Page 31 of The Doctor

I turned around and all four of her brothers were looking at me. Mason wasn’t smiling but he nodded to let me know everything would be okay.

“But you did leave.” Ollie wasn’t as forgiving as Nick. I didn’t really know where Jake stood, either. The secret was thrust on him and I was grateful he kept it. Ollie was hurt, though, because his wife had also known. “I know that was the plan. She goes to the army and you go to med school. And then you got a full ride. But you left at one of the worst times of her life.”

“She didn’t want me around.” I felt my voice rising. I had dealt with my anger at Bex a long time ago, that didn’t mean it couldn’t resurface. “She pushed me away. Staying here without her and my kid, hurt like a mother fucker. I was eighteen when we graduated. And I did what she asked. I didn’t fucking know better.” I was screaming. “She pushed me away, what was I supposed —”

The rest of the sentence was muffled as my face was pulled into Nick’s shoulder. “You come to us. I hate that you involved Jake. He was sixteen, for fuck’s sakes. I hate that Mason punched you.”

“But mostly.” Jake whispered behind me. “We hate that you went through the worst time of your life alone.”

I shook my head. I didn’t deserve their understanding. I had left. I abandoned my kid and the woman I loved. “That doesn’t matter. I was okay.”

Nick pulled away from me. “Really? You call systematically making your way through the female population of New York, okay?”

Well, maybe not.

Oliver looked at me. The warmth in his eyes was something he only reserved for family. I was glad to be included in that once again. “I was the player. Maybe even Jake. You? You were one of the good ones. We all knew something was wrong when social media had you tagged with a different woman every week. Now we know why. But for fuck’s sakes, no more secrets.”

“Thanks, guys.”

I was grateful for these men. Men who became my brothers because I was their brother’s friend. Or maybe because their sister loved me. I knew she loved me back in high school. And I believed she would find her way back to me again.

Bex came out of the farmhouse holding a mint green bundle. She was closely followed by her dad carrying Landon. I wentover, took Vicky from her and placed the little princess into her car seat. Her dad then placed a sleeping Landon into his. He stirred for a moment before Dom put a stuffed toy between his head and the car seat ensuring he was comfortable with something familiar.

Since Julie lived in the same building as me, she offered to take Dom in her SUV. She also had two kids but her car was a lot more family friendly. Something I would need to look into.

With hugs all around and promises of playdates and agreement to go and watch Cooper and Mattie in their first little league game over the weekend, we all got in our cars and one by one, we made our way down the paved single car path.

Through the drive back to my apartment, I stayed behind Julie, not only because my kid was in her car. But because Julie also needed protection. In fact, we were using her need for protection as a cover to hide Dom until a safe house could be secured. Nick wanted to use one of the Salingers ones but as the Marshal assigned to us had mentioned, if the place was compromised, the state would not help them. Not that Nick cared, but he was buying a new property, anyway.

Besides, where we were was a little inconvenient but it wasn’t unsafe. I was completely willing to wait until everything was in place for us to move to a safe house. The other thing I needed to consider was that Landon had been traumatized enough. Dom was older and the trauma would hit, no doubt, but he held onto that attitude like a security blanket. Vicky was a baby who was loved, fed, and cared for. She was unlikely to have any lasting damage. But I was worried about Landon. If it meant him finding a little security, I was willing to keep Dom on the couch indefinitely for Landon to hold on to it. I knew I was being unrealistic, the way we were living was no way for kids to live. They needed space. They needed a lot more than I was currently giving any of them.

We pulled into the tenant’s parking, Julie heading for her bay and me headed for mine. Since we were on different floors our bays were a ways from one another. All the kids except Dom were asleep.

I took Landon out of his car seat, and Bex took Vicky. Dom and Jules met us at the building’s elevator each holding one of Julie’s daughters.

“I’m just going to help Julie get the girls upstairs, then I’ll be down.”

Bex’s eyes went wide and stern. She looked so much like her mother I half expected her to sound like the older woman as well. “Straight up and down. No dawdling.”

I was surprised when he didn’t roll those eyes. Perhaps he wasn’t so much resentful as he was just a teenager. “Where else would I go?”

“Hey.” The sternness in my voice surprised even me. I would be patient and understanding, but I would not tolerate disrespect. “We’re only looking out for you.”

“Sorry.”

Bex and I shared a look. It was hard to tell which one of us was more taken aback by Dom’s apology. “No problem. If you’re not back in our apartment in five minutes, I will come looking for you.”

The kid nodded as Bex and I stepped from the elevator. She put Vicky in her crib and left me to sort out Landon. Thank goodness they had both taken a bath at the farm and we didn’t need to worry about still getting them into pajamas.

She headed straight to the door. When I came back through to the living room she was standing in the hallway. I knew the moment Dom stepped off the elevator. The brightest smile lifted her lips.

It didn’t take Dom long to wash up and get ready for bed. I needed to tell him what I had planned for the next day. Ifigured it was an argument we could have in the morning. At that moment, Bex needed to talk to me.

The way she wrung her hands told me it was important and there was a strong possibility I was not going to like what she had to say. As long as she wasn’t pushing me away, I could handle anything. I’d let her do that to me once and I wasn’t about to let it happen again.

She patted the couch next to her as she closed her eyes and exhaled. “I need to tell you something.”

Slowly, I moved to the couch. I was in no rush to hear what she had to say. Especially if it involved her and me not being together. “What is it?”

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