Chapter 6

Tav

" H ey big Daddy," I greet my brother as I drop into the seat across from his ridiculously tidy, big wooden man desk. No sleek lines for Gus. Just well oiled wood and a big leather chair. So manly, so cliche.

"Will you stop calling me that? It's creepy in a weird sex way, and I don't want our employees to hear you."

I wave my hand at him, and he frowns back. First off, our employees know how we roll. Second, he exudes big daddy energy so I tell him so.

"Rhodie does too, you know,"

I jump a little, unaware that Chewy was behind me at the conference table. "Jesus, Dayz, you almost made me shit myself. Also, don't say shit like that about Rhodie again." I shiver at the thought of my sister doing anything remotely sexual or calling Rhodie daddy. Gross.

"Whatever."

Two knocks on the doorway and Jules walks into the office, giving me a shove before flopping down into the chair next to mine. This is how we always sit. Dayz at the conference table on the other side of the office, Gus in his manly seat, and me and Jules in the two chairs facing him. I don't know why it's this way, it just is.

"Ah, there is our little ray of sunshine," I cheesy grin at Jules while he gives me the stink eye. His usual setting.

"We have a few things to cover. Least of all is what the hell you are going to do with an Ol Lady and four kids, Tav. Have you even thought about where you're going to live?"

I knew this shit was going to come up. Gus is the ultimate worry wart and over planner. Well, he was until he got a wild hair and proposed to Ana in the middle of a security meeting. Although I can't begrudge him that, he now has a wife, a baby on the way, and is disgustingly happy. Has he become somewhat more relaxed? No. But does his wife like to bust his balls, therefore making her dear to our hearts? Yes, yes, she does.

"We've spoken about it, and for the meantime, we're just going to take things slow. Obviously they can't fit in my house, and with the little kids we don't want to confuse them with my moving in too soon. So I'll be spending evenings with them and see how it goes."

Gus nods absently before frowning again. "What about prospecting?"

I roll my eyes, "Got that covered. I'll stay weekends and Mondays at the clubhouse like I have been doing. It's going to be fine, Gus. As the kids say, it's all Gucci."

"Why do they say that?"

Turning to look at my sister, she has her inquisitive dog look on her face, brows pulled in, head tilted.

"I have no idea sis, all I know is that they use it, therefore so will I. I want the kids to know I'm cool,"

Jules snorts obnoxiously, but says nothing else. He doesn't need to because I can see Gus winding up.

"Do you really think you can handle this? A woman with four kids? What if their father wants back on the scene? What then? Can you be the bigger man and let him see his kids?"

"I don't imagine that will be a problem because he'll be dead soon," I mutter under my breath, but Dayz not only has the nose of a bloodhound but also the hearing of a bat.

"Why will he be dead?"

"Oh no reason," I smile at her, but she's not even looking in my direction, so it's a waste of time.

"That brings me to another point. The woman is a murderer, Tav!" Gus cries.

I stare at him. Then stare some more, hoping that he notices the irony in that statement. Nope.

"And?"

"So you're saying you're happy to tie yourself to a murderer?"

I go to answer, but Jules beats me to it. "Are you being serious?"

"Of course I'm being fucking serious! Our little brother has claimed a woman, a woman who has been giving him the runaround for months now. A woman who has four children, recently killed a man, her cousin no less, and her family work with Hammer. What if she's lying? What if she's a spy? What about this situation is no one understanding?"

"August, I love you. You acted like both mom and dad to us when they died, but you are not my father. You are my brother and I will not think twice about knocking you the fuck out if you keep talking about Blanche that way. You don't know her. You don't know where she comes from or what she's been through. I never once questioned when you married Ana, even though she's Bratva and we knew nothing about her. So I expect the same courtesy." My jaw clenches as I make sure my words are well measured, so he gets the point. Any big show of emotion will convince Gus that he's right and I can't handle what I've gotten myself into. I can handle it and so much more because she is worth it. Blanche is worth it.

Gus closes his eyes, does that counting thing he does, runs his hands through his hair and lets out a long breath. "OK. I'll back off. I just, I don't want to see you hurt, Tav."

"I know, big brother, I know."

"OK." He nods once, then looks down at his papers, effectively shutting down that conversation and moving on. "Jules, I will need a report on the house you kitted out recently. The mom was certain someone had been hanging around the yard. We have any leads on that?"

"Yeah, it was the ex husband wanting to catch glimpses of the kids. Police are involved."

Gus nods before moving on to the next item. "Dayz, how you getting on with building a profile on that Officer Martin? I don't like the way he manhandled Mama Debs. I want everything on him."

"Yeah, he's an interesting one. I've gathered a lot of good shit, but I think there's still more. I'll give a report at the clubhouse, so I'll fill you in then."

"Good. Tav, I'm not assigning you to anything personally at the moment," He raises his hand when I open my mouth, "Not saying you can't handle it, but you need to spend time with our new family members so I'm giving you that instead of coordinating our teams out of hours. Got it?"

I smile at my brother's serious face across the desk. He said "our new family" instead of "your new family". Whether or not he wants to admit it, he's given me his blessing.

"Yeah, I got it."

"Right. Our FBI contact has requested our help. Dayz will coordinate comms and I'll send out Alvez's team. Anyone got any issues with that?"

We all shake our heads. Alvez is solid and we trust him. Tombs Security is Gus's brainchild. After the death of our parents, he gave up his degree in architecture to switch to Security Management. He waited until Jules finished college then both came back to Rose Grove to set up Tombs Security. It slowly grew over time until Gus and Jules were working all the hours God gave them. Alvez was their first ever hire. After that came a few veterans looking for work and then me and Dayz joined the business when we finished college. Dayz before me because she's a friggin genius and I'm just me.

"Alvez's team is the best we've got," Jules agrees.

"Good, that's settled. Now get out of my office and go do shit."

Standing, I smirk at my brother, then tip over all his pen holders on his desk. I do this every meeting we have and you'd think he would have given up by now, but no. Gus likes things his way and this extends to his wanky pen holders and all.

"Tav?"

I raise my brow at my brother in question. "Yeah?"

"Proud of you, little brother. Blanche will make a good Ol Lady. If you can keep her," He smirks at me as he says this and then his face sobers. "But if she hurts you, there won't be any force in the world that will hold Tuesday back, least of all me."

Blanche

A knock at the door has me jumping as I had completely zoned out, staring at the pot bubbling on the stove. The pounding of little feet down the hall snaps me into motion.

"Hold up littles! I'm coming!"

I throw the tea towel on the counter as I rush past to answer the door.

"It's Tav mom! It's Tav!" Cove yells at the top of her lungs, pointing to the tablet on the hall table that shows who is at the door through our security camera.

I wipe my hands on my jeans, make sure my top doesn't have any stains, or new ones at least, and run a finger under each eye to catch any melting mascara. I mean, I don't do too much to my appearance. I'm too damn busy for that shit, but I equally don't want to look like a bog witch.

I grip the door handle, take a breath, and then berate myself for acting like a lovesick teen. I give myself a pep talk about being a badass bitch, a tiger mom, and all that stuff before swinging the door open.

"Hey Pixie," Tav's deep voice washes over me as his dark eyes hold mine, the heat palpable in them before his attention moves to the two dancing around my feet.

"Hey gang!" Tav says as he squats down, resting on his haunches. And what haunches they are.

"Hey Tav! Are you having dinner with us?" Cove asks as she hops in place while Elio just leans against Tav.

"Yup. Your mom asked me and I couldn't say no. She's the best cook I've ever met!"

Both kids frown up at him before they're off, telling him about school and all sorts of important kid stuff.

Tav listens patiently as he herds them toward the kitchen. Not before leaning over and dropping a kiss on my cheek, his beard tickling my skin on the way past, causing goosebumps to break out. I know what that beard feels like on my body. I slam the door shut, take a few deep breaths and then get back to my station at the stove.

"OK Pixie, what do you need me to do?" Tav claps his hands together and looks around at the chaos that is my open-plan kitchen/dining/lounge.

Where I grew up, it was drummed into us girls that we had to keep a tidy house. Raise the children, obey our husbands, cook, clean, nurture, all that crap. I never cared for it then and I didn't care for it when Tav visited in the past, but now, being Tav's Ol Lady, someone he claimed and is hoping to see in his life in a long-term capacity, has me feeling a little weird about how sloppy my home looks. Looking around the open plan area, I try to see it through Tav's eyes. The little shoe half sticking out from under the couch. The sweaters that were taken off after school and thrown on a chair or on the floor. Not even the smallest kids' clothes. Niko's big man sized football cleats kicked into the corner are still there from last night, as is Sage's hair brush lying on the back of the couch.

"Hey, you with me?"

Turning my gaze to Tav, standing so close his chest almost flush with mine, his brows knitted together in concern. His eyes roam over my face before he turns to look around the room.

"Babe, I've been here before. There's nothing here that I don't love."

"Tav, dude, this place is a mess," I give him the "are you kidding me?" mom stare I perfected early in my motherhood.

"You see a mess, I see a home with a family. A home full of love and chaos and noise and - "He waves his hand around, "- stuff. Stuff that makes up the family you built. I'm hoping that over time, if you'll let me, I'll be able to leave some of my things lying around too." His lips curl and I slap him on his hard chest with a snort.

"Well, seeing as you love our chaos so much, why don't you try to find where the hell the kids put the dishes after the last time they unpacked the dishwasher and set the table, yeah?"

"Aye aye captain!"

With a salute, he starts looking through drawers and cupboards, Cove and Elio being less than helpful, as it seems they can't remember where they put anything either.

I take everything off the stove, making sure to check the dumplings are cooked to perfection before I dish them and the chicken onto the blue plastic plate, the side plate, the dessert plate and the serving platter that Tav and the kids decided we'd be eating off today. I'd like to say that this is unusual and that I normally seek out the correct dishes, but I don't. I used to, but once the two little ones joined us it was whatever was going to be easiest. Tav carries our meals to the table, the kids point to the places they like to sit. Which today seems to be so close to Tav they're almost on top of him.

"What about Sage and Niko?" Tav asks, before putting a dumpling in his mouth, closing his eyes and groaning in appreciation. I appreciate it too, because that noise went straight to my clit.

"No, they'll dish up themselves when they get in, which should be soo-"

The front door bangs open, hitting the wall with a crash as Sage yells out for me.

"MOM! Mom, Mom, they tried to take Niko!"

I drop everything and run to the hall at the same time Tav does. Standing in the doorway, Sage half carries her brother, his arm over her shoulder as he leans heavily on her. My feet are frozen to the floor, staring at my baby boy, blood coming from his forehead.

"Let's get you further inside. Sage, take your brother to the downstairs bathroom. Get him a cloth for his head, yeah?" Sage nods, a breath shuddering out of her before she follows Tav's instructions. "Pixie, you go comfort Sage and Niko. I'll get the little kids set up in the lounge with their dinner and a movie to keep them occupied. Go."

Tav's firm voice pulls me out of my daze and I rush down the hall to my eldest babies.

"Kids, fuck, shit! What the hell happened?"

Niko is sitting slumped on the closed toilet seat, his sister holding a cool washcloth to his forehead.

"We were coming home from school, and, and, HE came out of nowhere. He told me to leave, that he needed to speak to Niko alone. I refused. The man he was with grabbed me and tried to pull me away from Niko, but I fought back, Mom! Just like you taught me!" Sage's words come spilling out of her, "When the other man grabbed me Niko started fighting, too. The next thing I know someone hits Niko in the head with the butt of a gun and he's on the ground. I was so scared, Mom!"

Tav walks in just as Sage bursts into tears. I'm torn between settling Sage; Niko, who has been eerily quiet, and storming out and hunting down those fuckers. Tav gently removes the washcloth from Sage's hand and turns me toward Sage. I gather her in my arms and hold her tight, her sobs wracking her body.

I breathe in the scent of my eldest daughter, soothing her with little noises. The same noises I used to make when I first brought her home. Lifting my head, my eyes meet Tav's in the bathroom mirror. His large hand holding the washcloth to Niko's head, his other arm wrapped around my son's shoulders, Niko leaning on the man that claimed us as his.

Tav breaks eye contact with me, looking down at Niko as he brings the washcloth off of Niko's forehead.

"Shit, kid, they got you good. OK, can you tell me your date of birth, where you were born and how old you are?" Tav asks, squatting down next to Niko, eye to eye. He's turned on the torch on his cell phone and is currently shining the light in Niko's eyes.

"Umm, I was born… 8th of March, yeah, in 2007?" He closes one eye and squints the other at me. His speech slow and slurred. "After mom left Eden's Keep."

Tav frowns at that piece of information before giving me a puzzled look. No one outside of the Keep really knows it exists. As far as Tav knows, I was a member of a very strict church where the men treated women like shit. Sure, the MC may have tracked down Valor. Royal's eldest son had taken over his father's fervor for preaching to the worldlies, converting them to join their flock. But no one outside of the Keep knows how it works. Except those of us who have made it outside of its prison walls.

"Pixie, I think we should get him to the clubhouse. Switch is a doctor. He sometimes works at the hospital, so he's legit. We need Niko to be looked at, and I don't think taking him to the public hospital is safe. Whoever did this will think to look there." Shit, he's right. "Sage, how did you two get away from the men who attacked you?"

Sage lifts her head from where she had nestled into my neck. "We were maybe a block away from home. A really nice lady came out of the big house with all the flowers, you know the one, Mom? Anyway, she must have seen what had happened because she came out with a gun and her phone recording everything. She told the men to fuck off, and she was filming their every move. They got into a car and drove off. She loaded us into her car and dropped us off at the curb, then she drove off to ‘find those assholes'." I try really hard not to laugh at that, but damn, I need to meet this woman who saved my babies. Once things settle down, I'm going straight to the big house with the flowers to thank her.

"Shit, I think we might need to turn up on her doorstep with a huge goodie basket or something to thank her. She sounds cool," Tav says with a little chuckle. "Right, Pixie, let's pack you and the kids up in your car and get Niko to the clubhouse. I'll ring ahead to let Switch know we're coming."

As much as I hate being bossed around, having Tav here has helped keep me calm. I also have to admit it's nice to face a crisis with someone at my side. I think back to all the nights I've had to deal with colic or vomiting bugs on my own and wonder what it would have been like to have someone there to help. Oh well, no use wondering, I've been there, done that and got the stained t-shirt. Even so, in this situation, having Tav take control has been surprisingly nice. Though I'll never admit it if you were to ask me.

"Come on, kid," Tav helps Niko up off the toilet and holds him steady for a moment. "You OK to walk on your own?"

Niko goes to nod his head, then grimaces.

"The answer is no. Here, lean on me and we'll get you situated."

Sage and I move out of the entrance of the bathroom and stand in the hall, watching Tav help Niko toward the internal garage.

"I know you're a major badass, but I'm really glad Tav is here, Mom."

"Me too, baby, me too."