Page 26 of Hidden

Vienna

Now

Bee came out holding Heather—her nanny’s—hand, and immediately her eyes scanned the room. I saw the little bob in her throat as she took in the sheer number of people around her, watching her.

Axel came bounding through a second later, bulldozing his way through the crowd. I scooped down low, swinging him into my arms, making him squeal with excitement. It was a miracle, because when Rachel had first arrived with him, I had been too nervous to hold him—I hadn’t even known how to push his pram. And sure, a lot of it had been reluctance on my part. I avoided babies because of everything I had once lost. What it cost me to be close to them.

But Axel refused to be denied. He clung to my beard, bringing his face as close to mine as possible, until our eyeballs were basically touching, and grinned his toothy grin at me.

“Do you want to help Uncle Venny with your sister’s grand entrance?” I asked him, trying to pull my head back ever soslightly since his eyelashes were currently on a mission to shred my eyeballs to pieces.

His response was to grab my beard even tighter, smooshing my nose against his.

“I’m gonna take that as a yes,” I laughed, placing him down on his feet and quickly reaching behind the bar, pulling out the rolled up red carpet I had in store.

“M’lady,” I called to Bee, bowing down to her and gesturing wildly. She giggled, and my heart lurched. That was a sound we didn’t hear anywhere near enough of lately.

Straightening up, I shook the carpet until it rolled towards Bee and handed one of the corners to Axel so he could help me lower it to the floor.

“Please, follow me,” I said to Bee. “I am at your service. Your audience awaits. Let’s kick some ass!”

“Vienna!” Heather snapped at me.

“What?” I hissed, rubbing my arm up and down after she slapped it with the back of her hand. “What did I do?”

“We don’t say ‘ass’! Do you want Bee to repeat that word?”

“How else is she going to learn what to kick?” I asked, frowning at the nanny.

“I would prefer she kicked nothing.”

“Are you sure you know where you are, Heather, dearest? You realise who you work for, yes? You realise what her mother does when people upset her? Kicking someone’s ass is like a friendly greeting for Rachel.”

“And we’re raising the next generation to be better than that!”

“Are we? Well, that’s certainly news to me. Oi, Divorce!” I yelled over. “Are you aware that we are cleaning our acts up and improving for the new generation?”

“Don’t get me involved, Vienna.”

“This is why your wife left you!” I yelled back, earning myself the middle finger and a roll of his eyes.

Turning back to Bee, I held out my arm for her to hold on to the crook of my elbow. “Come on, Bee. Take my arm and guide me away. Guide me away before she has me repenting all my sins!”

“You’re silly,” Bee whispered to me as we walked her red carpet. Her fingers curled into my skin, her nails digging into me slightly. I hated that she still had these doubts. That she was still unsure of herself and how adored she was here. Wanting nothing more than to see her smile, I winked down at her and then scooped to grab her waist and hauled her onto my shoulders.

“That’s why you love me, Bumble Bee,” I said, and then started buzzing, “flying” us over to where our equipment was set up.

The throb in my forehead only intensified as I “flew”, reminding me of where I had spent the night, and the drunken binge I had participated in afterwards.

I tried to push it to the back of my mind, to pushherto the back of my mind, but my thoughts always went back there. Back to the woman behind the glass. The source of all my troubles, and the person I needed like I needed air.

“Kick some ass?” Bee whispered to me as I placed her in front of the karaoke machine, pulling my attention back to her.

For someone so young, she was so perceptive.

“Kick some ass,” I grinned back.

This was a huge step for her. It had been my silly idea a few weeks back to start a band. She made us all audition for her, and it had definitely been my excellent improv skills that won me the role of lead guitarist.