Page 21 of Broken Chorus

“No, just wonderin’,” she replied and hurried after the others.

“I hope you have a song in mind,” Hark said as Aaron moved to follow her.

Aaron just grinned, winked, and followed the kids to the living room. “Several.”

“Are you gonna clue me in?” Hawk called after him.

“Eventually.”

“Joy,” Hawk muttered before he headed to the music room, the only locked room in the house.

He grabbed the black acoustic for Aaron and the blue one for himself, then headed to the living room armed for chaos only to see that Aaron had gotten the children situated in their bean bag chairs, which he’d arranged in a semi-circle in front of the couch cushions he’d placed on the floor for him and Hawk. He’d even spaced them so the guitars wouldn’t bump, even if that meant he’d placed himself further from Hawk than Hawk wanted him to be.

“Alright guys, are you ready for a family jam session,” Aaron asked with all the growly, hype fueled fervor he’d brought to their concerts.

Hawk saw the kids’ eyes light up, each one fully focused on Aaron as their yeys and yeses blended together in happy squeals.

“So our first song tonight is gonna beThe Itsy Bitsy Spider,” Aaron announced. “Now I know all of you know the song, but we’re going to add a few pieces to make it truly special, okay.”

Wide eyed, they nodded solemnly, eagerly waiting to hear what he’d say next. And Aaron tried to claim he wasn’t an entertainer.

Bullshit.

Aaron had better count himself lucky he’d had the foresight to wheedle Hawk into playing or he’d have had his phone out recording this whole thing so he could play it back for Aaron every time he tried to act like he wasn’t charismatic and capable of enchanting an audience.

Fucker had Hawk wishing they were alone, because just watching him like this, with a smile on his face and his fingers on the guitar, was making him feel all kinds of domestic and soft. Wrapped around one another, chilling out and watching movies,had been one of their favorite ways to spend their downtime. It hadn’t even been about sex, though they’d had plenty of it. It had been about intimacy, loving Aaron’s company and the way it had always felt like he was the missing piece of Hawk’s soul.

“Liam, after each time we singspider,I want you to growl the word, just like you did at the table. Get your voice real low and just snarl the word.” Aaron explained, demonstrating so Liam would understand what he meant. “Let’s practice real quick, okay.”

Liam nodded, so Aaron sung the first line with the girls joining in. As soon as they said spider, Liam growled it and damn, okay, his little nephew had the potential to take after him one day.

“Now, Ella, whenever we say out, I want you to say it four times, just like this: Out! Out! Out! Out!

Aaron even shook his fists in the air as he said it, really getting the kids into the spirit of things. Like with Liam, they practiced it before Aaron turned his attention to Dani. Hawk wondered if he’d chosen to give her instructions last so she wouldn’t get bored or forget them while he was instructing the others?

He just didn’t get how Aaron could have such a way with them when he’d been the only child in the home he’d grown up in. The only thing he could equate it to was Aaron’s love for lost, neglected and needy critters, which he’d collected and found homes for whenever the opportunity arose, including the time he’d found a sea turtle on the beach with injuries that looked like it had been hit by a propeller. After learning that they couldn’t be out of the water for more than twelve hours, he'd emptied a plastic tote onto his bed, filled it with seawater, and demanded Hawk help him carry it onto their fuckin’ tour bus so they could take a seventy-three mile detour to the nearest aquarium.

“Now Dani, your job is to sing itsy-bitsy, itsy-bitsy, after each time we say it,” Aaron explained and like he had with the others, demonstrated. “Now is everybody ready?”

“Yey!” Dani cheered, wiggling in her seat while Liam and Ella both yelledyes.

Aaron fiddled with his phone, then laid it on the floor between him and Hawk so Hawk could see the notes and chords for the song. When the hell had he found the time to find a site with the notes to children’s songs…unless he’d already saved it for the times when he video chatted with the kids?

Shit.

Hawk had never even considered looking. It might make for a welcome addition during their nightly story time to play a lullaby or two for them. He should have been the one to think of that, yet it seemed like Aaron was the who had a handle on all the fun things. It dawned on him how that could become a problem later, if it was all Aaron was capable of.

Having you here would be like having a forth kid in the house!

As he played the intro to the song, the echo of the words he said to Aaron rolled through his mind, and all he felt was shame at having said it when all Aaron had been trying to do was help.

He’d been angry.

Not at Aaron but at the loss of his brother and sister-in-law and the sudden, unexpected burden of responsibility that had been thrust upon him. He’d always known that if anything happened to his brother, he’d be the one to finish raising the kids, he’d just never imagined anything actually happening when he signed that paper. He’d thought it was something people did when they had children. If he’d known, hell, if he’d ever even paused to consider how quickly shit could happen that was completely out of someone’s control, he’d have…

Done the exact same thing and signed it.

Fuck.

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