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Landry grins at how my loving words turn rage-filled at the end. Sighing, I admit, “I wish Blair didn’t give a shit about her dad.”
“Me, too.”
Hearing sadness and worry in her tone, I realize Landry needs something extra to move her back into her happy place. I decide to indulge myself again. This time, I press my hand against her soft cheek. Landry’s gaze shifts as if sensing what I want.
My lips cover hers, tasting her addictive flavor. This woman’s enslaved me without even trying. When she grips my shirt, wanting me to consume her, Landry offers a hint of her love’s power.
If this woman can ever truly accept me, I’ll become a new man. No one’s ever made me feel this way. The Steel Berserkers brought out my best qualities. Landry, though, awakens new sides of a man I thought I knew.
LANDRY
Isink deep into abad place when Silas mentions Blair and the bike. Most days, our life wasn’t so bad. Even if Neal was abusive, he just yanked me into the kitchen and slapped me around. The kids didn’t even notice. I pretended they were too young to understand. Well, except for Blair.
After her bike got trashed, she’d fallen into a depression. Children her age shouldn’t feel so low. I held her as she stared into space, replaying leaving the bike where it got destroyed. Or maybe she was thinking of Neal beating me.
I promised I would get her a new bike. My baby was over the moon when I bought her the first one. She’d wanted to ride with that stuck-up brat down the road. Blair’s such a great child with lots of creative ideas. She loves to draw and write stories. But she’s always attaching herself to arrogant little bitches, becoming their sidekick rather than a real friend.
The bike also offered her freedom from the house. She’d ride around, feeling independent in a way her younger siblings couldn’t.
Often, I’d babysit for extra cash. That’s how I got her the bike in the first place. But the kids I’d watched aged into school. The newer ones were hit-and-miss. I’d still nearly reached the purchase amount before Neal’s family came over one Sunday. I could kill whoever stole my baby’s bike money that I had stashed away.
Silas tells me to pick a bike, and he’ll have it delivered later today. Just like that. I worked for a year to replace her bike, yet he fixes the problem over the course of an hour. I’m both happy for Blair and feel like a fucking loser.
His hot, tempting kisses distract me for a while. However, in the back of my mind, I keep replaying all my mistakes. Could I have saved money faster? I even wonder why I never tried stealing from Neal’s family. Fair play and all that.
“You should rest,” Rosemary tells me as I stand in the kitchen with Blair after Silas goes to answer a text from Ruin.
I look at my daughter, watching me with her blue eyes. Remembering how motherhood crushed me in the beginning, I wish I could go back and make her life better. I’d been a weak mom who gave her a rotten father.
“Where’s the baby going to sleep?” Blair asks when I don’t respond to Rosemary. “She’s got no room.”
“In the old nursery,” Rosemary replies. “It’s still set up for a boy, though.”
“There was a baby here?” Blair asks as I stroke her head and recall her shocked expression after Neal broke her arm. “Did it die?”
“No, no,” Rosemary replies as she has me sit down while she braids my hair to match hers. “Nomad married a woman after she got pregnant. They were naming the baby ‘Michael.’ Nomad was so excited that he would carry around little booties.”
