Into the Blackness (Blackness Series Book 4) (11 page)

They quickly obey and go about it while joking around. Ah, to be young again. Kat bends over at the waist and retrieves a pan of homemade rolls causing Cole and Dane to gawk thereby running into each other, both of them falling to the floor in a thud. Jake and Sawyer bust a gut laughing while I shake my head.

“What in the world? Are you two okay?” Kat asks, panicked at their state when she turns around. They’re both dying laughing along with their friends at this point.

“They’re fine, Kat,” I assure her moving into the kitchen, stalking toward her.

I wrap my arms around her waist before cupping her ass in both hands. Fuck, it’s better than I imagined it would be, soft and firm at the same time. The perfect size for my large hands.

“Your expensive pants caused a fender bender,” I purr into her neck before placing a soft kiss on her bare shoulder. “House full of teenage boys, probably a good thing you’ve got a closet full of conservative clothes.”

I pull back to look at her face which is now flushed with embarrassment, at what I’m not sure. I pat her ass twice before moving away. The teenagers are all staring at us with weird looks on their faces.

“What?” I ask the room.

“How long have you guys been together?” Cole asks with his brow furrowed.

“Since college,” Kat answers in a lie from behind me, moving to my side.

I swing my arm around her shoulders and gently brush her smooth bare skin with my thumb.

“How old are you?” Sawyer pipes in.

“I’m twenty-eight. Rude question by the way,” Kat admonishes playfully.

“So you’ve been together like ten years?” Dane does some quick math.

“Yup,” Kat pops her
p
offering me a stellar smile.

“I don’t believe it,” Cole says shaking his head. Kat goes rigid at my side and Jake’s eyeballs bug out of his head. I prepare myself for damage control.

“Why’s that?” I ask nonchalantly squeezing Kat’s shoulder in reassurance.

“I’ve never seen my parents like that. And I’ve been around longer than ten years. There’s no grab ass in my house. The only ass my dad grabs is his latest mistress’s and even that’s short lived. Right guys?” Cole asks for some backup from his friends.

They both nod in agreement waiting for us to tell the truth.

“Any of your moms look like my wife?”

“No,” they respond in unison.

“Any of the mistresses?”

“No.”

So fucking wrong they know an answer to that question.

“Any of ’em as sweet?”

“No.”

“Any of ’em cookin’ you dinner and handin’ out group hugs to horny teenage boys?”

“No,” they grumble and blush a bit.

“If you’re lucky enough to have a woman like this you’ll be all over her every day until the day you die, gentleman. You admire a treasure when you find it, at any moment you’re able. Get me?”

“Yes,” the three chime together.

Jake offers me a proud smile as Kat turns her body across the front of mine. She leans up on her toes, barely because of the fuck me heels, and presses her fat lips to mine. It’s a soft sweet closed mouth kiss meant as a thank you. I’d like to take it as an invitation, but I give her soft and sweet before pulling away from her face stroking her jaw with my thumb.

“Mindfuck,” she whispers before untangling from my arms and moving back to the dinner.

“Can I move in tomorrow?” Dane asks as I stride toward the table where the guys are all settling in.

“Sure,” I say jokingly thinking he’s giving me shit about Kat.

“Seriously? Because my parents are in Europe until January.”

“What?!” Kat yells from the kitchen making the table jump, except for Jake. “Sorry, I’m not yelling at you, sweetheart.”

“We always go to Europe over the summer, but this year they didn’t come back with me before school started. My mother wanted to visit some health spa so she can try to look like you and my dad’s screwin’ a girl that wishes she looked like you,” Dane explains in an annoyed tone.

“We’ll pick your stuff up tomorrow after school. Would you like me to speak to your parents or whoever’s takin’ care of you?” Kat asks carrying the roast to the table.

Even if I wanted to argue that it’s not a good idea to move this kid in, I know I’d lose. Kat’s on a mission with these boys. I can see the determination in her face. It would definitely be a losing battle for me.

She hands me the carving utensils without looking at me, her eyes trained on Dane’s light brown ones.

“It’s just house staff at my place. I’ll tell ’em. They won’t care. Whenever my parents call I’ll let ’em know.”

“When’s the last time you spoke to your parents, Dane?” I ask becoming concerned at how alone these kids seem to be.

“At the airport last month,” he says blankly.

“Jesus fucking Christ! I swear to God, Nicky,” she pleads with me to fix this for her. I set down the knife and fork to wrap her in my arms, pulling her back to my front.

“Where are your parents?” she asks Cole who must also have shit for brains adults in his life.

“Italy,” he answers sheepishly.

“How long?” she growls.

“Our parents left together. I think they’ll be back after New Year,” he says with a shrug looking to Dane for some help.

“Sawyer?” she asks fighting back the emotion caught in her throat. I place a kiss on her naked shoulder and grip her tighter.

“My situation’s a little more complicated,” he murmurs staring at his hands.

Kat pulls out of my arms and slides into the seat next to Sawyer. She tips his head up with her finger under his chin. I set about carving our dinner because I’m starving while my wife tries to save the planet one neglected child at a time.

“What do you need?” Kat whispers holding his chin firmly in place.

“A mom like you,” he says honestly.

Fucking hell, these kids are killing me.

“You’ve got it. You understand me? You need me for anything I’m there,” she states emphatically.

“I looked into getting emancipated this summer. But it got to be pretty complicated so I quit.”

Kat looks up at me signaling it’s time for her man to step in.

“Sawyer, how about you and I talk after dinner and see if I can help you figure some stuff out?” I ask as pleasantly as I can, wishing we had that heavy bag right now.

Parents that forget their children should be shot in the street and left for dead. I’d be happy to have that job if it becomes available.

“Thanks, Nick,” Sawyer breathes out, relieved for the assistance.

I finish carving the roast and serving it to the boys while Kat fills their plates with vegetables, potatoes and fresh rolls. When she finally sits down, we tuck it away with deep satisfaction. Kat is talented in the kitchen, but her heart is her true aptitude in life. She’s blowing my mind all over the place right now. And she calls me the mindfuck?

Nick

“Guys you gotta get movin’,” I order gruffly up the stairs where the teenagers live. Six weeks now, I’ve had a full house of teenage boys and it’s been pretty good for the most part.

Kat immediately schooled them in keeping their rooms clean and picking up around the house, but other than that, they’ve been good kids. Cole and Dane moved in without incident. Both their mothers talked to Kat at her behest and acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. They told her since she was here and they were
so
busy abroad it was a convenient solution. We’re complete strangers to them and they agreed to let us be responsible for their children after a twenty minute conversation! Fucking worthless people. Kat went at the heavy bag for thirty minutes after that talk.

Sawyer has been another ball of wax. His mother, if you can call her that, is doped up on any and every prescription she can get her hands on. She’s overdosed twice in the last year. Both times, found by Sawyer. His father lives in a dream world where he works tirelessly and then fucks any twenty-two year old he can get his hands on. They’re both around enough that Sawyer doesn’t feel comfortable moving in, but he’s here every night. According to Kat, more than half his shit is in his room here too.

The op is crawling at this point. I’ve gone to poker at the Bookers every week for the last five and the only fucking thing that’s happened is I’ve made some decent money. I’m welcomed like everyone else, but shit is mostly superficial. So I keep plugging away.

Kat has had three lunches and two brunches (is there a difference?) with Trish and some of the other
Stepford Wives
. All five interactions were much the same as mine at poker night, polite and uneventful. We knew this would be slow going in, but I think we’re getting a dose of reality now. A year may not even cut it at this point.

Kat and I are getting along for the most part. We’ve improved our communication. She only calls me a mindfuck a few times a week now instead of multiple times a day. I’ve done an award winning job of keeping my hands to myself. We’re affectionate in the house when we have an audience—all the time—and in public, but at the end of the day we stay on our sides of the bed and crash. By affectionate I mean brief lip brushes, hand holding, a hand on her thigh or an arm around her shoulders. There’s been no more grab ass because I’m a tough motherfucker, but I can only tempt myself so much before I crack.

At some point Kat got a hold of the DCA and was able to have some different sleeping clothes shipped in. Now she’s mostly wearing button down cotton tops with shorts. It doesn’t make a difference…she’s still fucking hot. So my resolve is struggling, but I’m working hard to remain a professional and not to be a monster. Kat, Jake and the boys make it easy. They’re good for me.

I hear the elephants descending the stairs at a rapid pace because they’re running late for school this morning. They blow past me into the kitchen and start snatching breakfast burritos Kat made them for breakfast off the bar. She’s standing in the kitchen with her hands on her hips trying to look pissed. It’s successful.

“Boys,” she admonishes.

“Sorry, Aunt Kay,” Sawyer says sheepishly. “We’ll do better.”

“I’ll set your alarms for five in the morning and break off the snooze buttons if you don’t get your shit together, you four,” she growls.

They all nod in understanding and move to the garage. She rolls her eyes at me before following them to begin her never ending chauffeur duties. I watch her perfect ass swish away in a blood red skirt that hugs everything just right and offers me the tease of a high slit in the back as she goes. It’s always a nice view around here.

Today is a big day for me. I have a meeting with a few of the guys from the poker group that want new security at their law firm downtown. In a town as small as Maybelle, I find it interesting that there are quite a few law firms, but we are in Ivy League hell so I’m not surprised.

I gather my briefcase and head into the garage to meet with potential holes in the human trafficking ring. Game face on.

I pull into our sweeping driveway relaxed and satisfied. I got the job and now have the ability to bug their office. Two weeks from now, I’ll have feeds inside every room in that place. Finally, some damn progress. Now I have to hope they have something to do with this shit.

The SUV is gone and it’s not time to pick the boys up. That’s a rarity. If Kat’s going out she always texts or calls. Once I’m in the kitchen, I check my phone to see twenty-five missed calls. FUCK! I had it silenced for the meeting and completely forgot to check it. I run to the office to see if she left me a note while simultaneously dialing her.

Straight to voicemail.

No note on the desk.

I dial again.

Straight to voicemail.

I try Jake.

No answer.

I try Sawyer.

“Dude, where the fuck are you?!” Sawyer chides in a whisper.

“At home. What’s goin’ on?”

“Shit’s fucked up. Get here now!”

He hangs up.

I jump in my car and speed through the calm town, making it to the high school in less than five minutes, more than twice as fast as it would be legally. I bolt from my car and high tail it into the building to be met by Cole, Sawyer and Dane. They’re all scowling at me in disgust.

“What?” I growl.