Chapter 16 #2
She looked at Felix like he was an idiot. It didn’t bode well for her teen years. “I think a lot, Uncle Felix.”
“Oh really? What about?”
Sway shrugged. “Cats, mostly, but nice ones, not like yours.”
“That’s fair.” It also reminded him that he needed to feed Myx.
He should probably do that sooner than not.
His majesty wasn’t going to be pleased his victuals were late.
Neither was Chambers, but there were bars between them, and the weasel could deal with it.
“And what do you think about when you’re not thinking about cats? ”
“How much I hate Kitty Weaton,” she said deadpan.
Well, okay then. His brow quirked. “Isn’t she the one who told you gingerbread had mole asses in them?”
Sway nodded. “She also said that you can’t be my pretend daddy when we’re playing house at recess because you don’t like girls, and I told her that you said you just don’t like kissing them, and she called me a liar, but if you like kissing Liam, then she was right, and you can’t be my pretend daddy even if I want you to be,” she said without taking a breath, then teared up.
Felix abruptly didn’t like Kitty Weaton either.
He sat on the couch next to Sway, and she threw herself around his neck.
He grunted, shifting her knee away from his crotch and sighed, rubbing her back.
“Hey, shh. It’s okay. Kitty sounds like an opinionated little hag.
I don’t know what her deal is, but forget her. You can pretend whatever you want.”
She sniffled. “But what if I want it to be real?”
A fist clenched around Felix’s heart as his thoughts raced. The look on Liam’s face when Felix had jokingly called the urchins “our kids.” The oppressive silence of his apartment when he’d gone back to pack the other night. The meltdowns he’d just witnessed in the kitchen.
Had he thought about taking them? Yes. Had he discussed it with Liam? Yes.
But.
“We have a lot to talk about when Gran and Gramps get back, okay?” he finally choked out, smoothing her frizzy curls. Girl needed a serious moisture treatment.
Sway pulled back to look at him, her hazel eyes narrowing. “You promised.”
His brow furrowed. “I—”
“You promised that if the answer was no, you’d say so,” she said, planting her hands on her hips and glowering at him.
He had. Felix sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. How the hell did he explain this to a six-year-old? “You’re right, and I did. It’s just—it’s more complicated than yes or no. Even if I wanted to—”
“Do you?”
“I don’t know,” he said truthfully.
Sway searched his face. “Okay.” She shrugged, climbing off his lap. “Can I go finish my cereal?”
“Y-yes?” Felix blew out his cheeks and just sat there as she scamped into the kitchen. Hurricane Sway indeed. “Brush your teeth when you finish and get changed. We’re going out,” he called after her, his gaze rising to the top of the stairs.
He really didn’t want to go up there.
Goddamn it. Felix pushed off the couch and clomped to the second floor with leaden steps, the hallway leading to Cruze’s door elongating like something out of a horror movie. Ugh. Stop being dramatic.
Right. Big boy pants. He pinched the bridge of his nose and knocked. “Cruze?”
Nothing. Then— “What?”
Felix cracked the door. She stood at the window with her back to him. “So, I forgot Jena had something to do today and accidentally booked an extra mani-pedi appointment. I thought we could do some shopping after. Do you think Sarah would like to go with us?”
Cruze shrugged.
“Do you want to use my phone to text her and ask?”
She spun and Felix instinctively ducked. “You know she’s like my only friend, right?” Cruze spat. “Gran and Gramps, you. Nobody understands what it’s like to be abandoned and stuck in house you hate.”
Felix sucked in a breath. “You hate it here?”
She raised her arms and slapped them down, at a loss.
“No, that’s not—I hate knowing that I’m a burden, always waiting to get passed on to the next person.
You said it yourself downstairs, Gran and Gramps are old and money’s tight.
I don’t have to wait until your stupid ‘family meeting’ to figure out what that means,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“Cruze,” Felix sighed. “Look, whatever you’re thinking…
” he pressed his fingers to his temples.
“We’re going to figure this out, together, and I swear to God, you guys aren’t going anywhere.
Can we just put all of this on hold and go out for mani-pedis and some thrifting?
I’ve got fifty bucks with your name on it to spend however you want. ”
Her brow cocked. “Fifty bucks?”
Felix’s breath went out in a whoosh, and he pulled out his phone. “Yeah. Fifty bucks. So, you want to text Sarah or not?”
“Can I get black polish?”
“You can get whatever color you want.”
She chewed her lip, hesitating. “Is it okay if it’s just us?”
“As long as Sway’s included in that, but I’ll let you pick where we have lunch.”
“Fine.” Cruze rolled her eyes. “And I want to go to the noodle house.”
“Fabulous. I’ll meet you downstairs in ten.” He closed the door behind him as he left and leaned against it for a breath. God, he was so not cut out for this.
But he really wanted to try.
Liam grinned and put an arm over Axle’s shoulders, looking at the progress they’d made throughout the morning.
The kid was a hard worker. There was no way Liam would’ve gotten this far by himself.
Pegboard lined the walls with a bunch of his tools hanging from hooks and more had been stored below the L-shaped workbench.
The little stove was crackling, and the wood box full beside it.
And, after last night and this morning, so was Liam’s heart.
He hugged Axle to his side. “Looks good, think we’ve earned some lunch?” The boy nodded, his grin as wide as Liam’s. “What do you say we go up to the house and see what my mom’s got to eat?”
Axle nodded again, and they piled into the Jeep.
“Are we going back to the junkyard after this?” he asked as they bumped along the forest track. “You said we were, right?”
“Yeah. Jerry’s got a car for me to work on, and I need to help him load it up to tow over here.
You still okay with that?” Axle looked at him like he’d lost his mind, and Liam laughed, pulling out his phone as it buzzed.
He glanced at the screen and smiled, showing Axle.
Looked like Felix and the girls were having fun at the nail salon.
“Why is it such a big deal you and Uncle Felix are dating?”
“Ah…” he glanced at the kid. “Well, because it’s more serious than that. Were culture isn’t like witches, it’s more—”
“Like animals,” Axle supplied.
“Yeah, I guess, though some people would be offended by that.”
“I don’t understand why,” Axle said, rolling his eyes. “Animals are better than most people I know.”
He had a point, though God help the kid if Liam’s Aunt Selma heard him say that. “You’re not wrong, there’s less thinking with some stuff, more relying on instinct. Last night, your Uncle Felix and I worked out a lot of things between us, and one of those things was that we’re mates.”
Axle’s eyes went wide. “You bit him?”
“Um…yes?” Exactly how much did this kid know about the way things worked?
He chewed his lip. “Then that makes you my stepuncle.”
“Ah, yeah. It does,” Liam glanced over at him, not sure how that was gonna fly.
“That’s awesome,” Axle grinned after a long moment. “If you claimed Uncle Felix, you’ll be with him forever and can’t leave. I wish I could do that.”
Okay, so he had a solid grasp on that part. Liam pulled up to the front of his parents’ house and idled the engine. “Your uncle’s not leaving you, and how do you know about claiming a mate?” he asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.
Axle shrugged. “My dad did it to some girl, and my mom yelled at him on the phone about it a lot, then we moved.”
Ouch. “You ever meet him?” Axle shook his head again, and Liam killed the ignition.
“No, she made sure none of our dads came around.”
Wait—what? Liam went to ask him why, but the kid was already out of the Jeep and running up the front steps.
Liam sat there a moment longer. What the hell was that about?
Between what Sway was telling him about not being allowed to swim and this, Felicia was turning into even more of a headcase.
Whatever. He got out of the Jeep. Not his circus, and he had three rings of his own to handle.
Liam’s mom opened the front door before Axle could knock and wrapped him up in a big hug, then shooed him to the kitchen. She turned to beam at Liam. “You hear back from your friends?”
“No, not yet, but they had something to do this morning.” And Liam sure as hell didn’t envy them tromping through a swamp right about now, it was frigid.
“Well, just let me know. Kelsey’s supposed to be bringing that young man of hers for us to finally meet. We’re all so happy for you, Liam. I just knew everything was going to work out.”
He snorted, stepping into the house with her. “It’s hardly everything, I still have to get through the divorce and all the crap that comes with that.”
She shut the door behind him with a harrumph and rubbed her arms. “True, but having the right someone by your side can make all the difference. Now hurry on and wash up. I made you two some sandwiches. Go eat something before I have you both peeling vegetables for me; I’m making a roast tonight.”
Liam’s mouth watered. His mom’s roast was hands down his favorite meal. He joined Axle washing up at the sink.
“Axle, honey, you want juice or milk?”
“Milk, please, Meme.”
Liam’s brow rose as he dried off and the kid went to the table. “Meme?”
His mother huffed. “Well, I can’t have him Mrs. Montgomery-ing me. Besides, he’s family now,” she said with a wide smile, ruffling the boy’s unruly dark locks.
Axle grinned around a mouthful, his sandwich already half gone.
Well, shit. Liam scratched his jaw and claimed his lunch before the kid snagged it.
They finished up and headed back out the Jeep.
Liam drove away from the compound in a daze.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined last night happening with Felix or how thrilled his parents would be to hear they were together.
His dad had actually shaken his hand with tears in his eyes.
And the kids were just the cherry on top.
Yes, Felix was terrified by the idea, but damn, if there was some way they could figure out how to make it work…
Liam ran a hand over his jaw, frowning. Getting back even a fraction of what Jenny and Pete had stolen from him would go a long way towards a downpayment on a house, and if he could get his license reinstated?
Lunch churned in Liam’s stomach, but he’d actually enjoyed working as a law clerk. Not as much as working on cars, but if he could find something he could do remotely and tinker with things on the side—
“Are you okay?”
Liam glanced over at Axle. “Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I just…get lost in my head sometimes. Thinking big thoughts, you know?”
“You’re not mad I called your mom Meme, are you?”
“What? No. I’m glad. She really misses her other grandkids. Their mom won’t let them see her anymore, and she was pretty devastated about it. I’m glad hanging out with you guys makes her so happy.”
“I’d be mad if someone did that to me,” Axle growled, his little hands fisting. “And I’d be even more mad if someone I knew hurt Meme’s feelings like that. Really, really mad, and I’d make them sorry for it.”
Liam glanced over at the menace in the kid’s voice, and almost swerved off the road at the pricks of red light flaring around Axle’s irises.
He steadied the wheel and blew out a shaky breath.
Holy shit. Felix hadn’t been being dramatic, and the kid’s first shift was gonna happen any day now.
Liam was also abruptly positive he knew exactly what kind of were Axle was.
There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the kid’s father was a hellhound.