“Where did she go? Is she coming back?” Piaget’s little face scrunched up in confusion.
“She’ll be back. Nadia’s downstairs with Tavi and Saga. I’m going to run an errand, but I’ll be back. We can read together if you want.” I reached out and pinched her cheek.
“Saga and Tavi’s mama don’t like me,” Piaget muttered, eyes drifting to the ground.
Immediately, that shit had me hot. I didn’t play that treating kids differently shit with anybody. So it pissed me off that Nadia seemed to hold some kind of resentment for Piaget and Rogue because they weren’t hers. Neither of them deserved that. I didn’t ever want to be the type of parent to favor one child over the next because of where they came from or how they wereconceived. That shit, more than anything, irked my nerves about that girl.
“Tell you what, just stay out of her way until I get back. You and Rogue can come lay in my bed if you want and watch TV,” I suggested.
“Okay! I’m going to get Rogue!” Piaget set her book on the edge of the bed and ran toward the door just as my phone went off again.
I picked it up off the dresser and studied the screen. Brick was summoning us to the bunker, which meant we were about to get dirty. I didn’t mind it for the right reasons. Shoving my phone into the pocket of my hoodie, I strolled to the door and left the door cracked for Piaget and Rogue. I kept my guns in a safe, and my weed was secure in my closet out of reach as well. My only issue was leaving them here with a woman they didn’t feel comfortable with. I didn’t think Nadia would ever physically harm them, but I didn’t like her attitude when it came to my youngest two.
By the time I got downstairs, Nadia was wiping down the counters in the spotless kitchen. Tavi sat at the counter, swinging her legs and tapping away on her tablet while talking her mother’s ear off.
“Can we go to the mall tomorrow and shop? Or maybe to the movies?”
“I don’t know, baby girl. We’ll see. Your daddy might have plans or something for you. How have things been going around here, though?” Nadia paused and leaned against the counter, and I kept my distance in the doorway, eavesdropping.
“They’re OK. I love this house, and Grandma Rossi says we can start taking riding lessons soon. I already picked out the horse I want to ride. I don’t understand why Daddy wanted to live in Chicago all this time instead of being here.”
“He had his reasons,” Nadia muttered, straightening up at the counter. “What’s up with your brother and Cambrie?”
“I don’t know. It’s like all of a sudden he likes her or something. He’s a boy, though, and she’s pretty. Rogue is obsessed with her. It’s always Cambrie this and Cambrie that,” Tavi mimicked, making her mother titter. “It’s so annoying. I’m so glad you’re here! Can you make your breakfast casserole in the morning?”
“I sure will. How about we pop some popcorn and get some more snacks and stay up tonight watching movies?” Nadia suggested.
“Let’s bake cookies!” Tavi squealed.
“You got it. Go check on your little brother and sister. Make sure they’re good and I will bake the cookies.” Nadia pushed herself off the counter, and Tavi set her tablet down.
The minute she rushed by, I let myself into the kitchen. With the fridge door open, Nadia glimpsed me over her shoulder. Her being a good mother had never come into question. I wholeheartedly believed that she loved our kids. Time had healed what she left broken in me all those years ago when she walked out though. I’d spent a lot of time coasting with Damaris, then Cyra. The idea of getting close or allowing anyone into that place she once held didn’t appeal to me once she was gone. Until now.
“Do you know what time you’ll be heading back?” she asked, grabbing a roll of cookie dough from the side door of the fridge and slamming it shut.
“Nah.” I shook my head, and she stopped at the counter and popped open one of the cupboards to grab a baking sheet.
I didn’t like how she was moving around my shit, making herself at home. This was the type of shit to give my kids the wrong idea.
“Okay, well, we’re just going to chill tonight. I don’t know what type of plans you have for them tomorrow, but I could take the girls and maybe do some shopping, see a movie? You and the boys could do something too.”
Swiping my beard, frustrations poured out of me in the heavy sigh I released. I didn’t have time for this shit, and she was only further agitating me when I just wanted to find Cambrie and make shit right. Seeing that broken, glossed-over glint behind her eyes had my stomach in knots and my chest tight as hell.
“Yeah, I’ll let you know. Make sure all the doors are locked.”
“Staten,” she called after me, which left me pausing in stride on my trek to the garage. “I only want to help. I don’t know what’s going on, but maybe whatever happened here tonight was supposed to happen and is for the best.”
I didn’t utter a word or even feed into that shit as I moved forward. She would say that when it looked like some shit was working in her favor. Little did she know, my thoughts weren’t on her or why she was here. She was going to have her visit with the kids and go back the fuck home because I wasn’t entertaining this shit.
Hopping into the driver’s seat of my truck, I hit the button on my visor to raise the garage door and backed out into the night. The drive over to the bunker was dark and filled with silence while I blew on a freshly rolled blunt. All this shit with Cambrie, Rossi, and Nadia was fucking with me. I kept replaying that look on her face and the way her voice cracked when she heard me going off. By the time I arrived to park, I spotted both of my brothers’ cars nearby and shut off my engine. I checked my phone once again to see if Sol had texted me. Since she hadn’t, I decided to check in myself. The line trilled twice before she picked up.
“What’s going on?” I asked before she could even greet me.
All that excessive breathing on the other side sounded like she was exhaling weed smoke as music played softly in the background.
“She’s fine. She just needs to decompress. Give us the night. I’ll keep you updated, but you gotta give her some space, Stat, OK?”
“The fuck you talking about space, Sol? I need to talk to her.”
