“Oops,” Drew said, and we both stepped back to give him some air.
“Don’t do that again,” Travis told us, cheeks red with embarrassment. “I’m getting a soda.”
He fled from the room like his Nikes were on fire, and Drew and I turned toward the fam. Andi was sitting under a blanket with Rimmel, and London was on Romeo’s lap.
“You know what to do,” I told him.
He smiled. “Family meeting!”
5
Drew
“Uncle Braeden, what’s pronouns?”Andi asked as we all settled in for another one of Rome’s family meetings.
They were just as frequent as pancake Sundays around here.
B made a choked sound.
Romeo laughed out loud. “You walked right into that one, man.”
“Yeah, Uncle Braeden, do tell,” Rimmel said, pushing the glasses up on her nose.
Ivy twisted to stare at Braeden, expecting an explanation.
“Words we use to describe a person without using their name,” Braeden told her. “Yours are princess/peanut/precious.”
“What are mine?” London asked like it was some kind of game.
“Oh, that’s easy,” B said. “Angel/strawberry/smalls junior.”
“He’s just making stuff up,” Nova told the girls. “It’s the terms we use for a person’s gender identity. Mine are she/her like both of you. Jax’s are he/him just like all the other boys.Some people don’t identify as a girl or a boy, so theirs would be they/them.”
“Mine are funner,” B said, and Ivy elbowed him.
“This conversation is entertaining and all, but can we get back to the stuff we need to discuss?” T said. He was clearly still in protective alpha mode, and frankly, it was sexy.
He was totally one of those DILFs.
DILF = Dad I’d Like to Fuck.
Romeo sat forward, Lolo still tucked into his lap. She seemed even smaller against his large frame, and my stomach tightened thinking of her and Andi in the crosshairs of some money-hungry psycho.
Unable to shake the unsettling image, I went to where Andi and Rimmel were tucked under a blanket and lifted the corner. “You got any room under there?”
Andi pulled the blanket back and stood up, her sock-covered feet sinking into the oversized couch cushions. I sat down, and she plopped into my lap. Rimmel tucked the blanket around us and leaned her head on my shoulder.
I’d never survive if something happened to them.
Whipped by fear, I sought out Trent to find he was already looking at me. Our eyes connected, and I knew he knew what I was thinking.
His eyes slipped to our daughter and then back to the room. “We need to take care of this. Efficiently.”
“What’s going on?” Blue asked, picking up the heavy vibes in the room.
Some of the kids hadn’t been in the room until Romeo called the meeting.
“Travis took the girls out for ice cream earlier tonight,” Romeo replied. “And while they were there, a woman approached Andi.”
