Ten
Noel walked back with a whistling Deacon and a giggling baby.
“You know, he’s a happy guy,” Deacon was saying about the infant. “Of course, wrapped up in soft arms and against Solene’s rack, I’m sure I’d be happy too.” He snorted. “Damn woman is a hothead, but she’s finerthan shit. You know?”
Noel had been half-listening. “What?”
Deacon frowned. “Why are you wearing different pants?”
“Oh, I spilled something on them.” More like he’d left a stain on them, but Deacon didn’t need the details. Just the thought of how Addy had handled him made him hard again. Hell, the woman could breathe and he grew aroused. Then to learn she’d been looking forhim for the past few years while he’d been checking up on her?
They were made for each other. He must have done something right with his life to have Addy as a reward.
“Hey, genius. Stop daydreaming about your girlfriend and take the kid. I think he needs a change.”
Deacon handed over the baby and hotfooted it inside the house.
Noel smelled the truth of the matter andhurried to the changing table in the spare room. “Geez, kid. You stink.” He set the boy down and removed the diaper, doing his best not to gag. He’d gotten pretty good at changing diapers. Without Deacon or Hammer for a break, he’d in fact started to grow attached to the well-tempered baby.
Said baby grabbed for his finger and smiled.
Noel’s heart pounded as he stared down and smiledback. “Am I your father?” he whispered. As far-fetched as the idea seemed, he wasn’t so opposed to it anymore. A future with Addy and babies felt right.
No more killing. No more destruction. Here he could build a life. His garden, his girlfriend, his future. But without the Business, he didn’t know what he’d do for a living. With the amount of money he’d earned and his investments, he neverhad to work again. The one huge perk for contract work—it paid extremely well. Since most contractors didn’t make it past the first year, Noel, Deacon, and Hammer were considered pros in their field.
“I’m leaving my job,” he told the baby, who squirmed on the table.
Quickly disposing of the diaper in a nearby container and cleaning the baby before re-diapering him, he stared downat the little guy. “Time to start new. Maybe you could stay with me and Addy. We could be a family.”
Family.
The word felt rusty on his tongue. He had hazy recollections of his parents before the car crash that had ended everything.
Fights between his father and mother. A happiness all too normal, because it had been fleeting. They loved each other, but his parents had beenvery different. She’d wanted more children, to settle down. He’d been married to his job, traveling, and making good money forecasting for businesses. They’d been apart more than they’d been together, but Noel had always looked forward to his father’s return.
His father hadn’t wanted children in the first place, but he’d loved Noel. Had been fond of his wife as well, though Noel had sensedthe friction between them, had heard the accusations of infidelity.
The car crash had been a fluke. A slick road, bad weather, and a flooded river. Only by some miracle had he not been swept up in the flood as well, rescued by a group of firemen already close by trying to save a stray dog stranded in the roaring waters.
Noel had tried to overcome his grief by being a stellar student,never getting in trouble. But an abusive foster family hadn’t helped.
Then he’d been on his own, living on the streets. There he’d met Big Joe’s predecessor, a burly man with notions of right and wrong, and odd ideas of how to fix all the bad in the world.
That man had seen something in Noel. The way he’d seen something in Deacon and Hammer and all the others recruited young intothe Business.
Noel felt a sense of loyalty, yes, but he’d given them enough.
He heard Deacon’s footsteps.
“Is it safe?” Deacon entered and sniffed. “Mostly safe, I think.”
Noel lifted the now clean baby in his arms. He didn’t feel awkward holding such innocence anymore. He felt protective. “Deacon?”
“Yeah?” Deacon lifted light gray eyes to his, that gaze seeingfar more than many would suspect. Noel knew Deacon liked to be thought of as shallow, charming, basic. But the man was much more, a keen intellect who studied and dissected problems with ease.
“I’m leaving.”
Deacon watched him. “Leaving…?”
