Page 10 of Sabotage

CHAPTER FIVE

SABOTAGE

A knock on my door wakes me from a dead sleep. I shift in bed, feeling Ryann’s smaller body curled into me.

We’d gotten in around four this morning, and I was more than ready to pass out the moment my head hit my pillow. I gave Ryann one of my shirts, and that’s exactly what the two of us did. Though I’d been curled around her at first. I guess we shifted to me on my back with her tucked to my side in our sleep. Either way, I didn’t mind. As long as she was near, I was good.

The last couple of days . . . feels more like this entire past month has been a rollercoaster. I don’t usually have a problem with this. Life’s the best one you can be on, but sometimes, a man needs a reprieve.

Ryann sleeping next to me, it’s damn near the best thing I could ask for.

Another knock breaks through my thoughts, and I glance over to the alarm clock on the nightstand on Ryann’s side, seeing it’s just after eight.

Fuck me. We’d been asleep less than four hours. Whatever the reason for someone knocking this damn early, it better be good.

Kissing the top of her head, I ease from the bed and stalk to my door, ready to bite into whoever the hell is on the other side of it.

I grip the knob, twist and yank it open just enough to blink at the brightness of the hall. I keep my room near pitch black when I’m sleeping. Always have, and that isn’t ever gonna change. It’s the only way I’m ever able to sleep.

Rock and I shared a bedroom growing up and learned quickly that if we kept the lights off and kept to it, we didn’t have to worry about anyone paying attention to us. We didn’t have a bad childhood like most, but we lived in a house where our parents and grandparents lived together. Pops liked to bitch and moan about every damn little thing. The electric bill being one of them. If it was higher, he’d throw a fit, and when that happened, anything goes. Our dad wasn’t as bad as him, but he also had his moments.

Hence, Rock and I stuck close, and left when we could. But I’d screwed up when I’d met Cathay and knocked her up.

“What’s up, princess?” I ask, seeing the person on the other side of the door is my daughter, Fawn. “You okay?”

Fawn smiles and nods. “Yeah, everything’s okay, I just wanted to check on you. Viking told me you claimed Ryann as yours, and I didn’t even know you two were a thing.”

There’s no missing the hurt in my daughter’s eyes. She’s been my world since the moment she entered it. She’ll always be my little girl, no matter what.

Opening the door enough for me to step out into the hall, I close it behind me, not wanting to wake Ryann up.

“Come on, darlin’, let’s get some coffee, and we’ll talk.” Curling an arm around Fawn’s shoulders, I guider her down the hall and to the stairs. It’s a good thing I’d put on a pair of cut-off sweatpants before going to sleep. I’m not worried about a shirt right now. I’ll get coffee with my girl, and then I plan to carry my ass back to bed.

Ten minutes later, we both have mugs in our hands, sitting outside on a picnic table.

“Right, so, to keep this from getting weird, I’ll just tell you,” I say after sucking back a good amount of the dark brew. “Ryann means something to me. Yes, I claimed her. She’s mine, and yeah, I know she’s the same age as you. It’s fucked but?—”

“I don’t care about her being my age, Dad,” Fawn interrupts me. “She sweet and funny. I like the fact she’s with a man she can trust. I knew she liked you. I just?—”

“You didn’t like the fact you didn’t know.”

Fawn has a way of liking to know every little thing she can, and sometimes it gets her ass in trouble.

“Yeah.” She breathes.

“Princess, you know you can’t always know everything about everything. You’re a married woman with a kid now. If I thought I needed to know everything about everything when it came to you, I’d end up killing Viking ‘cause some shit is just shit I don’t need to know. Now, when it comes to you and me, we’re always gonna be family. You’re my little girl and always will be. However, things change.”

“Things change,” she agrees and takes a sip of her coffee. “I’m pregnant.” I don’t miss the fear in her voice. The fear cuts at me, and I curl an arm around her.

“You tell Viking yet?”

He’d want to know, and damn if he won’t be up Fawn’s ass to make sure she stayed healthy throughout this pregnancy like he did with Rocco. I don’t blame him either. If anything, it’s something I appreciate him doing.

“He knows,” she admits quietly. “He says it’s all gonna be fine, but I can’t help but fear something happening.”

“That fear’s gonna be hard to get past, Fawn,” I tell her, understanding my girl. “What you got to do, though, is move forward and not let it stress you ‘cause that’s the worst thing you could ever do.”

Fawn doesn’t answer in words, but she nods and leans into me.

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