Page 36 of Festive

Shotgun chuckles when I grab Kinz, and we edge out of the cab, Phantom grabbing our luggage from the trunk. “And look, there’s my other favorite girl. She’s getting so big, Thay. What are you feeding these girls?”

I snort out a laugh. “You calling my toddler fat, Old Man?”

He smirks. “Healthy and looked after is what I’m calling them. You look…” He pauses, handing Kenna over to Avery.

“Vee, I missed you! I didn’t want to say goodbye to Daddy, though. I don’t know why he couldn’t come with us?” Kenna says to Avery, and she weakly smiles, pulling some hair behind Kenna’s little ear.

“Sometimes, firefly, we just need a little break to have somegirl time, and that’s what we’re gonna have. You, your sister, your mama, and me. How’s that sound?”

Kenna lights up like a Christmas tree as she bounces on Avery’s hip. “Can we have snacks?” Kenna beams.

I snort out a laugh. “Easy, girl, anyone would think I don’t feed you.”

“I’m a growing girl, Mama!”

Avery glances at Shotgun. “C’mon, let’s get you inside while Pops and Mama have a little chat. Phantom, you okay to take Kinz?”

He walks over to me and takes hold of a sleepy Kinzley.

“She needs a nap. So if you can put her down for a sleep, that would be great if you have somewhere for her?” I ask Avery.

Avery smiles. “We have everything, Thayleah. You’re welcome to stay as long as you need.”

My chest squeezes, my eyes watering when I nod at her. “Thank you.”

She turns, taking Phantom and my two girls inside the apartment with her, leaving me to face Shotgun on my own.

Not the part I am looking forward to.

He folds his arms under his chest and lets out a loud exhale. “So, on a scale of bleeding to dead, how bad do I have to hurt him?”

I let out a small laugh, stepping forward and wrapping my arms around him. He’s not my father, but I like to imagine he is. And let’s be honest, he’s been the best kind of father figure I could have ever asked for. He’s stiff for a moment in the embrace, but then he relaxes and slides his arms around me.

I didn’t realize how much I missed his macho ass until now.

“I love you… you know that?” I murmur against his ear.

He furrows his brows. “Thayleah, talk. You don’t just pick up your whole life when you’re eight months pregnant and come back home this close to Christmas. Whatthe hellhappened?”

Pulling back, I swallow a lump in my throat. “The club was getting some shipments of Snow White ready at the clubhouse. Somehow, the girls heard the guys talking about Snow White, and Kenna got excited, thinking it was the Disney princess. So naturally, she went looking for her in the shipping containers.”

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

Rolling my eyes, I nod. “She took Kinz and somehow ended up in one of the shipping containers. No one noticed, and they were trapped inside and were shipped off to New Orleans on a cargo train by themselves in the dark, in the cold…” My eyes begin to widen as I think of what they went through. “It was just lucky the men on the other end chose that container to open and check before they put it onto the ships on the Mississippi, or God knows where they would be right now.”

Shotgun growls under his breath. “Whythe fuckweren’t they being watched?”

Rolling my shoulders, my stomach churns. “That isanothersore point.” I exhale, shaking my head. “We’ve had this new girl, Amber. She’s been subtly hitting on Six. He doesn’t see it, or he does, but he’s doing nothing about it.”

Shotgun’s eyes turn dark.

“Anyway, she’s been watching the kids for us. Seems she has a background in childcare, but I just don’t trust her as far as I can throw her. Get this… the kids go missing to New Orleans, and she suddenly has a family emergency in New Orleans and happens to be there when the kids are found, so we have to use her to pick the kids up and bring them back to us. That’s not a coincidence,right?”

“She still at the club?” Shotgun rubs at his beard, furrowing his brows.

“As far as I know.”

Shotgun shakes his head. “So thissuspiciouswoman is still at the club, and he let you walk out with his family but keptherthere?”

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