by Mari Brown
“This isn’t going to end well.” my dad voices as our eyes follow Rex’s dad.
“Sad and pathetic.” Kat says quietly. “Parents like him make me sick.”
Kitten is thinking of her own childhood. It’s obvious to me what’s going through her mind. Her mother is a waste; one who I’d kill if I could. Her giving birth to Kat is the only reason she’s still breathing.
The last I checked she still lived in a seedy apartment on the wrong side of town, turning tricks to pay for her heroin addiction. I’m surprised she hasn’t overdosed. I don’t bring the subject up but I wonder what Kat thinks or feels these days about her mother. I know from conversation with Drew he has tried to keep up with their mother’s locations.
“Guys like him don’t deserve kids.”
“Yeah, too bad the world doesn’t work that way. If it did I wouldn’t be here.”
“Well then, I guess I should be thankful the world sucks” I say with a loving smile.
“Yeah, I am too.” Her head lays to rest on my shoulder as I wrap my arm around her waist pulling her tightly to me. This woman needs to know no matter where she came from she will always have my love and respect.
A whistle blows on the field signaling the start of the game. My little brother takes the field. I’m here for him and Kat. They need to know I will support them; I stand behind them. Yes, the whole soccer family thing is foreign to me but I can do it. I want to be a better man who is worthy to be a father someday.
We have been watching the game for about an hour when Mr. Greene, Rex’s father, begins talking loudly. He is shouting and cursing at the boys on the field, the coach and the refs. Rex is ready to shoot for a goal but at the last moment he glances toward his father and as his foot comes forward. He kicks the ball and misses the goal. His father loses it then. He begins cussing and screaming about how his son is a loser and so much more.
I pull my phone out and send a text to Pete and Rocco who both appear from the crowd a few moments later. Guess the increase in security works in more than one way.
“Mr. Greene.” Pete says sternly while standing in front of him “Why don’t you come with us, please.”
Kat turns to me surprise on her face. “What? The kid shouldn’t be embarrassed again by his own father.”
“That’s so fucking sweet.” she says while planting a chaste kiss on my cheek.
The obnoxious sound of Mr. Greene yelling at Pete reaches my ears. “I’m not fucking go anywhere!”
“Yes sir, you are!” With those words Pete grabs one arm while Rocco grabs the other and they begin dragging the man away.
“You can’t do this.” He yells as they continue to pull him away. The other families in the stands who have all been watching in horror to this point give us shaky smiles of relief. They know who we are and that we have just taken care of the problem. However, there is one woman with the saddest eyes and tears pouring down her face. She looks familiar and I can’t quite place her. I’m assuming she’s probably Rex’s mom.
“Kat, is that his mom?” I ask nodding my head in the direction of the woman.
“Um, no. But that is our waitress from earlier today.” She says while jumping up and moving toward the young woman. I watch as Kat sits down beside her. She envelops Rachel in a hug. Yes, I remember her name. It’s hard not too when my brother was eye fucking her the whole afternoon.
I turn back to the game and try to focus on Seth dribbling the ball down the field as he maneuvers away from his opponents. At some point, Kat rejoins me.
“Funny thing... Rachel is Rex’s aunt.” Kat speaks. “She moved here to help out her older sister in raising him.”
“Really small world…” I comment.
“It really is.” Kat murmurs. “I invited them out to ice cream after the game, our treat.”
“Sounds good, Kitten.”
“I feel so bad for them having to deal with that obnoxious ass.”
I agree with Kat, that little boy shouldn’t be embarrassed by his father. A boy needs a strong role model in his life. I wouldn’t be half the man I am right now if it wasn’t for my father. I love, respect and appreciate all that he has given up for not only me but my siblings as well. He was a single parent for a few years yet never missed anything we were involved in. Trish was a mistake and he thought he was doing the right thing by marrying her but she was never true wife material. He realized that but it was too late.
Seth’s well-being was more important but as time went on and Trish got worse I knew my father regretted not getting rid of her. Now, it didn’t matter. With the woman dead he no longer had to worry about her instead all of his focus is on Seth. Despite the loss of his mother ,Seth was turning out to be a great fucking kid. I couldn’t be prouder of my littlest brother. I was proud of all my siblings and for some reason I realize it’s time to let them know that. Tonight at dinner, I will start.
Thinking about dinner puts me on another track of thought. How long were Kat and I going to live in my father’s home? As a married couple, we should be setting up a home of our own. I know Kat and I stayed out of convenience and for Seth but we could find something close. Seth would always be welcome in our home. It was just another matter I needed to talk to Kat about. I would let her decide when she was ready for us to be homeowners and really start our lives together.
“What are you lost in thought over?” Kat’s voice breaks through.
“Huh? Oh! I was just thinking about you and I being married, what it’s going to be like. The changes it will bring.” I tell her.
“I don’t see many huge changes for us.” She smiles at me. “For all intent and purpose we live as a married couple now. We just don’t have the little piece of paper.”
“Good point.” I reply “Do you ever think about us getting our own house?”
I really didn’t mean to ask that now but it’s on my mind. It just popped out.
“Yeah, actually I do. However, I think it can wait until we are officially married. I don’t want to add house hunting to my to do list right now.” Her shoulders shimmy as she shrugs. “Between Seth’s birthday, your dad leaving the country tomorrow, an engagement party and a wedding plus work…my cup runneth over.”
“Yeah, I know Kitten. It was just a thought that crossed my mind.”
“Let’s talk about it again when we are done with the wedding.”
“Sounds like a plan, Kitten.”
We lapse into silence as we focus on the game being played on the field in front of us. I watch as once again Seth is running down the field. He is in front of the goal when Rex passes him the ball and Seth line drives it right into the goal.
“YEAH!!!!!” we all shout from the bleachers standing up and clapping for my little brother who just shot the winning goal in the last seconds of the game.
Chapter 18
Cole
Kat, Rachel, the two boys and I all head to the Ice cream parlor after the soccer game. Pete took my dad home and Rocco stayed with us.
“So you moved here from England to help Cathy with Rex?” Kat asks Rachel. The boys are sitting in a booth next to us, lost in their own worlds. I’m stuck with the two women.
“When Chris’ drinking kept getting worse she divorced him. She soon found out she couldn’t count on him to help.” She smiles in the direction of her nephew. “I don’t regret coming to help her.”
“That’s how it should be with family, being there for one another.” Kat smiles at Rachel.
“Not unlike your own.” she answers coyly.
“What?” Kat asks.
“I’m not stupid. The day I moved in town I was warned about the Knights. After I got hired at Tony’s I was filled in with great detail about my new employer. I was specifically cautioned not to cross Katarina Roberts.” The brown haired woman gives my woman a cheeky grin.
I’m a little amazed that she is not afraid to speak her mind in front of us but at the same time she is not being disrespectful but I can’t resist giving her
a hard time.
“Kat? What about me?”
“I’m sure it would be a bad idea to cross you.” Rachel laughs. “This afternoon it took all that I had not to dump something on Justin. Your brother is an ass.”
“He would’ve deserved it.” I deadpan.
“He was being an ass.” Kat pipes up. “I’ll dump something on him at dinner tonight for you.”
I hold in my laughter. I also feel a bit sorry for Justin. Kat pairing with Rachel sounds like trouble for my brother.
Kat is friendly with Rachel. After lunch Kat made remarks to me about the excellent service. I knew that Kat was impressed with Rachel’s work ethic. However, she was getting to know Rachel on a different level. I have a feeling I will be hearing more about Rachel from my woman. Rachel wasn’t setting off any warning bells for me and I knew with the interest she was showing there was a reason Kat was being friendly.
“ Rex and I need to head home. There’s still dinner and homework.”
“Yeah, us too.” Kat replies.
“It was great seeing you again.” I tell Rachel with sincerity.
“She’ll be bringing Rex to paintball. I’ve already decided she’s on my team and we are gunning down Justin.”
“Of course y’all are.” I say with a smile tugging at my lips. My woman is a feisty little kitten.
I stand silently by as the two young boys and two women say their goodbyes. My eyes are constantly on alert for things. I’m sure my dad has checked out Rex’s family history to allow the friendship but I make a note to check with him when we get back to the house. I may have to get Hunter to run a check to be on the safe side. I don’t want to risk that there is any danger to Kat by befriending Rachel.
I handle paying the bill once Rachel and her nephew are gone. I throw some money on our table for a tip for the waitress and then escort Kat and Seth out to the car. Loading up quickly we head home. The drive is filled with Seth talking excitedly about everything from his soccer game to his upcoming birthday party.
“It sucks dad’s going to be gone for a couple of weeks.” Seth finally says.
“It does but you get me the whole time he’s gone” Kat answers my little brother. “I’ll be working from home the whole time.”
“Oh, that’s cool. I didn’t know that.” Seth answers. “Dad says that he hopes in the next year to be fully retired.” He quiets for a moment before asking, “Are you and Kat going to move out when you get married?”
“Move? What are you talking about?” I ask Seth.
“Dad said y’all might get your own house.”
“When did dad tell you this?” I question. I know I brought it up with Kat earlier but she basically told me she wasn’t leaving Seth.
“I don’t remember. We were talking about his trip and it came up somehow. But I told Dad I was moving with Kat if she moved.”
I bust out laughing, my nine-year-old brother trying to move out already.
Kitten has a soft smile tugging on the corner of her lips. The love Kat and Seth have for one another is beyond comprehension. They need each other. Seth’s words only tell me one thing. Kat and I would not be moving out of the mansion anytime soon. We would just have to figure out how to make it work.
My thoughts turn to what type of remodels I could do on the west wing of the second floor. I make a mental note to schedule a meeting with a couple guys from work at the mansion and begin drafting plans. I know my dad would approve and it would be a solution all of us could live with. The thought of the renovations makes me happy.
Kat and I need our own space as we embark on our next step of marriage but the family connection and loyalty is too strong. The best way to solve it is to give us space that is ours and that we can call home, within the mansion. I’m pleased with myself for thinking about this. In fact, I can get it all planned and the work done while we honeymoon.
I’ve already booked our honeymoon for us. We will be taking a month off to travel to Australia. Kat has never been out of the country so I had her apply for a passport. I love that I can spoil her this way and give her things she never dreamed she would have in life. I have not told her the exact location of our honeymoon, she just knows that it’s out of the country.
“Cole!” Kat interrupts my internal conversation.
“Huh?”
“What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, I was thinking about our honeymoon…. What did you need?”
“Seth asked if you would help him with a project for history.”
“Oh.What do you need Seth?”
“I have to build a model of a fort from the Jamestown Colony.”
“Yeah? How long we have to do this?” I glance in the rear view mirror at Kat and Seth sitting in the back.
“Um, like two weeks.” He replies.
“I think we can do that. When we get settled in ,you can give me all the details and I’ll figure out what we need and purchase it and we can start working tomorrow.”
“That’s great, Cole. Thanks! You’re my best brother.”
“Don’t let Justin hear you.” Kat says a laugh escaping her, “He’ll be so jealous of Cole.”
Seth and Kat’s giggles echo throughout the car. It brings a smile to my face. A smile of happiness and contentment. I never dreamed I would be this guy, a guy who was completely stupid over a spitfire of a woman. However, I can’t picture life without her now. She is the air I need to breath. She just is. That’s all I can say about it. Family has always been important to me, will always be, but I am pleased Kat and I are starting our own branch of the family; a branch that will be the power for a long time to come in our empire.
“Poor Justin. Always the butt of a joke.” I remark finally.
“He makes it easy.” Kat’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror “But you know I love him like he was my own brother.”
“I know and he loves you like his sister. The way you two act I swear it’s like you really are brother and sister.”
“In our hearts we are.” she sighs as her heads falls back against the seat. “Our family of choice is sometimes more important than family by blood.”
I know Kat is thinking about her mother in this instant. That bitch deserves to be tortured. Or maybe I’m a little biased. Kat has never spoke in detail about the things she endured but I know she had it rough. It’s why she is who she is today. A tough badass chick with a soft side that makes me soft.
“I love you. Kat.” Rocco’s eye cut to me as he fights back a smile. Yeah. I didn’t really mean to blurt that out now. Not that I’m ashamed of her or my love for her. I have to maintain a certain reputation and being soft is not part of it.
“I love you, too.” Our eyes meet once again in the mirror.
“I love you, too, Kat!” Seth interjects.
“And I love you the best.” she tells him which brings a smile to my face again.
Kat does this to me; she makes me smile. I am usually tough and brutal. I’ve never been able to be cold with Kat. The worst thing I ever did was texting her that stupid picture of me and the two slut chicks. Being with Kat is being at peace. An emotion I don’t know how to describe courses through me.
My dad once told me in private that he was the same way with my mom. He said he could shoot someone in cold blood without blinking an eye but he was scared of mom. He never could tell her no, just as I can’t tell Kat. He went on to tell me that my mom, while bad ass in her own way, never had the fierceness that Kat possess. My mom was the perfect stay at home wife and mom. Kat would go crazy and she really likes her gun.
An image of Kat in her wedding dress with a gun strapped in a holster on her ankle crosses my mind. It sounds crazy but Kitten would do it in a heartbeat. It’s not as if I won’t have a gun on me during the wedding as will most the other men in the church. It’s just part of the job.
“Really? You love Seth the best. Should I be offended?” I tease my Kitten.
“Pfft” she smiles. “Whatever! You know what I mea
n.”
She leans her head back against the seat. Her eyes are tired. I can see it. I’m glad she will be at home the next two weeks with Seth. It will give her a bit of a break from the hustle. I honestly am not sure how she does everything she does. Her job with the company. Being there for me. Being there for family and friends. Planning a wedding, helping dad plan Seth’s birthday. She has a lot on her plate these days.
“Boss.” Rocco interrupts my thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“I think we have a problem.” He says quietly.
“What kind of a problem?”
“A black sedan has been following us since we left the ice cream shop.”
Well, now it makes sense why he was taking the creative (scenic, longer, panoramic) way home instead of the short(er or more efficient) way. Glancing in the side view mirror I see the car tailing us a car length back. There are two men in the car. I want to find out what’s going on but how to do it safely with Seth in the car is the question. Not that I want Kat hurt either but I have no doubts my girl can defend herself.
“Cole what’s going on?” Kat asks as she notices the tension coming from Rocco and I in the front seat.
“We are being followed. Not sure by who.” I tell her as I begin loading my gun and making sure the safety is engaged. I tuck it into the waistband of my pants. “Rocco pull overat the next gas station. Let’s see what happens.”
“Are we in danger?” Seths’ small voice asks.
“I don’t think so, buddy.” I really think whoever is following us does not mean us serious harm. There are only two guys and they have been keeping a distance.
Rocco veers off the road into a gas station parking lot on the side of the building. We watch as the sedan pulls into the business next to us. They don’t make any move to get out of their car.
“Let’s have a little chat with them.” I say to Rocco who has loaded his own gun and tucked it in back in his coat safely.
“Boss!” Rocco says with a nod of his head.
“Y’all be careful, please.” Kat calls out while she wraps a protective arm around Seth. Her eyes follow us as we walk across the parking lot.
