Seven
Ryker
I shoved open the door of the beat-up car I used whenever I needed to go beneath the radar.
My Maserati would have stuck out like a sore thumb on Calla's residential street all night. As I made my way across the road, sticking to the shadows, the hair on my head clung to my skin and tickled my neck. Still damp from my shower after I'd washed the stench of the warehouse off my skin, it was too thick to dry quickly.
I hadn't wanted to waste any more time. The only thing that had prolonged me getting to Calla's was my desire to double check that everything was ready for her and the kids' arrival the next day. I’d checked every last touch, watching Calla on the video feed on my phone.
Touching herself.
It wasn’t often my Sunshine took matters into her own hands so literally, and I both cursed and thanked the panties blocking my view as she writhed on her bed. It should have been my hands sliding her nightgown up her thighs and my fingers stroking her pussy.
There should have been nothing but me dancing in her head as she came. It always made me wonder what it was she thought of, but I’d never ask.
If it wasn’t me, it would mean I needed to kill someone.
The bedrooms were set, the furniture of the main space rearranged to accommodate the play area the guys would set up for the kids when I took Calla to go collect them after I explained her new reality.
Nobody saw me, despite my size, as I maneuvered through the streets like the creep I was. The house was dark, as I'd known it would be. I'd watched, waited, until the moment Calla's eyes closed, and she was lost to the land of dreams.
My Sunshine was a deep sleeper, never even sensing me when I crept into her room almost nightly.
When I made it to the front door, my key to her house was already in hand. Turning the lock, I pushed the door open and slipped inside. The motion of closing the door perfectly quietly was all too easy and familiar as I toed off my boots and clicked the lock back into place.
Navigating the stairs, I stealthily avoided the spots that squeaked, skipping the worst step altogether. I'd been doing it since the first night Calla slept alone there after Chad's death. The first night she'd finally gone back into the bedroom she'd shared with her husband when he lived.
Weeks had passed where she’d slept on the couch, as if she couldn't face the empty bed and her loneliness.
She couldn’t know she wasn’t alone. I was there, watching her every move. Supporting her through the transition as she came to terms with the shift in her life.
I spared a glance into each of the kids' rooms, smiling as I saw them sleeping contentedly. Even knowing what a hard day it must have been for Axel, I also knew he'd handled it well. He'd said goodbye to his father, had asked him to send someone to take care of his mother and sister.
His wish would come true the next day, though Chad probably rolled in his grave knowing that his wife was mine now.
The door to Calla's room stood wide open, the way she always left it in case either of the kids needed her in the night. It made it risky: me being in her room with her, given that Ines could easily have a nightmare and seek her mother at any moment.
It had happened twice. The first time I'd convinced the half-asleep girl she was dreaming and tucked her back into bed. The second, I hid on the floor next to Calla's bed, waiting for the two of them to resettle and fall back asleep before I snuck back out.
But nothing could keep me away.
And that night, as I sat on Calla's bed next to her and reached a hand out to hover over her sweet face pinched in frustration in her sleep, I knew it would be the last time I did this. The last time I watched her sleep and couldn't hold her. The last time I had to sneak into her bedroom.
I would never take having her in my arms for granted.
Wanting to remember the moment, I pulled my silenced phone from my pocket and took a picture of my hand against the side of her face as I tucked her hair back behind her ear. The scent of her lavender shampoo filled the air with the movement, instantly calming the raging urge to claim that roared in my veins. She tilted her head, pressing into my touch more even in her sleep like she knew it was me and emitted a happy little sigh.
The next day, Calla would be mine.
Our story would finally begin.
Eight
Calla
The next morning felt so much lighter. Axel's mood had visibly improved the moment he finished talking to his father. By the time we made it to the ice cream parlor, he'd been smiling with Ines and doing all the goofy tricks he knew to make her squeal with laughter.
That was my boy.