asks, eyes following her fingers as she traces Truth’s name.
I take her hand and kiss her fingers. “Is she talking to you yet?”
She smiles and nods. “I get an I love you at night, and no, I’m not going to school until Dad says he’s sorry in the morning.”
I kiss her neck and chuckle against her cheek.
She pushes up on my chest and takes my face in her hands. “I’m a grown woman, Cyrus. I love that you want to protect me from things, but they’re my kids too.”
I groan and roll onto my back, taking her with me. I move her hand to Justice’s name. “This one is doing some shit he shouldn’t be doing.”
“What?” She smiles.
“He’ll tell me eventually and, until then, I’ll follow them around and make sure they’re safe.”
She strums her fingers on his name. “So, last Saturday night, when you let them get the beach house?”
I laugh and nod.
“Then you went out with your brothers to take care of some Steel issue?” she tsks.
“Birdie, they are Steel issues. More lately than before,” I sigh.
“Spill it.” She traces his name over and over.
“Kids at school have boxing matches.”
Her eyes spring up.
“Justice decided to try his fists at a few rounds.”
She traces my face. “So the bruises he was hiding …?”
I flip her over again. “So, you’re hiding shit from me now?”
She smiles. “It’s not shit. It’s Steel issues, and I’m a Steel.”
I lean in and whisper, “My favorite Steel.” Then I nip her neck.
She rubs her nose against mine. “Did he win?”
“He got knocked down a few times, got back up, his opponent tapped out. So, technically, yeah.”
“And do we know his opponent?”
I move her hand to Truth’s name. “Here’s a hint.”
“It’s not the Reeves boy.” She laughs.
“Birdie, you almost knocked him out. JT would have killed him.”
I don’t tell her Truth kissed the little prick. Honestly, I want to just pretend it didn’t happen.
I roll her over, and she looks at me while she’s deep in thought.
“The boy who wouldn’t come in, the one you keep saying pissed himself when he saw you?”
I laugh. “Birdie, he did.”
“Gabrielle showed me a picture of him before Truth came up. She told me he was the best kind of guy there is.”
Fuck, I think as I run my hands up and down her outer thighs.
“Was that’s who she was with the other night? She wouldn’t tell me.”
I nod and take her hands.
“Did you threaten him?”
I sigh. “Oddly, no.”
“Then why is she so mad at you still? Surely she didn’t think she wouldn’t be grounded for a bit.”
I drag my ass up on the bed and rest my back against the headboard. “Gotta tell you something that involves a lot of shit, but it’s our girl and that boy I want to hate more than I want to have this conversation that are getting the shit end of the deal.”
“Wait—you actually like him?” She smiles.
“He did right by our girl, our boy, and us. Kids don’t do that these days unless they have good hearts.”
She smiles big, bright, and beautifully. “You like him.”
“Birdie, it’s complicated.”
“Says the man who chose me to save.”
“Fuck, baby.” I pull her in and hold her tight. “I love you.”
“I know,” she says and sits back, looks down at Truth’s name, and outlines it. “Tell me.”
So, I do. I tell her everything he told me, and she cries, but she doesn’t fall apart, and she doesn’t fade away. She never does, but fuck if I’m not terrified that someday she will. And I know that’s not because she’s weak. She’s one of the strongest people I know. It’s because I will do everything in my power to keep her that way. And this … this is big.
When she’s done crying, she looks at me as I wipe her tears. “Do you think he loves her?”
“They’re kids, Tara,” I sigh.
“I was eighteen, remember?”
“Do I fucking remember?” I give her a look like are you fucking nuts. “Birdie, you owned me from that moment until forever.”
“We have to do the right thing, even if it’s the hardest thing to do, like tell your kids you were a stripper.” She closes her eyes.
“A virgin stripper,” I remind her. “We do have another problem, though.”
“Bigger than that?” She looks shocked now. Fuck.
“He’s not okay with who his father is. He thinks if he …” I pause and shake my head. “This is not shit I wanna talk about. It’s shit they should do behind my back and do it