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Jesus Christ. Why did I have to go thinking like that? Now I was getting excited again and—
Get on task, Raf. I shook my head, trying to think clearly as I strolled back outside like I hadn’t done a single thing but use the bathroom while I was gone. Everyone was where I’d left them when I’d gotten up from the table, apart from now there was an empty spot next to Kian. His head was down, his shoulders rounded, and no matter how much anyone around him tried to talk to him, he wouldn’t answer them.
Bailey glanced at me, her brows furrowed as if she was at a loss on what to do.
Indecision waged a war inside me, but ultimately it wasn’t a hard choice to make as I walked toward Alina and bent down next to her. “I’m gonna go and talk to the little guy over there. I’ll be back.”
“What?” she hissed, whipping her head around to look at me. “You’ve left me on my own enough already, sit down.”
I paused, lifting my lips into a mocking smirk. “You forgetting who you’re talking to, sweetheart?” My sarcasm was lost on her because at my words, she fluttered her lashes. It didn’t have the desired effect, so instead I got straight to the point. “Maybe it’s time you left,” I sneered.
“What?” She shot up off the bench, hands on her hips in outrage. Fuck. Why did I think bringing her here was a good idea?
I shrugged, glancing around the table and noticing that almost everyone was listening to us. “I gotta head out on a job.” I cleared my throat, the lie not coming as easily as it did to other people around the table.
“No you don’t!” she shouted. My attention snapped straight to Kian, hating how he flinched at her voice. See that shit? That shit made my blood boil.
“It’s okay,” Bailey whispered to him, but he shook his head, his bottom lip wobbling. And that…that was the final straw that had me all kinds of fuckin’ livid.
I took a step toward her, then another, making sure that there was only an inch of space between us. From the outside looking in, it would have seemed like we were being sweet—intimate even—but this was anything but that. “I’m gonna say this to you once, and once only.” I paused, staring into her blue eyes. They were nothing but cold and calculated, a fact that I’d always known about her. “Get out of this house. Don’t come back. Don’t call me. Don’t find me.” I paused, cracking my neck to the side. “Don’t talk to me again. Understood?”
“But—”
I held my hand in the air, cutting her off. “You have two minutes to get your shit and get the fuck out of my brother’s house. You’re no longer welcome.”
She huffed out a breath, crossing her arms over her chest and searching around the table, probably hoping that someone would back her up. Her dad was a fellow soldier, just like I was, only, my name held power in this state, hers didn’t, which was why she was actively seeking someone out, and I was the last available one whose name meant anything.
“Fine.” She stomped her foot and pushed past me, heading toward the door. “But I won’t be here when you come crawling back to me.”
I grinned as she turned back to face me. “That won’t be a problem.” I winked, causing her to growl in response.
“Finally,” Dante grunted when she’d disappeared inside the house. “She was like listening to nails on a chalkboard.” He rolled his eyes like a sullen teenager. “Went right through me.”
“Me too,” Romeo grunted, taking a seat next to Bailey.
It was then that I remembered why I’d gotten so pissed off with her in the first place: Kian. Peyton still wasn’t out here—she’d most probably gotten pulled into conversation by Navy, and anyone that knew her knew that once she had you trapped, you could do nothing but listen and let her finish.
“Kian,” I called, walking over to him at as normal of a pace as I could, but inside all I wanted was to sprint over to him. “You okay, little man?” He closed his eyes, much the same as his mom did when she was trying to escape. “It’s okay,” I told him, placing my hand on the bench next to him.
“I don’t like it,” he whispered, slowly opening his eyes and looking straight at me.
“Don’t like what, bud?”
He lifted his little arm, pointing at the door that Alina had exited through. “When people shout.” He hiccuped a sob, a couple of tears streaming down his face as he inched closer to me, his voice low. “Daddy always shouted at Mommy and I didn’t like it.” He shook his head with so much force he must have made himself dizzy.
I swallowed, tearing my gaze away from Kian and to my older brother, searching for his reaction. He was staring at us with as much intensity as I was sure I was looking at Kian with. But he wasn’t the only one listening, so were Dante and Lorenzo.
“It’s okay. No one else is going to shout here now.” I ran my hand over the top of his head, trying to comfort him. Every fiber in me wanted to wrap my arms around him and hug him, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t like that. He was sensitive whereas his little brother wasn’t. It meant that he’d seen things Reed hadn’t, which only served to make my rage that much more than it already was.
“Promise?” Kian asked, pushing his shoulders back. “Mommy promised me that Daddy wouldn’t shout again but he always did.” He blinked, his tears starting to dry up the more he spoke. “I don’t like when Daddy shouts.”
“Kian?” Peyton’s broken voice penetrated through the trance Kian had us all in. I whipped my head around to face her, standing and holding my palms in the air like I’d just been caught with my hands in the cookie jar before dinner. “What happened?” She looked straight at me for an answer, not bothering with anyone else, and I wasn’t stupid enough to admit that I liked it—I liked when she only had eyes for me.
“Alina was shouting when I told her to leave.” Fuck, I couldn’t help but scan my gaze over her body, remembering how her dress was open not long ago.
“I don’t like shouting, Mom,” Kian announced, jumping down off the seat and reaching for my hand. I embraced his small palm in mine, not even thinking about it for a single second.
Peyton made a noise in the back of her throat, her hand moving to the base of her neck, her anxiety on clear display for everyone to see. I should have taken a step toward her. I should have comforted her as her eyes glassed over. But…no one knew what we’d done, and I wasn’t going to inform them now. This was our business, not theirs.
