Page 116 of Beyond the Badge: Crew

Nox simply stared at him.

Crew raised his palms up. “I get it. You don’t want to talk about it. I just wanted to make sure you’re following the—”

“Ultimatum?”

“Plan,” Crew finished. “Brother, you know we all love you like family. We all have your six. This—”

“Ultimatum.”

“Planwas just another way of showing you how much we want you to be—”

“Sane?”

“Happy,” Crew finished. “Jesus. We know you’re not insane. But sometimes shit hits us harder than other times. Like my divorce.”

“Sasha’s still breathing.”

It would be easier for him if the woman wasn’t, but Crew kept that to himself. He really didn’t wish his ex-wife dead, he only wished she didn’t have it out for him, even all these years later.

“Still breathing fire, you mean. On that note, I have my kids this weekend. I might bring them by on Sunday, if anyone will be around downstairs. They’d probably like to see you.”

When his face softened, it was proof the man did love children. And all the BAMC kids loved him back, including the moody teens. They thought he was cool because he used to tell them stories from when he was in the Army.

Some tales had been a bit embellished, but Nox managed to make military service sound much more exciting than it was in reality.

No matter what, Nox tried to spend time with them whenever one of their brothers brought their kids along to the BAMC church. Most likely because Nox and his wife had been about to start a family when Jackie died. He hadn’t hidden his excitement about becoming a father.

All of that had been ripped away from him in a flash.

Right now, being around the kids was the only thing that brought him out of his funk.

“Hey, I was thinking about taking them for a ride on Sunday before I have to take them back. You interested in coming along and having Dylan as your backpack? I can take Chloé.”

Nox dropped his head and stared at his boots for a few seconds. With his baseball cap pulled low, Crew couldn’t read his expression.

But when the man nodded before lifting his head, Crew felt relieved.

“Yeah, I’m game. Maybe we can take them for ice cream or something.”

Holy shit.That was a good sign. “I’m sure they’ll be good with that. Maybe I’ll get Deck to join us with Valee Girl. Do some sort of Daddy/daughter ride but not just with our girls.”

There were others in the MC with kids who could go along, too. Cross and his twins. Jamison and his twins. Miller and his litter of children. The only problem with Miller would be picking which kid to go along. Probably the one most willing. And if some didn’t want to be left out, Crew could recruit some of the other BAMC members to haul them around.

Or, even easier, he could let the BAMC road captain plan it. “I’ll say something to Finn. Maybe he can throw together a club run on Sunday just for the kids. We should be able to get enough of us together to make sure they all have a seat if they want.”

“Not sure Cross’s boy will want to go.”

“Then, he can bring Bri. And Jamison can bring Laney. Maybe it should be strictly a Daddy/daughter run. We could always leave the boys downstairs to play video games.”

“Thought you wanted Dylan riding with me.”

Oh fuck,that was right. Because if Nox didn’t have a kid riding with him, he might not go at all. And going for a long ride in the fresh air would do him some good. Being around the kids might help, too. “Yeah. Brain glitched there for a second. I do. I don’t get a bunch of time with them and this gives them a good reason to stay off their phones. Taking them to a Pirates game Saturday afternoon, too.” Now he wished he had bought an extra ticket for Nox.

The man grunted.

“All right, I’ll get with Finn and we can set that up. Unless you hear otherwise, assume it’s a go.”

“‘Kay.”

---