Page 77 of Choices

"She put that Fed in his place so fucking fast, had him backpedaling and off his game from the get-go. You should have seen how red the Fed got when he realized he wasn't going to get anything out of a suburban housewife. Your girl's got balls, boss. Well...lady balls I guess."

"Stop talking about my woman's balls."

"Yep, right, good thinking."

I sigh,both bone weary and wanting to bury my face in Hannah's luscious tits. Maybe sleep on them for a week. But also wanting to reward her for protecting us. I knew she was smart, loyal, hardworking, and protective, but to have that energy directed towards me? Towards us? Yeah, my good girl's getting rewarded for that.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on her, Johnson. I'll send you a gift basket."

Direct wire transfers are too easy to trace. Some cash hidden in a gift basket? Much easier to hide.

"You got it, boss."

I lean back in my chair.

We haven't exactly been discreet about being out in public with Hannah, but besides taking her out to the club once, we haven't been together publicly. So how the fuck did Coletta connect the dots? Does he have someone watching her? Tailing her? Or us? Or did he get his intel from someone else?

Regardless, if someone has put two and two together and they realize how much she means to us, we've just painted a target on her back.

Me: I want cameras in and around Hannah's house. A security system, too.

Matty: On it

I lean back in my chair and let out a sigh.

At least that's one less thing to worry about.

Chapter thirty-one

Hannah

Matty or Rico hired Amelia almost full-time now. I scolded them for being ridiculous, but they insisted she needed the hours and experience, and they want to spoil me. A sliver of unease slid through my ribs, as if I wasn't the one cooking and cleaning what was I even good for?

But then I realized that was my ex-husband's voice, not mine. I hated cooking and cleaning, and if Viv hates cooking and cleaning growing up, I pray her husband outsources that shit so she can spend her time doing what she likes.

I step out of the shower and wipe down the steam on the mirror. I take a look at the woman standing in my reflection. My body's gotten toned from riding twice a week with Lauren, and I've started yoga again.

For two months the boys have been coming over every Friday for movie nights, joining us again in the mornings for Soccer and we typically all go to the Vault Saturday night to see how "Book Club" is doing. Turns out Sarah posted about it on a local mommy Facebook group and women outnumber the men attending the underground boxing.

I see them outside the house as much as possible, and while the sex is incredible, we often just hang out and talk. They've let me into their mafia and legitimate businesses, too.

I know it's not fair to compare them to Alan, but it's hard not to. The way they look at me as if I'm the most beautiful woman they've everseen. They treat me like their queen. They're thoughtful, caring, tender, and protective. Everything I had hoped Alan would become.

And the way they love my kids? They make my ovaries ache for another, just so I can watch them be fathers for the entire journey. Santiago took Vivian to the daddy-daughter dance and picked her up in a limo. They apparently got stares from the other parents, but neither one of them cared. They danced and laughed and lived in their own little world.

Rico and Santiago have started teaching all three of them basic boxing moves. Not that they need it, but it's been great for their self-esteem.

Matty has started taking me out for dates with Aid and Viv, where Aid can practice dating. I loathe that idea, but he's a pre-teen, and I'd rather he be confident when the time comes than not. He can date when he's eighteen. But these practice dates are also amazing for Viv, to see how she should be wooed, and to take nothing less in its place. If I'm honest, I had begun to worry that Viv would mimic what she saw at home and let a man treat her the way Alan treated me. That should have been enough to force me to separate from Alan years ago, but before that night with Rico, I really was just phoning it in. Letting life happen to me, instead of creating the life I should have.

Not anymore.

Now I am creating a life I love. One I don't feel the need to escape from by sending the kids to my parents and smoking pot. I think of that night and what I'd admitted to Rico. About how careless I'd been with my own life because if I died I could finally rest.

My life now? It's one I can't get enough of.

Even the kids seem lighterand happier for it. And that really makes it all worth it.

It's in the big moments and the little ones - constant reminders of how good my life is. It's in the friendship bracelets the kids made for the boys. It was the one night Viv woke with a nightmare and instead of sleeping with me, she wanted to cuddle Santi, who was already in bed with me. It's in the iced coffee and flowers the boys keep bringing me. It's the love notes Rico leaves around my house for me to find. It's in the innocent moments and the heated ones.

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