Page 14

Giggles tickle my sleep-addled brain as I sluggishly blink my eyes open. It takes a few seconds to comprehend that I am, indeed, seeing two similar sets of eyes staring at me from their perch on the coffee table.

It’s not creepy to know someone—or two someones—was watching me sleep.

Nope. Not at all.

Okay, yeah, it’s creepy as fuck.

Waking up to kids not even a fucking foot from your face is terrifying, and anyone who says differently is a damn liar.

Straight up. Right out of their ass.

“You snore,” Legend states.

I scrub a hand over my face as I sit up. “No, I don’t.”

Legend tilts his head as he regards me. “How would you know if you were sleeping?”

My mouth opens with a retort, but I snap it back shut and chuckle. “You know what? You make a good point.”

“Well, yeah, because I obviously didn’t get my smarts from you.”

Lovelyn jumps when laughter bursts from my chest.

“You know what, son? We’re gonna get along just fine. You may have gotten your brain from your mama, but that smart ass mouth came straight from me.”

“What about me? What did I get from you?” Lovelyn asks quietly, her eyes shining with eagerness.

“To be honest, little Love, I can’t say for sure. This nose sure looks familiar,” I reply, tapping a finger against it.

“Because you weren’t around,” Legend adds.

Anger at the situation comes quickly but disappears just as fast when I catch the vulnerable expressions on their faces. “Look, guys, I’m gonna be real honest with you here, okay?”

They watch me earnestly, waiting to hear what I have to say.

“Somewhere along the way, there was some miscommunication between me and your mama about you. Me and her will work on getting it figured out, but I promise you this. There’s never been a moment that I didn’t want either of you.”

Legend drops his chin to his chest and picks at the frayed hole in his faded jeans.

Lovelyn is more open to me than Legend, so right now, I need to focus on getting through to him. Reaching out, I tuck a finger under his chin and lift his face so I can see his eyes. They’re glassy and full of sadness.

“Talk to me, little warrior.”

“Do we have to go back to him?”

“Fuck no.”

Lovelyn giggles, and the sadness leaves Legend’s eyes at my reassurance. Anger replaces it too quickly for my liking, but I can tell it’s not aimed at me. His little hands form fists that he digs into his thighs, unable to express his anger any other way.

“I hate him.” Crimson fills Legend’s face as rage surges through his little body. “He’s an asshole, and he hurts her.”

Something tells me it’s not often, if ever, he gets to let this out. Instead of reprimanding him like I should for cussing, I let him be while hoping Birdie stays where she’s at. The moment he sees her, there’s no doubt he’ll bottle it all up again to protect her.

Legend jumps up, startling Lovelyn so much that she climbs into my lap. I wrap my arm around her and pull her closer while we keep an eye on her brother.

“He likes to hurt her. All the time. She does so good at hiding it, but we’re smart and we see the spots on her. Mama’s strong. She always protects us. But Dad . . .”

I grunt as the name shoves into my chest, burrowing deep. Legend doesn’t even realize he’s said it, but I do.

Holy fuck, I do.

This time, when Legend turns to me, tears fall from his eyes and his lip trembles. “Who protects her?”

I open my other arm and indicate the empty space with a nod. “Come here, little warrior.”

He just stares at the spot as his eyes scream out his anger and sadness. Finally, he makes a decision. The sob that tears from his chest as he rushes over fucking breaks something pivotal inside me.

My arm tightens around Legend as his body shakes against mine. “I got you, son. I got all of you.”

“Pro-promise?” he asks through a broken hiccup.

“I promise, Legend. You, your sister, and your mama are mine. I protect what’s mine. She won’t be hurt anymore. Not if I can help it.”

“He wasn’t always a scary man, Daddy,” Lovelyn whispers.

I brush a kiss on the top of her head and hug her closer. “I know, little Love. I’m so damn sorry you all ever had to experience something like that. My lifestyle is hard as fuck, and sometimes it’s pretty scary, but I’ll do my best to never let that darkness touch you all.”

“Do you think Mama will be okay? I mean, all the way okay, like before, when he didn’t hurt her?” Legend asks.

Goddammit.

Pain shoots through my jaw as I grind my teeth together in order to hold off the anger that surges under my skin once again.

Hell, I don’t think it’s gone away since the moment they dropped at the clubhouse gate yesterday.

“Damn skippy, she will. No way she can resist the three of us. We’re too cute.”

My kids giggle, and the sound lightens another sliver of my dark soul.

They’re so damn innocent. Even with the darkness they’ve already had to experience because of Birdie’s husband, it never touched their pureness.

It never got the opportunity to taint their souls.

Birdie got them out in time, and I’m forever going to be grateful to her for that.

“What do you all think about us making some breakfast together? Your mom is sleeping, but she might like something to eat when she wakes up.” I squeeze them to me, savoring this moment with these tiny humans I had a part in creating, before setting them on their feet.

“Just so you know, I’m a terrible cook, but pancakes shouldn’t be too hard. Surely, I can’t burn those, right?”

Okay, so, I definitely can burn fucking pancakes.

The flat, blackened discs mock me from their place on the counter, along with uncontrollable laughter from the twins.

I tilt my head as I study the stack. Maybe I should stash them in a baggie, anyway.

They’d probably make an excellent weapon to torture someone with.

Break a couple teeth, choke them out when I force them down their throat, maybe even cut their throats.

Granted, that’d be a lot of fucking work.

And okay, so they’d more than likely crumble apart before I made it through the first layer of tissue. It’d be fun trying, though.

Legend pokes at one repeatedly before patting me on the back. “Don’t worry, Dad. There’s always cereal.”

“Sure, I’ll just feed you all the sugary shit and let your mama kick my ass when she finds out,” I mumble, holding my hair back while I search for a hair tie in the junk drawer.

There’s a tap to my side, and when I glance down, Lovelyn holds up a ponytail holder. “Mama said it’s good to always have one handy because you never know when someone might need it.”

“She did, huh?” I murmur, taking the black band and spinning it around my finger.

Even when we weren’t together, Birdie still thought about me enough to make sure our girl always wears one on her wrist, just like her mama used to.

I noticed it before, but it didn’t register with me what it actually was.

I just assumed it was for herself, but she hasn’t put her hair up once since they’ve been here.

It’s only been a day, so maybe I’m getting ahead of my fucking self, but dammit, something weird happens to me believing my woman taught something significant to Lovelyn.

“Your mama is pretty smart, huh?” I clear away the clog in my throat as I twist my hair up on my head. “We’ve determined I can’t cook for shit, so how about we pour your mama a bowl too and go eat with her?”

“Like in the bedroom? We don’t have to eat at a table?” Lovelyn asks in awe.

Her copper-colored hair clings to my fingers when I scrub my hand over the top of her head. “It’s just stuff, kiddo. If it gets dirty, so what?”

Fuck. There’s so much shit that needs repaired with the three of them. Frankie fucked all their thinking up, and it’s going to be work to get them past that.

“So,” I start as I grab some bowls from the cabinet, “tell me about school.”

“Mr. Frankie didn’t want us going to the building school for some reason. Said it would only make people poison our minds,” Lovelyn says.

“What did you all do then?”

“Mama had us doing it at home on the computer.”

I glance at Legend. “You talking about virtual schooling?”

“Yeah. And Mama helped some, too.”

There’re a few different boxes of cereal in the pantry, so I pull them out and set them on the counter to give the kids the opportunity to choose which they’d prefer. Once they make their picks, Legend and I pour them into the bowls while Lovelyn grabs the milk from the fridge.

“Right. I’ll see what needs to be done to get you enrolled in the virtual school here. Once I’m sure it’s safe, we’ll see about getting you into the actual school building. That sound good to you all?” They nod, and I give them a smile. “Do you think you can carry your bowls up the stairs?”

“We got it,” Legend states.

“Yeah,” I sigh, “I know you do, little warrior.”

I grab mine and Birdie’s bowls and follow behind them as they head toward their mama.

When we walk into the room, Birdie is sitting up in bed, staring blankly out the window.

She must be lost in her head again because she doesn’t acknowledge us until after I set the bowls on the nightstand and stand in her line of sight.

Birdie blinks a couple times before she finally realizes where she is.

Her eyes turn frantic as they flit around the room.

When they land on the twins, love bursts through them.

“My loves,” she croaks.

“Mama! We brought you some food,” Lovelyn says excitedly, bouncing in place.

The cereal and milk slosh against the side enough to knock some out and onto the floor. A sharp inhale comes from Birdie, and before I can even understand what’s happening, she’s out of bed and standing in front of Lovelyn, facing off with me.

“It was only an accident. I’ll get it cleaned up straight away,” she rushes out.

Motherfucker.

I’m going to take so much fucking delight in pulling Frankie’s guts out and playing in them.

“Birdie,” I call softly as I carefully move to where they are standing, ensuring she’s able to see every move I make. “It’s okay, little mama. Just a simple accident. Nothing to fuss over.”

Her body shakes as she keeps her eyes on me.

“I’m not him, Birdie. You’re all safe here. Come on, little mama. Rest easy,” I croon.

“You’re not him,” she whispers.

“No, baby, I’m not.”

I’m close enough to her now to reach out and grasp her hand in mine. “You feel that?” I ask, kissing her wrist before placing her palm flat against the middle of my chest, where my heart races. “Didn’t start beating ‘til you came home, little mama.”

“You’re not him,” Birdie whispers again.

Legend steps up beside us. “He’s not him.”

“Come here, little Love. Show your mom that you’re okay.”

Lovelyn scoots out from behind Birdie and comes to stand next to me so she can see her. “I’m okay, Mommy.”

“You’re okay. He’s not him,” she whispers as her eyes bounce between us.

When the realization hits that she just had an episode in front of the twins, sorrow bleeds into her eyes as they fill with tears. They slide down her cheeks in one of the most devastating displays I’ve ever seen from my woman.

Birdie turns her shattered eyes to me. “I’m so broken, Apollonos.”

I was wrong. That is the most devastating display.

My forehead drops to hers as I close my eyes. “That’s okay, baby. We’re all a bit broken in one way or the other. I’ll put you back together again.”

Bowls clatter against wood, and then the twins wrap their arms around us. “We’ll all put you back together again, Mama,” Legend says fiercely.

There’s a whole lot of shit that lies between Birdie and me. Things we got to work through. Things I need to make right, to make up for.

The way I see it, we got all the time in the world because this . . .

I’ll never give this up again.

Hell no. My family will have to be pried from my cold, dead hands. And even then, I’m not letting them go.