“Okay, boys,head out,” Dad said. “I’ve got Ducky.”
My brothersgrumbled, but gave me a hug, then left us alone. I padded into my kitchen andturned on the kettle. “Do you want some coffee? I have instant.”
“Coffee’d begreat, honey.”
“As much as Ilove having you here, I really do have to study, Daddy, so how long are youplanning on staying?”
He smirked,sitting up at the island. “Long enough to drink the coffee and find out how mybaby girl’s doin’. Then I’ll get outta your hair.”
“I’m good. Ihave a firewall to break through for a company in Seattle which is‘impenetrable.’” I rolled my eyes. “I’ve already found two back doors.”
Dad chuckled.“There’s my girl.”
I didcybersecurity for several companies in the Pacific Northwest. I’d been in theracket since I was sixteen and I’d saved a mint. Of course, nobody knew how oldI was. My father had figured out I had his ‘gene’ for hacking when I was ten andI’d infiltrated my neighbor’s wi-fi router. He was an asshole kid bullying myfriend at recess, and I’d written some basic code to fuck with one of his videogames. It had scared the shit out of him and made him back off of Lucy, but I’dbeen simultaneously grounded (by Mom) and high-fived (by Dad), and then Dad hadtaken me under his wing and started to actually teach me everything he knew.
And it was alot.
My dad couldhack pretty much anything anywhere and if he couldn’t do it, Rabbit out inSavannah or his sister, Sierra, who was in Monument could.
Of course, inorder to use my skills at a ‘legit’ company, I had to have a degree, so I wasin school for that reason, graduating in a few weeks. True to form, I decidedtomake my life even harderand minored in French, which was thestupidest decision ever, because becoming fluent in French issuperhard!And now I really did have to study, whereas, if I’d just gone with a basic oldcomputer engineering degree, I could have cruised through until graduation.
Just as I slidDad’s coffee across the island to him, Mom walked through the front door, and Irolled my eyes. Mom’s long, blonde hair was piled on top of her head into amessy bun, and she wore skinny jeans, knee-high boots and a Dogs of Fire MChoodie. Just like me, she wore glasses, however, hers were more cat eye shapedwith little rhinestones on the sides.
“I told you totell him not to come, and that kind of meant you didn’t need to come either,Mama.”
She shrugged,setting her purse on the island, and pulling me in for a hug. “I wanted to makesure you were okay.”
She then made herway to my dad who slid his hand to her ass and squeezed before kissing her innothing less than the R-rated fashion he always did.
“Hey, baby,” hesaid, smiling at her as he patted her bottom.
“Hi, honey.” Momtugged on his beard. “Thanks for making sure she was okay.”
“Always.”
“Oh my god, Iknew it,” I hissed.
Mom smiled at meas she leaned against Dad. “Baby girl, when you have a child of your own, youwill understand.”
“Which one ofyou sent the Kray brothers to harass me?” I asked, pouring my mother a cup ofcoffee.
“They did thaton their own,” Mom said.
“Well, can oneof you make it stop, please? They’re quiteliterallymaking me crazy.”
“I’ll talk tothem,” Mom promised, but Dad just chuckled into his coffee.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothin’,Ducky.”
“I give up.” Inarrowed my eyes at him. “You know you’ve raised mini-yous, right? They arecarbon copies, although, maybe Cash is a bit more like Mack, you know, bossier,but that’s not saying much, because you’re almost as bossy as Uncle Mack. Whycan’t you be more like Uncle Hatch? He’s so sweet, and Flash and Jamie are kindand sensitive souls who treat women with respect. Poppy is so lucky to havebrothers like that and Tate’s beyond lucky to be married to Flash. I bet Hatchwas always gentle and calm when he was raising them, too.”
Dad did a spittake as he burst out laughing and mom rushed to grab towels to clean up themess.
“What’d I say?”I asked.
“I don’t wannaburst your bubble about Uncle Hatch, baby girl, so I won’t. All I’ll say isthat we protect our own, Daisy, and that ain’t gonna change. Mom and I’ll talkto your brothers about layin’ off a bit, but shit like what happened outthere”—he thrust a thumb over his shoulder—“ain’t gonna fly and you’re gonnahave to get used to us bein’ here if and when somethin’ like that ever happensagain.”
