Chapter 17
Idaho
The next morning, we showed as a group to the apartment building where the women and children from the cult were living.
One of the women, clearly the designated leader of the group, came up, smiling from ear to ear.
"Oh Sloane! It's wonderful, thank you so much.
" She looked over at Lockout. "We can't thank you enough for the playground. "
Lockout exchanged glances with Riptide. Together they said, "Playground?"
I stepped forward, folding my arms over my chest, grinning as I watched my brother try to figure out what was going on as the woman pointed off to the side, where all the new playground equipment was sitting. Children were swinging and climbing on monkey bars, and doing exactly what kids should do.
"I can't tell you how excited the kids are. And the Santas! Oh how they loved that, all the delivery men and workers putting it together, each dressed like Santa. The kids will remember this forever."
They looked from her to each other, then back "Santas?"
The hair on the back of my neck lifted, and I turned my head to find my brother staring at me. "Did you do this?"
I shrugged. "Remember those investors who like to donate? They had extra money burning holes in their pockets."
The woman, Angie was her name, clasped her hands together and smiled at me. "They love it so much. It was hard for them to wait for the men to finish installing, and then they wanted to be out there all night long."
"Good. I'm glad they're having fun," I told her.
There was no way to make my voice soft, but I gentled it as much as I could.
Thanks to my PI, I knew exactly what these women had been put through during their time at the cult.
The last thing they needed was any of us being too harsh with them. They were skittish enough as it was.
They were such a timid lot that the day I met with the installation crew, not one of them came out to speak to us.
That was fine by me, I was just glad they hadn't mentioned anything to Rip or Sloane.
Because the surprised look on my brother's face was worth almost as much as the joy on the women and children's faces.
"Santas, really? Does everything have to be over the top with you?" Lockout muttered.
"It's the only way I know how."
"Come on inside," Angie said, waving everyone toward the door.
I hung back, letting everyone go in before me.
My eyes scanned the area, looking for any threats.
It was a habit I couldn't break myself out of, so I didn't bother trying.
Everyone made their way inside as I held the door open.
There was a small room on the bottom floor of the apartments where we would set up hot plates and other equipment to make an easy breakfast for everyone.
"That was really nice of you. It reminds me of my father, in a good way. Every Christmas he does something like this at the orphanages. Sometimes he even dresses as Santa."
I looked down and found Eva standing next to me. Hush gave me a taunting grin as he walked into the apartment building. He was the last one in, besides Eva and myself. His eyes flicked from her to me as his smirk grew. "Just go inside," I muttered to him. His chuckle followed him down the hall.
"I can be nice," I said, answering her. "Though I won't be putting on a red suit."
"I've seen your way of being nice," she replied.
Images of her kissing me flashed into my mind. And now my cock is hard. Great. "You liked it," I told her with a wink.
Her cheeks flushed, making her even more beautiful than she already was.
She was wearing a red sweater that made her dark hair stand out against it.
Her green eyes were bright with excitement and happiness.
This place wasn't exactly home for any of us, but I could see how happy she was to be here, and it made me want to give her everything she wanted in life.
I blew out a breath wondering where that damn feeling had come from.
It was one thing to fuck a woman. And a whole different thing to want to bring her home and make sure she never wanted to leave.
Especially after only two days of knowing her.
It wasn't like me at all. No wonder everyone was watching us like hawks right now.
Even though they didn't know me very well yet, except Static and Lock, they were already picking up on the fact that I was into this woman.
"Come on," she told me, "I'm starving." She walked away, leaving me standing there with my dick hard and my heart pounding.
I followed her inside and found everyone setting up.
My little duchess didn't hesitate. She just rolled up her sleeves and started pitching in wherever she could.
The woman had a heart of gold. It matched the hearts of the rest of the women my brothers had found.
They were all priceless in their own ways.
"You willing to make the pancakes?"
Looking over, I nodded at my brother. "Definitely. Yours always end up disgusting."
"Not all of them," he muttered.
"For most people the first one turns out shitty," Static said, from where he was beginning to fry bacon. "It takes you about ten before you get in the groove."
"Fuck off," Lock said, but he said it with a grin.
He started cracking eggs into a mixing bowl. Hush was making sausage, while Ricochet and Smokehouse were making toast.
"Hey, Lock," Hell called out
"Yeah?"
"How many assholes does it take to make toast?"
Smoke and Ricochet's heads snapped up at the same time. "Shut the fuck up, Hell," Smoke shot back.
"Guys," Gwen told them, glaring at them. "Little ears."
We all looked over to the corner where all the kids were either coloring, or sleeping in a car seat in Sawyer's case, and shot her guilty smiles. "Sorry, Gwenny," Ricochet said.
Hellfire grinned at Smokehouse and continued his joke. "Two." He held up two fingers. "One to hold the bread down and one to hold his buddy's dic...," he hesitated when Gwen glared at him. "To hold the first guy's hand," he amended.
Ricochet laughed so hard he nearly dropped the slice of bread he was putting into the toaster. The women shook their heads, smiles on their faces, and went back to setting out condiments and paper plates.
Unable to resist, my eyes strayed to where Eva was working.
She was reaching up and pouring containers of juice into a drink dispenser.
Her sweater rose up, baring a sliver of skin to my view.
My hand tightened on the spatula I was holding.
I wanted to strip her bare and run my tongue over every single inch of her.
"You're going to burn those pancakes."
I jerked at the sound of Lock's voice next to me.
Looking down, I studied the bubbles in the batter before I shook my head.
"Naw. They need a few more minutes." I looked back up and found Eva watching me.
Her cheeks flushed again and she turned away quickly.
I chuckled as I poured some batter onto the hot griddle in front of me.
"She's not your usual type," Lock commented, scrambling the eggs he dumped in a pan.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, keeping my eyes on what I was doing.
Lock shrugged. "She just seems...innocent."
"We haven't been close in years, Lock. You don't know what my type is anymore." There was no heat, or accusation, in my tone. It was just the truth.
"No, he's right," Static said, from the other side of where Lock was standing. "She's too good for you." He shot me a shit-eating grin.
"Probably true," I admitted. "But I'm not planning on keeping her." Twin snorts of disbelief had me looking over at them with narrowed eyes.
"Sure, you're not," my twin said as he flipped the eggs. "You're only helping out a woman you just met out of the goodness of your heart."
"Pretty sure that thing is as small and black as the coal Santa supposedly gives to bad kids," Static joked.
I rolled my eyes at their taunting. They didn't know me very well if they thought I'd be interested in anything more than a quick fuck with a woman like Eva.
She deserved a man who would treat her well and love her for the rest of her life.
A man like me would ruin everything she had.
I wasn't willing to take any kind of chances with her.
So even the fucking was out of the equation, as difficult as it was to remember sometimes.
"I'm not going to touch her."
Lock snorted again, but didn't comment further.
Static just shook his head and went back to work cooking.
The three of us worked side by side for a while, making breakfast for everyone.
The women and children began shuffling, grabbing paper plates, plastic utensils, and drinks as they waited patiently for the food to be ready.
They formed an orderly line, and I took the opportunity to study their faces.
They looked happy. It was easy enough to see the shadows lurking in some of their eyes, but I was willing to bet those had faded quite a bit since they'd been here.
My brothers were good men, and they were doing right by these people.
"You're staring," Eva whispered from behind me.
I turned around and found her standing close to me. "What are you doing?" I asked, ignoring her comment.
She shrugged and held up a stack of napkins. "Helping out." The box holding the supplies was sitting right behind me.
"Go eat," I told her.
Her eyes widened slightly, then she narrowed them at me. "I'm waiting for the others to be served."
Glancing up, I watched Hush point to Seek, then to the end of the line, which was right outside the door. Seek gave her husband a patient smile and went to stand where he directed. The other women followed her. "The others are getting in line. Go."
She huffed out a little sigh. "Are you ever going to stop ordering me around?"
"No. I like it. Go get in line, Duchess."