Page 33 of Nothing Without You

She nodded. “I was wrong. He wasn’t punishing me. He was giving me a shove in the right direction.”

“My direction?” I asked with my brows hiked up.

“Your direction.”

I hugged her tighter. “It’s a good direction.”

“Indeed, it is.” We stayed in our silent embrace for a few more minutes before she pulled away and wiped her eyes. “Okay, I’m ready.”

I grabbed her hand and kissed her ring finger where the beautiful ring sat. “You know I got you, right?”

“I know, and I got you.”

“And our terrorists got us.”

She laughed. I swore I loved that sound. “Not too much on my babies.”

“Nah. It’s always the absolute most when it comes to them. They deserve it.”

She elbowed me, and we laughed as we took one last walkthrough of the house before we stepped out the front door, officially ready to start the rest of our lives together.

EPILOGUE

CHYNA

10 years later . . .

“Ijust got one question.” Keegan interrupted me as he cut his eyes at the new hire HR rep I was currently training on the new format for orientations. I was now the head of the HR department, which was extremely hard being Keegan’s wife. His ass didn’t care about HR nothing. He would harass his employees and bully everyone. He didn’t care who they were. The only reason he hadn’t been sued yet was because he ultimately treated his employees extremely well and paid them even better. The company was super relaxed and had an inviting environment, as long as they steered clear of Keegan.

James’s face turned beet-red as he looked at Keegan. “Yes, sir?”

“Do you enjoy employment?” Keegan asked.

By now, I’d learned to just let Keegan rock out when he got like this, which was still often, with his old ass. Over fifty years old now and still acting like a damn bully was insane, but what could I say? That bully shit was in my husband. Not on him.

James visibly swallowed nothing but some damn air as he glanced at me for help. I shrugged and looked at my husband.

“Y-yes, sir,” James replied.

“Then why do it look like you ain’t payin’ Mrs. Slater any attention? Does it look like she’s talking just for fun? Because she likes hearing the sound of her own voice, perhaps?”

“I was paying attention⁠—”

“Daddy Kee ain’t ask you no question,” Liam snapped as hopped up from his seat at the back of the meeting room, pointing his bony finger at James.

“He kinda did, but I ain’t really like his tone,” KJ said with his feet kicked up on the table in front of him and his chair leaned back like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“Answer him!” a small voice shrieked, and I groaned. This was officially a family ordeal.

Kori glared at James as her twin sister, Kya, stood up and crossed her arms. They were in the row in front of their brothers, and the four of them together looked like some bad-ass kids. And they definitely didn’t just look the part. They were their daddy’s children, even Liam. He had their little asses trained so well, oftentimes I felt like the only sane one in the house.

“I . . . I don’t even know what the question was anymore,” James said as he looked at all the kids and then back to Keegan, who still glared at him.

With another sigh, I gave my kids the look. They all knew when I was about to get serious and straighten everyone out. Liam and Kya quickly sat back down.

“I need y’all to be quiet. I told y’all you could come to this meeting with me if you stayed silent. One more peep, and I’m calling one of your grandparents, godparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins to come get you. Am I understood?” I hissed.

“Yes, ma’am,” they all responded.