Roxanne's Redemption (20 page)

“Is that
M
ommy, Auntie Roxy?”

S
he smiled
.
It
had been a while since Zach called her that, but that was what he use
d
to call her when he couldn’t pronounce her name properly
.
Ava had pick
ed
up the nickname and called her that
any
time
she was thinking of doing something mischievous.

“Sorry,
kiddo
,
I think it’s either Ava or Kira.”

He smiled brightly. “Okay. Can I
go
to the door with you?”

“If I was going
,
then sure, but your mother, Kira and Ava each have a key so they can
let themselves in
.”

“Mommy didn't use a key
,
she rang the
doorbell
.”

“She probably put it somewhere and didn't remember that she ha
d
it
.” And that was a good thing, else
Lexi
would have walked in and
caught
Roxanne
and Sebastian
kissing the hell out of each other
with their clothes
practically
off
.

He nodded.

“Roxanne Allayna Reynolds
,
didn't you hear me ringing
the
doorbell
?
” Roxanne looked up to see Kira glaring at her.

“Auntie Kira,” Zach said
,
running
to her.

“Hey
,
squirt.”
S
he tickled him
as she picked him up
.
H
e
laugh
ed.

“Auntie Kira
,
what did you bring me?”
he
asked after h
e
stopped
laugh
ing
.

Before Kira answered
,
Sebastian,
his brothers
and
Nick
walked into the kitchen. Zach turned to look behind
him;
all of them except Sebastian
froze as they looked at Zach with
wide eyes
. Zach smiled at them then turned back to Kira and frowned.

“Oh squirt
,
I didn't bring anything for you
.
How about next week w
e have a sleepover at my house
?
” Zach nodded eagerly. “Then it’s settled.”

She s
a
t Zach back on the floor
.
As she did so,
Roxanne
saw
a flash of
pink in her hair. “Kira
,
turn around.” She did and Roxanne scowled. The back half of her hair was pink.

“For all that’s
holy
,
what did you do?”

“What?”
Kira
asked
, her voice the epitome of innocence
.

“You
r
hair
is
pink
!
”

Kira arch
ed
a brow.

“Half of your hair is colored pink!”

“It’s for the video of my new song
.
B
esides it could have been worse
,” Kira replied.

“How worse?”
Roxanne
asked.

“Yellow.”

Roxanne laughed
.
Then
,
a
fter managing to catch a breath
,
she glanced around then said,
“Where
’
s your bodyguard?” Kira
hunched her shoulders and then looked away
.

“Kira, don't
make
me call Ava.”

She sighed dramatically. “I ditch
ed
him on my way here
.
H
appy now
?
”

Roxanne glared at her friend as she barely resisted the urge to shake some sense into her.
“Call him and give him the address.”

“Don't
have to.
He’ll call in five seconds, watch
.”

Her phone rang
. She smiled before
answer
ing, and then she
rattled
off the address after saying it was an accident
and she was sorry
,
even as
she
rolled
her eyes. Roxanne shook her head and scowl
ed
at her when she
hung
up. She opened her mouth to chastise her about her safety
when a throat cleared. Roxanne turned around
.
She winced when she
realized
she’d forg
o
t
ten
that
Sebastian,
his brothers and
Nick had joined
them.

“Sorry.
”

“
It’s al
l
right.
Hey
,
Kira it’s nice to
see
you again
.
Y
ou remember my brothers
,
Adrian
and
Joshua
,
and
our friend
Nick.
”

“Hey
,
Sebastian it’s nice to
see
you again
.
Yes
,
I remember.
Hello
Joshua, Adrian
,
Nick.”

Sebastian
’s
brother
s
nodded.

“Hello
,
babe,” Nick drawled.

Kira snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Auntie R
oxy, can I go watch
TV please.”

“Don't you want to meet
S
ebastian's
brothers and
their
friend?”

“I guess.”

“How about they me
et you in a little while
,
squirt,
”
Kira said
prior to
returning her wide
-
eye
d
stare to Sebastian.

“Okay.”
H
e ran off in the direction of the living room. Kira waited for a few minutes before she
spoke
.
“What is going on
?
A
nd somebody better talk fast
.
”

Roxanne had wanted to wait until Ava
arrived,
so what she had to say
needed to
be
said only
once. But since Kira demanded the
y
tell her
,
this particular news wouldn’t be told
only
once like how she’d planned
.

“They
,”
Roxanne said as she
gestured to Sebastian and his brothers
.
“Are related to Zach
.
”

“Oh my
,” Kira
said then
bit her lip before
laugh
ing
nervously.

Well that wasn’t what
Roxanne had expected
from Kira at all. Speechless, sure, anger
,
that too, but
her being
un
easy
wasn’t one of them.

“You
know
,” Kira
said
,
continuing
after dropping
herself into a chair
,
“when Sebastian came to our table Friday night and introduced himself I
’d thought it was my imagination when I saw
Lexi
look at
him with fear
in her eyes
. Are you Zach’s father?”

A
h. S
o that’s why she’d looked so uneasy
. Roxanne winced
inwardly;
trying to remember if she’d
given
her friends
any indication Friday night that s
he cared for Sebastian more than
an employee
should
. If that’s the case
,
and Kira thought he was Zach’s father
,
Kira
was probably wondering how she
’d
taken
it after finding out he had a
son
with Lexi
.

Sebastian's eyes widen
ed
. “No. Michael is Zach’s father. He’s our little brother.”
Roxanne
saw Kira relax
as she
exhaled noisily
. She
had to be
relieved that she didn't have to see two
of her
best friends
quarrel
over something that happened four years ago
.

“Did Lexi ma
k
e you promise not to tell him?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Kira nodded. “She changed
,
you know.”

“What do you mean?”

Kira
frown
ed
before she answered
. “
Lexi has a very
trusting and forgiving nature
,
or she had. She never expected Michael to hurt her. Her family hurting her
,
a few months after your brother ripped her heart out and stomp
ed
on it
,
changed her. She doesn't trust or forgive easily anymore
;
and
even though
you
promised not to say a word to Michael,
Lexi is
waiting for you to break your promise and it doesn't matter if you had meant it
when you told her
.
”

The men’s
eyes went tight as they clenched and unclenched their fists at their sides
.

“How was she after what Michael and her family did to her?”
Sebastian asked.

“Let’s just say because of
us
and Zach she decided to get back to the land of the living.”

“Okay
,
now that we have that out of the way
,
let’s start grilling. Kira
,
go change and come back down here
,
”
Roxanne said, stepping into the tense moment.

Kira
snickered. “How about you all
,”
she waved at Nick and
Sebastian’s
brothers
,
“
go
get to know
Zach.
Sebastian will set up the grill and I’ll help Roxanne with the steaks and potatoes.”

Everyone nodded
,
leaving
Roxanne frowning at Kira.

* * * *

Sebastian stepped out into the backyard and felt his jaw drop. Gr
anted
,
it wasn’t very
masculine drooling
over a backyard. But in this case, it was acceptable. The yard was decked out with golden white
tiles and i
n the middle was a huge Gunite pool with a hot tub and by the pool side w
ere
four pale gold chaise
longues
. To the left was the grill and to the right was
a
table and chairs under a Tuscan
-
style cabana.

Yep, he had every right to drool over Roxanne’s backyard.

He
wanted to
just stay for
a
while as he admire
d
her
backyard
, but he couldn’t
.
E
ither Roxanne or Kira would
bring
out
the steaks
, so he had to start the grill
instead
. As he walked over to the grill he
told
himself he would be able to
do
it again
when he was
alone
.
He fired up the grill and waited.