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It was just a precaution. The odds of something happening here were slim, but no one was willing to risk Zinnia’s safety.
“You making breakfast or what?” Keller asked.
I plopped the fish down into the pan that was heating over the burners. The charred remains of Zinnia’s birth control packets were smoking on the stove. Giving Rush a sly look, I smirked. “Woke up in a mood, didn’t you?”
Rush sighed, his eyes glued to the door. He was usually the most easy going of all of us, so it’d surprised everyone that he’d been the one to initiate that scene. “I didn’t mean to upset her. I just…” He shrugged. He’d already explained, and it was the way we all felt, so he was in good company.
“Don’t worry,” Keller said, stretching out his legs. “She gets over her anger quickly.”
“That will be a useful skill for her, living with us,” I replied with a chuckle. If anyone would know how quick she got over her anger it was him. He was constantly pissing her off.
“If you had waited until after breakfast I planned to address that,” Keller told Rush.
Rush shrugged again. “Saw her taking it and kind of snapped.” His brows rose and he gave us a bewildered look. “Never thought I wanted to have kids. But the idea of her pregnant, carrying our babies…” He grinned. “I want that.”
“You and me both, Brother,” I told him with an answering smile.
Keller and Alden had made their desires known. Zinnia was the only one left to jump on board.
“Don’t worry,” I told him, slapping him on the shoulder, “she’ll come around.
* * *
She came stompingback into the house just in time for breakfast, Alden trailing her like a shadow. She didn’t look at us, or speak to us as we ate. It was a silent affair. The good mood we’d all woken up in was gone in a flash.
I couldn’t be pissed about it. Not when the final result was Zinnia realizing what our expectations for her would be. We’d give her every single thing she wanted in this life. All we needed was her…and kids. A family. It was what we already were.
It was like Rush had plucked the thoughts right out of my mind. I hadn’t wanted kids. The idea of squalling babies was enough to make me run far away from a woman, but with Zinnia? I didn’t just want it. It was like a living, breathing thing cinching down on my chest. I needed a life with her and that was going to include kids. As many as she could bear.
There was the chance that she meant it when she told us all to fuck off. None of us wanted that. Rush had been correct when he’d said we’d chase her if she ran. We wouldn’t let her go easily. She’d have to convince us that this wasn’t the life for her. Thatweweren’t for her. I knew she’d come around before that happened, though, because we were already hers. Imagining a life without her just didn’t feel right.
The effect she had on each of us was amazing to see. We’d gone from freedom loving scoundrels—or man whore in my case—to locked down. That one women could land us all like trout was fucking impressive. One by one, she’d broken down our defenses and built us back up with her as the center of our group. We couldn’t live without her at this point. None of us wanted to and that was why we weren’t going to allow her to run scared.
That’s all this was. She was terrified of everything that was happening. Too much too fast. It didn’t matter that she’d wanted this. Now that she was getting it, she was getting everything that came with us, including possessive, dominant, overbearing men. Naturally, she was having second thoughts. I didn’t envy the power struggle she was going to end up having with the King cousins. Those guys didn’t fuck around when it came to something they considered theirs.
I’d seen Alden damn near break a soldier’s arm when he tried to snag the last cookie from under Alden’s nose. Literally a chocolate chip cookie. Put the soldier out of commission for weeks. Got what he wanted though. No one fucked with him, or his food. Or equipment. I laughed at the idea of someone trying to take Z from him. It would make all his past incidents look like mild tantrums compared to what would happen.
Zinnia wiped her hands on her pants and finally raised her head. “What’s the plan?” Her tone was like ice.
Rush winced, the guilt riding him hard for starting the whole thing. Keller handled her anger far better than Junior did.
“We’re leaving in a few hours to go scout out Roj’s compound,” Keller told us.
“I’ll make sure I’m ready,” she said with a nod.
“No need. You’re staying here.”
Her head snapped in his direction. “What do you mean?”
I sat back, ready to watch the firework show all over again.
CHAPTER26
Zinnia
“You’re not in the right mindset to come along,” Keller said, watching me like he was expecting me to explode. He wasn’t wrong, on either account. I was about to explode. Between the stunt with my birth control and now holding me back, I was ready to tear their heads off. Which, begrudgingly, forced me to admit that he was right, I wasn’t in the right headspace to go.
I wanted to rant and rave, but I swallowed the words down. They sat, heavy in my stomach, as I gritted my teeth. I was still a CIA Agent and I still had a job to do. If it meant staying behind so they could scout out Roj’s stronghold, then that was what I would do. Didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. It also didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try to change his mind. “I’m fine. I want to help.” My words came out through bared teeth.
