Chapter 19 - Josiah
Last night was incredible in so many different ways.
Not only the intensity of being with her. Our emotions were so raw. My heart was fully open. Our bodies belonged to each other.
It wasn’t only that unforgettable pleasure, though. It was the conversation that followed that truly had my heart welling with hope.
Despite her anger and her fears, she asked me to give her time.
That simple, quiet request is everything I wanted to hear.
It means there is a chance. There is a possible future where she will belong to me. Where she will fall asleep in my arms at night and wake up with her body wrapped around mine as her cheek rests on my chest.
There is a future where we can be together.
We leave the safe house in the early morning hours and drive back home, aiming to get there before the twins wake up. Luckily, they were already asleep when we didn’t come home, and Stella was there to take care of them.
But now both of us are anxious to see them.
It’s crazy how much you can love a child. It’s such a beautiful thing to experience, to love something so deeply.
And I hope, with all my soul, that Kayla will allow me the chance to love her as deeply and freely again as well.
Kayla stays with the twins while I head into the office to meet with Isaak.
I received news that requires my immediate attention, and I want to know who the hell chased after us last night.
I don’t know what the hell is going on, but someone in this city is tempting fate and playing with death by trying to come after me and those I love.
Isaak is already waiting in my office when I arrive. He is sitting in his usual spot with his feet up on my coffee table and a cup of coffee in his hand. He gestures to a to-go cup on the table. “I got you a double espresso,” he says.
“Thanks, man. Did the security team talk to you?” I ask, picking up the coffee and sitting opposite him.
“Yes, they told me about the shit that went down with the operation between you and the West Coast guys,” he says, raising his brows.
“We are fucking lucky it was a failed attempt at taking us down. That extra security I hired came in handy. But I need answers, man. I need to know what the fuck is going on.”
I toy with the coffee cup, turning it in my hands, looking at the textures on the brown disposable cardboard, and letting my thoughts run freely in any direction.
“We are still locked onto the smaller Brava group that we one hundred percent know was involved, right?” I ask.
“Correct. I’m ready to move on them as soon as you give me the go-ahead,” Isaak says, sipping his coffee.
“No. I’m hardly interested in them. They are small fish. I am looking for the shark.”
“What? We're just going to let them off like that?” he blurts out, confused.
I scoff dark laughter. “Not a fucking chance. They came after my family. They will pay. But I don’t want to trigger any cascading events. I want to know everything first. The person behind their attacks is the real target.”
“For sure, that makes sense,” my brother nods, settling down again.
“Okay, so the operation ended up running smoothly, and the West Coast guys are happy. They don’t need to know about the drama as far as I am concerned. But I want a team on that to look into it. Then I also want to check in this morning with the investigators I put on the kidnapping investigation.”
“I was about to call them. Hang on, I’ll put it on speaker,” he says. Pulling his feet off the table, he leans forward and sets his phone between us. He punches his finger against the screen a few times and it starts ringing.
Isaak leans back again.
“Isaak,” a deep voice growls into the speaker.
“It’s Josiah. Isaak is here with me. We wanted to find out what the latest news is,” I say.
“Sir, we have unquestionable proof that the kidnapping attempt and the operation attack are linked.”
My chest tightens. “So, it’s one group?”
“Yes, sir. One group is causing all the shit lately. But like you said before, they are just puppets. There is no fucking way that a group that small could plan something like this—or have the balls, or sheer stupidity, to pull it off.”
“I don’t fucking get it. They are literally begging me to tear them apart. How could someone be so naive to think that they would get away with attacking someone like me in my own city?”
“Someone is testing you, sir,” comes the reply through the phone. Isaak nods in agreement.
“Well, I want to get to the bottom of this and make sure they fail at whatever their ultimate plan is. Keep looking. Find out who is pulling the strings,” I demand.
“Yes, sir.”
Isaak leans forward and hangs up the phone, picking it up again and slipping it into his pocket. “So, what’s next?”
“I think we should take a drive around town and show our faces in some of those darker shitholes that might have forgotten who we are or let their egos get out of hand. I want to talk to the managers and find out why their people aren’t being kept under control and why people are disregarding the law around here,” I mutter.
“Fuck yeah. I’m up for that. Let me grab another gun from my trunk, then meet me out front with your car.”
“Better tuck an extra one at your ankle. It’s going to be one of those days. I’ll meet you downstairs,” I say, standing up.
Isaak hurries out of the office, eager to get going. I sigh, pushing my hand through my hair. The stress of this situation is not exciting or exhilarating in any way. I want my family safe. I don’t want to deal with this kind of shit.
But it’s part of being who I am.
And I am the one who chooses to be so hands-on. I could send a team of thugs out to do this for me, but what respect would I earn then? People would watch me hiding behind my ivory gates, safe and sound, while other men enforced my words. Words are nothing. Only actions speak.
***
It’s late afternoon when I finally get home.
My body and mind are both exhausted, and all I really care about at this point is spending time with my kids and my wife. It’s the thing that’s pushing me forward.
The front door swings open as I walk up the steps towards it.
Kelsey is there, hanging on to the handle, standing on her tiptoes because she can only just reach it. Kira comes bursting through the open space and jumps, without hesitation, fully trusting that I will catch her.
I laugh as I wrap my hands around her tiny body and lift her higher in the air, using her own momentum to spin her around. She squeals in delight.
Kelsey doesn’t run to me in the same way, but I can see she wants to be spun too, so as I walk past her, I scoop her up, enjoying her giggles as I throw her over my shoulder and spin both of them together.
The moment they appear in my day, the rest of the drama and shit just fades.
It disappears. It’s gone. The stress and exhaustion are gone.
My worry is gone. All that matters are their smiling faces as they beam up at me.
“Where is your mother?” I ask, kicking the door closed behind us with the twins still slung over my shoulder. Kira wiggles to point.
I follow her directions. Left, left, down the hall, into the kitchen.
Which is where I find Kayla wearing a cute little pink chef’s apron and a red-hot glow on her cheeks.
She huffs, blowing air upwards to try to move her hair out of her face. I laugh and help her by brushing it away and tucking it behind her ear.
I let my hand linger on her cheek for a moment.
“What's all this?” I ask.
“Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe you picked them up. Your clothes are going to be filthy,” she giggles at me, scooping Kira out of my grip.
“What do you mean?” I ask, looking down at my black suit…
which is now covered in flour and something…
sticky. “Oh,” I chuckle. Kelsey wiggles, so I set her down, and she bolts towards a chair that’s been pushed against the kitchen counter, allowing both twins to stand on it and reach the mixing bowls.
“They have been helping me make you dinner,” Kayla grins at me.
She stands on her tiptoes and kisses me softly on the cheek. My hand rests briefly on the curve of her slender waist.
“It smells incredible. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I walked in here,” I muse.
“You look exhausted.” She narrows her eyes, touching my face again.
Her tenderness has not gone unnoticed. And her effort here, to take care of me in some way, makes my heart swell with warmth.
“No, I had a long day, but coming home to this is very quickly reenergizing me."
She presses her lips together nervously. “Good, that’s good, because your brother and sister are here for dinner, too,” she grins.
“The whole family?” I ask with clear excitement in my voice.
“Everyone. All talking at once while the twins most likely start a third food fight of the day, and things probably get out of hand,” she muses.
“It sounds like the most perfect afternoon,” I chuckle. I can’t resist as I pull her closer and kiss her gently on the lips.
She doesn’t pull away, and I don’t push my luck by asking for more than that.
“You have twenty minutes to freshen up if you want to, before dinner is ready,” she tells me.
“I’m going to jump in the shower quickly. I want to wash the day off and restart it with my family,” I say.
When I come back downstairs fifteen minutes later, my brother greets me with a rowdy hello and a slap on the back. “Josiah, I need to find myself a wife who can cook as well as Kayla!” he declares.
“And me!” Kira demands. “I can marry you.”
“I don’t know. You’re a bit short for me?” Isaak says thoughtfully as he scoops Kira into his arms. “I was hoping for someone taller, you know. How will you even reach the things in the kitchen?”
“I stand on a chair!” she scoffs, as though this is obvious.
I laugh, shaking my head as I go through to the living room to find my sister.
“Hey kiddo, what are you up to?” I ask, pulling her into a one-armed hug.
“I’ve been relaxing. They said I didn’t need to do any work in the kitchen, as it was their turn to wow me for a change,” she smiles, holding up her glass of wine.
“Mm, well, tonight we shall see if they have any chance of cooking as well as you,” I smirk.
Behind me, Isaak coughs loudly.
Alara glares at him. “And you. You don’t need a wife who can cook. I can cook for you any time,” she scolds him.
“Yeah, sure, I know, I know,” he stammers. "I was just saying. You know. Like a wife. I just want to find a nice wife one day,” he trips over his own words, and I laugh harder.
The twins rush in and crash into Alara. Nothing they do is ever in slow motion.
She laughs and pretends to be knocked to the floor, and they leap into her, wrestling her like they're trying to pin her down.
I lean close to Isaak. “You are going to have to tell her the truth about her cooking one day,” I whisper.
“Shut up, bro. There is no fucking chance in hell I am ever doing that. Can you imagine? She will never forgive me!”
“Guys, you can all sit down,” Kayla calls from the direction of the kitchen.
“Let me go see if I can help my wife carry things through. Save our sister from those little monsters and get everyone to the table,” I tell Isaak.
Sitting around the table with Kayla at my side, the twins laughing with my brother, my sister smiling from ear to ear, and my hand, cheekily, resting on my wife’s leg…I can’t help but think that life is absolute perfect in this moment.
I want this.
I want this forever.