“I love you too, son.”
“Okay, so can you leave now? I got to talk to Kaia.”
“Don’t stay up too late. We have an early start tomorrow.”
“To see Rule?”
“I’m not sure yet. It depends on what Father Wilkins says.”
Rocking on his heels, Axel bit his lip and bowed his head.
“What is it, buddy?”
“I don’t want to see him.”
“You talk to him regularly. Either on the phone or with video chat.”
“That’s different. He’s there and I’m somewhere else. If I see him that means I got to leave him because he can’t come home with us.”
Meggie swallowed and hugged Axel tightly. “I won’t force you to come. You and Kaia can hang out here or you all can find something to do somewhere else.”
“Okay,” he said, his little voice hoarse.
Releasing him, Meggie headed for the door. “Good night, boys.”
“G’night,” they chorused.
Meggie closed the door, then headed to the master suite in an entirely separate wing from the kids. That was good. She’d shower, then video call her husband.
Axel stood still after Meggie left, then swiped away the tears on his wet cheeks and ran to the door. Opening it, he peeked out, then backed up and closed it before turning to Kaia and folding his arms.
As it went, Kaia shouldn’t fear Axel. He was a kid, small for his age, while Kaia was an ex-football player and much bigger. But Axel was already a violent little motherfucker. He’d bombed Diesel’sbathroomafter beating his ass with a belt.
“What’s the matter?” Kaia asked cautiously, wishing Diesel had been fucking blown up. “We can go on that walk.”
“I heard,” he announced, anger blanketing his face.
Kaia swallowed, cleared his throat, and started to sweat. “Uh, what did you hear?” he asked, playing dumb.
“I already know you’re a real stupid motherfucker, different from CJ. You write that poetry. That’s an automatic upper over you.”
“Uh, one-up?”
Axel stormed to him and kicked him.
“Ouch, fuck!”
“Do not correct me or I’ll add another punishment to you.”
“I’m not sure—”
Axel’s little boot connected with his shin. “You know exactly what I heard. If I was Mom, I’d have Fia drawn and quartered like they did in Medieval times.”
Fuck.
“Axel—”
The moment Axel’s foot moved, Kaia scrambled back, out of his range.
