“It is personal.” A knife sticking out of my pregnant wife’s stomach, ultimately killing her and my daughter is pretty fucking personal. I don’t like when men think they can do whatever the fuck they want to anyone. They can never pick on someone their own size because they are cowards, bullies, and instead of facing the problem head on, they t
ake.
And they take.
And take until … someone dies.
I shove the parts of the mug in the sink and grab a towel to wipe up the mess. “What do we do?” I ask, feeling a bit lost. I don’t know what to do.
“We have to ask her where she ran away from. What if there are others? If there are, we need to do something about it. We need to call Officer Howard. There is a list of things to do, but I think she deserves a few days of rest instead of chaos and stress,” Jaxon says, washing his mug out under the faucet.
“Agreed,” Heaven adds, stuffing an entire chocolate cupcake in his mouth. Icing gets all over his mouth and a dot of frosting on his nose.
I’m not going to tell him. He reaches for another.
“Will you stop? You’re making my stomach hurt,” Jaxon yanks the cupcake out of Heaven’s hand and throws it in the sink.
“Hey, I was eating that!” Heaven protests, staring at the ruin of cake.
“You eat everything,” Grayson mumbles. “It’s why our grocery bill is through the roof.”
“I’m a growing boy.” Heaven slaps his hard stomach and holds his arms up to flex his biceps.
Sebastian rolls his eyes, unimpressed.
“A few days, maybe the weekend too? Give her some time to get use to us?” I try to get the conversation back on track to what matters, and Jaxon nods.
“Yeah, absolutely. And, Owen, it’s okay if you want to take more time,” he adds in a way that tells me he’s talking about Annabeth.
“I’m fine,” I whisper, staring at the shiny marble of the countertop.
“We both know that statement will forever be a lie.”
“What happened to you?” Heaven’s nosy ass asks.
I rub a hand over my head, realizing I need to cut my hair.
“You don’t have to answer that. Heaven, mind your own—”
“It’s fine, Jaxon. Everyone knows everyone here.” I grab the whiskey bottle and chug three swallows. “Twenty years ago, my pregnant wife was murdered. I took the fall for it. On purpose. There,” I say, slamming the bottle on the counter a little harder than necessary. I hate remembering my little girl would be grown by now. “Happy, Heaven?”
“Dude, I’m sorry. I didn’t know… I’m so sorry, Owen.” Heaven looks at the floor and wipes his mouth clean.
“You can see why I don’t talk about it.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Owen,” Sebastian says, giving my shoulder a squeeze.
“Me too,” Grayson adds.
“I couldn’t imagine your pain,” Jaxon says. “Now that Quinn is pregnant with twins, I wouldn’t know what to do if something like that happened to her. The time that passes doesn’t matter, Owen. Pain is fucking pain at the end of the day, and you experienced the worse thing that could ever happen to someone. Take all the time you need.”
“I don’t need any more fucking time!” I shout at him, then exhale when I realize what I’ve done. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk about more time, okay? I’ve taken twenty years; how much longer do I need?”
“As long as it takes,” Heaven says in a whisper, as if he knows what I’m talking about.
A whimper has all of us turning our heads to the doorway. It’s Jolie. She’s wearing clothes that fit since they are Quinn’s before she got pregnant. I lurch from the chair so hard it topples over, and she flinches.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her when I see her face is red and tears are streaming down her cheeks. Her hair is soaking wet, dripping onto the floor. “Are you okay?”