Page 39

Ty

I n my experience, happy ever afters don’t exist, or at least not outside of movies, but I can’t help feeling like the future with Emma will be just that. I’ll never stop missing my little girl but with Emma and Max in my life and my two best friends all forming our unique family, the future finally seems bright.

“How did it go? You were in there so long,” Emma asks, jumping up from her seat as I enter the waiting room at the police station.

We’ve come to give our statements and I’m the last one to finish, the others are all waiting for me. Jax is busy entertaining Max over in the depressingly cheery corner where there are a few old toys, some crayons, and used coloring books. None of us wanted to bring Max here, but neither were we about to let him out of our sight. Fortunately, the kid is tough, he’ll need some therapy and lots of love, but already he’s bouncing back the way only a child can.

Unsurprisingly, the police took the longest interviewing me. Though Bess and Mason incapacitated their attackers, both survived. I’m the only person who killed someone. I don’t like that I’m a killer, not one bit, but pulling the trigger and killing Adam was easy. I’d do it again in a heartbeat to save the people I love. Even if it means serving time in jail.

“It went how I expected. I was the one who fired the gun, so it’s not surprising they’d push me and test my story for inconsistencies,” I say, kissing Emma on the head and pulling her close.

“Are they going to press charges against you?” Mason asks.

I contemplate telling them no, knowing that Emma will be heartbroken to hear it, but I won’t lie to her. Not now, not ever.

“Unfortunately.”

“What?” Emma asks startled, pulling back so she can look up at me in horror. “But it was self-defense! You didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Emma, I killed a man, they can’t just let that go, they need to at least investigate thoroughly. Don’t worry, my lawyer is confident that the charges will be dropped. They’re letting me out on bail.”

Emma starts to silently cry, hugging in close to my chest and shaking her head.

“Emma, look at me, it will be okay,” I say cupping her chin in my hands. “Worst case scenario my lawyer says I can get a plea bargain, one that likely won’t even end up with me in jail. I’m not going anywhere.”

She nods, wiping her tears, and kisses me, “You’d better not.”

“I promise,” I reply, kissing her back. “How did it go for all of you?” I ask, looking at the others.

Mason shrugs, “Surprisingly not too badly, all things considered. They pressed me, but we expected that.”

He claps me on the shoulder, his silent way of telling me he’s here for me and that he sympathizes with my situation.

“I’ll speak to some people, see if we can get these bullshit charges dropped, you’re helping the feds as a key witness in a major trial, there’s no way that we want to fuck that up and see Kane back on the streets because they alienated their key witnesses,” Bess says angrily.

“I’ll still testify, no matter what. We need Kane behind bars to keep Emma and Max safe,” I insist.

“I know that, but they don’t, do they?” Bess asks with a wink, heading off to work her magic.

When we arrive at the hospital to visit Jacob a short while later, my phone rings just as we’re going inside.

“It’s my lawyer, I’ll catch you guys up,” I say as I answer.

Emma looks conflicted but allows herself to be dragged away by an excited Max, eager to visit his uncle to ‘wake him up’. The kid’s so confident I almost believe he might be able to do it by sheer force of will.

“Ty speaking.”

“Good news! They’re dropping the charges! You must have friends in high places,” he says with a chuckle.

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Something like that.”

“They need to speak to you again of course, and you may be called as a witness to the trials of the two accomplices, but you’re a free man. Enjoy it. I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks, Bob,” I say, hanging up the phone and heading inside with a spring in my step.

When I reach Jacob’s room, I’m amazed to find my old friend awake and propped up in bed.

“Ty, look, I did it! I woke Uncle Jacob up!” Max declares excitedly dancing around the room.

“I can see that,” I reply with a smile. “Good to see you awake J-Bird, you had us worried there for a moment.”

“Nah, I’m indestructible,” he says with a smile, chuckling at his own joke and making himself wince in pain.

While Max is busy chatting away with his uncle and the others Emma comes to stand by me.

“We should probably keep Max’s magical healing powers a secret, the world will all want a piece of him if not,” I quip with a grin, making Emma laugh.

“Jacob woke up in the early hours of the morning, there was an administrative error, and they failed to notify us. No magical powers, just modern medicine,” she whispers back.

“I don’t know, I’d say Max is pretty special,” I reply, looking over at the boy.

“He is, isn’t he,” she replies proudly. “So, what did your lawyer say?”

“They dropped the charges, I’m officially a free man,” I reply enjoying the look of joy the news brings to her beautiful face.

“Ty, that’s wonderful news!” she replies with a smile, hugging me tightly.

“And this picture is of me, Mommy, and all my daddies!” Max declares proudly thrusting one of the drawings he did earlier in front of J-Bird.

J-Bird looks at it with a small frown on his face, the cogs turning. The drawing itself is innocent, but there’s no denying that Max sees us as a family. J-Bird’s eyes go from me, to Jax, and then to Mason.

“It’s just us in the house, isn’t it buddy?” Jax says hurriedly, as he tries to diffuse the situation.

J-Bird turns to look at us with a face like thunder. Sensing the inevitable blow-up, Bess tactfully says, “Hey Max, shall we go get some candy from the vending machine? Or maybe we can see if there’s ice cream in the cafeteria?”

“Good idea. Max, you go with Auntie Bess, bring back something nice for Uncle Jacob as a treat,” Emma quickly adds.

The second they’re gone, J-Bird looks at each of us, the fury emanating from him as he spits out his question. “Are all three of you are fucking my sister? What the fuck is wrong with you!”

“J-Bird—” Mason starts but J-Bird cuts him off.

“Don’t even try to fucking deny it, I’m not an idiot!”

“Jacob, it’s not what you think,” Emma says.

“Oh good, because what I think is that my three best friends fucked my sister, and my sister is fucking three dudes at the same time and exposing my nephew to it! Fuck me, I’m all for having fun and fooling around. But not with MY SISTER!” he yells before descending into a coughing fit that takes some of the wind from his sails.

“J-Bird, please, you’ve just woken up from a coma, you have to calm down,” Emma pleads handing him some water.

Begrudgingly he drinks some. “Lucky for these three, or else I’d be beating the living shit out of them right about now,” he growls.

“Would you stop being such an ass and just listen for once!” Emma snaps exasperatedly.

“Please, hear us out. It really isn’t what you think,” Jax adds.

“Oh really, well then please, enlighten me,” J-Bird replies sarcastically.

“I love them,” Emma says simply.

“Then you’re stupider than I thought,” he snaps. “These three will use you up and toss you away for the next piece of ass.”

“Don’t speak to her like that,” I growl, stepping between Emma and her brother.

“You have no fucking idea how we feel about her,” Mason barks, throwing his arms up in frustration.

He seems a little taken aback by my aggression but not convinced either. “So you’re telling me that you won’t toss her aside for the next hot chick that throws herself at you? Be real.”

“We are being real J-Bird. There’s no way we would have betrayed you like that and hurt Emma if we didn’t genuinely care for her,” Mason replies.

“We love her,” Jax adds, Mason and I nod in agreement.

J-Bird shakes his head in disbelief. “This is fucking insane. Emma, you can’t seriously have fallen for this bullshit? They’re obviously just telling you whatever you want to hear to get into your pants.”

“How the fuck would you know how we feel?” Mason barks frustratedly.

“Because I know you,” J-Bird retorts stubbornly.

“Not as well as you thought then,” Mason snaps.

“We wouldn’t lie about this. We’re in love with her,” Jax insists.

“We know it’s unconventional and difficult to understand…” Emma pleads before being cut off again.

“Damn right, it’s hard to understand. What about Max? What the hell are you gonna tell him?”

“Eventually, when he starts asking questions we’ll tell him the truth. That we love each other. But as long as Max is safe and loved, nothing else matters surely,” she finishes looking at her brother with wide hopeful eyes. “Jacob, I really need you to be alright with this.”

“How can I possibly condone this, Em? My sister and my three best friends?” J-Bird says, his voice softening slightly as he looks at Emma, not as the grown woman she is but as the little sister he practically raised.

“Because you love me, you love them, too. I don’t expect you to be happy for us, but please try to understand that we really are in love, and we want to try to make this work. Please don’t make me choose between them and you,” Emma begs, her voice small.

“Emma, I believe that you think you love them all, I do. I’m just not sure I believe that they feel the same way about you,” he replies with a forlorn sigh.

“Not that I should have to prove a fucking thing to you, J-Bird, but Emma challenges me in ways that no other woman has. She can make me mad as hell and I’ll still end up coming back and apologizing, I’ve not so much as looked at another woman since I first met her. I know I’ve been a bit of a player, but only because I never met anyone like Emma before. There was never a woman I wanted to settle down with and most certainly not one with a kid, not after a life spent in foster care. Not only am I fine with her having a child, I even want Max in my life, to be there for him as if he was my own flesh and blood. I’ve never said I love you to a woman before because I haven’t ever felt it, so you should damn well believe that when I tell you I’m in love with Emma, I mean it with every ounce of my heart,” Mason declares, his eyes not leaving J-Bird until his last statement where he looks at Emma with complete sincerity.

“I agree with Mason. But also, I love Emma’s tender heart. She’s an incredible mom and so loving and caring. When I told her about my childhood, she made me feel so safe but she didn’t pity me either. I’ve never known a more selfless gentle person, I would never, ever dream of hurting her. I’d rather die,” Jax says with feeling. “I love you man, you were good to me when I had no one else. The Iron Serpents are my family. But with Emma and Max in my life, I finally feel complete,” Jax adds.

I realize that it’s my turn to say something. I’ve let the others do the talking but I know J-Bird needs to hear from all of us. Perhaps my words could be the ones to sway him. However, openly expressing my emotions isn’t something I find easy. Of the three of us, I’m the quiet, stoic one. Mason is hot-headed and hides behind his rage and Jax similarly masks his emotions with jokes. But both of them have found it in themselves to drop those shields and expose themselves for Emma to win J-Bird’s approval so she doesn’t have to choose.

In all honestly, the last thing I want is for her to have to do that. Firstly, he’s her brother, no way would I want her to lose him because of me. Secondly, I don’t know if she’d choose us, he’s family after all, so I want to fight as hard as I can to win his approval.

I take a deep breath, steeling myself before speaking.

“After losing my beautiful baby girl you were there for me J-Bird, you and all of the Iron Serpents. You stopped me from giving up completely, but my life was still empty and dark. I thought it would remain that way until I died. Meeting Emma and Max and having them in my life changed things for me, it was like they turned on the lights again. Nothing will ever bring back my Danielle or replace her, but now I have Emma and Max I feel like I look forward to the future. I know I don’t deserve them. But I promise I will always keep them safe and love them both, that I will be there as long as they’ll have me and even beyond that.”

The room falls silent as J-Bird processes what we’ve all said.

“You know all of this about each other?” he asks quietly. “Mason told you about growing up in foster care, Jax about the child abuse, and Ty told you about Danielle?” he says in disbelief looking at each of us in turn as we all nod in confirmation.

“Yes, of course, we talk and share things and laugh together, just as people in love should. It isn’t just about sex, that’s what we’ve been trying to tell you!” Emma says exasperatedly.

J-Bird falls silent as he continues to unfurl his feelings and decide what he thinks.

“I love all three of them for so many reasons, some very similar to the ones they just shared. Mason is challenging and exciting, passionate but caring too. Jax makes me laugh and can be so soft and gentle. Ty might be strong and silent, but he is compassionate, brave, and fearless,” Emma continues.

I’m itching to go to Emma, to hold her and touch her, and I can see that she and the others are dying to do the same. We all want to express our care over what we’ve each just said, but none of us move, not wanting to piss J-Bird off and lose any progress we’ve made in convincing him.

J-Bird shakes his head, still unable to allow himself to approve of such an unconventional relationship of not one but three of his friends dating his sister. Emma continues to talk, now she’s got momentum she doesn’t want to stop.

“A lot has happened while you were in a coma and the only reason why me and Max are even alive and safe today is because of these three, wonderful men.” She proceeds to briefly explain everything that has happened since J-Bird fell into his coma. “Even though he hates guns, Ty didn’t hesitate to protect us, none of them did. They risked their lives for us. Surely you have to believe that we’re in love now?”

We await his response with bated breath and the seconds drag on endlessly until he finally says, “Well why didn’t you tell me that in the first place!”

We all burst into awkward laughter that helps to relieve some of the tension in the room.

When we finally stop J-Bird is serious once more, the fatigue of the conversation kicking in as he fights to stay awake a little longer. His voice is hoarse when he speaks.

“Look, I’m not saying I like it, or that I fully understand it, but okay. I believe that you really are in love, and you have my approval. But if you hurt her, I’ll kill you, understood?”

We all happily agree and promise that we won’t ever hurt her. Emma kisses him on the cheek thanking him with tears of happiness on her cheeks before she hugs us all. J-Bird soon succumbs to the sleep he desperately needs, and we tiptoe out of the room to go and find Max, happy that everything seems to be going our way.