Page 11 of Forever Your Touch

“You think it’s safe for me to call her, or will she take my head off?”

Mason laughed. “She’ll hand your head to you on a silver platter.”

“Shit.”

“Hey, text me her number. I forgot to get it from her.”

“Fanboying, were you?”

“Fuck yeah.”

Keith laughed and agreed to shoot her number to him before hanging up. Mason turned down the street, seeing the gym ahead. He needed to get in and out, shower back at the frat, and head to Viktor’s. Sara promised him homemade lasagna. He wasn’t missing out on that. Pulling into the parking lot, he grabbed his gym bag he kept behind the seat and rolled into the place, glad to be able to work off some of this frustration.

***

Viktor, Kade, and Dimitri all lived in the same small town right outside the city. They’d bought up about sixty acres of land and had homes built, except for Dimitri. His section of the acreage already had a house. He and Becca remodeled it, of course, but they’d been able to move in a lot sooner than Kade and Viktor. There was enough room if Mason, Conner, and Nik ever wanted to build on the family compound, as Kade referred to it.

Mason wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He liked living in the city and would probably rent an apartment when he graduated. Nik and Lily bought an apartment in the city as well. Now that his sister-in-law had just had a baby girl, they might change their mind about that. The city was no place to raise kids.

He pulled into Viktor’s drive and cut the engine. The place was nice. Two stories of stone and natural wood, it blended into the forest like it belonged there. The place had plenty of room for kids to run and play. He saw Delia’s pink bike laying on its side in the grass. He shook his head. They’d all warned her about leaving it out to get rained on. The chain would rust up and might cause her to crash.

Getting out, he picked up the bike and rolled it into the garage. Girl was never gonna learn. He used his key to get in the house and called out, “Princess Peach!”

He heard the pounding of footsteps down the stairs and braced for it. Seconds later, she barreled into him, and had he not been ready, he’d have fallen backward. Picking her up, he swung her around and around, loving her squeal of laughter.

“Uncle Mason!” She wrapped her little arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Princess.” He gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “Where’s everyone?”

“Mommy’s upstairs with the twins, and Papa’s in his office. I was watching cartoons.”

Storm gray eyes smiled at him amid her wild mess of blonde hair, and his heart swelled. He loved this kid more than anything. He loved the twins, of course, and Mateo, Kade’s little boy, but Delia was special to him. After everything she’d gone through with the sperm donor, she deserved as much love as she could get.

“Found your bike in the grass.”

Her eyes widened, and she ducked her head against his shoulder. “I forgot.”

“Supposed to rain tomorrow, Peach. Bike’ll rust up.” He started walking toward Viktor’s office and kept her in his arms. She was almost eight now, but to him, she was still a kid and needed to be held and loved. Hell, he’d probably be giving her piggyback rides when she was sixteen.

“Yo, Viktor!” he called as he headed down the hall and found his brother sitting at his desk, head buried in his computer.

Viktor rolled his shoulders and turned off the monitor. He looked rough, his eyes bloodshot with bags under them. The twins must not be letting them get much sleep.

“You look like shit.”

The glare his brother shot him would have felled most, but Mason merely grinned.

“You try working on two hours of sleep a night. I fell asleep at the office today and missed an online meeting with a client. Kade nearly took my head off.”

“The boys haven’t settled into a routine yet?” Delia squirmed, and he put her down. She went over to where Viktor had his medals from the Marines showcased on the wall. She did that a lot. Mason had a feeling the girl would join the Marines when she got older. Good thing they were teaching her to fight now.

“Do I look like they have?” Viktor stood and stretched, a yawn overtaking him. “You ready to eat?”

“Starved.”

The three of them walked into the kitchen, Delia telling him all about her new classroom. They’d had orientation a few days ago where the kids got to meet their teacher, and school lists were given out. Viktor had a heart attack when he’d seen the long list of things he needed to buy. It was more like he was stocking the classroom instead of things for Delia, but like Becca pointed out, the schools had no budgets for these things. What the parents bought wouldn’t even come close to what the teachers spent out of their own pocket over the year to keep the classrooms stocked.

Sara was already there, pulling the lasagna out of the oven. The heavenly scent hit his nose, and his stomach growled. Delia giggled at the sound, and he winked at her. Sara looked a lot like her daughter, but Delia’s hair was a true blonde, while her mother’s was a more brownish shade.

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