Page 2 of Her Courage

"Andrei," I snapped, in no mood to hash this out with my friends. "Just enough."

My Russian friend shook his head. “You didn’t let it die when it was about me and my grandfather. So, I’ll give you a pass this one time, but you’re going to need to deal with your issues sooner or later, my friend.”

He tossed the file on my desk, then just stood there. The weight of his stare was heavy upon me as I did my best to try and ignore it.

“Don’t you have some reports to compile or numbers to crunch?” I waved a hand in the air. “Perhaps a vendor to strong arm into giving us discounts?”

Andrei’s head cocked to the side. “Do you even know what I do here?” There was a hint of humor in his question.

Of course I did, I just wanted to piss him off and get a rise out of him.

“You’re an ass,” he finally said after a few minutes of silence. “Stop ignoring your mother. You know she only gets more persistent when you do.”

He was correct. One did not ignore Patrice Wulf-Huntington.

“I need to think,” I admitted softly as I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Because I didn’t want Lottie anywhere near her or her piece of shit husband.

“Don’t think for too long,” Andrei placed a hand on my shoulder. “You know how persistent and intrusive she can be. Next thing you know she’ll be showing up at the house.”

“Fucking hell, I know.”

“Maybe call Sierra?” Andrei shut his laptop and rose. “But let’s stop thinking about this for now. It’s time to get home.”

I nodded. We made a promise to Lottie, and she to us to work less and be home more.

Which included being home at a reasonable time for dinner.

I glanced down at my watch and it was creeping closer to six pm.

I saved the document I was working on and shut down my computer.

“Let’s get home to our girl.” I sighed and rose from my chair. “I’ll figure out what to do about my mother.”

Chapter Two

LOTTIE

Ifinished my last file and logged off just as the doorbell rang. Confusion rolled through me as I glanced down at my watch and saw it was just after six pm.

Who the heck would be ringing the doorbell? Colby had a night class today so he'd be home late, and I suspected Kaleb and Andrei had lost track of time at the office.

It was easy for all of us to do. We were dedicated to our work. Almost a little too much.

But it was something we were working on together. More time at home, away from work computers and phones. Spending time together as a family unit.

There were times that I could hardly believe this was my life.

I had three boyfriends.

But they were more than just boyfriends. They were my Daddies.

The doorbell rang again and snapped me out of my musings.

With a growl of frustration, I rose and went down the stairs, muttering under my breath the whole time.

I opened the door with a scowl on my face. "Can I help you?" I asked the woman with her back turned toward me.