Unsuitable

“It’s a good time, Mum. It is.”

If she was weak, she’d forget about the fact Reece had an extraordinary capacity to be brutally aggressive and he’d kept that information from her. “Reece, put Mia down please.”

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He tried, but Mia screamed and clutched tight around his neck. Audrey felt nauseous.

“Audrey, please talk to me,” he said, before Cameron appeared in the doorway and his eyes shifted to her.

Cameron smiled then frowned, her eyes hopping from Reece and Mia to Audrey. “Can I help?”

“Hey, Cameron.” Reece looked confused too. Pleased to see Cameron till the second he figured out why she was there and his shoulders sagged.

Cameron went down the steps into the driveway. She reached for Mia. “Come on, you need to have your breakfast before we go to the park.”

“Nooo.”

“Please, Mia,” Cameron said.

Audrey said, “Mia,” a little sharper than she’d intended, but this had to stop.

“Fuck,” said Mia.

She created the kind of silence that followed a catastrophic event, the precise moment before all hell broke loose. Audrey and Cameron spoke at once. Reece said something she didn’t hear. Barrett appeared in the hall and Mia started wailing. She pushed her face into Reece’s neck and howled as if she was on fire.

He held her, his eyes lowered. He stroked her back and spoke softly to her till she grew quieter. Then he crouched to put her feet to the ground. “What are you having for breakfast?”

She sniffed. “I don’t want it.” The register of her voice was high-pitched wobble.

Cameron put a hand to Mia’s hair. “Egg with toast soldiers.” She and Reece exchanged a sympathetic look.

Reece manoeuvred Mia to a standing position. “I wish that was my breakfast. Do you know what I had for breakfast?”

Mia shook her head. He leaned in and whispered in her ear.

“Did you?” She was red faced, tear streaked and sniffing. She looked slightly horrified, but she was standing by herself without him propping her up. He nodded and she laughed.

“Yuck. You can share my breakfast.”

He stood, his hand on her head. “You go eat first with Cameron.”

Mia tipped her head back to look up at him. “But you’ll come?”

He looked across at Audrey and she saw all the reasons she loved him, his gentleness and thoughtfulness, and then she remembered the blood and the shouts of pain, the crunch of bone, the matter of fact checking of pulses, and the way he could wield viciousness with the same ease he cracked jokes about breakfast.

“Go with Cameron, Mia,” she said.

Mia and Cameron came up the stairs. Barrett coughed, though he already had Reece’s attention. “I’m Barrett. Should I be throwing my weight around?”

“I’m not here to cause trouble. I need five minutes with Audrey,” said Reece.

She held a hand up to Barrett and stepped back into her bedroom for shoes. She was going to be late for work. Mia had been asking about Reece and so far had been easily fobbed off by the excitement of Barrett and Cameron, but that was over.

She heard Barrett say, “I don’t think she wants two minutes with you. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” and stepped back into the hallway in her heels.

Reece was watching for her. “I’ll make it as easy as she wants. I’ll swap my severance payment for five minutes with her.”

Barrett was amused by that. Audrey was wrecked. The severance was the least she owed him and in five minutes he could unwind her resolve as easy as the sight of his distress was unravelling her emotions. “You need to go, Reece.”