting ready for bed, I know my time working is over for the evening. I shut my laptop, place it to the side, and gently lift Blair’s legs off mine so I can stand. Wes steps around Ledger and scoops up Blair in his arms. She stirs with an annoyed little groan.
“What’s going on?” she mutters without opening her eyes.
“We’re going to bed,” he tells her. “I wanted to hold you tonight but Rhett demanded it was his turn. I disagreed. Before we could come to blows, we decided we’re doing another group night.”
Blair hums, the sound more content than before but otherwise remains quiet as Wes lowers them both down into the middle of the squishy looking pile.
“I’m not sleeping like this,” Ledger huffs with a shake of his head.
“You weren’t invited into the fray anyway,” Rhett points out as I move toward him.
Blair growls as she begins to burrow under the covers. “Ledger is welcome to join us if he wants.”
With that, she vanishes beneath Wes’s duvet.
What the hell? Since when did the tension between them disperse? Wes, Rhett, and I all exchange surprised looks with one another. Clearly, they didn’t know about this either. We all look to Ledger next. He shoots us a smug smile. Well, shit, this is new.
And a relief.
I’m tired of holding a grudge against someone I can’t kill. Maybe now we can actually all move on and focus on this Dixie asshole.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he mutters before pulling off his shirt.
I sink onto the mattress behind Rhett and scoot close so that I can wrap myself around him. Lifting my head, I call out to Ledger, “Flip off the light!”
Ledger grunts before he reaches over and turns off the lamp. Everyone settles in, shifting and pulling covers over them until they’re comfortable. With my face pressed against Rhett’s back, I can feel sleep reaching out to pull me under. I’m more tired than I originally thought.
Just as I’m about to fall asleep, I hear whispering.
“You okay?” I hear Blair ask softly, her voice thick with sleep.
Wes hums. “I am now.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Our conversation earlier stirred up some… old memories,” Wes admits, speaking quietly.
Being nosy, I strain to hear what’s being said.
“About what?”
“You know my daughter drowned,” Wes replies grimly.
“Hearing that Anchor could do that to his own daughter, it shook me. I can’t stop seeing images of my daughter on the autopsy table.
Then, as I tried to sleep, her face was replaced with yours and I just…
” Wes’s voice trails off as his breath hitches.
I freeze, surprised by this. I knew Wes had a family that had passed away, but I never learned how it happened.
“I’m sorry, Wes,” Blair whispers back. “No one should have brought it up. I didn’t even consider the parallels between what happened to me and what happened to your daughter.”
“It shouldn’t have happened to you in the first place,” Wes hisses. “What parent does that to their own child?”
“Not a normal one,” Rhett murmurs, clearly eavesdropping too.
“I think we’ll be better parents!” I blurt out without thinking.
Instantly, I regret it. Everyone falls silent and the darkness grows tense. Someone—I’m pretty sure it’s Ledger—is making a choking sound. When no one agrees after a long and painful stretch of silence, I try to backtrack.
“I mean, not right now! I’m just saying, you know in the future—”
“Santi,” Rhett says, his voice strained. “You’re thinking of a future with kids under this roof?”
“No? Yeah? Maybe?” I hadn’t given it any thought whatsoever.
But… Now that the conversation’s come up, I’m not opposed to it.
Rhett rolls to face me. I can’t see him in the dark but that doesn’t matter when his lips brush against mine. All the tension that’s caused me to go rigid slips away as his tongue slips into my mouth. I groan and press my hips forward into him so he can feel how much I love him as I grow hard.
When he pulls away, it’s only far enough to ask in a soft whisper, “Girl or boy?”
“Hm?”
“Which do you want first? A girl or boy?”
Oh, he’s asking… oh my god he’s asking if I want a daughter or a son?!
My heart slams against my chest with excitement.
I hadn’t scared Rhett!
The excited squeal that slips out of my mouth has Rhett chuckling.
“I don’t care about the gender, but I want three, I think. Can you imagine, mi amado? A woods full of axe-wielding three-year-olds or whatever? We could have an army of kids to help us slaughter the fucking sickos of the world.”
The booming laughter that erupts isn’t from Rhett, who chuckles softly, but from Wes.
“Christ, Santi. Teaching kids to murder at three years old?” he asks.
Ledger sputters before he growls out, “That’s what you’re objecting to? Not the fact that he wants three?”
“Is that too late to start teaching kids how to kill?” I frown. “When do their brains develop? Should we get them an axe-rattle or maybe—”
A loud groan of irritation wells up, interrupting me.
“It’s too late for this conversation,” Blair complains. “Who said anything about children in the first place?”
“Ah, you did,” Rhett says, rolling again in my arms to face her.
Blair scoffs. “Did not!”
Rhett snorts his amusement. “You said that Santi and I should have a kid so I can pass stories down to them about their Aunt Abby.”
I gasp. Blair said that? She’s so smart! The thought of her stomach swelling with our kids immediately gets me hard.
“When can we start?” I demand, sitting up. “Now…?”
“Look at what you started, Blair,” Wes whispers with exaggerated exasperation.
“Let’s pretend to fall asleep so they won’t rope us into any more of this ridiculous conversation,” Blair mutters conspiratory back to Wes.
We all laugh.
If there’s a future with us in it, I don’t care if we have kids.
This is the life I want.