Chapter 11

“Come here.” Axel’shusky voice sends a shiver down my spine.

Biting my lip, I can’t hold back the smile as I make my way across the living room. Axel’s been at work all day, as has mostly everyone else. It’s weird to be in this big house alone, and it doesn’t happen too often. I spent the day reading and set some things up in the baby”s room. But I’m glad he’s back.

“Hi,” I say shyly as Axel wraps me up in his arms.

“Hi, baby,” he murmurs as he kisses the top of my head. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I bury my face in his chest as I snuggle into him and sigh as I breathe in his musky scent.

He pulls me down into his lap and I go willingly. “How was your day?” he asks me.

“A little boring.” I shrug. “Did some reading, set up a few things for the baby. How about you?”

It’s taken years of patience and therapy but I’ve been working on my fear of being in public.

Life is too short to live trapped in a house and I’ve already lost so many years to the darkness of my past. I don’t want it to overtake my future but there’s a lot of deep-rooted trauma that isn’t going to go away overnight.

Everyone has been so good with accepting what I need to make life liveable. Harlow, Axel and Evie have been the best. Harlow is my safe place, my soft protector. Axel is a little bit more intense, but just as determined to keep me safe from the dangers of this world. And Evie is my best friend, someone who I can talk to about anything without overwhelming my lovers.

Things have gotten a lot better. I leave the house a lot more for things like Rosie’s recitals and other school functions. She’s like a daughter to me and with this new baby coming too, I don’t want to miss out on important events in their lives, because the idea of being out in a crowd or touched by strangers makes me want to run and hide.

Sometimes, I wish I could have dealt with my past the way Harlow and Queenie have. But, I don’t think I could harm anyone, no matter how evil they might be. And back then I didn”t have someone like Queenie to protect me when things were bad.

I’m just grateful that Queenie found me and I’ve been given a second chance at building this amazing life with them.

“Got a lot done. Felt like shit making Dean do all the work, so Cass and I stayed a little bit longer to help him catch up.”

I nod. “You hungry? I can order something.”

“Nah.” He grabs the remote. “Are you?”

“Not really.”

“Wanna just hang out and watch something?”

“Yeah.” I smile. “I’d like that.”

About thirty minutes into a comedy show, Neo, Dean and Cass come home.

“Hey,” Cass says as he steps into the living room.

“Hi,” I say back.

“Hey,” Axel grunts as Cass and Dean take a seat on the couch, both letting out heavy sighs, evidence that their day has taken a lot out of them.

Neo jumps over the couch and sits down next to us. “Hey, Sammy.” Neo grins at me. “Hey, fuck face,” he greets Axel.

“Fuck you,” Axel retorts.

Neo sighs. “We’ve been over this so many times, dude. I’m not into men, no offense.” He winks at me then looks back to Axel. “And we’re cousins. I’m not a cousin fucker. We’re not no hills have eyes in this house.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Axel mutters. The banter between the people in this house is always entertaining. I learned early on to just let Neo be himself, there’s no point. And from what I’ve experienced, the things he says are never meant to be mean, he’s just blunt. And very crazy.

“So.” Neo changes the subject. ”On the scale of one to ten, how pissed would Harlow be if I was to like you know, go out and kill someone? Without her?”

“No,” Cass and Dean say at the same time.

“You are not going to go kill anyone,” Dean continues.

“Why not?” Neo whines, flopping back dramatically. “It’s been months. MONTHS! I’m going crazy. I don’t even remember how warm fresh blood feels on my bare hands. I can’t even picture the look in their eyes as they take their last breath. What did I ever do to deserve that!”

“You”re being fucking dramatic.” Cass sighs.

“You don’t know what it’s like,” Neo mutters. “You don’t like to kill. Me, I fucking love it. The Beast even more. And he’s been stir-crazy being trapped inside. He won’t shut the fuck up.”

“That makes two of you,” Axel drawls.

“You can’t put Harlow in this little bubble, telling her that it’s not safe for her to do her work and then go behind her back and do the one thing I’m sure she’s just as desperate to get back to as you are,” Cass points out.

“Okay, fine. How about this? I set something up so that we both get what we want?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.

“Like what?” Dean narrows his eyes.

“It can be a group thing! Like a family event. Okay, well without Rosie, we can bring her over to Emmy’s, but we can all be involved.”

“What is it?” Cass presses.

Neo grins and then goes into very graphic details of his bloody fun time gift for Harlow.

“Yeah, I don’t think that”s something I want to be a part of. No offense,” I tell him.

“None taken.” He shrugs.

“And I don’t think Evie would want to either,” I point out.

“Fine,” he sighs. “Okay, then you two can stay at home with the little crotch goblin and we can go and have some bloody fun then!” he says, tossing his arms up into the air.

“Can you not call my daughter a crotch goblin?” Cass glares at Neo.

“Listen, I love the little shit head, but dude, Rosie is fucking mean. It’s become her life’s mission to fuck with me.”

“I love it.” Axel chuckles. “Better you than me. I think you deserve it.”

“What? Why?” Neo asks, sounding offended.

“Because your crazy ass always gets away with stupid shit and it’s dismissed because you”re unhinged. If the tiny child wants to fuck with you, I call it karma.” Axel chuckles.

“Oh, fuck you.”

“Thought you weren’t into fucking your cousins?” Axel asks.

Neo just glares at him. “You wish.” He flips Axel off and then changes the channel.

“Hey, we were watching something,” Axel growls.

“And now, you”re not,” Neo says. “Wait. What the fuck?”

We all turn to watch at the TV as Neo turns up the volume.

“No fucking way,” Axel growls in a deadly tone that has all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as his whole body goes stiff.

“What”s wrong?” I ask him, turning to look up at him. His face has gone pale white and fear spikes through me.

“Is that...?” Dean asks slowly.

I look back to the TV at some grainy images of whatlooks to be three men trying to hide their faces from reporters.

“Our fathers?” Cass says. “Yeah, that”s them.”