Page 147 of For Your Consideration

I leaned my head against the wall and let out a breath. I was fairly certain that Soph could come in here and interrupt him in the middle of a meeting and he wouldn’t care. “Maya called.”

His eyes bounced to mine, going intense in a moment, his hand still on Sophie to make sure she was supported and that if she did fall, he would catch her.

I walked him through the call, only leaving out the question I’d asked at the end.

“I’ll call Jaxson now. No fucking way are we going without security.”

“It’s a courthouse, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

He shot me a look, one that clearly meant he wasn’t going to be talked out of it.

He grabbed Sophie off the ground, causing her to squeal as he tossed her in the air before placing her on his hip, and then moved toward me. She clapped and babbled as his free hand came to rest on my hip.

“What do you want to do with Sophie tomorrow?”

His touch was grounding as I thought it over. “I think I would like Iris to stay here with her. There’s no reason she needs to be there. Maya told me it was up to me whether I brought her or not.”

He nodded and placed a kiss on her head. “Jane will be here too if that’s okay. If not, she can stay at Knight’s.”

I pulled back and looked up at him. “Was Jane coming to town?”

He shook his head. “She talked to Noah last night. When he told her what happened, she asked for the jet to be fueled. She’s landing soon.”

My eyes started going blurry. “She didn’t have to do that.”

“Jane likes to collect family, and you are part of our family, Sutton, you and Sophie. We all care about you.” He pushed on like that wasn’t a huge deal. “I’ve got all my work covered for today,” he told me as he maneuvered me out of his office just as the doorbell rang, causing Thor to let out a sharp bark. “Let’s have coffee with Iris.”

I let him lead me out and tried to push all my swirling worries out of my head.

43

Asher

It was late. Sutton and Sophie were both asleep in my bed but I hadn’t been able to sleep. I’d spent the day trying to distract Sutton. After Iris left with a promise to be here by nine tomorrow, we went for a walk with Thor. Then we went for a car ride and got ice cream, stopped at a farmers market and picked up stuff so we could make a nice meal, and then watched a few more episodes of Schitt’s Creek. Sophie had fallen asleep on my chest. I wasn’t eager to move her and Sutton had said we could get her back into a routine tomorrow.

I’d done a good job, but meanwhile my mind was a mess. The anger was still simmering under the surface every time I saw a bruise on Sutton. I could tell she was stressed but other than being there for her, I knew there wasn’t much I could do. Not that I was very good with words anyway.

After an hour of struggling in bed, I’d slipped out and was now sitting in my office. I should have gone to my home gym and tried to work it out and clear my mind but I didn’t.

My phone went off and I was surprised to find a direct text from Knight. None of us hardly messaged outside of the group text.

Knight

Are you awake?

Me

It’s ten pm.

Knight

You’re old.

Me

We’re the same age asshole.

Knight