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I didn’t need to look quite that desperate yet, though I supposed nothing was more obvious than threatening her into being with me. At any rate, Calla was vindictive enough to go spewing that fact to the guys when she met them, and they would never let me live it down.
I suddenly was very thrilled that I’d tucked the doll in Ines room like a present for my Princess.
I grabbed the door for my Sunshine, gesturing her in and buckling her up, much to Axel’s entertainment as he laughed in the back seat. If I had to guess, Calla only had a few hours left in her before the claws came out and she lost her shit, so I’d have to do my best to preserve the peace just long enough that we had the kids tucked into bed first.
Calla’s claws dug into my back wasn’t something they needed to see.
By the time I walked around to the driver’s side, I only barely caught the end of Axel’s jab at his mother’s sanity.
“Grandpa will like this car,” he said.
“That’s the hope, Little Man. That is the hope.” I turned a playful grin to him before I pressed the button to start up the Maserati. The purr of the engine sounded like music to my ears and the way Axel smiled in the back seat felt like he had a lot of me and his Grandpa in him.
“Let’s go get the Princess,” I said, guiding the car out of the lot.
“How did you and Mommy meet?” he asked from the back seat. I took Calla’s hand in mine, pulling it over to rest on my thigh and taking it with me when I needed to shift gears.
“I’ve known your Mommy for a long time,” I admitted vaguely. “We didn’t talk for a while, but I never stopped thinking about her or you and your sister.”
He studied me curiously, the excitement about the surprise fading as he studied my interactions with his mother. “Then how come Mommy never talks about you?”
Calla gave me the “I told you so” look. She didn’t realize just how much I knew Axel had every bit of his mother’s curiosity.
“Your Mom was grieving your Dad, Axe. Sometimes women can be stubborn and not see a good thing for what it is when it looks them right in the face after something like that. She needed me to step in and push her a bit, so that’s what I’m doing,” I answered him with a smile. He studied me with eyes that were too wise for his age, too all-seeing to be natural. Only a boy who’d known pain and suffering could give a man like me a look like that. I would know, since I’d had the same look when I’d been even younger than him.
I navigated through the traffic, making my way to August’s shop.
“Is that why she’s glaring at you?” Axel asked. I gave him a grin.
“I’m stubborn? That’s what you’re going to call it right now?” Calla asked, and I snickered with Axel who seemed to enjoy someone other than him and his sister getting chastised for once.
“Yep,” I grunted.
“My father is going to rip you to pieces,” she whispered in response, and I might have been afraid for that very reason if I didn’t already have my key to the castle sitting in the backseat.
When we pulled up to the front of the garage, Calla jumped out of the passenger seat as quick as she could and moved to get Axel from the back like she thought I might drive off with him. I wasn’t into kidnapping kids, not unless they came along with Calla’s sexy ass apparently, anyway.
I followed behind them as they hurried into the shop, and Calla kept glancing over her shoulder at me to see if I was still there. I didn’t know if she expected me to wait in the car or what, but if she thought I would honestly be afraid of her father, then I needed to work on my presence a bit. I ate worse men than August Nilsson for breakfast.
“Calla Lily,” her father said, stepping up and pressing a kiss to his daughter’s cheek as Ines clung to her legs. “Everything alright?” he asked, eyeing me over his Calla’s head.
“Yep. Everything’s good,” she said a little too brightly. Calla was many things, but a proficient liar wasn’t one of them.
“You gonna introduce me to your friend?” he asked, and Axel threw himself into his grease covered grandfather for a hug. I could just imagine the joy that laundry proved to be for Calla.
“I’m Ryker, Sir,” I said, stepping up and holding out a hand for him to shake. He eyed it warily for a moment before he finally shook it.
“Ryker says he’s going to take care of Mommy!” Axel inserted in his enthusiastic voice. Calla winced visibly, and I knew she thought about how that must have made her sound. She may have stayed home with the kids when she’d married Chad, but sh
e did it because she wanted to and because she valued her time with them more than her need to provide for herself. It hadn’t been because Chad expected it, or pressured her into it, or because she wanted to live a pampered life. It was because they could afford it, and there was nothing more important to her than those kids.
Having lost her own Mom when she was born, Calla wouldn’t waste a single day.
“Is that so?” August asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he raised an eyebrow at his daughter. It was the quintessential look that told her she had some explaining to do.
“It’s new,” I said in her defense. “I just move fast when I see something worth keeping. I’m taking a couple days off to get to know the kids. Why don’t you call Calla and make plans to come to my place? Ines won’t be here for a bit since Calla is taking off too, but you’re always welcome with us.”
I could feel Calla’s glare without looking at her, but her father didn’t seem to mind the way I told him our plans and ignored Calla’s input. From what I knew of his relationship with Chad, it hadn’t been the most open. Calla had always acted as an intermediary for their conversations, even after they’d been married for years.
