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Royce sets her down, and she climbs across the seat with a smile.
“Hey, little miss.” Maybell helps her onto her lap. “You ready to go to the zoo?”
“And Papa, too!” She looks back to our dad.
He nods, a softness covering his face. “I’m coming, Zo. Climb in your seat, okay?” He turns to me.
My lips press in a firm line, and I look off.
“There’s nothing wrong with a little girl spending a few hours of fun with two people who love her,” he reassures me. “This is normal.”
“We aren’t normal.”
He laughs, his palm coming down on my shoulder. “The fact that this even makes you pause, says enough. You’ve got her for the rest of your life, you can share her with us from time to time,” he teases.
I hold my grin, dipping my head inside the car. “Miss Maybell.”
“Boy.” She smiles as Zoey grabs her hands, clapping them for her as she sits in her lap. “Go on.”
I nod, leaning farther in to kiss Zoey’s cheek. “See you in a little bit, okay?”
She nods but looks past me as she climbs into her seat. “Uncle!”
“Right here, Zoey Bear.” Royce laughs, stretching his arm past me and setting the rest of the donut in her hands.
“Bye Daddy!” She carefully slips her arms into the straps of her seat, kicking her feet as she bites into it, both of us forgotten.
We step back so our dad can slide in, and then they’re off.
Raven and Maddoc are coming down the porch as we turn around, an ice chest in Maddoc’s hand, blanket in Raven’s.
“Ready?”
“She wants to stop for ice cream on the way,” Maddoc grumbles, sliding a frown toward Raven.
“I need to stop for ice cream,” she corrects him.
“Like you needed the chocolate and chips and shit this morning. We’re barbecuing. Why not wait until after you give my kid some protein first?”
“You might not like sweets, Big Man, but this thing inside me is half mine, which means it has half my appetite for snacking.”
“Not an it and you’re dead wrong, baby.” He quickly pushes his lips against her hair. “Sometimes kids don’t share shit with their mamas.”
Royce chuckles beside me, and Raven smirks, looking away.
Maddoc’s eyes narrow on her, quickly shifting to our brother. “What?” he snaps.
“Growin’ a puss on us, bro?” Royce teases.
Maddoc shoves him. “Fuck’s that mean?”
“It means Royce owes me a stack of twenties.” Raven wiggles her eyebrows. “Told you he secretly read the books Maybell gave me.”
Royce laughs harder, but Maddoc doesn’t say anything. He smirks as he makes his way to the back of my SUV to put the ice chest inside.
I glance up at Victoria’s window as Raven stops beside me. “She take off?”
“Nope.” She shakes her head, jerking her chin toward the side of the house. “Heard her go out the back door when we were gettin’ out of the shower.”
I nod, open my door and slide in, but I only get as far as putting the key in the ignition.
I growl and slip right back out.
I walk around the front right side of the house, jolting to a stop when I spot her on her knees. Her hair up on her head as she feathers her fingertips along the flower bed we had put in for Zoey before she came home.
It’s identical to the one she was used to seeing when she lived with Maria, long parallel lines of every shade of purple in existence, a thicker, heavy curve in the middle, wide-open sky behind it, allowing nothing to block the sun from beaming down to give them life.
Victoria sits back on her heels, scanning over the twenty-foot-long garden. She closes her eyes, inhaling a full breath right as a heavy crease covers her forehead. I jerk around and move back to my SUV.
I slide inside, slam the door and peel out of the driveway, loud enough to interrupt her thought, but not loud enough to drown out my own.
Why is she touching the flowers and what came to her mind, bringing pain with it?
Does she like flowers?
Why the fuck do I care?
I lift my palm, slamming it against the steering wheel, only to tighten my hold on the cooled leather.
Nobody flinches or is caught off guard, and nobody questions me.
It’s how we work.
I feel, they feel.
I hurt, they hurt.
I get angry, well… that’s when it’s bad for everyone involved.
One’s anger is what drives another’s rage.
If there is one thing that pisses us off more than all else, it’s to witness pain from one of our own.
I’m not in pain, but I’m sure as fuck in something.
From there, it doesn’t take long to get to the courts, and once we do, we jump straight into a game.
I’m lost in my own damn thoughts the first half, only managing to focus toward the end.
