Beard Up(62)

Torren didn't hit me again.

Instead he stared at me like he'd seen a ghost.

"All this time, we thought you were gone," he rasped. "We've spent many Friday nights at your grave, mourning you, and you were alive this whole time."

I stared at him gravely.

"I was," I confirmed. "But my wife and daughter's lives trump your feelings any day."

He stared for a moment. "As they should."

Then, for a few long seconds, we stood in awkward silence as the men around me stared at my bruised and bleeding face.

Then, with a suddenness that surprised me, Sebastian was in my face and taking me into a bear hug that surprised me.

"Fuck, I've wanted to do that for a really long time now," Sebastian said.

And then he threw up.

Thankfully, not on me.





Chapter 24


If my life had to have a narrator, I'd choose Samuel L. Jackson. No offense to Morgan Freeman, but my life requires the use of multiple ‘fucks.'

-Meme

Ghost

I walked into my house at around eight in the evening, and immediately regretted it when the book in Sienna's arms fell to the floor. It hit the stained concrete floors with a dull smack, causing everyone in the room to freeze.

"Ghost!" she cried out and ran to me. "What happened?"

Mina's head whipped around from where she was cooking dinner, fajitas by the smell of it, and her eyes widened once she got a look at my face.

Yeah, it was pretty bad.

Sienna rushed over to me, and I caught her up in my arms and lifted her to my chest, just like I used to do when she was younger. Her hands went to my face, and those big green eyes of hers stared at me intently.

"You look bad," she whispered none too gently.

My mouth quirked.

"I got in an accident," I said by way of explanation. With kids, less was better. Because where there was an explanation, there would then be at least a four-question follow-up.

Luckily, Mina stopped any further questions when she came up to my side and stared up at me.

"Sienna, would you please go set the table?" she asked carefully, trying valiantly to control her emotions that I could see just beneath the surface of her eyes.

"Yes," Sienna sighed. "If you'll let me play with my iPad later."

Mina looked at her child.

"You can play on your iPad if you read. Otherwise, no sir-ree-bob."

Sienna sighed and wiggled.

I took that for my cue to put her down.


      ///
       
         
       
        

She went directly to the table and started to clean off the paper that she had used for coloring at some point in the day.

"Did you get that because of some case you're working?" she whispered, trying not to raise her voice so that Sienna wouldn't overhear.

My lips twitched. "No. Definitely not from one of my cases. These were more what you would call, very pissed off friends."

"You talked to the other Wardens," she guessed.

I nodded once.

Her mouth twitched.

"You know you deserved that, don't you?" she whispered.

"I would've done it to him, too, if I thought I could do it without breaking my hand."

That was from Audrey, who had made herself a permanent fixture in our home.

Though, I couldn't say that I didn't like it. I liked knowing that she was safe. I liked having my entire family under my roof. And I liked knowing that they would have each other if they ever needed anything and I wasn't around to provide it for them.

"So what was decided?" Mina finally broached the subject.

I kissed her on the cheek, and then walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer.

I pressed it against my face for a few long seconds before opening it and taking a long swig.

"It was decided that we're moving in on my parents next week. They hired movers; we're replacing them with our guys," I answered her honestly. "The movers are expected to arrive Monday morning at eight. Lucky for us, one of our guys intercepted the outgoing call. He was able to act as if he was the manager of the moving company, and gave them a good enough price quote to satisfy them."

Her brows rose. "That was lucky. But what are you going to do once you get in their house?"

"We're going to search it," I answered with a shrug. "We've been ‘hired' to pack all their shit. It's our hope that they get careless and let us pack something that we can use against them. If it doesn't work, then we're going to do it the good old-fashioned way."

"And how is that?" Mina whispered, trying not to bring Audrey into this conversation.

I looked over at where Audrey was sitting on the couch next to Sienna, who was quietly playing on her iPad, and lowered my voice.