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“Where’s Roe?” Kai asks, walking directly up to Charlene. The other two are only a step behind him. I watch Ian’s reaction to his boys, but he’s having as hard of a time not laughing as the rest of us. Must not be something we grow out of. He’s been a parent a fair few years longer than the rest of us.
Charlene pins each boy with a stare. “You shouldn’t lie for her. It only made her feel worse and she got into trouble,” she scolds. All three of their faces fall at the realization.
“We only wanted to help,” Kai says sadly.
Ian comes up behind him and swings him up into his arms. “I know, buddy. And I love that you want to protect your friend. I’ll never tell you not to do that but lying to us is not the way to do that.” He pauses and waits for all three boys to nod. “You also have to learn Roe is strong on her own. She didn’t need you to protect her from punishment,” he points. “She just felt guilty for being the only one not in trouble when it was her idea to feed the bunnies.”
His mouth drops open in shock. “She told you that?”
“She told her mom that.”
The boys all scrunch their faces, obviously not thrilled with the outcome. Hopefully all four of them learn a lesson from this. Parenting is a fucking bitch. Can never tell if we are teaching things the right way. Or if we are even teaching the right things.
I constantly feel like I’m on a tightrope walking over an ocean of water just waiting to trip up and drop Roe into a whirlpool of chaos. Like I’m always one step away from irreparable damage done to her. Of course her situation is a little more delicate with the trauma she’s already endured, but I do wonder if every parent feels that way.
It’s only a few minutes later that Charlene goes out and grabs Roe and brings her into the kitchen. All of the boys immediately pounce on her, making sure she is okay after they heard she got upset.
It’s sweet how much they all care for each other.
We leave Charlene in the kitchen, the cookies all but forgotten at this point. Scar and Declan start to explain why there are no bunnies here but soothe the kids with promises that the bunnies will still be at the other house when we do go back.
We let the kids play for a little bit, just enjoying being able to watch them running around in the sun together. By unspoken agreement, none of us bring up anything work related. Not even the fact that Holden was supposed to be here, but we all know where he actually is. Prepping with Rachel and her crew.
“How are you feeling, Bosslady?” I ask as I wrap my arms around Scar’s waist. Luca snorts at my nickname, but I know he likes it. Why wouldn’t he? It matches his. If he thinks I’m gonna start calling him Bossman though, he has another thing coming.
She shrugs against my chest. “Back to normal,” she lies.
Everyone around us scoffs, not believing her in the slightest. By the hard set of her jaw, I know none of us are getting anything else out of her though. She’s said what she had to say, bringing up anything more would be wandering too close to our plans for tomorrow.
The plans all of us are pointedly not speaking about.
Not even because we are specifically worried about it. All things considered, it’s one of our more straightforward plans. One with risks mitigated as much as humanly possible because of all the planning we’ve done.
It’s just been a constant stream of blood and violence. We thrive on this shit, but even for us, it’s starting to get exhausting. I haven’t had the chance to get an itch for a run or to spar because it’s all we are freaking doing.
Even Scar has lost an edge of her mania when she kills. Lost the desire to drag it out and play with her victims like she used to like to do. When she suggested we take out Ryans as easily and quickly as we can, I was shocked but also relieved.
We’ve been dispatching Romano’s people daily. From the rats planting trackers on our cars, to the men he still sends daily to Thorns and the fights trying to scope them out. I don’t even understand how he still has manpower to dispose of this easily. Hasn’t anyone figured out just how many dead bodies are piling up because of his bullshit?
The kids start slowing down as the sun gets lower in the sky. It’s clear some of their energy is starting to fade. I place a kiss on Scar’s head, letting her out of having to answer any more questions about her leg. I know D will make her go through an entire exam before we leave tomorrow anyways. She’s in good hands.
As Roe gets closer, I call out to her, “Hey Butterfly, what ever happened to making cookies?” I know Charlene saved at least one batch for the kids to help with. It’s not the first time they got distracted by something else.
She drops the toy in her hands to the ground. “Mother fucker,” she curses.
My mouth drops open in shock the same time cackles erupt around me. I have no idea who is even laughing the loudest, Scar, Kade, or fucking Joe.
Noah’s eyes are wide as he stares at her totally clueless little face about the reaction she’s getting. Declan and Luca trade looks, somewhere between amusement and horror.
Noah is the first to scoop Roe up. “Hey, love bug. Where did you hear those words?” he asks.
Ian and Jade rush the other kids inside, away from the conversation, doing their own form of damage control.
“Momma says them,” she answers thoughtfully. “And Daddy R. Daddy K too,” she adds. She stops to think. “Daddy L says it not as much as Momma or Daddy K.” Neither Scar nor Kade look even slightly perturbed. No way are they discouraging her from cursing. “Oh, and Grandma Charlene,” she adds proudly.
Noah fights to smile. “I see.” He narrows his eyes on all of us.
“It’s not like she was wrong,” I point out unhelpfully. I am in fact a mother fucker. Her mother exactly. Not that I’m going to point that out to a five year old.
