“According to this he didn’t have a chance to.”
I’d stumbled across a notation in one of the old man’s files about this suspicions that he was the father of not only Susie, but also her little brother Davey, who was three years younger. I had no idea about their family dynamic other than there was always talk of a mother and no father, but I couldn’t imagine the man I knew letting his kids go without his name. He’d taken each of us under his wing and been more of a father to us than the men who’d seeded our mothers, so it was hard to reconcile him with this new development.
“Shit, we need to find out one way or the other, that would make them our responsibility. Cord how’re you doing buddy?” He looked determined as fuck and I could only imagine that he was trying to come to terms with the fact that the woman he was planning to take to his bed might be the daughter of the man he’d looked up to as a father. That might put a different face on things, knowing his proclivities…
“This doesn’t change anything, she’s still mine.”
“Alrighty then, at least if this is true we no longer have to worry about you killing her by accident.” Ty can be such a shit.
“Okay, how the fuck are we gonna do this?” I wanted to keep shit moving.
“Easy, we get some hair and have a lab run the tests on both of them, then we talk to the mother and find out what the fuck was going on. I’m guessing no one in the town knows about this because those two don’t have a clue. I can see where she gets her guts from though. Cord you have my blessing.” Lo clapped him on the back and the big lug actually blushed.
“Damn the pussy whipped, bitch made list is getting longer by the day. Who’s left now, just Dev, Quinn and me? You fuckers are sad, look at you. I’m buying bottled water from outta state.”
We all just looked at him because he was so fucking delusional.
“You know what they say about the one who barks the loudest.”
“Fuck you Con, that’s never gonna be me. I’m footloose and fancy free, ain’t no pussy gonna tie me down. And after seeing the way you four fucks have been led around by the nose here lately, no dice.”
“Who’s being led around by the nose asshole?”
“Con are you serious, you walk around behind Dani like a dog in heat, and Lo, Gaby has your nuts in her purse somewhere. Zak’s always been part ass when it comes to Nessa, and don’t get me started on this fucker here. He hasn’t been able to tell his head from his ass in three days.” He pointed at Cord, who looked like he was two steps away from ripping his head off. “Whipped, all a you.” He walked away after sneering at us.
“Okay, I’ve had enough of his shit, I know we’re on lockdown but is there anyway to get Victoria Lynn here?” It was time we brought that boy down a peg or two. “I like the way you think brother.” Logan clapped me on the shoulder as we followed the pain in the ass back inside. At least his little diatribe had lightened the mood.
We were all looking at Davey a little different when we walked back in. If I know my brothers, we were all thinking the same thing. If they were the commander’s he and his sister, they were ours now.
***
VANESSA
I have to talk to someone but who? I don’t know the girls that well for all that we’ve been thrown together, and I wasn’t sure I could trust any of the guys not to spill the beans before the time was right. I hadn’t planned for this contingency, even when I was coming here it never entered my mind that it would come to this. That was stupid of me I now admit, but the call had come out of nowhere and it had never occurred to me to turn them down. No matter what had happened between Zak and I, the guys had always been kind to me, and if they needed a solid there was no reason not to.
Now I find myself in the worse possible situation ever, because not only was I stuck here now; but I wanted to be. Zak was always going to be Zak; I knew that now. I had a better understanding of why he was the way he was, because now I had that same over protective streak running through me.
When I think of all the time we’d lost because we’d both been too stubborn to listen I could cry. And now I stand to lose everything again. In a few hours I will know for sure one way or another. I could only hope that things turn out better than I expect, but I wasn’t holding out much hope. Zak wasn’t exactly the most forgiving type, and there was no guessing which way he’d go with this.
“Hey you okay?” Dani came and sat next to me in the window seat of Logan’s home, where I was sitting gazing off at nothing. The guys had laid down the law so to speak, so we were pretty much under house arrest. “Yeah, just working out some things in my head.” I had pretty much made up my mind that I wasn’t going to tell anyone anything about my little problem. I’d just wait and see.