Page 55 of Idaho

She nodded, then looked up at me. "You're a good man, Idaho."

I shifted, uncomfortable with her assessment.

"I need to tell you something."

"What's that, Duchess?"

"Thomas ran a background check on you. He called yesterday and gave me the highlights, then emailed the report to me."

My brows shot up. "I might need to get the name of the company you used. They're faster than mine."

"They know Thomas is my bodyguard and prioritize anything to do with my father."

"Fair enough. Why are you telling me?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.

She sighed and looked away from me. "I feel bad that I didn't give you the chance to tell me yourself. You've been so open with me about everything else, and you're doing me a favor by letting me stay here."

My lips quirked up at the guilty look on her face. "Never play poker, Duchess. You'll lose all your father's money." She frowned at me, opening her mouth to say more, but I beat her to it. "I have no problem with you checking me out. I figured Thomas would anyway. He'd be stupid not to and he doesn't strike me as a dumb man."

Static poked his head through the door, interrupting us. The dogs rushed past him through the open door, barking happily. "Hey, Bro. They're here. You ready?"

"Send them in," I told him with a grin. There are those who like to joke—mainly Static—that my heart was a shriveled pit inside my chest, but seeing those kids walk in and stand quietly next to their mothers nearly pulverized what was left of it. It was Christmas morning. They should be running around like little maniacs. One little girl gave me a shy smile as she stuck to her mom's leg like she was glued there.

"I'll go get Syl and the kids," Static said as he jogged up the stairs. He would randomly check on the perimeter while we had the families here, but there was no real reason for him to stay outside the entire time.

Squatting down, I looked around at the kids. "There's a pile of presents here for each of you," I told them as softly as I could manage. They weren't used to men being kind to them. "As soon as you're ready, you can come find your pile." Straightening, I stepped out of the way to leave a clear path to the gifts.

It didn't take long before the club's kids rushed down the stairs, all noise and chaos. It was hard to tell which preceded which, noise, or chaos. Generally, you heard the kids before you saw them—a trick they learned from Toxic—but occasionally, there was chaos followed by noise—a trick they learned from Butcher. Cassie smiled at a little boy about her age who was busy staring at the floor, though he peeked up to look at her every once in a while. She ran over and grabbed his hand, dragging him toward the waiting presents.

Some of the older children looked up at their mothers for permission. As soon as it was given they ran forward to find which mound of presents belonged to them. The mothers helped the younger kids. Happy kid noises filled the room and I began to relax.

The club kids seemed to realize the cult children were shy and needed to be treated a bit softer, because they were a little more tame than they usually were. In the same way that their parents were willing to help anyone, the kids saw it as their duty to help. In this case, it was teaching kids how to be kids.

Gabby handed her tablet over to another girl and they settled back to watch something on one of the streaming platforms. Auron laid down next to them, laying his head on the new girl's lap. She seemed thrilled to have him there.

Sean and a few other boys were already starting a game of cops and robbers with some toy foam blasters they'd gotten. Jecht was running around with them, and it was almost as if the dog understood the damn game. I chuckled as he knocked over a boy who'd been about to take a shot at someone's back. The boy's giggles filled the room as Jecht licked his face.

"Thank you all for doing this." I looked over and found Angie standing a few feet away with a smile on her face.

"You're more than welcome."

"Most of the mothers have found part time jobs, but it's difficult."

"Of course it is. They're doing it all on their own," Eva said from the other side of me. I hadn't heard her approach.

"Integrating back to the real world has been slow. Those of us that adapt faster have gotten jobs, but those that are still…shy to the outside world need more time. There are a few of the women who are basically running daycares and babysitting for the others. We pay them to watch our children so that they have someone they know to stay with. And your club helps us so much. We can't tell you how grateful we are."

"This is all the gratitude we need," I told her, motioning to where kids were sitting on the floor, ripping open presents and gasping with delight.

"Excuse me," a soft voice called.

I looked over and focused on a woman with blonde hair and sky blue eyes. "Hey."

"Could-could you tell us if Sloane is doing okay?"

"Oh, yeah. No progress yet, according to Lockout. He said it's probably going to take most of the day."

"Thank you," she whispered before going back over to where her son was sitting on the floor playing with some toy cars.

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