Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
And Darren had promptly told his mother. Again.
“This kid doesn’t look like he’s yours,” Xavier observed as we pulled out of the parking lot.
“That’s ‘cause he’s not,” I said. “He was my best friend’s son. When my best friend died, I was given custody of him.”
Xavier made a humming noise under his breath, and stared straight forward, not saying a word, for the remainder of the drive.
The moment I pulled into the driveway of my place, Raven opened the door, and her eyes took in everything at once.
She came to Nathan’s side and opened the door as I got out, followed shortly by Xavier.
“Sleepy boy,” Raven said as she got Nathan out of his car seat and pulled him into her arms.
I nearly laughed at the sight.
Nathan, at five years old, was almost her height. His feet hung past her knees, and his head was nearly as big as hers.
Did she care that he was practically as big as her? Hell no.
She loved Nathan and had since the moment they’d met.
Two wounded souls always gravitated towards each other, and Nathan was definitely a wounded soul.
Although he’d been given everything he could possibly want in life, he’d had a tough time of it.
When he was only a year old, the man who had shot his father and mother had shot him as well.
He’d taken a bullet to the head and had to have fifteen surgeries to repair the damage.
Although he was okay now, it was touch and go at first, and it’d been a very long road to recovery.
Seeing the two of them together again had my heart fucking pounding for a different reason than had been normal for me lately.
“She the baby mama?” Xavier asked as Raven turned around and walked inside.
“No,” I grunted and pushed Xavier. “Get inside.”
Xavier reluctantly followed me inside. As he took in my house, I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were haunted, too.
Leaving me to wonder what exactly I thought I could fix with this kid when I couldn’t even fix myself.
Chapter 13
Of course I’m an organ donor. Who wouldn’t want a piece of this?
-Raven’s secret thoughts
Raven
“Why are we watching the baseball game when soccer is on?” Xavier asked.
“Because I want to watch the baseball game, and it’s my fuckin’ TV,” I told the annoying kid. “Why don’t you go watch your precious soccer on the TV in the room I gave you?”
Xavier grinned.
“I like baseball, too.”
Wolf held his hand out for the computer, and Xavier grimaced before giving it to Wolf.
I wanted to laugh.
The two men were very alike, and the fact that they’d just met less than three days ago was telling.
“Nathan,” Wolf called. “Your grandma will be here in less than twenty minutes. Are you ready to go?”
Nathan started stomping down the hallway, and I looked up and watched as he made his way toward us dragging his R2D2 rolling bag down the hallway in his wake.
“Dad,” Nathan growled. “I can’t find Chewy.”
I got up and immediately walked to the last place I’d seen his Chewbacca figurine, and immediately cried out in excitement. “Found it!”
Nathan came clomping in with his two-sizes-too-big boots that he just had to have and held his hands out for the tiny figure.
“Where’d you find it, Rave?” Nathan asked, throwing himself at my thighs.
I rocked back on my heels, thankful as hell I had the table at my back.
“On the hutch next to the cars you lined up. And I’m glad Marky Mark didn’t find it first,” I pointed to the make-shift garage he’d been using as his Hot Wheels’ storage facility.
Nathan followed my hand and nodded.
“Those better be there when I get back,” he said, pointing at me for good measure.
I held my hand up in a ‘I promise’ gesture and tried not to break out in a smile.
“Good woman,” Nathan said, sounding like he was Wolf’s age of thirty-five rather than his actual age of five.
“Dad!” Nathan cried as he walked out of the room, shoving Chewy into his pocket as he went. “Make sure you don’t let any girls play with my cars!”
I nearly laughed my butt off, but managed to withhold it. Although, that was only because the doorbell rang, detouring my path to the front door instead of standing at Nathan’s back listening to him tell his father about why girls shouldn’t be able to play with cars.
“Hi!” I said to the older woman. “You must be Nancy.”
The woman’s face, very pretty for an older woman, stared curiously at me for long moments before her face split into a grin.
“You look like a fairy princess,” the woman replied to my greeting.
“She’s an evil fairy princess,” Nathan muttered as he walked past us towards the stairs.
Wolf caught up with him before he could even make it to the steps and scooped him up into his arms, tossing him over his shoulders.