Will’s interference, his single-minded desire to control his sons, and the choices they made in their own lives set off a chain of events I hoped he didn’t predict at the time.
If he did, and this was his intention, he was more evil than I ever thought possible.
Was his plan to make sure Noxx eventually took Daxx from me? If he hadn’t died, would he have told his son and turned it all around on me? Made it all my fault and play the hero unearthing his hidden grandson? What did still irk me was why my dad went into business with Will Hott in the first place! Since finding out, I had done nothing but rack my brain to understand, get inside my father’s headspace and see what his plan or reasons were.
Whatever they had been, I hope he was happy with himself.
“And the man I loved and put all my trust in ended up screwing some slut, ending any chance of me ever trusting him again,” I shouted back.
A flicker of hurt reached his beautiful blue eyes, before they narrowed and darkened again, his sensual lips thinned, and I could see I had just about pushed Lenoxx to his limit.
Good. At least when he was angry with me and arguing, I wasn’t thinking about kissing him, threading my fingers through his short hair, giving the ends a tug, and pulling those sexy moans from him. God, the sounds he made in the heat of passion, it never took much from me to get him aroused. He liked to say just me breathing got him in the mood. Now, all he wanted to do was throttle me by the sounds of it.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere. This isn’t just about us; Daxx needs to know who I am and how I am going to be in his life from now on.”
“And just how is that Lenoxx?” I asked pertly, but inside, a feeling of dread started to fill me. Lenoxx was not going to back down about telling Daxx who he really is, but how much further did he intend on taking it?
“Simple, tomorrow we tell Daxx I am his dad, then I’m moving.”
My belly fell all the way to my toes, I knew what he was about to say, but I still asked the obvious.
“Moving where?” I managed to rasp out through my suddenly dry lips.
“The farm half belongs to HBC until you make the appropriate payments, and the bull your father didn’t pay for has the HHH brand on him. I will be moving over here to be with my son full time, and to look after my investments. Looks like you get your husband back after all.”
My stomach didn’t just drop, it plummeted.
“You can’t move in here with me!” I squawked, my voice a full on screech.
Lenoxx did nothing but grace me with one of his smirks he used to use on the local guys at the pub who thought it a good idea to try and chat me up. Poor saps never stood a chance, and now I was on the receiving end.
I was so screwed.
Leaning in closer, so close I could smell the sensual fragrance of my—his cologne. The scent so familiar, I had to fist my hands, so they didn’t reach out and grab him then rub myself all over his body until I smelled like him again.
“Don’t flatter yourself, baby, I’m doing this so I can be with my son. You stole over three years of his life from me, don’t think for a second you are going to take one minute more.” Piercing, blue eyes echoed his anger, just in case I hadn’t quite got the point.
“I’m going to say goodnight to our son; it might be better if we go together, so he doesn’t think anything is wrong. Then, tomorrow we present a united front when we tell him his dad is back for good.” Turning on his heels, Lenoxx walked out of the shed; he didn’t look back to see if I was following. He knew me too well, better than anyone, even better than I knew myself.
Cheating rat bastard.
I was definitely screwed. Royally.
***
“What do you mean he is going to be living here? You mean here in Waterford, or here on the farm his family practically owns until we pay off Dad’s debts?” my sister asked, as she followed me out of the bathroom to the kitchen. This time of the morning was the favourite part of the day for me. The quiet of the breaking dawn, the sky not completely dark, and the moon and stars still just visible. The only sounds being the shuffling of the animals in the paddock waking up from sleep and getting ready to move to the feed stations and waiting impatiently for the tractor to make its appearance.
Normally, I enjoyed it but not so much this morning.
“Mal, I don’t have anything else to tell you. However, I am pretty sure he won’t be moving into old Shirley Bannocks Bed and Breakfast,” I answered drolly, picking up the kettle and filling it with water before setting it back down on the hob.
“So, he wants to live here, and what? Work the farm with you? I don’t see how that is going to work out; he looked pretty livid last night after your bombshell announcement.”
“Ya think,” I grumbled, striking the match and lighting the burner. Flicking out the match, I turned around and faced Mal.
“He wants Daxx to know him. He thinks the best way for that to happen is to be with him here.” I shrugged, trying to sound like I understood where Noxx was coming from when I felt exactly the opposite.
“And you accepted that?”
“It’s better than the alternative. If I fight Noxx on every little thing, he will get defensive, or more defensive than he is now. I’m not going to risk backing him into a corner only to have him take Daxx from me.”
“This isn’t exactly a little concession to keep the peace, Mack. This is your estranged husband, the love of your life once upon a time, coming to live here and play daddy to his son. Aren’t you worried he is going to want to play husband too?”
Trust Mallory to cut to the quick. All night, well, since I managed to fall into bed in the early hours this morning, all I thought about was how this demand of Noxx’s was going to play out. Seeing him again after three years and some months proved I was just as affected by his body now as I was back then. The changes his body had gone through since our time apart were nothing short of spectacular. His muscles more defined and much bigger, his face slimmer making his chiselled jaw more pronounced, but making him no less handsome. In fact, Lenoxx was more beautiful now, and yes, I did mean beautiful. All three Hott brothers had that one common denominator that set them apart from any other mortal man, and that was their piercing, blue eyes. Their eyes were a window to not only their souls but to their hearts. They all had the ability to act nonchalant or unaffected and to seem serious, but their eyes gave them away every time.
Last night, I saw the evidence of that. When I told him that he had a son, the hurt in those blue orbs cut me so deep, the guilt of my decision came back in spades. I thought I had come to terms with it all until I saw the way Noxx stared at our son in his bedroom after he and his brothers returned him to me. I would have had to be blind not to notice the way he ate up every word our son spoke, every movement of his little hands, and smile he gave whilst telling us of his adventure and finding his new kitten.
It made me see how much I took for granted, having Daxx around me every day, and, most importantly, how unfair it was to keep him from his dad.
I knew Lenoxx had fallen in love with Daxx the minute I saw the look in his eyes.
“I doubt somehow that Lenoxx wants to do anything with me other than make my life miserable for keeping his son from him,” I replied dryly, busying myself with making a thermos of strong hot coffee to take with me to keep me coherent while I fed the animals. Functioning on little sleep wasn’t foreign to me; in fact, I was used to getting a minimum of four hours a night. This morning, however, I had not only exhaustion to deal with but the impending arrival of my husband, as well.
How he expected us to live under one roof again this time without our love and affection keeping us warm was a little hard to figure out. Lenoxx and I had once been so in love, even living in that dump in Melbourne hadn’t altered our bond, it stopped us from seeing the darker side of the one-bedroom hovel. All that mattered back then was that we were together, married, and forging ahead with our plans to have a family.
We had th
at family now; the rest of the plan went to shit, something I refused to take the blame for, though. I might have done the wrong thing by leaving and letting Will control me, but none of it would have happened if Noxx had not broken our vows and sunk inside another woman
Shit! Going back and forth like this wasn’t doing my mental state any good at all. What I needed was to get my hands dirty, maybe take some of my aggression out on that blasted baler. For the past few days, I had been tinkering around on it, trying to fix the issue myself before giving up and calling in a mechanic. The call-out fee would just about deplete the weekly grocery money I had left in my account, and god only knew how much the dodgy mongrel would charge me for parts. Nope, the only alternative was to continue to try and repair it myself, last night I noticed that Daxx’s pyjamas were a size too small plus the kitten he rescued had to be seen by a vet if Daxx insisted on keeping him. The fluff ball was cute, but he obviously came from one of the hay sheds and needed to be checked out.
I huffed out a growl, finished filling up the thermos then turned around to face Mal.
“Would you mind—” I started to ask, but Mal held up her hand to stop me.
“I will get Daxx up, give him brekkie, then bring him out to you before I grab the kitten and drop him off to the vet on my way to work.”
Warmth and love spread through me, Mallory and I butted heads most of the time, but she was nothing but loyal to her nephew and me. She had ample reasons to pack up and go live with her boyfriend, Tim, but she stuck it out here, helping me with Daxx. The farm work she left to me because let’s face it Mallory was useless with a screwdriver or on the back of a horse. What she was good at, was supporting me, while I did everything to keep this place going even though she thought it futile.
“Thanks, Mal, I will be out in the north paddock most of the morning; just bring Daxx to me there, will you?”
Receiving a nod, I grabbed the thermos and headed for the back door.
“And Noxx, where should I send Him when he gets here?”
Tensing at Mallory’s unconcealed humour, I didn’t give her another glance; instead, under my breath, muttering the place, exactly where I thought he could go.
“How about hell?”
LENOXX
“I don’t understand why I can’t go with you. I want to meet my grandson Lenoxx.”
My mum’s voice screeched through the Bluetooth system in my car.
“Ma, you will meet him, I promise, but first we need to tell him that I am his dad before we let you loose on him,” I reasoned with her, grateful that she couldn’t see my eye roll, or my brother’s.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me, young man. I will be patient for one more day; then, I am getting in my car and heading to Waterford. And for heaven’s sake, please take a photo of my grandson and text it to me. I need something to keep me at bay or else—”
“We get it, Ma, no need for theatrics,” Fenixx called out from the backseat, pulling a chuckle from both Hendrixx and me, and a growl from our mother.
“Don’t sass me, Fenixx Beauregard Hott. I have been waiting for this day since I brought you boys your first box of condoms. Now, get going and remember to send me photos of Daxx.”
“Jesus, is it just me, or does hearing Mum say the word condom make your balls disappear too?”
“Nope, mine have shrivelled up to the size of raisins,” Hendrixx confirmed with a muffled groan.
Joining in on the laugh, I suddenly cleared my throat, stopping the combined groans and laughter.
“Listen, I just want to thank you both for coming with me. I know that Makena’s place is rough, and you both taking time off your duties at the Triple H means the world to me.” Keeping my eyes firmly on the road ahead, my fists tightened on the steering wheel; I said what I had wanted to say to them yesterday when we first found Daxx.
“Having you two with me when Daxx hears that I am his dad, well, I need you there. Ya, know?”
Silence replaced the earlier banter, the car’s atmosphere not at all uncomfortable.
“We’ve got you, Noxx, always,” Drixx said, reaching over the console to squeeze my arm.
“There isn’t anywhere I’d rather be than with my nephew, mate,” Fenixx added, looking at me in the rear-view mirror.
“So,” Hendrixx said, clapping his hands together, “how exactly are we going to bring Mack’s place back to being a financially stable earner? Because going by the books, as bad as they were filled out, the place has been bleeding money for fucking years.”
“There is one thing I don’t get if old man Rogers knew the place was going under, why the hell did he enter into a breeder’s agreement with Dad? Which also raises the question–why did Dad sign him up?” Fenixx asked as I turned the car onto the dirt road that led to Makena’s.
“I mean, look at the place, just about every fence needs fixing or replacing. Every trough and feed bin, and that’s just this paddock,” he said, waving his hand to the window indicating to the land beyond.
“The old man did a lot of shit I never understood, as for Makena’s father? I gave up trying to understand a week after she and I got together,” I admitted, with a rueful shake of my head. One thing our fathers had in common other than hatred for each other was the hatred for their child’s romantic partners. Rogers hated me the minute Makena took me home to meet her parents officially. They knew about me obviously, the feud between our dads well known around the district. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, old man Rogers took one look at me, and fire sparked from his steely grey eyes. From that moment, he made it his life’s ambition to make sure Makena and I were never left alone in the house. Her mum did what she could to keep him off our backs, Mrs Rogers liked me and had been happy her daughter and I, had found something special, but she could only do so much without taking sides. Makena and Mallory both suffered the wrath of their father’s jealousy and envious nature towards people who came from money. Luckily for Mal, her boyfriends tended to be of lower class. It seemed she deliberately chose the kind of boy her dad wanted her to go out with, so she didn’t have to put up with the shit her sister did.
She even turned down Hendrixx probably because two daughters seeing Hott brothers would have likely driven her dad into an early grave.
“Noxx? You listening?” Hendrixx suddenly asked me, bringing me back to the conversation.
“Huh?”
“I said the first step should be doing an inventory of stock and feed, Fenixx can do that while I take another more thorough tour of the machinery sheds and see what equipment we have to work with. Mallory mentioned the amount of repairs Mack has to do each day, I was thinking of seeing what is needed and then bringing over some from our place.”
My head nodded in agreement. The Triple H had more than enough tractors and balers bringing a few over here wouldn’t be missed.
“Good plan, while you two do that, I will get Makena to organise a meeting with her bank manager and find out what if anything exists as far as paperwork between Dad and Rogers.”
As much as going back into the mess of the farm’s accounts didn’t appeal to me, it was the only way to find out where things were going wrong, and the secrets, if any, Rogers was hiding from his daughters. Making a business a success was somewhat one of my gifts. I took the Triple H and branched it off to make HBC, all through sheer hard work and gut determination and grit. It wasn’t going to be easy, but I was pretty confident Makena wasn’t going to have to sell the farm unless she wanted to do so.
And knowing her, she would rather eat her hat than sell the place her grandparents started over ninety years ago.
Mallory mentioned last night that Makena wanted to hand it down to Daxx, which rankled me slightly. My son already had a legacy, the Triple H. Already successful and established with business connections all over Australia, not including HBC. Waterford Views had gone through a few different transformations, starting as a sheep farm, then of all things peanuts and olives, and now cattle.
Each
one failing miserably.
My son automatically gained a piece of the HHH from the minute I knew of his existence. His future now well looked after and assured why Makena wanted to waste time, money and effort on this wasteland perplexed and frustrated me.
Pulling into the driveway, I parked and quickly got out of the car, eager to find my son.
Fenixx followed me out of the car, his hand landing on my shoulder.
“First thing first, let’s go tell your son the big news, yeah?”
My heart thundered in my chest, and blood roared in my ears with excitement and trepidation both. This was definitely a unique situation to find myself in, the variable of outcomes that could take place when Daxx finds out who I am to him the reason for my nerves. At three, I worried he was too young to completely comprehend the enormity of the circumstances leading to my presence in his life now.
The story Makena made up to explain my absence I had to grudgingly admit pleased me more than telling my boy something more sinister. It should never have played out that way, and she should have come back to me the moment she found out she had been carrying my child. That would have been the right thing to do; she was yet to come up with a plausible reason why I should forgive her for hiding the pregnancy, as well as raising him a mere forty minutes from his family all this time.
Surely she had to know, to understand how that fucking hurt me to know. Completely unaware that my own son was living so close to me, his uncles and grandparents, all of us enjoying the good life while my son and his mother struggled from day to day.
I wanted to hate her. To not care that she worked so hard every single day to put food on the table or keep the electricity on, but I couldn’t. Makena held the title of the only woman I have ever loved, hearing Mal’s stories of the struggles my wife endured struck me hard. For a man like me, one who insisted on looking after his woman, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Did her pride mean that much to her, keeping her from coming to me?
Hott and Taken (The Hott Brothers Book 1) Page 11
