Torn (27 page)

Jaxon had been working on finding a space,
other than our garage, to be their base of operations. Over the
last week, he had traveled to New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago
to speak with potential clients. As of yesterday, he had six jobs
lined up for the next two months with the promise of more if the
details went off without a hitch.

“Well, Mister CEO, you should probably get a
move on if you are going to make it to Brody’s office by nine
o’clock.”

“Shit.” He looked down at his watch. “I
didn’t realize it was almost eight thirty. Here, take the baby so I
can get outta here. Bye, my sweet Lilly girl.” He kissed her head
before handing her over.

“Be careful and have a good day. Love ya.” I
took the sleeping angel from him and got a kiss of my own. “Holy
hell. You can’t kiss me like that when I have the baby in my arms
and you are walking out the door.”

With a wink, he smacked my ass and headed for
the back door. “Have a good day, babe.”

Twenty minutes later, there was a soft knock
at the front door. Gently, I laid the baby down in the Pack N Play,
trying not to wake her, and went to the front door. “Good morning,
Sierra.”

“Hi, Miss Matthews.” She smiled as she walked
in.

“Please, I told you, call me Leila.”

Sierra was a college student studying early
childhood development at the College of Charleston. She was
twenty-six, smart, cute and as sweet as a honeysuckle. Originally,
I had the hope that she and I would get along, but if things
continued to go as they did yesterday, we’d end up being great
friends too.

“Lillian is napping right now. Do you want a
cup of coffee, water or soda?”

“I’m not much for coffee, but I’d love a
soda.” She followed me into the kitchen while Ruger stayed close to
the baby. I swear, since we brought Lil home he had taken on the
new job of baby protector.

“I have Pepsi, Dr Pepper, and Mountain Dew.”
I held the fridge open, awaiting her answer.

“Dr Pepper would be great.”

“So you’re going to be here a couple of days
a week, I want you to feel comfortable here. If you want something
to drink or eat, please help yourself. And like we discussed I will
leave a list of things that you can do throughout the week.”

“Okay, great.” She opened the can of soda and
took a sip.

We spent the rest of the day getting to know
each other. We decided around lunchtime, after I nursed, to take
the baby and walk down to East Bay Deli. Sierra and I had a lot in
common. She was raised by her mother here in the Charleston area
and never knew her father. She wasn’t really sure her mother knew
who her father was. The longer we talked, the more comfortable I
felt with her. As we walked home, I noticed a familiar sports car
sitting in front of the house.

She shrieked and smacked my arm as we got
closer. “Holy crap, look at that car.”

“Yup,” I said nonchalantly.

“That is the hottest car I have ever
seen.”

“Ehh, it’s okay.” I jokingly turned up my
nose as we walked the stroller onto the driveway. I didn’t see
Brody by the house, but a split second later I heard the car door
close.

“It’s okay, huh?” He strutted up the driveway
toward us.

“Yeah, just okay. Brody Davis, this is Sierra
Morgan. She’s our daughter’s nanny.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Davis.” Sierra offered
her hand.

“Please call me Brody. It’s nice to meet you
too. I just finished up with a meeting down the street and wanted
to stop by and see my little Lillybear.” He stepped around us and
picked Lillian up from the bassinet stroller he’d bought her.
“There’s daddy’s girl,” he cooed to her. “Did you have a good walk
with Mommy?”

He walked away from us toward the house,
babbling away to Lil as if she would answer him any second. It
overwhelmed my heart to see him with her like this. It was
everything I had ever wanted. He was the perfect, doting father. So
far, we had not fought over him seeing her. I prayed things would
always be like this.

From the butt pocket of my jean shorts, my
cell started blaring “Shut Up and Dance With Me” by Walk The Moon.
“Excuse me.” I stepped away from Sierra and answered the phone.
“Hey, hooker, what’s up? Callin’ in for your next john?” I had to
laugh when I looked back and saw Sierra’s face.

“Not this time, pimp. I’m callin’ to say tell
Jaxon or Brody or Jane or whoever that they got babysitting duties
tonight. Your ass is mine and we are hittin’ the town. Sushi at Shi
Ki’s, then Wet Willie’s for drinks and Kaminsky’s for dessert. You
have to get out of that house at least one time before you go back
to work, and tonight is that night. No if, ands, or buts about
it.”

“Sushi does sound good…but there is no way I
can go more than three hours without pumping or nursing.”

“So nurse the little leach right before we
leave at eight and then we will be home by eleven.” Barb really was
not going to take no for an answer.

“Brody is here now, let me talk to him. Maybe
it would be a good night for him to take her home with him since
Jane watches her on Wednesday and they need to get into a routine.”
I was thinking out loud.

“Work it out and call me back,” she blurted
then hung up.

Walking back toward a clearly confused
Sierra, I explained, “That was my best friend Barb, you’ll meet her
eventually. Oh and FYI, she will barge right in the house so don’t
be surprised.”

“Oh,” was the only thing Sierra said as she
giggled quietly.

Once in the house, we found Brody in the
nursery rocking Lillian as she slept peacefully. “Hey B, you wanna
take her for the night?”

His eyes shot to mine as he looked like he
might explode. “Of course I do, but what about feedings?”

“I have enough frozen breast milk, you’ll be
fine on feedings. And she’s been sleeping from eleven p.m. to
almost five a.m. so if you come by to pick her up around seven
thirty or eight she should only need the bedtime and morning
bottles.” I stood in the doorway for a second before walking to her
dresser. “I’ll send her blanket that she likes, but I don’t think
you will need any clothes or bottles.”

“Yeah, we have everything else at the house.”
He had made sure we bought damn near half of Babies R’Us the last
time we were there for diapers and breast milk bags. He looked down
at this watch. “Damn, er uh, dang. I have to go. I have a meeting
with an investor at four out in West Ashley. I’ll see you later,
princess.” He leaned down and kissed her soft chubby cheek.

“You can just put her in the crib since she
is asleep. If she smells me she will wake up and want to nurse and
it’s not time yet. How was everything in New York? I mean it was a
funeral it couldn’t have been great but… Never mind.”

“Okay.” He cradled her close, nuzzling her
head then laid her down. As he stood over her watching her sleep,
he asked, “Do you ever want to just hide her away forever so no one
can ever hurt her?”

“Every time I look at her, Poppa Bear.” I
tilted my head into his strong arm.

“Okay, I will see you in a few hours.” Brody
exited the room quickly. In moments like that, I was reminded of
how much I’d hurt him. He did a good job of hiding it, but every
once in a while it would surface. When it did, he ran.

A few hours later Sierra left and I heard
Jaxon pulling up on the Harley. I had yet to speak to him about my
little outing with Barb, but I was sure it would be fine.

Lillian and I were in the living room when he
came in the back door. He took his boots off with a thud, and then
tossed his keys on the granite with a ringing clink. “Yo, babe,” he
softly called out.

“We’re in here, Jax.” Rocking in place on the
couch, I watched as Lillian stared at the spinning ceiling fan. She
had become so observant in the last week.

“Hey, honey, how are my girls?” He stood
behind the couch, leaned forward, and kissed the top of my
head.

“We’re great. How was your day? Have a good
meeting?”

“My day was good, meeting was fine. How did
things go with Sierra today?” He came around and took Lil from
me.

“Really good, I really like her. She’s so
attentive to Lillian, and Ruger didn’t try to maul her when she
picked Lillian up this morning. I was able to get a lot of stuff
done around the house and we walked to the deli. Tell me about the
meeting. Which place did y’all decide on?”

For the next ten minutes Jaxon told me about
the meeting and the old warehouse they decided on. Of course, Brody
disagreed on the location, stating they needed to be in a
professional building, not a run-down warehouse. Both Drew and Jax
were able to explain the virtue of having a space they could make
into anything they wanted, including a training facility for
employees, including a state-of-the-art gym. Finally conceding,
Brody agreed to broker the deal and have his contractors put bids
in on the renovations. Jaxon divided the jobs up amongst Drew, Kai,
and himself.

“So while I was out Barb called. She wants to
go out tonight for sushi. We shouldn’t be out too late though.” I
hopped up from the couch and walked to the kitchen. “Oh and Brody
should be here in about two hours to pick Lil up. He’s gonna keep
her tonight. I thought it might be nice for him to spend a little
one on one time with her. And Jane will be there to help.”

A low grumble came from Jaxon’s chest. “Why
can’t she just stay here with me?”

Walking back with a bottle of water, I
stopped just behind the couch. “Because I have plans for you when I
get home.”

“Oh really? Do these plans have anything to
do with me fuckin’ you on every available surface?” he growled.

“They might,” I purred over my shoulder as I
climbed the stairs to the bedroom to get ready.

“Woman, you’re damn lucky she’s awake,
otherwise…”

“I’m going to get ready. Barb will be here at
eight. Don’t feed the baby, please. I need to nurse right before I
leave,” I hollered from the second floor.

Fifteen minutes before Brody was supposed to
be there to pick the baby up, Jaxon ran around the house, getting
her blanket, car seat, and frozen milk ready while I nursed her in
his recliner. As much as I hated this chair in the beginning, I had
grown to love it. I had fallen asleep in it many nights while
nursing.

“All right, babe, I’ve got everything
ready.”

“Can you take her while I put my dress on?” I
sat up in the beige recliner.

“Yeah.” Jaxon came around and took Lillian,
as there was a knock at the front door. “I’ll get that, you go get
ready. Barb will be here any minute.”

We both knew the knock at the door was not
Barb because she never knocked. As I ran up the stairs, I heard
Brody talking to Lillian. It still shocked the shit out of me that
I could leave those two men in the same room, return, and find the
room still intact and no blood.

Once in the closet, I pulled out the navy
V-neck dress. The skirt was ruched and fitted, and the chest and
short sleeves were flowing and billowy. Jane and I found this dress
when we went to the outlets a few weeks ago and I’d been waiting
for the perfect time to wear it. Slipping into the dress, I grabbed
my taupe tall strappy leather heels and walked to the bench to put
them on.

“What the fuck are you wearing?” Jaxon’s eyes
almost bugged out his head.

“A dress and heels.” I stood and looked at
myself in the mirror. “Does it look bad?” I’d been self-conscious
of my body since having the baby two months ago.

“You’re not wearin’ that, babe.” Jaxon
crossed his tattooed arms over his chest and blocked the door.

“I look fat, don’t I?”

“No, definitely not the problem.” Grabbing my
hand, he placed it over the zipper of his jean where I could feel
him straining the fabric. “See what one look at you does?”

Shaking my head, I smiled. “That’s just
because you’re horny. No one else will be staring at me. As a
matter of fact, let’s see what Brody thinks.”

“Oh hell no,” he grumbled as I pushed past
him and headed down to the first floor. Jaxon was hot on my heels
as I clip-clomped down the steps.

“Brody, does this dress look okay to go out
with Barb in?” Batting my eyes, I tried to silently beg him to
agree with me.

Brody looked back and forth between Jaxon and
me before speaking. “It’s okay—”

“See?” I cut him off.

“Wait,” he continued, “I didn’t finish. It’s
okay, but no fucking way I’d let you out of my sight in that dress.
Someone like Jax might come along and steal you away.” His dig was
thankfully playful. He turned and knelt back down to Lillian who
was in the car seat.

“Fuck off,” Jaxon retorted with a snort.
“See, I’m not the only one who thinks you should change.”

“Wait, you said you’re goin’ out with Barb in
that?” Brody’s head whipped back around to me.

Speak of the devil, in waltzed Barb, unaware
of the conversation. “Hot damn, hooker, check you out.” Subtly
shaking my head, she took the hint. “Where’s my little butterball
baby?”

“Barb, she’s not fat. I’d appreciate it if
you did not call her a butterball,” Brody said crossly.

“Oh stop, Mister Grumpypants. She’s the same
size as a little turkey. I’m not sayin’ she’s fat. But after the
pictures from her newborn shoot with her little legs tucked under
her, every time I look at her I see a turkey.” She stepped around
Brody and grabbed the car seat. “Who’s Auntie Barb’s little
butterball?” she babbled on.

“You have everything you need, right?”

“Yes,” Brody replied tersely.

“Then Barb and I will be on our way.”
Grabbing her by the arm, I pulled her away from the couch where Lil
was sitting in her car seat. “You’re driving.”

“Wait a damn minute.” Jaxon realized I was
trying to sneak out the backdoor.

“Have fun tonight. Love you, bye.” I grabbed
my cell, purse, and keys off the bar as Jaxon strode our way.
“Run,” I told Barb, giggling. I took off out the backdoor like a
teenager sneaking out of the house. Running in heels was not how I
saw my night beginning, but it certainly made things
interesting.