Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4) (17 page)

Once the twins were born, I’d worked tirelessly to get my pre-pregnancy body back. But there were just some things that carrying two babies did to a woman’s figure that couldn’t be undone, no matter how many hours were spent in a gym.

It was during one of those grueling workout sessions with the personal trainer that Lance hired that I realized something that rocked me to my core.

I had turned into my mother.

Present

“You tracked Kenzie’s every move at the party last week. I don’t think you took your eyes off her for more than a minute. Might as well admit it, dude. You’ve got a serious hard-on for that woman.” Trevor had been at it since we sat down at Colt’s. So far, beers with the guys consisted of them giving me shit about Kenzie. And as usual, Trevor was the worst.

“You won’t hear me denying that, brother.”

“You want to wife that chick and you know it.”

I looked over at Trevor with a look that screamed
you’re one to talk
.

“This coming from the man who got Lizzy loaded just to get her down the aisle?” I scoffed.

“Eh, if it works, it works. At least I’m getting it on the regular now.”

“I said I had a hard-on for her. Not that I wanted to marry her.”

“We all saw you at that party, man,” Luke chimed in. “You’re more whipped than poor Ben over here.”

Ben’s offended gaze shot towards Luke. “What the hell! I’m not whipped.”

Trevor let out a snort before saying, “I work with that woman. I know the set of balls she’s got on her. Any man dating her doesn’t have a choice but to be whipped. It’s your cross to bear, Benny boy, just accept it. Only reason we don’t give you more shit about it is because she’s hot as hell.”

Ben’s eyes narrowed on Trevor. “You know Lizzy’s keeping me on retainer, right? Just in case you fuck up and she needs a good defense for murdering you.”

Just as everyone burst into laughter, Luke’s phone went off.

“Ah, hell,” he muttered, looking down at the screen before sliding it back into his pocket. “I gotta go.”

“I thought you weren’t on call tonight?” I asked.

“I’m not, but I want to be on scene.” Concern spread over is features as he said, “I think you need to come with me.”

Icy dread filled my chest at the look of concern on Luke’s face.

“What’s going on?”

“String of break-ins. Someone got shot.” He shook his head sullenly before adding “It’s Kenzie’s apartment complex, man.”

He barely had enough time to complete the sentence before I was out of my chair, heading for the door at a run, my heart firmly lodged in my throat.

BANG!

I woke from a dead sleep by what sounded like a gunshot. Disoriented and shaking, I thought for a moment that it had just been a dream. That was, until the twins came running into my bedroom; their eyes bugged out in fright.

“
Mommy
,” Callie shrieked as she and Cameron dove onto my bed, scrambling toward me and climbing under the covers.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” I soothed, wrapping the both of them in my arms at the same time I tried to steady my own heart rate.

The sound of sirens, accompanied by blue and red lights, came through my bedroom window. I had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. My mind immediately went to that dark place.
What if he’s out there? What if Lance found us?

The commotion from outside grew louder and louder, causing my fear to grow along with it, until it squeezed my chest like an ice cold fist.

“Mommy, what’s happening?” Cameron whimpered from beneath my arm.

“I don’t know, baby. But it’s all going to be okay. It’s going to be okay,” I repeated on a whisper, trying to remind myself that Lance had no clue where we were.

A loud pounding on the front door started screams from all three of us.

“Kenzie! Open the door!”

Oh, God. He’s here. He found us. No! No no no no.

“Beauty, it’s me. I need you to open the door, baby.”

Beauty
. Lance never called me
beauty.
Oh, God. It was Brett. Jumping from the bed, I ran down the hallway as fast as I could. My fingers fumbled with the deadbolt and chain lock; my hands shook uncontrollably. As soon as I got the door open, Brett barged through and wrapped me in his tight embrace. The moment I was in his arms, all of the fear disappeared. I was safe. My kids were safe. I was overwhelmed by how much I trusted Brett at that very moment. I knew…I just
knew
that if he was there, my children and I had nothing to fear.

“Brett! Brett! Brett!”

The twins came barreling down the hall, not stopping until they’d latched onto both our legs, forming a big group hug in the middle of the doorway.

“Let’s move this inside, yeah?” Brett asked softly, finally pulling from our little huddle and guiding us into the living room before shutting and locking the door behind him.

“W-what’s going on out there?” I asked, wringing my hands nervously in front of me.

“A bunch of apartments were broken into tonight. One of the men drew a gun on the burglars and fired. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt. Stupid fu—I mean…uh, the police arrested three teenage boys for the break ins. Apparently, they thought it’d be funny to take a dare from some of their buddies at school. Now two are in the back of squad cars and the other is on the way to the hospital to have bullet removed from his leg.

“Oh, God,” I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands as Brett stood from the couch.

“I need to you pack a bag for you and the kids. Just enough to get you through tonight and tomorrow. I’ll bring you back for the rest of it later.”

Um…what?

My brain must have still been rattled from my Wild West wakeup call because he wasn’t making a damn bit of sense.

“Why do we need to pack?”

The
well, duh
expression he wore kind of made me want to punch him a little bit. “Y’all aren’t staying here, Kenzie. Four apartments were broken into and someone was shot two doors down from you! You’re moving in with me.”

I choked on a laugh at the same time the twins started jumping up and down screaming “YAY! Sleepover!” at the top of their lungs. They took off to their room, no doubt to pack their own bags, before I could get a word out.

“Are you kidding,” I hissed out once the kids were out of earshot. “We aren’t staying with you!”

His chin lifted and put his hands on his trim hips. “No use arguing, beauty. I’m not leaving here without you and those kids. It’s not safe.”

“Oh, my god! It was
one
incident. It’s not like this place is the epicenter of an underground crime ring. This isn’t
Breaking Bad
, Brett. It’s a perfectly safe complex.”

“A perfectly safe complex with a few additional bullet holes,” he countered. “Now, pack your shit.”

“No,” I answered defiantly as I crossed my arms under my chest, immediately realizing my mistake when Brett’s full attention zeroed in on my unrestrained boobs. “Hey! Stop looking at them!” I shouted, smacking him in the arm as hard as I could.

“Feel free not to pack a bra, babe. Won’t get any complaints from me.”

“We. Are. Not. Moving. In. With. You,” I sounded out every syllable, convinced he must have been a little slow.

“All packed!” Cameron yelled as he and Callie ran back into the living room, their cartoon character rolling suitcases dragging behind them.

“See,” Brett said with a smile as he pointed at the twins. “At least
they
know what’s good for them. You know, I expected more cooperation from the
adult
of the household. It’s a sad, sad day when five-year-olds listen better.”

My eyes rolled dramatically at his pathetic lecture. “I can guarantee those suitcases are full of nothing but toys.”

Brett looked over at Cameron for confirmation that his bulging bag was full of stuffed animals and action figures, getting a proud, “Yep!” from my son.

“Told you,” I gloated.

Brett’s eyes narrowed as he stepped close to me, his joking demeanor from moments ago gone. I could see the seriousness radiating through his gaze. “I’m not playing a game here, baby. I really don’t like the idea of you and the twins staying here one second longer than you already have. And by
really don’t like it
,” he whispered for my ears only, “I mean I can’t fucking stand it. The only way I’m getting a halfway decent night’s sleep is if I know for certain that y’all are safe. And the only way I’ll know that is if you’re under my roof. Now, please, for the love of all that’s fucking holy, will you
please
stop arguing and just go pack a damn bag?”

Well, when he put it like that how was I supposed to argue? I couldn’t.

“Fine.” I threw my hands up in a defeated huff. “I’ll go pack, but I’m packing every bra I own a.s.s.h.o.l.e.”

I stomped away to the sound of Brett’s laughter, making sure he didn’t see my smile as I headed to the bedroom and he tried to wrangle Cam and Callie into packing something a little more useful.