“Yeah. Me too.”
“Watch your heart, brother. Someone like Wren could easily break it without trying.”
I glance at my sister. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that they arrived at the club to be looked after. There’s nothing to say they won’t go back to where they were before whatever shit that went down happened.”
It brushes painfully up against thoughts I already had. That Wren might pick up and go back to New Jersey when this is all over. Assuming that’s where they were in the beginning. Maybe they travelled to see Calista and Vex.
Would I consider leaving Colorado for them?
A shiver passes through me. It’s way too early to be considering questions like that. And the very thought of leaving these two precious kids is like a knife through my heart. While I know Butcher would keep an eye on Willa for me, it’s not like being there for them.
“I think Wren’s lovely,” Willa says. “And I think you look happier than I’ve seen you in years around them. So…I guess I want you to be happy, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I shrug, attempting to shake off the feelings that are emerging as a result of her words. “I think the meaning of life is understanding you can’t have one without the other.”
After dinner, involving way too much pizza and a lecture about soda limits, games night starts. Well, games afternoon. We play musical statues, where we have to dance, and every time Willa stops the music, we have to freeze.
Wren is an adorably terrible dancer.
Mason is a cheat.
Maddie just keeps dancing because she wants to.
“Line dancing is cheating,” Wren says eventually.
“And why is that?” I ask, taking their hand and spinning them beneath it.
“Because it’s distracting how good your ass looks in those jeans.”
I chuckle and pull them close, my lips brushing over theirs. “We could practice naked, if it helps.”
The sound of mock vomiting comes from Willa.
“Eww,” Mason says. “You kissed Wren.”
“One day, you’ll probably enjoy kissing people too,” I say as Wren blushes. They playfully shove me away, like they forgot where they were.
And I kinda like that they did.
“Uncle River, you come home soon?” Maddie asks, stepping between Wren and me.
She offers her arms up to me, and I reach down to pick her up. “Soon, baby girl. Why? You miss me?”
She rests her head against my shoulder. “Mason hit me with a snowball.”
I glance at Mason. “You got your sister?”
He grins unrepentantly and claps his hands with glee. “It went in her coat.”
I bite back a grin, then turn back to Maddie. “Mason is always slow zipping up his coat. If you get outside first and make a quick snowball, you could get him before he has a chance to get ready.”
Maddie’s face lights up. “Okay. I do that.”
Wren rolls their eyes like I’m a child, but the smile on their face says they love—like—me anyway.”
“You getting tired, Maddie?” Willa asks as my niece buries herself into the crook of my neck. I feel her soft breaths against my skin as I rub circles on her back.
