Ember #2
“I’m always nice.” She swats him away.
“Uh-huh. Infamously so.”
“Shut it, you.” Brooklyn trains her gaze on me. “Hey, Ember. Welcome.”
“Hello. Thanks for having us over.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve fed these boys. The more the merrier in this house. Frankly, I’ll take any free babysitting I can get.”
“I’m not a baby!” a young voice loudly protests.
Rolling around in front of the Christmas tree on a dark wool rug, a little boy breaks off chunks of cookie to share with Axel, sitting by his side. As I smile in greeting, I’m struck by the crystal-clear opacity of his aquamarine jewels.
Hudson’s eyes.
The kid rolls up onto his feet then approaches to exchange a fist bump with Warner. He’s slim and lanky, the shock of jet-black hair on his head making his cute face and button nose seem starker.
“This is Logan.” Brooklyn smiles warmly at the boy. “Our firstborn.”
“Hi, Logan. You have chocolate around your mouth. Saving it for later?”
His big pink tongue flops out to swipe over his lips. “Mm, so good!”
“See?” Axel pouts from his spot on the floor. “Logan started it.”
Brooklyn narrows her eyes in a fierce glower. “Careful, Slaughter. This is a no lying household, and I will ban you from turkey and gravy if I have to.”
“Harsh terms, woman!”
“I call it fair,” she snaps back.
Kade sighs in a long-suffering manner. “Make yourselves at home, everyone.”
While the guys pan out to take various seats, I grab Blaine’s sleeve and navigate him towards the sofa near Axel. I’m not sure I’ve seen him so uncomfortable before. The fish-out-of-water look is a far cry from his usual suave, confident demeanour.
“Don’t let Axel steal any more cookies.”
“I’m sure I can handle that,” Blaine grunts.
“Good.”
More footsteps sound before Hudson enters the room, stopping to peck Brooklyn’s head. She twists her neck at the last second to capture his lips, holding the kiss for a moment then releasing him to start his greetings.
“Happy holidays, Ember.” Hudson nods at me.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t get all formal on me now. It doesn’t suit you.”
I crack a smile in his direction. “Nice jumper. Festive.”
Grimacing, he plucks the edge of his sweater, decked out in a gaudy snow scene with dancing elves. “I lost a bet to Phoenix. Don’t ask.”
“You should know by now not to take his wagers,” Kade calls from where he’s adjusting the tree decor.
“Trust me, I know. Thought I could teach the little shit a lesson.”
Brooklyn snorts from her spot in the kitchen. “When has that ever worked for you?”
Hudson audibly sighs. “Rarely.”
Watching them interact with such ease, I can’t hold in a little smile. It’s so comfortable. Practiced. I’ve slipped into the kitchen to offer to help when two more men sidle into the room in close tandem.
“Sorry, we were wrapping last minute gifts.” Phoenix hits me with a wave. “Hello again, Ember.”
“Hey.”
The slimmer man tucked under his arm surveys the room before glancing over me. Incisive emerald eyes seem to catalogue my appearance, though they dart around fleetingly, almost with a touch of shyness.
“This is Eli,” Brooklyn informs me. “I don’t think you’ve met.”
“We haven’t yet,” Eli replies quietly. “Hi.”
I wave back, keeping my expression neutral.
“I thought you were helping Jude with the baby?” Brooklyn asks them.
“Nah, he kicked us out.” Chuckling, Phoenix steers Eli to an empty bar stool. “Apparently, my excellent storytelling wasn’t conducive to nap time.”
“Your stories aren’t conducive,” Eli mutters. “Full stop.”
“Hey! I tell great stories!”
Shaking his head, Eli meets my wide stare. “I caught him reading one of Kade’s old Stephen King books to Logan when he was six months old.”
“Pet Semetery is a classic.” Phoenix’s palm darts to his chest, feigning defensiveness.
“Not for an infant, Nix. It’s definitely not.”
I think my eyebrows hit my hairline when Phoenix stoops in to seize Eli’s lips in a hard kiss. Brooklyn doesn’t even blink. Ensuring my mouth isn’t hanging open, I clap my hands together as a distraction.
“Give me a job. What do you need help with?”
“Wrangling five insane men?” Her request is completely deadpan.
“I haven’t managed it with four yet. Guess I was hoping you’d have some pointers.”
“Ha! Pointers. It’s been thirteen years since this lot waltzed into my life, and I’m no closer to controlling their chaos than I was at twenty-one. Let me know if you manage it, though.”
She pushes a pot of potatoes in my direction then hands over a peeler. I set to work prepping the spuds, content to watch the group’s internal politics play out. My guys all seem familiar with Brooklyn’s family. Even Blaine is relaxing as he silently nurses a whiskey with Hudson.
Working with Brooklyn to prep vegetables is easy enough. I’m not very familiar with cooking, but it doesn’t seem to be her strong suit either. She hands the task of chopping over to Kade when he volunteers to help, leaving Eli to watch us.
“I heard Blaine’s team has confirmed the meet.” Kade drops his voice, shuffling to work next to me.
“New Year’s Eve. Raye called last night.”
“You sure about this plan, Ember?”
“No, but I don’t have a better one. If it doesn’t work out, at least we’ll have saved one more person from Madden.”
“True.” His head dips in agreement. “I don’t like sending you in there with no backup, though.”
“You know why.”
“Yeah, I get it. We need to plug this leak.”
Leaning on the kitchen counter, Brooklyn snags a carrot piece from his chopping board. “We went into plenty of sketchy situations without redundancy before.”
With eternal patience, Kade hands her another piece to munch. “That was different. We didn’t have the same resources available to us as we do now.”
“But we made it out,” she argues. “I’d wager the Anaconda Team is a hell of a lot more capable than a bunch of kids in their twenties, running from paid assassins in the night.”
I offer her a nod of acknowledgement. “We’ve got this.”
She winks back. “See? Ember has it handled. Have faith in your agents, Kade. You’ve trained them well.”
“Damn, Brooke. Can’t you take one day off?”
“Not from being your wife, no. It’s a 24/7 gig, baby.”
He smirks at her. “And we’re all the better for it.”
Everything is deposited in the oven then left to cook, freeing us up to open a bottle of wine at the breakfast bar. I hide behind the rim of my glass while raptly watching Brooklyn snuggle into Eli’s side.
“How’s maternity leave?” I ask her.
“It’s good, but I miss work.” Brooklyn rubs her still-rounded belly. “I know Hudson and Kade are holding down the fort while I’m gone. But truthfully, I’ll be happy to get back to it once my daughter is a little older.”
“Good luck getting that past Hudson,” Eli whispers.
“It isn’t up to him. My work is important to me, and I’m pretty sure he’s still limping from the last time he tried to order me around like an employee.”
Wine gets stuck in my throat, almost expelling all over them. Brooklyn laughs, gently smacking me on the back so I don’t choke.
“Maybe that’s the secret.” Her canine digs into her bottom lip. “You should take note, Ember. Never let a man—or multiple men—dare to have an opinion. You’re running the ship, not them.”
“Hey!” Hudson bellows from the sofa. “Stop corrupting Ember.”
“Please,” Hyland adds darkly.
I flip them both off. “Quit eavesdropping on our conversation. It doesn’t concern you.”
“See?” Brooklyn beams at me, clinking our glasses. “You’re a natural already.”
Kade has refilled us by the time Brooklyn’s fifth and final husband makes a delayed appearance. Brooklyn crosses the room to pull the squealing baby from his arms, softening from ball-buster to devoted mum in the blink of an eye.
“She wanted to say hi.” The tall, muscled man shrugs.
“Come here, baby girl. Mumma missed you so much.”
With the infant handed off, he crosses over to the breakfast bar to give me a handshake. Our fingers grasp—his skin icy, grip professional and firm.
“I’m Jude. Ember, right?”
“That’s me.”
“Thanks for joining us. It’s good to put a face to the name at last.”
“Likewise.”
Golden orbs penetrate my outer layer to assess beneath the surface, leaving me squirming internally. It’s a different level of intensity to Eli’s assessing stares; his seem to be searching for any signs of threat.
By contrast, Jude’s attention is more like a focused laser beam eviscerating layers of skin cells and fat tissue to access a hidden target. I’m not sure what he sees. Nor if I want him to dig that deep into my brain.
“Should you be weight bearing?” His brows pinch, the same rich-brown hue as his neatly combed, shoulder-length hair. “Heard you had a run in with a blade.”
“More like the blade ran into me with some dick’s arm attached. It’s okay, I’m healing up. Takes more than a little stabbing to slow me down.”
Jude snags his wife’s wine glass to sip. “So I hear.”
“You work in the rehab clinic with Phoenix?”
“Yes, for my sins. Weirdly, I actually know your brother. He’s consulted on a couple patient cases to assist with legal issues in the past. Where is he today?”
“With his boyfriend’s family… We saw them both for coffee this morning.”
“That’s good. He works too hard.”
“Ember, can you check the oven?” Brooklyn pauses between blowing raspberries on the baby’s neck.
Eli rises from his stool. “I’ll help.”
Between us, we get the meat covered and laid to rest while the potatoes and veggies finish cooking. Once that’s done, Eli moves to join the others, taking a seat on Phoenix’s lap.
He opens his arms wide for Brooklyn to hand their child over for him to cuddle. The baby seems all too pleased to be placed in his lap. With the other men watching, Eli begins to bounce her in the air, eliciting an excited squeal with each swoop.
It’s hard not to stare. The whole family unit operates so seamlessly. No egos or hurt feelings, no petty jealousies. They act completely in-tune with each other, almost synchronised.