Page 11 of Seizing Control: Part One

“What are you two doin’ here?” I murmur as quietly as I can.

“Stoppin’ you from takin’ an unnecessary bullet.”

“What’s that ‘sposed to mean?” I ask Carter.

“Go to sleep, Zeke,” Benedict grumbles before our best friend can answer.

“But—”

“Shut up.” Cherub’s cousin punches my calf. I hiss through the pain, so I don’t wake her up. “You can bitch at us in the mornin’.”

“Don’t be a pussy,” I whisper to my best friend. “What bullet?”

When he doesn’t answer, I roll onto my side to face Carter. Peering at him over Cherub’s sleeping form, I watch with narrowed eyes as he fluffs up the pillow beneath his head, then smiles when Cherub seizes a handful of his t-shirt with her fist. I bare my teeth at him in the dark room. His lips widen into a grin.

We rarely fight, but he knows exactly what he’s doing right now.

Cherub is mine.

She’s the only person I have.

Carter has a fiancée and a baby on the way.

Parents who adore each other and their boys.

A younger brother who thinks he’s God.

He’s good-looking, smart, and capable—already killing it at university as he studies to become a surgeon. His life is full. His future is set.

I have my sweet girl and the Black Shamrocks MC.

“Go to sleep, Zeke… you can punch me in the mornin’.”

The despondent edge to Carter’s voice tempers my rage a little.

Maybe things aren’t so perfect in his world after all…

Despite that thought, I can’t bring myself to close my eyes. I’m mentally and physically drained, surrounded by the three people in the world who matter most to me, safe in the only home I’ve ever known, yet I can’t stop dark thoughts from whirling around my head.

How soon will Cherub outgrow me?

In two years...

Three...

Four?

Will Brutus’ paranoia speed up the process?

It’s obvious that he wants his daughter as far away from me as possible. Scarlett pushes back on his accusations of impropriety. Cherub refuses to cede to his demands to make more friends her own age. Her over-protective brothers have gone head-to-head with him more than once over his treatment of their sister and me.

For now, his behaviour hasn’t impacted things.

Yet, I know Brutus will win in the end.

Sure, Scarlett let my best friends up here tonight because she’s solid in the knowledge that Brutus won’t be home until tomorrow. Her unfailing belief in my untainted affection for her daughter is a consolation that acts as a balm against her husband’s mistrust, and my own father’s continuing refusal to man up and defend me from the accusations.

My dad is a disappointment.

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