walked toward the store, and I turned around, dropping to scratch her ears. “Protect Maisie and Colt.”
She sprinted away, parking her rump just beneath their open door.
“Ella!” Hailey waved, and I walked into the shop as the two women started chatting near the bed of the truck.
Three pizzas and five minutes later, I walked out of the shop and nearly dropped the boxes.
An older, well-dressed couple, coming from the opposite end of where Hailey stood talking to Ella, had paused. It wasn’t the pause that triggered me, it was the look on their faces. Utter, abject shock as they looked at the twins.
Havoc stood—she’d always been a good judge of character—and I started moving.
The woman stepped forward, as if she didn’t have control over her own actions, and Havoc bared her teeth and began growling.
Ella turned at the growl, and when she sucked in her breath, I had all the info I needed. “No!” she snapped, not at Havoc, but at the couple. She marched straight up beside Havoc, bared teeth and all, and said it again. “No. Go. Now.”
I came up behind the couple, then to the side, sliding the pizzas onto the passenger seat as I walked by to put myself between them and Havoc.
“Don’t come any closer. She’ll go for the jugular if you move one hand toward those kids.” I kept my voice low and even. The minute I got agitated, Havoc got dangerous.
“That dog is a menace,” the man said, sneering up at me.
“Only to people she sees as threats to the twins or Ella. Now, I believe Ella asked you to go.” I walked forward, forcing the couple to retreat, knowing Havoc would follow and give Ella the room to shut the door so the twins wouldn’t be exposed.
When I heard the door slam, I relaxed, and Havoc put her teeth away.
“Who, exactly, are you?” the woman demanded.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Those aren’t your kids,” the man seethed.
“They’re not yours, either,” I said. “But I’m theirs, and that’s all that matters. And I can tell you that if you ever come close to them without Ella’s permission, Havoc will be the least of your concerns.”
When the man started to stare Ella down, I moved into his line of sight, blocking her from the disgust aimed at her.
“Beckett,” Ella called softly, no doubt noticing the small crowd that was witnessing the exchange.
“Have a nice evening,” I told the couple, then turned around and walked back to Ella, putting my hand on the small of her back and urging her into the truck, then shutting the door behind her.
The couple was gone.
I passed Hailey, Havoc at my side.
“Jeff’s parents,” she whispered.
“I figured.”
“There’s tequila in the freezer.” She motioned toward the cab of the truck, where Ella sat in silence, stunned.
“Good to know.”
“Who was that?” Colt asked.
“No one you need to worry about,” Ella answered.
“Havoc was worried,” Maisie countered.
“Havoc is a good judge of character,” Ella muttered. “They were just some people I used to know.”
“They weren’t very nice,” Colt noted.
“Nope. They never have been.”
Ella was quiet as we drove back to Solitude and faked her smile through dinner. Then she got the kids to bed, and I sat on the couch, silently waiting as Havoc snoozed at my feet.
A half hour later, she came down the stairs, having changed into flannel pants and a tank top. Her mouth dropped into a surprised O when she saw me. “I thought you’d left.”
“Nope. Sit.” I patted the couch next to me and looked away from the swells of her breasts that were lifted high along the neckline of her tank top.
She sank into the corner of the couch, bringing her knees up to her chest. “I bet you’re pretty curious about what happened outside the pizza shop.”
“Talk.”
She rested her chin on her folded arms and took a deep breath. “Those were Jeff’s parents.”
“So I assumed.”
Her eyes lifted to mine.
“You’re just like Ryan when you do that, make conclusions about everything around you. People, too.”
“Keeps us alive,” I responded before I thought. My eyes slid shut momentarily at the blunder and the pain that followed. “You know what I mean.”
She nodded. “They’ve never seen the kids before. Never even asked about them.”
I knew most of that. Scratch that. Chaos knew. But I wanted Ella to tell me, Beckett. To trust me as much as she had that faceless pen pal. So instead of lying, or asking her to continue, I simply waited.