For a three year old, he had an amazing grasp on his words and speech, and other than his lisp caused by two missing teeth, he sounded more like a five year old. Not that I knew much about kids.
“Who that man, Mumma?” Daxx asked, pointing his chubby finger at me, suddenly aware of my presence. So far, I had kept a respectful distance, keeping out of the way but not leaving Daxx. Hendrixx and Fenixx too stayed to watch Makena sort Daxx out, fed him and bathe him. Each of us mesmerised by the little boy who looked so much like us; there was no doubt who he belonged to, he had a combination of both Makena and me. I had not been able to take my eyes from him since we found him in the paddock sitting next to his uncle holding onto his kitten without a care in the world.
My gaze dropped to my wife, my eyebrows rising waiting for her to answer.
This was going to be good. How exactly had she explained my absence in my son’s life?
Makena had the decency to look at me, her face soft, showing no signs of her earlier anger or frustration. Instead, she looked resigned to having me there, almost defeated. Picking our son up from the bed, Makena sat down, settling Daxx on her lap.
“Well, you know all your cars?”
“Yep! Dey are my spesical ones.”
“They are. And do you remember why they are so special, Daxx?”
“Cos, my daddy, gots them for me,” Daxx answered excitedly, his words nearly knocking the breath out of my lungs. My eyes whipped from Daxx’s happy face to Makena’s, but she was refusing to look at me, instead, concentrating on playing with our little boy’s hands.
“That’s right, Daxx; Daddy sent them because he has to live far away because his job is very important.”
I felt hands at my back, holding me up as I started to sway. I don’t know what I was expecting Makena to say, but that wasn’t it. To be honest, I was thinking she told him I was dead, or I didn’t care about them.
“Jesus,” Fenixx rasped behind me, obviously just as surprised as I was.
“Um … Lenoxx?” Makena’s voice broke through my wild imaginings.
“So … sorry, what?” I stammered, feeling like a fool.
“Would you like to come sit down here on the bed with Daxx and me?” Makena asked softly, dropping her chin to Daxx, her eyes telling me she was about to rock my world yet again.
“Ah, yeah, sure.” Pushing off the door, I walked slowly on wobbly legs, the five steps to the small child’s bed. It was so little, much smaller than a single, and I was not a small man. At six foot two, there was no way I was going to get down on the mattress and sit comfortably with the safety barrier down half the length of the bed.
Instead, I stopped in front of my son and dropped down, balancing on my haunches.
“Hey, little man, you gave your mum quite a scare running off and getting lost,” I told him gently, my voice coming out more gravelly than normal.
“I finded a kitty!” Daxx crowed indignantly, pulling gasps of laughter from all the adults in the room.
“Ah, yes. Yes, you did, but I think next time you should wait for Mummy or me to go with you.” Hiding my smile, I tried valiantly not to pull him into my arms, knowing if I did, I wouldn’t ever let him go. And Daxx needed time to get used to my sudden presence in his life first.
And he was going to. Makena was yet to hear my plans, but she better get used to seeing me around more because whether she liked me or not, trusted me or not, I was going to be in our son’s life.
Full time.
I could feel Makena staring at me, my statement to Daxx meant exactly what I said. He was going to be able to depend on me being there for him. Losing one more second with my son was not something I would budge on. How that looked for us as his parents was yet to be determined, but one was for sure.
I was back in Makena’s life.
The atmosphere in the room grew more tense; only Daxx seemed to be oblivious to the proverbial elephant in the room. Dressed in a batman onesie and his newly acquired kitten sleeping beside him, Daxx looked from his mum to me and then over at my brothers who were still standing just inside the room each sporting adoring expressions staring at Daxx.
“Who dey, Mumma?” Daxx asked, pointing at Hendrixx and Fenixx, his bright blue eyes wide with curiosity. I swear I could listen to him talk all day long and not get sick of it.
Shifting my body weight to my other knee, I looked over at Makena. She had a hand on Daxx’s head, softly stroking his hair; her focus totally on him. The look on her face as she watched our boy knocked the breath out of me. Her sea-green eyes were shinning with pure love, watching Daxx; she had an ethereal quality about her like he was the key to her happiness. Much like I had been to her once.
Tamping back the unease of how Makena was going to answer the question, I leaned forward and put one hand on Daxx’s knee, the move grabbing his attention.
“You have the same face,” he giggled pointing his finger at me, then pushed forward and poked it into my cheek. That small innocent touch from my son, touching deep in my heart. I fisted my free hand by my thigh in an effort to stop myself from pulling him into my arms and bawling like a baby. I wanted him to know who I was to him, Makena as much admitted that Daxx knew he had a father. When and how was she going to explain to him that was me?
“That’s because the three of us are brothers.” I smiled at my son.
“I have Mummy and Aunty Mal,” Daxx announced proudly, my son not old enough to understand the pain hitting me hearing him say that. My jaw clenched painfully tight, my eyes boring into Makena, who was doing a good job of avoiding me. Too bad for her, our deep unexplainable connection wasn’t completely severed from our time apart, because I could see the goosebumps on her forearm prickling the fine hairs. She knew what I wanted.
She made a nervous sound deep in her throat, the slight tremble in her hand, giving me an indication of what she was about to do. Holding my breath, I felt Hendrixx and Fenixx move closer without even looking their way. This was just as important for them to be a part of too. As triplets, there wasn’t much one of us did that didn’t affect the others; they should have been there with me the day of Daxx’s birth, celebrating it.
“Daxx.” Makena placed a finger to his jaw and turned his head, so he was now looking at her. “This man is called Lenoxx, and those men,” she pointed to my brothers, “are Hendrixx and Fenixx.”
“He founded me.” Daxx nodded and pointed at Fenixx. Smart kid, even with the three of us identical, Daxx still knew the difference between us.
“Hey, little dude,” Fenixx gave a little wave, Hendrixx doing the same.
Makena smiled gently at our son, then her gaze fell on me, I could see the fight or flight bubbling there, but she took a deep breath and gave me a weak smile.
“Daxx, they look alike because they are triplets, they were all born at the same time and—oh god Noxx I can’t, not yet please,” Makena cried, jumping from the bed she pushed past me and rushed from the room.
“Makena!” I shouted, forgetting for a second about Daxx sitting in front of me.
“Noxx,” Hendrixx warned, seeing Daxx’s wide eyes and worried expression.
Tamping down my anger, I motioned for my brothers to come closer.
“Daxx, I have to go see your Mumma for a minute. Can you stay in here with my brothers until I come back?”
Daxx jumped from the bed. “Play cars!” he cried out, racing off to the corner of the room where a large wooden box sat overflowing with an array of toys. I held my breath, watching him stumble excitedly to his cars.
Thinning my lips, I got to my feet, looking at my brothers. “Can you stay with him? I’ve gotta go talk to Mack.” Using the shortened version of her name felt so foreign and wrong, twice now I had spoken it, and twice I wanted to bite my tongue off when I said it, but damn it what the fuck did she expect from me. I thought she was going to tell Daxx I was his father, but Makena did what she did best and ran off, instead of facing the hard stuff.
“Go, mate, we won�
��t leave him,” Hendrixx assured me with a slap to my shoulder.
Nodding my thanks, I gave Daxx a quick look to see if his mother’s abrupt departure had any effect, but going by the way he was digging into the box of toys, he seemed okay.
Turning on my heels, I took off but stopped when Fenixx reached out and grabbed my arm.
“Noxx, take it easy with the Mack shit. She has always been Makena to you, you might not like her all that much right now, but she used to be everything to you. Don’t deliberately hurt her just because you are hurting.”
“Jesus, Nixx, I am not the bad guy here,” I growled, then pointed at my son.
“Three fucking years. She deprived me of his first three years for what? Because of some bullshit, make-believe affair I was supposed to have had? She is lucky I don’t pack him up right now and take him back to the Triple H with us tonight,” I gritted out, the anger from earlier back in full force.
“Noxx!” Hendrixx hissed under his breath, “For fuck’s sake, don’t be an arsehole.”
“Thanks for the support, brother.” My voice tight and heavy with sarcasm.
“Don’t pull that shit with us. We will always have your back, but don’t think for a second either of us is going to stand there and watch you take that little boy from the only parent he knows,” Fenixx warned, his blue eyes spitting fire at me. “There is more at stake here than just your feelings. You know Makena better than any of us, but I like to think I know her pretty well too, and she would never have done this without believing she had no other choice.”
Hendrixx stepped forward, putting himself between Nixx and me. Hendrixx playing the role of peacekeeper when normally Fenixx held that role.
“All we are saying is be calm. Mack ran and stayed away for a reason, find out what that was and go from there. If you want to pursue a custody agreement, then fine, but you won’t be taking him from his mum. You are better than that.”
My eyes narrowed as I glared at my other halves. Was it too much to ask for some bloody support from my own family? They had to understand how hard this was for me, finding out my wife lived so close after walking out on me was one thing, but to find out that I had a son … wasn’t I entitled to feel pissed off?
Clenching my fist, I mentally counted to twenty before answering Hendrixx.
“I am aware of all of that, Drixx, however—” working my jaw back and forth, I looked back at my son sitting on the bed, petting his little kitten. The last thing I wanted was to scare him with my boiling temper, swearing needed to be curbed at least while Daxx was present. In fact, the three of us were going to have to watch our language from now on, especially when Daxx spends time at the Triple H.
“The way I deal with Mack,” I growled emphasising her shortened name, “is my business. This isn’t some small infraction, something that she can explain away with a ‘whoops I forgot to tell you’ kind of a deal. She kept my child from me deliberately. She is going to tell him who I am sooner rather than later because once Mum finds out she has a grandchild, she is going to be over here insisting on getting to know him. And she isn’t going to play along with Makena dragging her feet.” Giving them each a knowing look, I pointed at Daxx.
“Watch him and don’t wear him out. I want to say goodnight to him before he goes to sleep.”
Not waiting for either of them to respond, I strode out of the room with one purpose.
Find my wife and find out why she did it.
All while doing my best not to throttle her pretty little neck … or give in to the growing desire to kiss her senseless.
Why did she have to be so god damn beautiful?
And why was she the only woman in the world that could make my cock fucking hard?
MAKENA
Run! I had to run and hide before Lenoxx came looking for me and start the argument I knew was coming.
He wants me to tell Daxx he is his dad, but how could I explain that to a three year old and stay sane at the same time.
Daxx knew he had a daddy; I bought him small gifts wrapped them and even wrote little cards pretending to be Noxx, so one day Daxx could read them and see that his dad didn’t abandon him. That had been the plan, and once it made sense. Now, every decision I’d made since finding out I was pregnant, I found lacking in any common sense.
I didn’t have a conscious thought where I was going until I reached the small shed a few hundred metres from the house. Once upon a time, my grandfather used it to brew his illegal homebrew, which at one time, some called good old fashioned moonshine. Then, when Mum and Dad took over the farm the still got thrown out. It ended up becoming a woodshed housing the chopped wood that was cut on the property while still green to season for future winters. It also became a hiding place for Noxx and me to make-out in secret away from the prying eyes of my sister and parents.
The dilapidated building held great memories for me, and I found myself coming in here often to sit and … well, mostly I worried about money, but sometimes I would allow myself to drift back to those days when Noxx would make a comfortable space with a blanket and we would—.
“Thought I would find you in here,” Noxx growled behind me, making me jump, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. The man knew me better than I knew myself sometimes.
“Thinking of reliving some old memories?” he asked sarcastically, his tone getting my hackles up instantly.
“Not a chance,” I lied, grateful for the darkness to hide the tell-tale blush creeping over my cheeks. “I came out here to get away from you.”
“Too bad. Your days of running away from me are over Mack, back there I thought your intentions were to tell Daxx I was his dad. Explain why you didn’t because right now all I want to do is wrap my hands around your throat and—”
“Yes, yes, I get where you are going, Lenoxx,” I spat back at him, hating that he called me Mack again. He never called me that, I was always Makena to him. I liked that he loved my given name so much he refused to shorten it, just the same as I felt about calling him Noxx. His full name as unique as the man, but to me, he was my Noxx, or he used to be.
Now, instead of my rock, my lover and my best friend, Noxx, was the one person who could take my son from me. I refused to let that happen, Daxx is my life, my reason for getting up in the morning and facing the destruction of the farm. The only reason for staying on here and fighting the uphill battle of working our way out of the red.
No way was I letting Noxx take that from me.
“Makena, will you fucking start talking to me. I am sick of you putting me off, Daxx is safe in the house, I know my brothers know and Mum deserves to know she has a grandson. And Daxx deserves to know I am his father. I’m so fucking angry you did this, not only did I lose time with my own kid but my dad didn—”
Stomping forward, filled with rage that Lenoxx would even mention his father to me in the same sentence as my—our son, spurred my next reaction.
Pushing my hands out, they landed on his muscled chest, and with all my might, I shoved him backwards catching him by surprise.
“I don’t care about what your father missed out on. I don’t care about him at all. He never liked me, didn’t care about me, so why should I give a crap about what he missed out on when he was the one to blame for all—” Biting my tongue, I stopped myself from blurting out the secret Will made me sign I would never tell. In my wildest imaginings, never did I think that Will was capable of such heartless blackmail and indescribable hatred.
“Obviously,” Lenoxx drawled; even in the darkness, I could tell his lips were curled in a cruel smirk.
“You ran off without giving me the decency of defending myself, why not blame my father too. Jesus, Makena, when did you become so unfair, so god damned righteous?”
“May I remind you, Lenoxx, of the photos and the voice message proving your affair,” I spat at him, my lips thinning into a smirk.
“And here she goes again. There was no affair Makena, that was all in your mind,” Noxx shouted, throwing
his hands up in the air in a show of frustration, annoying me further.
The cheek of the handsome good looking arse to act so innocent and affronted, making it out like the photos weren’t real. That the voice I loved so much wasn’t his saying filthy things to his mistress.
Things he used to say to me.
“Oh, really? All in my mind, hey? So, I didn’t see the photo of you lying on top of a woman in our bed. You saw it too Lenoxx; I left it there for you, and the tape. Explain that to me if you can,” I retorted, getting up a full head of steam, all of a sudden in the right mood for a fight.
“I saw the photo, and I can’t explain it, I’ll grant you that. The body is mine, but I never had sex with any other woman in our bed or anywhere else. As for the tape, I haven’t listened to it. I am not giving that credence when I know I am innocent, Makena.”
Shaking my head, I laughed humourlessly. “How typical of Hottie 1, always right no matter what the evidence says to the contrary.”
“And the woman I knew and fell in love with would never have kept my own son from me,” Noxx threw back at me. “She would have stayed and fought for me–for us. Instead, you slunk off and left me in a state of devastation for years. Although, I do owe you some credit, if I hadn’t been so hell-bent on hating you, I wouldn’t have made the business so successful. Focusing on your betrayal gave me the drive to create Hott Brothers Cattle. So thanks for that Mack, without you I wouldn’t be a multi-millionaire CEO at the top of the beef industry.”
Gritting my teeth, I squelched the hurt in hearing that Noxx hated me. Logically it made sense because I kept Daxx from him, but that hadn’t been my decision. Yes, I wanted to hurt him for the affair, but I knew myself, and I wouldn’t have been able to go through with not telling him about Daxx eventually. I had a heart, and even with his anger fuelling him, Noxx knew it too, deep down.
Hott and Taken (The Hott Brothers Book 1) Page 10
