Page 19 of Greater than the Heart
“Detective Del Torro doesn’t work this precinct. So, how about you tell me what’s going on,” the short, fat, balding detective insisted as he directed them to seats at the precinct in Andersonville. Jax was about ready to blow his gasket, but when he felt Ford’s hand on his thigh, he calmed.
“We own Fairytails. Jax and I are married, and Kincade is our son. We adopted him,” Ford explained.
The fat man laughed. “Yous two adopted that kid? Why? He seemed to be old enough to fend for hisself,” the man said, causing Jax’s blood to boil.
“Why we adopted Kincade isn’t the issue, is it? You have two suspects in custody, right?” Jax pointed out.
“Baby banger-wannabes. One’s thirteen and the other’s fourteen. We can’t get a name from either of them, much less an address. They’re not in the system, but we believe they’re affiliated with one of the local street gangs. The gun they had wasn’t registered to anybody, no surprise. You sure your son didn’t set you up? We found a bag of cash with about two grand in it,” the detective, Bryan Small, suggested.
Ford laughed, and Jax could tell it was from nerves. “Why would Kincade set us up to be robbed? There’s money in the safe, and he has the combination. The business is in his name as well, Detective Small. This wasn’t orchestrated. They broke in through the back door because they didn’t think anyone would be in so early, just like they did in other businesses in the neighborhood.
“If you’re trying to paint our Cade as a master criminal, starting his own gang with adolescent thieves, you’re sadly mistaken. Now, we need to get to the hospital,” Ford was done jacking around with the cops, as was Jax.
“Okay. I let myself in and locked the front door, but I didn’t set the alarm because I knew Tao was coming to power wash the patio and the furniture that morning. I guess I didn’t really think it through, okay?
“When I walked down the stairs with the bat, I only wanted to scare them and make them leave. I could tell they were kids, guys. I didn’t expect them to have a gun, and I thank my lucky stars they were bad shots or I’d be dead, I guess.
“Look, do we know what happened to those kids? Detective Johns, the tall one, wouldn’t say much about it the few timesthey interviewed me. I didn’t like the short one,” Cade told them, which made both men laugh because they hated the prick, too.
“Was Small the fat one? He told us one was thirteen and one was fourteen. It was some sort of gang initiation, they suspect. Anyway, the boys are locked up in some juvenile detention center,” Jax said.
Cade sat up quickly. “We have to get them a lawyer, Jackson.”
Jax looked at Ford, who also bore a look of disbelief. They were willing to write it off to the concussion, but when Kincade pursued it, Jax was blown away. “Look, they didn’t mean to hurt me, okay? They were doing a stupid thing, and haven’t we all done stupid things? I’m going to call Roberta Stubbe. They didn’t kill me, only nicked me, and it’s not their fault I fell down the stairs, is it?”
Jackson Pierre Hayes-Thomas-Delacroix was stunned for not the first time in his life, but it was for a very different reason. If his husband, Kincade, had so much compassion for a couple of stupid kids who were prepared to gun him down in cold blood, the young man was ready to be a father. Of that, Jax was sure.
Jax walked into the rehab room at the Center to see it was busy. He’d been retooling the schedule so the three Delacroix men could go away on vacation. It was only a long weekend in a little village in Wisconsin but they had rented a cabin and everyone was excited to go.
“Slowly, Cade,” he heard Wes instruct. He looked over to see his best therapist was working with his younger husband, whichwas a relief. Cade’s cast had been removed a week earlier, and he’d just started therapy.
He still had a bit of numbness in his right leg, but the neuro assured them it would go away as the swelling reduced. It was only seven weeks since the assault, and a concussion like Cade’s could take up to six months to heal properly.
He approached the area where Wes and Cade were working, staying behind Cade so as not to disturb them. “You were an S&M master in another life, weren’t you?” The snap in Cade’s voice as he worked with a small weight, moving his arm in an outward motion with the weight in his hand, made Wes grin.
“Why, yes, I was. How did you ever guess? Five more, and square your shoulders. I can give you the other weight so your tits aren’t lopsided,” Wes teased. Jax couldn’t hold the laugh on that one.
Cade rested the weight against his right thigh as he turned to see Jax behind him. The bright smile on the brunet’s face was a reward. “You could make him stop being so mean, you know?”
Jax stepped forward and kissed Cade on the lips. All his employees, including Janelle Crow, knew who Cade was and what he meant to Jax. Janelle finally gave up her failed pursuit of Jax after Ford’s cancer scare, which was a relief.
“According to his contract, I actually can’t, chére. He’s hired to get you back into fighting shape, and if I don’t let him do his job then I’m not giving you your money’s worth,” Jax told him as he picked up the small weight and handed it back to his husband.
Cade giggled. “I’m on the mortgage. I’m not paying him anything.”
Jax sighed. “Oh, we’re paying him a lot of money, so stop fucking around. We need to get you finished so we can go home. We can steam and whirlpool when we get there. We need to talk to Ford about reopening the club. It’s been almost two months,”he told his husband before making his way to the office to shut down for the day.
Cade walked over to Wes and extended his hand to shake. “Thanks, Wesley. I’m sorry I was a prick. I’ll do better next time, I swear.”
An hour later, the two men were sitting in the hot tub on the pool deck, kissing as if they’d been separated for months. When Ford came downstairs and stripped, hopping in with them, it was as perfect as Jax had ever hoped it could be.
Chapter Nine
Ford
Nearly two years after the wedding…
Ford helped Carlotta into the seat belt in the back seat of the car to head home. Sela was off to New York for a photo shoot, so the three men were watching the little lady while her mother began percolating their eggs.
