Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I stand at the Dutch door, watching through the open top half. Luca and Jace are sitting at a child-sized table, sorting through a massive stack of Legos. After hearing Mila speak to them about their belongings and things being too small for Sutton to get her hands on, I now understand the reasoning behind having different areas in here separated by dividers for the different age groups.
The younger kids, including Sutton, are playing with a set of very large blocks. My daughter—it still feels weird to even think that word—is grinning, unaware of the stress her mother is feeling.
Mila stands to the side, watching Sutton while Misty speaks with her. She nods at what the older woman is saying. Misty spots me standing at the door, and somehow guides Mila closer to the front of the room.
“You’re more than welcome to come inside,” Misty offers.
I keep my feet rooted in place. Before today, coming into this room wasn’t even a consideration. I didn’t have children the last time I stood in this spot. Hell, I’ve only been here once before, and that was because Kid sent me to find Khloe.
“I was just telling Mila about the app we have for the cameras,” Misty says when she realizes I’m not quite ready to step inside.
“I don’t know why this is so hard,” Mila mutters, her eyes still planted on Sutton as she waves a bright red block in her hand, squealing with excitement. “I had to leave her with a sitter nearly every day since she was two months old.”
“It’s just a new place,” Misty says with a kind smile. She’s always so patient and kind, so much so that I’d think it was an act if I didn’t know her better. “And like I said, you can check in on them at any time. We’ll call if there are any concerns, but I don’t anticipate any. We’re having spaghetti for lunch. Naptime is right after and then we have water coloring planned afterward.”
“Look,” I say, holding my phone out.
Every one of us is required to have the app on our phones in case something happens and we need to see what is going on inside the clubhouse. Kincaid has always been adamant about keeping every one of us in the know. It prevents us from feeling alienated. We’re legitimately part of the team, and there’s very limited need-to-know-basis stuff going on.
I swipe through the different camera angles, including shots that show each of the kids.
“I think that’s a spaceship,” I say, zooming in on the Legos in Luca’s hands. “But I could be wrong.”
Mila chuckles, a depreciating sound that tells me she thinks she’s being silly for having trouble walking away.
“The SUVs are ready,” I tell her. “But if you want to just send us with a list, that would be okay too.”
She scoffs. “I’d end up with all highlights and no lowlights.”
I give her a tight-lipped smile because I have no idea what that even means.
“We better get going then.”
Mila gives our daughter one last look before opening the Dutch door and exiting the room. I feel my chest tighten when I give the boys and Sutton a quick glance.
“They’ll be fine with us,” Misty says, her voice low as if she knows I need the reassurance, too.
I wish I had a few minutes alone with Mila, and that longing only grows when she walks straight for the front door instead of needing to make a detour back to the bedroom. It’s torture being so close to her but knowing there’s a chasm of space between us.
Kincaid is waiting outside when we make our way out the front door. He hands me the keys to an SUV. Everyone else is already loaded up. It doesn’t surprise me when Kincaid climbs into the passenger seat of a vehicle driven by Shadow.
I clench my jaw when Mila walks around to the far side of the vehicle, pulling the passenger side door open on her own before I can reach for the handle to open it for her.
When I glance back at the SUV with Kincaid and Shadow, they’re both grinning like fools, having read my irritation from twenty yards away.
“Three vehicles?” Mila asks, as we pull out of the parking lot. “That’s a bit excessive, isn’t it?”
“Not really,” I tell her, rather than going into detail about safety protocol and how we might need to leave one vehicle and still have room for everyone who’s coming on this trip if shit goes down. She’s already freaked out about leaving the kids at the clubhouse. I don’t want to stress her out even more.
I’m more cautious than normal as we begin our trip. It’s not unusual to travel this way, and as much as we were joking earlier about Cerberus being like Fort Knox, it’s really not something to joke about. We bring so much danger to our own doorstep. It’s almost enough to make me consider how it might be best to shelter Mila and the kids far from all of it. We bring this trouble to us, and then pride ourselves in protecting those we care about. It seems all of our problems would be solved if we just didn’t care at all.