Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Gunner snarled, his muscles bunched up. He squeezed me so tightly, I almost couldn’t breathe. But I managed just barely, sinking into him. “I’ll kill him too, Ace,” he snarled. “I’ll kill anyone who fucking touched you.”
I blew out a soft breath, but before I could speak, someone knocked on the wall next to the entrance of the loft. Gunner looked over his shoulder, and I peered over Gunner’s side, meeting Jax’s gaze. Jax jerked his chin toward downstairs. “Blakely is working on breakfast.” He looked at Gunner. “And don’t worry about Ace’s foster father. He’s already been taken care of.”
“Wait, what?” I blurted when Jax turned to head back downstairs. He turned his head to look at me, his hand braced on the wall. I sat up, the blankets pooling around my hips. “What do you mean, Jax?”
Jax shrugged. “I dealt with him. Heard you screaming one night. Heard you say his name and crying. I had Rico hunt him down, and I bashed his skull in after I shoved a bat up his ass so he’d know the same pain before he died.”
With that, he headed back downstairs. I stared at the space he’d been standing for a moment before a tear trickled down my cheek. All this time, I’d thought that son of a bitch was just sitting around on bond, awaiting trial. But nope. Jax had… Jax had made him pay.
“Your brothers love you,” Gunner said softly, sitting up and wrapping his arms around me. He rested his chin on my shoulder. I gripped his forearms, sniffling. “They love you, even if it’s hard for some of them to show it.”
I nodded. “I know,” I croaked. “But Jax is always… detached. I never thought…”
Gunner sighed. “I think, out of all your brothers, Ace, he cares the most in his own way.” He pressed a kiss to my cheek, his beard scraping along my skin. “How does a shower sound? Then we’ll eat breakfast, and you can help me tend to the greenhouse.”
I nodded, a small smile tilting my lips as I rested my head back against his shoulder. “I’d like that, Papa.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ace
Leaning up on my knees, I reached across the coffee table and grabbed the puzzle piece I needed, piecing it together with the corner piece. This was the second puzzle I’d started working on in the past three days, and being able to zone out and just piece together puzzle pieces settled something in my mind when Gunner couldn’t be attached to me at the hip.
He’d had to go into town two days ago to grab some things Blakely needed to be able to continue cooking food for the four of us, and he’d also grabbed things he needed for his plants while he was out. I’d dug around his house, antsy for something to do, my mind running a million miles a minute, and then, I’d come across a few dust-covered boxes of puzzles. They’d been opened, and some of the pieces were still stuck together from Gunner previously putting them together.
When Gunner had come home from the store and found me sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table, the puzzle pieces laid out in front of me, he just smiled, softly kissed me, and left me to my vices so he could tend to the greenhouse.
He spent so much time out there. I tried it once a few days ago, but getting my hands dirty just wasn’t my thing. And it was so hot inside that greenhouse. I couldn’t deal. I was not made for outdoorsy shit, even if Gunner was. He could one hundred percent be the “man” in our relationship.
A shadow fell over me, and I looked up, frowning at Jax. He jerked his chin toward the front door just as Gunner came in through the back door, heading for the kitchen.
“What?” I muttered, looking back at my puzzle.
“Come on a walk with me,” Jax said. It was more of a command than a suggestion. Immediately, my hackles rose. “You haven’t been outside in three straight days, kid.”
“Fuck off. I don’t want to go on a damn walk. I’m fine right here.”
“Ace baby,” Gunner called in that Papa voice that always made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even if he was about to make me do something I didn’t want to do, “you need some fresh air, sweet boy. Go with Jax.”
Turning my head, I pouted at him, hoping it would get him to change his mind. But nope. Because Gunner was a good Papa who made me do things that were good for me even if I didn’t want to do them.
“That look isn’t going to work, baby. Go on a walk with Jax.”
I huffed and stood. “I don’t even have winter clothes.” And it was cold outside.