Tuck’s hand leaves my neck, and he stands up. “You’re fucking position means jack shit to me. My only concern is her.”
Tipping my head back, I watch Tuck’s jaw tick as they stare at each other. It’s hard to wrap my head around their being brothers-in-law. I don’t want to be the reason for a family conflict, so I stand up and position myself between them, my hands on Tuck’s forearms.
“Hey.” I whisper it, and his eyes lower to me. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine as long as I know you’re close.”
His eyes volley between mine, and he nods his head before he wraps his arm around my waist to pull me close.
31
TUCKER
SINCE RHYSand Swan left, Nora has been a bundle of nerves. So when Marley suggested making S’mores around the firepit with the kids after dinner, I could have kissed her.
As usual, Marley put us to work. She sent us outside to carry the chairs from the porch to sit next to the Adirondack chairs and start the fire.
We couldn’t come outside without Dawson and Beckett following, so they have been tossing small sticks they find on the ground into the pit as Gray follows Dawson around. He’s two, and Gray is overprotective as it is, so that boy doesn’t do anything without his Daddy’s shadow.
Beckett, on the other hand, is just as rowdy as Mason, who is protective but just a little more hands-off than Gray.
“When are you going to Tennessee?” Mason stacks an armload of wood next to the pit that he brought from the rick by the house.
“Wednesday. Callum sent a link to a realtor that his wife knows. The return tickets are for Saturday.” I’m squatting next to the pit on my good leg, setting up the wood on the small kindling that I tossed in.
Jax sets down the last chair from the porch and practically throws himself into it, his long legs flopped out in front of him.“If I’d known you were going to be moving there, I wouldn’t have sold my house. It was remote, and I had it built, so it was pretty kick-ass. I miss it sometimes.”
Dawson squeals behind us, and we turn to see Gray tossing him into the air. Yearning spreads through me, and I imagine doing the same with a child of my own. A redheaded boy or girl calling me daddy. The thought warms and frightens me at the same time. What if all my issues make it impossible to be a good father?
Can I be a protector and provider if I can’t run to my child if hurt? Or my wife? It’s a miracle if I get through a day without being angry, will that block my ability to bond with my child? What about fun stuff? With time, would I be able to chase them and toss them in the air?
Looking away, I busy myself with the wood in the pit again before I respond to Jax. “You never know how things are going to work out.”
The back screen door slams, and Niki runs across the yard to Jax. “Daddy! Daddy! Mama’s got a big bag of marshmallows and she says we’re going to put them on sticks.”
Jax sits forward on the chair and grabs his little girl to set her on his lap. She’s so small that his hands wrap around her ribcage, reminding me just how delicate she is. She makes herself comfortable in what she perceives to be the safest place in the world.
He chuckles and says, “So I heard.” He starts to speak his native Serbian tongue with her, and she responds in kind as they have their own conversation. When I first heard both of the girls speaking fluently with him, I was shocked that they picked it up so easily, but Marley says they’re sponges and the best time for them to learn languages is when they’re small. She says he’s been talking to them in Serbian since he started talking to her stomach while she was pregnant.
Mason and I work in silence for a few minutes, the sounds of squealing from Dawson and Beckett getting louder as Gray chases them around the trees close to Marley’s stables. It’s loud enough that we didn’t hear the back door open again.
Mason hands me the flint, and I pop a few sparks into the dried grass at the base of the wood around the kindling. “Did Callum say when he needs you to be moved out there? Cody said he could only fill in through the end of next month.”
A gasp behind us has us both swiveling our heads in that direction. Nora is standing there with a few blankets in one arm and a box of graham crackers in her hand. Marley is next to her with a tray holding a bag of marshmallows and bars of chocolate.
Tears fill her eyes as the look of betrayal almost knocks me over. Just what I need, first she’s scared to death about tomorrow, and now she thinks I’m leaving her. I stand up, and Mason does the same. Her throat moves when she swallows, and I take a step toward her. “Nora, wait.”
She pushes the blankets and the box of cracker at me and says, “Excuse me.” She turns on her heel, her hair flying around her, and walks toward the house.
Fuck.
Turning to Mason, I shove the blankets and crackers at him and follow her. She’s walking fast, her shoulders squared and stiff, and her hands balled at her sides. I’m pretty sure she’s rushing on purpose to keep me from catching up to her, and my limitation pisses me off. Pushing through the pain, I walk faster, which exacerbates my limp.
“Nora.” I say it low since we are passing Dad, holding Sofi’s hand, Sloane and Elly walking across the yard with Lainey Rai.
I’m pretty sure my dad chuckles as I pass.
Fucker.
She jogs up the steps, the globes of her perfect ass peeking out from under her sweatshirt, and when she goes through theback door, she glances over her shoulder and pushes the door closed. Damn it. I haven’t jogged up stairs in a year, but I need to catch up with her and nearly fall on my face when my leg almost buckles from the pain slicing through my thigh.
