Page 7 of Making Choices

Zeke growls and his leg bounces faster.

Edging closer, I take hold of his upper arm.

My best friend tenses, but he doesn’t otherwise react.

“Aren’t we staying for the ceremony, Dad?” Cherub asks.

Brutus grunts. “No.”

“The fuck?” Zeke shakes off my grip and lets go of Cherub’s hand to whirl on his godfather. “It’s our patchin’ in... why would you skip it?”

“Got better things to do.”

As Zeke vibrates with indignant rage and Brutus regards him with deceptively placid smugness, I fix my attention on the girl watching this go down. Cherub is pale. Her chin wobbles. When our gazes meet, her bottom lip pops, and with a sob that makes my heart lurch, Cherub stumbles to her feet and throws her arms around my waist.

I barely have time to hug her back before Zeke pulls her away from me. He lifts her into the air. She wraps her arms around his neck and he folds her legs around his hips. Cherub presses her face into the side of his neck and whimpers with barely suppressed sobs.

“You’re gonna be all right,” my best friend murmurs, even as his eyes flare with hatred for Brutus. Stepping closer, I brush my hand over Cherub’s shoulder. Unsure what to do, I settle for awkwardly patting her. Zeke drops his voice an octave as he croons, “You’ve got Sander and Everett and the two boys, plus we’ll all visit. Hell, you’ll be bloody sick of the sight of us before long… that’s how often we’re gonna come see you all.”

“Promise?” she pleads.

When he meets my eyes over Cherub’s shoulder, I see the same resolution darkening his gaze as he sees in mine. Brutus can take the Mayberry kids away from us, but he can’t keep us away from them.

Not without a fight.

They belong with the Shamrocks.

They are Shamrocks.

Exactly like Scarlett raised them to be.

After pressing a light kiss to Cherub’s forehead, Zeke sets her back on her feet and stoops down so he can look her straight in the eye. He swipes away a tear from her cheek. “Promise.”

The ghost of a smile lifts Cherub’s lips. It dies when Brutus clamps a hand down on her shoulder and uses it to tow her out of my bedroom. The shaking blonde goes without a fight, shooting Zeke a quelling look when he tries to follow.

Blocking his path, I declare, “He’s fuckin’ lost it.”

Zeke snorts. “Motherfucker never had it to lose. This is just another power play.”

“How so?” When he tries to step around me, I add. “Stay. Talk to me... I needa know what’s goin’ on.”

“He hasn’t spent ten minutes with those kids since Scarlett died,” he tells me. Zeke’s gaze flicks from my face to the doorway Brutus just towed Cherub through, so I shove his shoulder to keep his attention on me. Scowling, he continues. “How does he expect to raise them on his own when he won’t even look at ’em?”

“Didn’t know shit was that bad.”

“Shit’s fucked.” Zeke grimaces. Sympathy flashes in his multi-coloured gaze. “Come on, I’ll talk to my dad. He’ll make Brutus see bloody sense.”

As we step out into the wide hallway that runs down the middle of the sleeping quarters, Benedict comes striding through the doorway from the main bar. His nostrils flare as his footsteps grind to a halt. On his face is the same devastation that’s ripping through my chest.

Cherub’s only cousin points at us, then at the doorway he just came through. “Did you—did you…” Benedict’s mouth moves silently as he tries to find the right words to express his outrage. “He just… took them. Away. Cryin’.”

“Fuck,” I grumble when Zeke stomps off back in the direction of his room.

The door slams.

Sounds of destruction break out, then I hear a rifle being racked.

“Go get Hades,” I order Benedict. “He needs to get through to Zeke before this shit ends with a bullet in Brutus’ head.”

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