Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 37828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Brody’s mother followed them out.
“Momma, thank you for lunch,” Brody said, kissing her cheek. His hands were full of containers of leftover food. There was so much food that she didn’t know what they were going to do with it all. But none of his sisters had blinked at the amount Brody gathered up, which made her think it was a regular occurrence for him.
His sisters had all given her hugs goodbye. They’d even dared to hug the Fox. Nobody else had likely seen the way he’d stiffened. Luckily, Raev Foxhill didn’t seem to object to a bunch of women hugging him.
Well, not out loud anyway.
“Anytime. You’ll come back soon.” It was a demand rather than a question.
“Yes, Momma.”
She turned to Autumn and took her gently into her arms. “You barely ate anything.”
“I’m sorry.” She hoped she didn’t insult the other woman. “Nerves.”
“From dealing with that lot. The next time you come back, we’ll have dinner without them. I love them, but they’re a lot.”
Whew. She was glad the other woman understood. She sent her a warm smile. “Thank you for today.”
Brody’s mother brushed off her thanks, but she could tell she was pleased. Then she turned to the Fox. She glanced down at his hands, where he wasn’t holding any food containers. Brody’s mom was probably wondering why he wasn’t offering to carry anything and instead was letting Brody take it all.
“Here, let me help, Brody,” she offered, holding out her arms.
The Fox grunted and Brody shook his head. “I got it. I’m used to carrying food out of here.”
Then Brody’s mom surprised her by nodding. “You protect them both.”
“Always,” the Fox said.
“Good. My boy deserves people who love him. He’s special.”
“Aww, Ma, you have to say that,” Brody said. “But luckily, I like hearing it.”
The Fox placed his hand on the small of her back and she turned to walk down to the car.
“Sorry we can’t stay,” Brody said. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Love you.”
“Love you, my boy.”
The Fox opened the backdoor and she climbed into her car seat, hoping that Brody’s mom couldn’t see that she sat in a booster seat. The Fox did up her belt, then helped Brody load the containers into the trunk.
Brody sat in the front seat, letting out a sigh. “That was a lot. I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” she asked. “Your family is crazy . . . but it’s also obvious how much love they have for each other.”
Still, she would be happy to go home. She drew Freddy Fox out from where she’d had him in her bra. She knew it was a risk that he would fall out, but she couldn’t have gone into a new situation like that one without him. Lying back, she put her thumb in her mouth.
The Fox turned to look at her. The car was still idle. He’d gone out about ten minutes before they left to check the vehicle over. He was paranoid about car bombs.
Probably because he’d used them himself in the past.
“Tired, baby girl?”
It was still pretty early but she nodded.
“I wonder if I should drop you both off home then.” He reached down for her blankie, pulling it over her lap. The blanket had a Fox’s face on it, complete with ears that stuck out.
“Where are you going?” Brody asked.
“Thought I’d go see some people. They’ve been begging. Perhaps it’s time to see them.”
“Who, Sunny and Duke?” Brody asked. “Do they know you’re coming?”
“Not Sunny and Duke. Markovich.”
She gaped at the Fox, taking her thumb from her mouth.
“But since you’re tired, baby girl, I’ll take you both home first.”
“No way,” she croaked.
“We’re coming,” Brody added.
He glanced at them both, his eyebrows raised. “Who is in charge?”
“You are, Daddy. But we wanna go and support you.”
He frowned. “I don’t know. It might not be safe.”
“You’ll be with us,” Brody pointed out. “How could we be safer? And wouldn’t Markovich’s house be safer than here?”
The Fox grunted. But she knew they almost had him.
“Please, Daddy. Please.” She gave him her best puppy dog eyes.
He pointed at her. “I’m going to spank you later for trying to manipulate me and top from the bottom. But yes, you can both come.”
8
Markovich and Dahlia
Dahlia opened the oven door and stared at the turkey. Surely it was cooked by now. She’d followed the instructions exactly.
Okay, not exactly.
But she figured it would be okay.
Today had to be perfect. She wanted to give Dimitri a Thanksgiving to remember. Something that would take his mind off everything. Even though he was doing a lot better than he had been right after his brother and wife were killed, sometimes he still went to dark places.
And it didn’t help that the Fox kept ignoring his invites to connect.
If she ever saw that bastard . . . she’d do . . . well, she’d give him . . . okay, she likely wouldn’t do much of anything because she’d be too intimidated. She still didn’t understand how he’d found not one but two people who were brave enough to be with him.