I wanted nothing more than to grab my kid and run, but I couldn’t do that to Payton. So instead, I waited for him to be done, let him go to the desk himself, and then carried the books for him.
I hoped someone could take Payton for a while, because I needed… I needed to get home to my man, except neither of those things seemed as perfect and as real they had been lately.
With Payton in his car seat in the back, reading one of his books, I drove back to the ranch, and tried not to vibrate out of my skin.
Chapter 22
Crew
There was a part of my brain subconsciously fixated on Mal and Payton returning home. It always latched on when either one or both of them were off the property. I did the same thing with my family, always a pulse in the back of my mind, so it wasn’t weird to me that I’d slotted Mal and Payton in there too. We were still new but I was hoping for long term—if not forever, but I didn’t want to think too hard about that yet—and Payton certainly considered us solid.
Man, I adored that kid.
I wondered if Mal would be open to any more? There were plenty of kids out there who needed stable, loving homes. And Gemma and I had more than one discussion about surrogacy. She didn’t want any crotch goblins—her words, not mine—of her own, but she’d be willing to go through the process to help any one of her brothers out.
But that was a thought for the future. Right now, I was focused on updating the breeding data and waiting for my baby and his kid to make it back.
Okay, I was only mostly focused. As soon as I heard the alarm donkey, I was up out of my chair. Juanpablo only used that call for his favorite people, and Payton had joined the ranks of my mom and Hawk. For a kid who wasn’t too fond of the outside, he sure loved that cantankerous donkey, and the feeling was mutual. All Payton had to do was call his name, and Juanpablo came running from wherever he was. Then he would stand still, ears forward, as Payton rambled about his day or read the donkey a book.
I jogged out of my office and through the aisle of empty stalls, debating for just a second if I should grab one of the UTVs. I could make the trip to the house in two minutes instead of seven if I did. But we tried to limit the use of gas on our ranch, as much as possible, so foot-power it would be. Since Mal and Payton would be joining us for dinner, I was hoping they would still be at the house by the time I made it there.
I couldn’t help the grin as soon as I spotted them. Mal leaned against the rails, head turned out into the pasture somewhere. But Payton was sitting on the ground, book propped up against the lowest rail, and Juanpablo stood nearby. His head was lowered as if he was looking at the book too.
Stopping a few feet back, I took out my phone, framed the shot, then snapped a pic. I wasn’t so good with filters and such, but I messed with the exposure a bit, since the sun was setting, and then saved it as my background wallpaper. Once that was done. I jogged over.
“Hey, baby,” I murmured, crowding right into Mal’s space.
He startled as though he hadn’t heard me coming, and then immediately straightened up, taking a few steps back. I tried not to frown, since he usually did the opposite, leaning into me.
“Oh, hey.”
What the fuck? Mal’s gaze was shuttered, closed off, and that wasn’t like him at all. Before I could ask what was going on, Payton realized I’d arrived.
“Hi, Crew!” His little face lit up, those eyes he’d gotten from his daddy sparkling. He turned the page toward me, even though I couldn’t quite see what it was. “Look! D is for donkey, he goes ‘bray bray bray.’ Should be W for Juanpablo.”
“Juanpablo is spelled with a J.” Mal said, and there was something off in his tone. It was flat and without its usual affection. “Juanpablo is a Latino name, and the Spanish languages use different sounds for the letters.”
Payton nodded like that made sense. “Oh, right. Like Alejandro in my class. But he likes to go by Alé.”
That was freaking adorable and all, but I was more worried about Mal’s demeanor. Had something happened? I needed to find out because he was…I didn’t even know. Worried or angry. Something. Upset at the very least and I needed to fix it.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly, glancing at Payton to make sure he’d gone back to his book. Apparently E was for elephant and they made trumpet sounds.
“Yep.”
Liar. He definitely wasn’t okay. I stepped closer and though he didn’t move away again, when I took hold of his elbow, he gently pulled out of my hold. Now I was worriedIhad done something wrong. He was usually all about the casual touches. My man was touched-starved and he loved it when I showed affection that way.
“Liar,” I accuse softly, trying to make it playful. Mal didn’t look at me, and even though he was turned toward Payton, I wasn’t sure he was actually focused on his kid. I tried again, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s not important.”
“It clearly is, if it’s got you upset. Talk to me, baby.”
Mal whipped around and I was taken aback by the anger in his eyes. “Mind your own business.”
I did reel back then, because what in the holy hell?
“Fine,” I ground out, then turned and stalked away. If he didn’t want to talk to me, then I wasn’t going to make him.
