“Get the fuck out of here. Tell Dai Tai I said, congratulations. When are the two of you going to announce it to the rest of the club?” He nuzzled his lips into the sweet curve of Jinx’s neck.
“We’re waiting until next month after her twenty-week scan.”
Viking hummed. “Smart move. If you don’t need anything else, I’m going to take care of a few more things this morning. Talk to you soon.”
He disconnected the call, keeping his arms locked around Jinx. “How much of that did you hear?”
“Not much. I’m sorry about your daughter.”
He let his chin rest on her shoulder. The silence felt easy as they sat there soaking in the comfort of one another. For long moments, Viking held Jinx, her weight giving him strength and solace when he’d been alone for too many years.
“If I hadn’t lost Sarah and Nancy, my life would look a lot different.”
She nodded, leaning back against him.
“I don’t think Nancy and I would still be married. Hell, who am I kidding? We definitely wouldn’t have stayed married. I fell out of love with her before she had Sarah. I stayed with her for all the wrong reasons. I think that’s why she hated me. Fuck, I...I tried to love her again. That was part of the reason it hurt so bad when she did what she did. I kept thinking that if only I’d loved her, she wouldn’t have gotten into drugs.” He took a shaky breath.
Jinx shifted around, her knees moved next to his hips. She placed her hands on his cheeks, holding his face so he had to look into her eyes. “Listen to me, Bekkett Larsen. I didn’t know Nancy, but I know you can’t make anyone do what they don’t want to do. Sure, you could’ve been this perfect boyfriend, husband, whatever. You could’ve catered to herevery whim. That doesn’t change how a person is. My brother got everything. He had the biggest bedroom. Even when his twin was alive, our parents showered Benjamin with more praise. He demanded more attention, and he got it. After Brandon’s death, Benjamin was coddled. He received twice the allowance, because, of course, he should. It was sickening. And still, look at the psycho he became or always was. I’m not saying your ex was the same. I’m just trying to point out that people are who they are, regardless of what others do or say. You can’t blame yourself for others' behavior. Period.”
“You’re such an amazing woman, Blair Clemons. You know that?” He wrapped his arms around her, keeping her steady. His chair was big but not big enough for what he’d like to do.
“Why, thank you, sir. I have heard that a time or two.” She smiled down at him.
“Is that so? Who else has said that to you?” he growled.
Jinx wiggled her ass. “Are you jealous that others have complimented my greatness?”
Viking knew a trap when he heard one. His phone chirped behind Jinx, the tone he’d set forKeys. “Shit, that might be important information about you.”
She bit her lip. “You should probably get it then.”
He reached around her, picked up the device, and hit the Talk button. “What’s up, Keys?”
“When you and Jinx are up and around this afternoon, I wanted to see if you wanted to come up and visit Palmer and me for lunch. We can go over some things I found while you're both here.”
For the first time since he’d spoken to the man, Viking didn’t hear the tapping of a keyboard in the background.
“Is everything okay? You don’t sound like you’re at your computers?”
Keys barked out a laugh. “I’m not surgically attached to the damn things.”
“Could’ve fooled me, brother,” Viking said, half joking.
“I have a program running. I’m watching Palmer make sourdough. She’s decided she needs to make it for all the women or some shit. Don’t ask me why, but it’s cute as fuck watching her do it.”
Viking rolled his eyes. “It’s a thing I heard.”
Keys grunted in acknowledgement, and then he heard Palmer mutter in the background. “I gotta go. See you two in a bit.”
“You’ll like Palmer. She and Keys grew up in the same small town and reconnected a few years ago.”
“All these women are so different than me.” She tried to move off his lap.
Viking tightened his grip. “What do you mean?
Jinx shook her head. A tear slid from the corner of her eye. “All of these women you talk about seem like they have their shit together. You talk about them with so much respect. How can you look at me and compare me to someone else in the same space without thinking I’m lacking? Like the only thing I’ve done is take a shitton of money that my grandmother left me, so at least I’m not a thief, and traipse across the country. I spent ten years disappearing as best I could. The only things I’ve accomplished are learning to take down an opponent in several martial arts and to make cocktails with flair. I chose a state in a cold area in the northeast because it was as far away from my family home as I could get.”
“Okay, let’s tackle that shit one thing at a time. For one, you’re every bit as accomplished as the other ladies. Each and every one of them has gone through their own fair share of hell and back—from abusive exes, human trafficking, sex trafficking, or worse. Their lives now might look great, but they sure as shit didn’t start out that way, and I’m sure if you ask them, they’d tell you they have rough days even now. If I haven’t shown you respect, please let me know. I would rather cut my arm off than hurt you like that. My god, I respect the fuck out of you, just as I do all the women married to my brothers.”
