Page 209 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

When he turned, he saw Asia grinning at him. She gave him a thumbs up.

For a moment, he had forgotten she’d even been in the room.

His soon-to-be sister-in-law put her phone back to her ear and her mouth began to move again.

He sighed and decided to go find Liyah so he could be with her when she shared the good news.

Maybe not so good for a certain someone…

Only when he turned, he slammed into a wall.

A big, dark, bald wall.

That wall was not smiling.

No, Magnum looked furious.

Nox braced for the fist that was raised.

But instead of it striking him, the fingers uncurled.

Nox stared at Magnum’s hand before lifting his eyes.

The man wanted to shake his hand?

Had he been drinking?

The shake was firm, but not bone shattering. “You ain’t the person I’d pick for her to have another grandbaby. But from what I was told, I ain’t got a fuckin’ say. I don’t fuckin’ like it but apparently, no one gives a fuckin’ shit.”

“Is that your way of congratulating us?”

Magnum grunted and stepped back. “Had Aaliyah when I was only seventeen.”

Where was this going? “That had to be difficult.”

“We were too fuckin’ young to be parents and made bad choices. Those choices affected my kids, and it fucked up my relationship with them. Lost them for years. Finally got them back fifteen years ago. That’s why you’re standin’ in my house. Make no fuckin’ mistake, it ain’t ‘cause I like you. It’s ‘cause I love my daughter and got a lotta makin’ up to do.”

Nox guessed that whacked congratulations was better than nothing.

Magnum dropped his voice lower until only Nox could hear him. “That fuckin’ said, if you do to her what that last motherfucker did, gonna hunt you down and do the same to you as I did to him.”

“Do I want to ask what that was?”

“Best you don’t,” his future father-in-law warned before heading over to his youngest daughter, yanking the cell phone out of her hand while she was in mid-sentence and hanging up on whoever she was talking to. “Go get your brother and nephews and tell them to get their asses down here. If they’re up there playin’ video games, I’m gonna smash Caleb’s game console and he ain’t gettin’ another one ’til he can pay for it himself.”

Asia unfolded herself from the recliner and didn’t argue. She only went and did what she was told.

Interesting.What teenager didn’t argue?

“Take fuckin’ notes,” Magnum said as he lumbered past Nox and back out of the room.

Then Liyah was peeking around the wall separating the living room and the hallway.

“Are you checking to make sure I’m not lying in a broken heap?”

She entered with a smile. “Don’t let him fool you. He’s excited.”

Nox’s answering grunt wasn’t as deep as Magnum’s.

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