“How you doing?” Midas questions.
“Well, the fact that you’re here in my bedroom and I can’t see Kruger or Legs makes me wonder if I’m having some kind of psychotic break.”
He grins, leaning forward. “Most women would be ecstatic to wake up and find me in their room.” He fakes being offended.
“Most people don’t know what an asshole you are.”
He laughs, snagging his son’s attention. Hero kicks his legs and coos in response.
“That’s fair. To answer the questions I can see rattling around in your head, Legs is talking to Kruger to…how shall I put it? Calm him down.”
“Well, you could put it better than that. What do you mean, calm him down?”
“His boy is gone and his woman was virtually catatonic.”
“I wasn’t catatonic. I was just hurting.”
His eyes drop to my wrist cuff before they hit my eyes once more.
“No.” I shake my head. “I’m not the same woman I used to be. Imagine if every time something happened, your weakest moments were thrown back in your face time and time again. I’m tired of apologizing for something which, quite frankly, was deeply personal and none of your fucking business,” I whisper-hiss so I don’t upset Hero.
“I didn’t do it when I found out my husband and a bunch of men who I thought of as brothers drugged me and raped me.”
He flinches so hard the chair he’s sitting on creaks.
“And I sure as shit won’t do it now. There is a boy out there relying on me to have his back, whether that means being a second mom or just a friend. I won’t do anything that hurts him. But just to say, I wouldn’t do that to Kruger or Legs either. You don’t count because you don’t like me.”
“Is that what you think? That I don’t like you?”
“You haven’t exactly been around since the truth came out. I get it, you’re busy, you got a new business, and you have Hero now, but…” I let my voice drift off because we both know he’s been avoiding me.
“I don’t hate you, Delphi.”
“Do you think…that I’m tainted now? That it will somehow rub off on Legs or Hero?”
He growls, gets to his feet, and stomps over to the bed before climbing on it and lying down the same way his woman did before, only with his son between us. “I don’t hate you, Delphi. Don’t you ever think that. It’s me. I’m struggling to look at myself in the fucking mirror. I’m questioning everything,looking back to see if there were signs I missed or ignored. Could I have stopped it? Because I would have. I’d have killed them all, Delphi.”
I reach over and give his arm a quick squeeze before letting go. “I know. You think I’d let you anywhere near this little boy if I thought you were a danger to him? Father or not, I’d choke you with your own intestines before I let that happen.”
He grins, trailing a finger down Hero’s cheek. “A man like me knows how fucked this life can be. There are no guarantees other than death, and it comes for us all, eventually. I know when my time comes, or god forbid, me and Legs go together, that not even the devil himself could get to Hero because they’d have to go through you first. I don’t hate you, Delphi. How the fuck could I hate the woman who loves my family as much as I do?”
“Does this mean you’ll stop avoiding me?”
“I don’t want to be a reminder?—”
“Every time I see the cut, the Raven Souls emblem, it’s a reminder. But then I see your face, Kruger’s face, Circus, Capone, and Havoc. I see the men who did not lie down and give in. I see the men who were forced to fight something worse than their enemies. They had to fight their friends. To love and hate the same person is a mind-fuck all on its own. Trust me, I know. But you all did the right things, even when the right thing doesn’t always feel good.”
“Are you saying you don’t have the urge to punch me anymore?”
“Let’s not get carried away, Midas. You have a very punchable face.”
He laughs, making Hero jump.
“But you also gave me The Book Nook and we share joint custody of Legs, so…”
He lifts his hand and tugs on a strand of my hair. “Never had a sister before. I’ve got dozens of brothers, but never really felt what it was like to have a sister, until now.”
I feel tears prick my eyes, but I blink them back. “And how does it feel?”
