Page 74 of The Ones We Fight For

“Fifteen hundred dollars!” Walker shouted from his seat, standing at attention. Talia’s face split into a wide smile when Mr. Potato Head in the back dropped his paddle with a groan of defeat, thank God.

“Sold!” Piper croaked, looking absolutely terrified.

Walker scowled at his niece, clearly none too pleased with the word “sold,” and made his way down his row to the aisle, where he stomped up the side stairs that led backstage. Eyes widening, Carter, Piper, and Colin all slugged their way offstage, Talia practically shoving them toward their uncle, who was waiting in the wings, steam coming out of his ears.

Anger made all of Walker’s muscles flex with tension, and Talia found it entirely too attractive for the circumstances. She should be pissed, too, but Walker had just gotten her to smile again, and it was what she had been missing for weeks.

“Get your stuff,” Walker snapped at his family when they finally made it over to him. “We’re going home to have a family meeting. Now.”

“Should I tell Amala to keep Pearl and Coop a bit longer?” Talia offered.

“Already did,” Walker grunted. He was getting really good at the parenting thing, and it was yet another on the long list of turn-ons that Talia hadn't been aware could turn her on.

Friends. She could only be his friend.

“Need my checkbook?” Talia asked. Walker’s hand shot out to her arm to stop her pulling it from her purse.

“No.” He pulled his hand back slowly when her eyes drifted down to it, heat blazing across where his fingers met her bare skin. “I’ll pay it. Meet at the car in five?” He was blatantly ignoring his niece and nephews, and it was only making them more antsy. Standing beside Talia, Piper looked like she was about to shit herself. While Talia wasn’t ever actually planning on feeding them stool looseners, it seemed the guilt had the desired effect anyway.

“Sure.”

???

Everyone was sitting at the dining table when Talia walked into the house, shutting the door behind her. Not entirely sure how far into the conversation they had gotten or what she was walking into, she treaded lightly, finding Walker’s eyes first. He stood up from his seat and gestured with his head toward the living room.

“Wait here,” he said, motioning for Colin, Piper, and Carter to stay put.

Talia followed him back out to the living room, a little nervous herself, wondering if she was going to have to go to bat for the kids to prevent Walker from being too harsh on them. She had a bit of time to think about it during the drive to the house, and after the initial rage wore off, she could see things rationally again. Despite the tone-deaf way they had gone about it, Talia could see the kids’ reasoning. It was irrational and incredibly inappropriate, but she did understand why they had done it: they missed her and Walker’s old dynamic.

“What are you going to do?” Talia asked when they were out of earshot.

“I figured we could decide that together since the biggest grievance was toward you. Clearly they were trying to—”

“Get us together,” Talia finished for him. Walker looked down at his feet, a flush of pink staining his cheeks.

“Yeah,” he mumbled back. “That. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I’m the one that made it so they felt they had to.”

“Okay, that’s ridiculous and you know it,” Walker huffed out a laugh. “Whatever’s going on between us doesn’t give them a right to sell you to me like a—”

“Prostitute?” Talia interrupted with a slight smile. Walker covered his face with one hand, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

“God. I just fucking paid fifteen hundred bucks for you.”

“Does that make me a high-end prostitute or a cheap one? How much do people normally pay for that?”

“Why the hell are you asking me? It’s not like we’re going to…” he trailed off.

“Have sex?” Talia raised her eyebrows.

“Can you be serious for two seconds?” Walker scrunched his eyes shut.

“Okay. So, obviously, they’re all grounded. They are going to pay you back the fifteen hundred bucks, five hundred each, and it’s not going to be from their parents' money. They are going to have to work for it.”

“Ponytail, that’s not good enough. They need to really feel this one. They can’t just sell you at an auction and get away with it!” Walker ran a flustered hand through his hair. “Who even let them do that? Someone at the school actually approved this?”

It had been a while since Walker had called her “Ponytail.” That along with the anxious way he’d started to pace sparked something inside her again. A familiarity that Talia wanted to cling to and never let go of. She knew him well enough to know he was doubting himself to the point of anxiety. He was always so focused on doing the right thing. Decisions like this were the kind that ate away at him and made him wonder if he was doing a bad job as a guardian, letting his brother and sister-in-law down.

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