“Pretty bad, mate, I don’t have all the details, but she did lose consciousness on the way to the hospital. Hendrixx said Mal is giving blood so the doctors can do a transfusion.”
Unconscious.
Transfusion.
The words played over in my mind painting the worst possible scenario. Makena has hurt herself so severely a blood transfusion is needed, but how bad? What fucking happened?
Almost on autopilot, I grabbed my mobile phone and typed out a quick text to my pilot. Thankfully the helicopter pad was located on the roof of the same building; the pilot had his own apartment close by; it shouldn’t take long to get up in the air and head back home.
“Fenixx you go be with Daxx, tell him—” I cleared the massive clog in my throat, thinking that my son might be upset or worried because of what he saw ripped at me, “tell him Daddy is on his way, can you do that for me Nixx?”
“You don’t even have to ask Noxx, I’m there for Daxx for as long as you need,” Fenixx replied instantly. In the background, I could hear the motor revving hard, indicating Fenixx was indeed getting to my son as fast as possible.
“Slow down Nixx, I don’t want anything to happen to you as well,” I reprimanded him, eyeing my phone, waiting for the pilot to reply.
“I can feel your anxiety Noxx, Hendrixx will be too. Just get yourself here, and don’t let your head take over. Hendrixx would have told me if something was really bad.”
Being a triplet came with many advantages other than playing tricks on girls and our parents. The connection we shared meant there wasn’t any need for words; we already knew what the others needed without asking.
My phone chirped with an incoming message: At the pad now sir.
“I’m on my way Fenixx, call me when you get to Daxx, I want to speak to him.”
Slamming down the phone, I rushed to the safe and quickly entered the code, grabbing the yellow envelope, then reaching back in and I took the old voice recorder as well, I rushed to the door and barrelled out of the apartment.
Things were going to change as soon as I could see Makena for myself, that she was okay. She had to stop fighting me on my desire to make her life easier, working hard was one thing, but putting herself in danger day after day is going to be a thing of the past.
Daxx needed his mother, and God help me, so did I.
***
“Daddy? Mumma got hurt. She was cwying,” my son told me, his little cherub face so close to the screen I could make out the terror in his blue eyes.
Taking a calming breath, I managed to plant a fake smile on my face in order to calm my kid.
“I know, little man, but Mumma is being looked after by the doctors and Aunty Mal. I promise you she is going to be okay,” I answered, keeping my voice gentle. When Fenixx called once he got to the farm, I was relieved to see he used Skype; he knew that I needed to see my son’s face.
“Is you in the copter, Daddy?”
“I am mate; I should be there very soon. Uncle Fenixx will take you outside so you can see me land, that will be fun, yeah?”
“Yeah, Daddy, can you stay here wif me?” Daxx asked in a small quivering voice, my heart aching at his distress.
“Of course, I will be staying with you, Daxx.”
“Forever? You won’t go away again?”
Daxx’s face crumbled then, big tears leaking down his cheeks, and at that moment, seeing my son crying hearing his innocent plea, I made up my mind.
“Never again, Daxx, where I go you go. I promise.”
“And Mumma?”
My heart constricted painfully, my hand tightening on the envelope lying on my lap.
Something had to change, the games and the dancing around the issues and problems Makena and I harboured could no longer happen. Our shit was affecting our son, and I, for one, couldn’t live with that.
“Yes, little man, and Mumma. We are a family Daxx; I will always be there for you, both of you,” I vowed right there to my son, silently I vowed that I was going to get to the bottom of the mess created by some arsehole hell-bent on ruining Makena’s and my life together. Messing with me was one thing, but when it intruded on my kid’s happiness, then the line was definitely crossed.
I bent over and ran from the spinning rotor blades that were whipping up dirt around me. We landed in the closest paddock to the main house, and by the fence was Daxx and Fenixx waiting for me to clear the danger area. Next to them was a bloke I didn’t recognise, he had his hand on my son’s shoulder like he had a fucking right.
“Daddy!” Daxx shouted, scrambling off the fence with help from Fenixx, my brother glaring at the man beside him, daring him to challenge him.
Who the fuck was this wanker? And what the hell was he doing at my wife’s house with our kid?
Straightening up, I raced towards Daxx, grabbing him when he launched himself at me.
“Hmmm, little man, it’s okay now, Daddy is here,” I crooned, one hand on the back of his head, the other wrapped firmly around his trembling body.
“Can we go see Mumma now?”
“Yes, Daxx, we will.” I promised, shifting him to sit high in the crook of my arm.
Striding over to Fenixx, I didn’t even spare the stranger beside him a glance before I spoke to my brother.
“Heard anything more?” I asked, without stopping.
“Hendrixx just called, the transfusion helped immediately. She is awake and talking, Mal and Mum are with her. Drixx is standing guard by the door,” he informed me, once again sending a glare at the dude who was keeping up pace with us.
Nodding, I turned to the younger man just as we made it to Fenixx’s car.
“Who exactly are you?”
“Cameron Hayden, I’m a friend of Mack’s.” I didn’t like the way he said friend or the connotation behind it.
“Is that right? Well, friend, I am Makena’s husband and Daxx’s dad. Your presence here is not needed or required.”
“Hey!” he shouted at me, his hand suddenly on my upper arm, “I have been her friend for three years; I have known Daxx since he was a baby. I have every right to be here on her land, where the hell have you been all this time?”
Pressing a kiss to Daxx’s temple, I handed him over to my brother. “Hang on a second little man.”
Giving Fenixx a look, he nodded once, then turned to put Daxx in the car.
I walked away from the car, pulling the idiot with me. I didn’t want Daxx to hear what I had to say or see me get angry. He had seen enough in his little lifetime.
“Hey, let me go!” arsehole grunted, pulling his arm from my hard grip, a smirk playing on my lips when he rubbed at the spot.
Taking advantage of my pissed off mood, I grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and hauled him to his toes, bringing him closer to my height.
“Listen to me, where I have been is none of your fucking business. My wife and son are none of your fucking business. You aren’t needed here, and quite frankly, I don’t want you here. Makena is mine, my wife and my business, Daxx is my son, mine! His uncles and I are all the male influence he needs,” I growled through gritted teeth.
The idiot visibly paled, I saw in his eyes the second he realised he was in way over his head. Good! The sooner he stops sniffing around my wife, the longer he gets to live.
“You Hott’s think you own the district, wielding your money around like it is power,” he spat at me, but I could tell he wasn’t sure he should be saying it to me. He was right to be worried; he had no idea the reach I had, the damage I could inflict with my money or my fists.
“You best remember that Hayden, I don’t fuck around when it comes to protecting what belongs to me. Don’t think about crossing me and being a hero; you will regret it. I can promise you that.” Shoving him backward, I turned and went back to the car, getting in the back seat with Daxx, rather than the front. I needed to be close to him, hold his hand. He was my connection to Makena, and until I could get my eyes on her, touch her soft skin, and kiss her pou
ty lips, and until that happened Daxx had that job.
“Let’s go see Mumma,” I whispered to my son as soon as I took the seat beside his car seat, his little hand immediately reaching for mine. Looking down at the tiny hand enclosed in my much larger one, I breathed properly for the first time since … well, since leaving five days ago.
Never again, Makena, I am never leaving you again, so you better get used to me being around.
MAKENA
“Will you stop moving your arm, Makena!” Mallory huffed angrily at me, the scowl on her face had not moved since I woke up in the hospital bed a half an hour ago and saw her sitting by the bed.
Rolling my eyes then instantly regretted it when my head pounded at the same movement. How the hell did I hurt so much everywhere when only my arm got sliced by the chain belt? The cut on my head from my previous injury didn’t hurt that much now. A week later, and it should have healed completely by now.
“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with Daxx?” I enquired snottily, avoiding her face and looking at my mother-in-law instead. Lillian was perched at the end of a very uncomfortable looking chair that pretended to be a recliner but my knowledge of this hospital was vast, so I knew for a fact, that it was actually inadequately padded and very hard.
“I am here because my sister nearly lost her fucking arm,” Mallory spat back at me, Lillian agreeing with a fierce nod of her head.
“Oh crap, it is just a flesh wound,” I argued, ignoring the pain where the surgeon operated on my muscles and tendons stitching them back together and, in his words, saving my arm. I thought it was a bit dramatic, but obviously Lillian and my sister didn’t share my view on the situation.
“A flesh wound! Who are you, Monty Python? You needed a blood transfusion, Makena, the chain severed through the distal bicep tendon, you nearly severed the radial artery, which means idiot–you nearly died,” Mal yelled at me, jumping to her feet.
“I gave you one unit of my own blood, Hendrixx donated one unit also, so don’t lie there and make it seem like this isn’t a big deal, don’t you dare. I have seen you nearly kill yourself one time too many, and I won’t do it anymore.”
My mouth opened in surprise at my sister’s violent outburst and shocked to see tears falling on her cheeks.
“Mal—” I started to protest, but stopped when the door opened and Hendrixx filled the doorway.
“Everything okay in here?” he asked, looking at me then Mal, shock clear on his face seeing Mal crying. Mallory didn’t cry; she just didn’t. She yelled and stormed around, but crying wasn’t her thing, so seeing her like this, yeah, I was shocked.
“I give up, Hendrixx, you can take over,” she huffed, shrugging. “ If you want to continue working yourself to the bone just because of some warped penance to Dad, then be my guest, just don’t expect me to stand by and watch.”
Panic flared listening to her; she couldn’t mean that she just couldn’t.
Struggling to sit up, I yanked the blankets back with my uninjured arm and started to struggle on the bed, desperate to get to Mal.
“Jesus Christ, Mackie, will you stop!” Hendrixx ordered, rushing forward to stop me from getting out of bed. Why I thought I could actually get out of bed, let alone sit up with all the tubes and the pain medication being pumped into me, I don’t know, but that didn’t stop my stubbornness from kicking in and trying.
“That right there is why, Makena,” Mal yelled again, pointing furiously at me, “you won’t listen to anyone, you won’t accept help, or even admit that you need it. Your stupid, stubborn pride makes you no different from Dad. He wouldn’t take help from Mum’s family, if he had, he would’ve discovered the untapped bore. His pride kept him from successfully farming the land and giving us a decent upbringing, but instead, he waged a war with Will Hott, spiralling his family into a life of struggle and for what? So he could prove that his dick was bigger than Will’s?”
“And just how did that work out for him, hey, he died from a massive stroke out in the paddock fixing worn-out water troughs, Will was dead but still Dad ploughed on with his ridiculous competition. You are going the same way as Dad, exacting a vendetta against a dead man. I’m telling you now, Mack, I don’t believe Noxx cheated on you, I do believe that the evidence was somehow doctored and I also firmly believe Will was behind it all.” Mallory paused her head turning to look at Lillian, who was now standing her hands clutching at the pearls around her neck, her face pale.
Oh shit.
“I’m sorry Mrs H, I really am, but your husband had a big part in the breakup of Makena and Lenoxx, and it’s time everyone knew.” Mallory looked back at me with narrowed eyes, and I could see she was intent on standing her ground no matter the consequences.
“Will knew about the pregnancy; in fact, he knew that Daxx existed from the day he was born, and so did my father.”
Hendrixx let go of me, and spun on his heels and stared at Mallory, his expression a mixture of shock and anger.
This was not good, not good at all. Out of all the Hott brothers, Hendrixx had the worst temper, where Noxx could control his, Hendrixx rather enjoyed letting his out to play.
“What the fuck are you talking about Mallory? You can’t speak about my father like that, he had nothing to do with Makena leaving Noxx, and I don’t believe for a second he knew about his grandson. If he did, he would’ve moved heaven and earth to see him, for Noxx to see him.”
“He knew Drixx, I’ve seen the papers he blackmailed Makena to sign. He engaged a private detective to find Mack; he made sure she couldn’t go back to Noxx. Your father had the last and ultimate revenge on mine, he made sure that a Hott would always be present in his house but never in his own,” Mallory vehemently spewed out all my secrets, laying them out raw for everyone in the room to hear. I both resented her breaking her word and welcomed it at the same time. Mallory’s evaluation of my life was spot on, not that I would ever admit that to her. I was doing everything I could to make my father proud of me, he might be dead now, but I couldn’t achieve his forgiveness while he had been alive, pushing myself and my body every day was my way of not giving up. I was so hell-bent on killing myself figuratively, I actually came close to actually doing it. I didn’t have to help Tim fix the harvester, but my pride insisted that I could. I wasn’t one to back down, admit defeat, I gave up once before, and I hated that about myself. I walked away from the best man I knew, insulted the love we shared, then I ran, only to succumb to another form of intimidation in the form of Will Hott. He and my father were cut from the same cloth, just a different colour: pride and greed.
Hendrixx laughed humourlessly, his lips set in a grim line.
“Bull fucking shit! Dad wouldn’t have done that to Noxx, I want to see these fucking papers you claim to have, see them for myself.”
“So would I,” a deep angry voice said from behind Drixx. Looking around him, I noticed Fenixx standing inside the door, his hands on his hips, and his bright-blue eyes blazing at my sister.
But it was the next voice that sped up my heart rate so much the monitor beeped with a shrilling noise.
“And me.” The furious growl had me shrinking in my bed, the fire spitting from his eyes, making me wish I was somewhere, anywhere else than here.
Looking a few steps to Fenixx’s right stood my harrowed-looking handsome husband. Daxx held against his chest, his father’s large hand protectively splayed on his little back, obviously asleep and oblivious of the storm about to ravaged his family.
Thank god for that small mercy.
“Mallory,” Noxx began, “can you please explain what you said about our father knowing about Daxx.”
“Do I have to?” Mallory grumbled, making me giggle, then quickly covered it up with a cough when Noxx growled at me.
Since overhearing Mallory’s outburst, no one really spoke for the next five minutes. The tension in the room so thick you could cut it with a knife, but that didn’t stop Noxx from walking into the room, laying our son in his nana�
��s arms, then coming to me and dropping to his knees at the side of my bed. There Noxx pressed his lips hungrily to mine, his kiss frantic, his panic and fear coming through as he held his lips against my mouth.
“No more Makena, no more putting me through the worst pain in the world,” he whispered, panic-stricken, “for the last few hours, my stomach has churned with real fear that I might have lost you for good this time. For the first time in my life; I couldn’t see your face in my mind, I couldn’t see your smile through the fear that you were lost to Daxx and me. I can’t lose you, baby, I won’t.”
After that amazing moment witnessed by our entire families, Noxx took a seat beside my bed, Daxx back in his arms and his scowl back on his face; if it weren’t for Daxx in his arms, I would’ve been a bit worried for my sister.
“Um, I think Makena should tell you, after all, she said I wasn’t allowed to say anything until after she sought legal advice,” Mallory said, not so helpfully, throwing me in the river even though it was her that opened the flood gates.
“Like you took any notice of me,” I mumbled.
“One of you better start talking, I don’t care which one of you but someone better explain,” Fenixx snapped, his usual calm and carefree demeanour replaced with the legendary Hott fire.
“I think I might be able to help the girls out,” Lillian said, speaking up for the first time since arriving in my room when I had woken from the anaesthesia. She had remained silent through Mal’s fussing; through my groans of pain, the only reaction from her had been the tight draw of her mouth and her hands clutching at her ever-present pearls. Lillian and I had made peace enough that we weren’t tense around each other, but our familiar closeness wasn’t there just yet. Now, it seemed she had something to say, and I had a feeling her sons weren’t going to like it.
“Mum, what could you possibly know about this? You were just as shocked to find out about Daxx as we were,” Noxx argued, making sure to keep his voice calm and low, so Daxx didn’t wake up.
My arms itched to hold my son, but the poor little bugger needed to sleep. He had seen my arm get caught in the chain and sprocket gear; he saw the blood and heard my screams. I wished like hell he’d never seen it and vowed he would never again. Plus, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to do much holding of anything for a while. Not if my injury, the doctors, and my husband, had anything to say about it. Mal might have been angry with me, but her assessment of my arm and what could have happened was spot on. A person with a flesh wound didn’t require a blood transfusion, thanks to her and Drixx, and the grace of God for not choosing to let me bleed out and die back in that paddock; I was instead okay. Or I would be.
Hott and Taken (The Hott Brothers Book 1) Page 21
