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I smiled at the little smart ass and slid one hand into my pocket, reaching for my blade. Carlito stood again, glaring at all of us. “You’re outnumbered.”
“Not by much,” I told him with confidence. “Why don’t you tell us what the fuck you want, Carlito?”
“There are four of us and two of you.” He grinned and took a step forward but froze in his path when I flexed in his direction. “Keep this puto away from me!” His order was part fear and part anger.
The asshole to my right grabbed the back of my shirt, leaving his body exposed which gave me the perfect opportunity to act. The blade came out of my pocket and I jammed it into that motherfucker’s neck.
I let go of the man, taking my blade with me. Blood squirted all over the fucking place as his eyes widened in shock and he smacked one hand over the hole in his neck. He tried to sputter out a few words, but he was bleeding out too quickly and once he fell to his knees, I knew it was over for him. “I think that puts it at three against two unless this guy right here wants to be a hero.”
“Gunnar, watch—” Stitch’s voice rang out, but I didn’t hear his warning because something hard crashed down on the back of my skull and everything went fucking dark.
Chapter Nine - Cross
“Ewww, you guys are always kissing!” Beau’s disgusted groan tugged a smile across my lips as they pressed against Moon’s. “Come on!”
Moon stepped back, fingertips to her lips like she was trying to keep the heat of the kiss right on those plump lips I loved to taste. “I can’t wait to remind you of this moment when you finally realize how amazing girls are.”
Beau shrugged and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “I like girls but kissing is gross. Are you done?”
I smiled at the kid and winked. “Almost.” Before she realized what I had in mind, Moon was in my arms, her lean curves flush against my body, hard and aching despite the pint-sized audience. I lowered my head to hers with a wide smile before our lips touched.
“Gross!” Beau’s pout didn’t deter me this time, not when Moon’s tongue slicked across my bottom lip and not when she opened up and gave me a taste of the apple and cinnamon pie she’d eaten earlier. “Stop it, please!”
Eventually I put the kid out of his misery and pulled back, but I couldn’t let Moon go. I wouldn’t. Not now that I’d finally started living again and it was all because of her. “Only because you asked so nicely, kid.”
“Is lunch ready yet? I’m hungry.” Beau was always hungry but he was as scrawny as a grasshopper and I had no fucking clue where he put it all.
“Didn’t we just eat breakfast?”
Beau stomped over to me with a serious look on his face as he tried to climb my leg, his favorite activity when he wanted to feel tall. “Mama says I’m a growing boy and I need my vitamins!”
I looked at her with an arch to my eyebrows. “So you’re to blame for this behavior?”
Moon’s face lit up beautifully, the way it always did when Beau and I were together. She never said a thing, but the pure joy she felt was written all over her face. Her hair was loose, spilling around her shoulders and back, over her blue and pink and purple dress that cupped her tits and highlighted her strong arms. “If you’re asking am I responsible for the world’s greatest son, the answer is yes.”
“Thanks, Mama. You’re the best too.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek and I couldn’t help but smile at my little family.
“What about me?”
Moon pressed her lips to my cheek and, unsurprisingly, Beau did the same thing on the other side. “We think you’re the best too, Cross, don’t we, Beau?”
Beau nodded. “Yeah. We love you, Cross.”
Damn, how in the hell did a kid barely able to take care of himself get to me? I couldn’t answer that, but the way his big blue eyes were filled with love and affection made me realize how ready I was for this. Love. Family. “I love you guys, too.”
“Now that we have that settled, wash your hands and grab the dishes. We’re eating in the backyard.” Moon loved her backyard and we’d spent the better part of the past year turning it into even more of an oasis than it had been. There were more flowers and a larger vegetable garden, a bigger table so she could entertain her new crop of girlfriends. My favorite was the hammock where I loved curling my body around hers and watching the stars.
It was sappy as hell, I knew it, and I also knew if the guys saw me they would tease me relentlessly. “I’ll grab the dishes and you can set the table,” I told Beau and he darted off to wash his hands.
“Thanks for watching him this week, though I wonder if I should be thanking you.” With a hand to my chest, she smiled up at me with love in her eyes. “The fact that he hasn’t stopped talking about it means you probably gave him tons of junk, let him stay up late and watch scary movies.”
“I plead the fifth,” I told her and planted another kiss behind her ear, pants tightening at the way she sighed and leaned into me. The phone vibrating in my pocket pulled us apart. “Hang on, babe,” I said reluctantly as I answered it.
“Hey Cross, it’s Reed. I just want to see if you’d changed your mind about doing business together. No hard feelings if you have, but I need to know.”
“Is this some kind of bullshit, Reed? Because this isn’t how I do business.” Moon’s fingers dug into the tension hardening my shoulders and it felt so fucking good I wanted to groan.
“No, it’s not bullshit. I expected Chris and Gunnar yesterday afternoon but I haven’t seen them. I called Chris, but he didn’t answer and that’s not like him. I don’t have time for this. I have a business to run.”
