CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

 

Obstacles were a part of life. Jax trained for them. He planned courses of action then backup, prepared for them to fail. He was constantly ready to pivot and adjust so that the unexpected never found him waiting.

Right now, he was T-minus five seconds to out of his league and only had a car's drive worth of intelligence gathering.

Adelia hung on the apartment complex porch, waving goodbye to the kids but trying to catch a better eye of who was in Seven's car, and he was transfixed by the three- and almost five- year-old holding Seven's hands as they walked to the car.

The little boy bounced, and his mouth never stopped. He fit his name, and Jax worried the kid never took a breath.

Then there was the little girl. Seven said she was tall for her age and acted much older than she was. She was contemplative and serious on the outside, but really a silly one who craved trust—but only with a select few.

"Nolan and Bianca," he tried their names out loud.

Cute names for cute kids, and watching Seven banter with Nolan painted her in a new light. She was every bit the mom his mother was. Odd how he could pick that out from a couple dozen yards away. Seven's world was her kids, and he respected that more than she would probably ever know.

The back door opened, and the kids crawled in.

"Hi, Mr. Jax!" Nolan shouted as he scampered to the buckles on his car seat. Seven grinned and tugged his car seat straps into place.

Already turned in his seat, Jax waved. "Hey, Nolan. Nice to meet you, buddy."

"Hello." Bianca's greeting was the prim and proper one he'd expected. She was noticeably quieter than she'd been before the car door had opened.

"Hi, Bianca." Jax focused on her. "That's a pretty bow in your hair."

Her eyes lit, but her mouth remained impassive, not allowing a smile to pass. "Thank you."

"It matches your shirt. I really like that." He turned back in his seat, catching her in the rearview mirror as Bianca glanced down.

"I chose it myself," she volunteered, a tiny crack of happiness allowed to cross her face.

Nolan started talking and never stopped as Bianca turned toward the window. Seven had predicted they would do this, and after she checked on Bianca's self-buckled harness, she joined him in the front and turned over the engine. "If I'd known you were coming, I might've cleaned up."

"She would've run around at the last second, putting things in closets," Bianca added, kicking her legs.

Jax laughed. "That's what I do too."

"The little truth-teller." Seven ducked her hand back as she pulled away from Adelia's apartment and squeezed Bianca's leg. "That's a good trait to have."

Five minutes later, they were in Seven's driveway. "Home sweet home."

Her house was cute. The front windows were stained glass, separating her from her neighbors, and her flowerbeds overflowed with colors.

"The flowers are all Victoria's doing." Seven shifted into park and reached back, unfastening car seats. "Wash hands when we get inside."

A moment later, Jax stood next to her car as the wave of energy blurred past, clambering for the door until she unlocked it.

Jax lagged behind, taking in Seven's personality and style but the house and hearth version—with kids. Her house warmed him from the inside out, and laughter rang from the walls as he followed them in.

"Nolan will give you a tour," Bianca announced. "He knows which light switches turn on all the lights."

That made sense to Jax, and he nodded. "All right."

"After everyone washes their hands." Seven walked back down the hall, free of her keys and purse. She held her arms out in welcome. "Make yourself at home."

It'd been a long time since he'd been in a house that was lived in, especially by children. Jax didn't socially hang out with many of his teammates, and his SEAL buddies were like him. They had home bases, and they were furnished with essentials and go bags. Furnishings weren't important. There wasn't much time for art on the walls. The closest he got to homey and comfortable was fake and at safe houses.

This house was lived-in, and he was glad Seven hadn't known he was coming. The place was as clean and neat as one with little kids could safely expect to keep and stay sane.

As he wandered around, he couldn't help but appreciate how they each had added their personality. Drawings and blocks, pillows and blankets, Lincoln Logs and Legos, dolls with all their dresses and multicolored hair.

And the Harley toys. Jax laughed. They were in the life…

Seven's walls were decorated with pictures, art, and occasional references to motorcycle culture. Her vibrant style carried through with leathers and bold colors—turquoise wall here, purple archways there.

He glanced over and saw her leaning against the cutaway to the dining room, watching him take it all in.

"What's going through your mind?" she asked.

"I like this. You three have a cool place."

"It was four. My mom recently moved to a nursing home." Her unreadable face gave nothing away. "But she wasn't in a good place to contribute much, and when she left"—Seven gestured—"I guess nothing changed, either."

Jax sat down on the couch, listening to the kids play in their rooms down the hall. "Do you miss her? Having another adult to help out?"

"She couldn't help before, and her doctor didn't know what made it worse. Old age, I guess. I couldn't take care of her very well for the past couple weeks." She lifted a shoulder. "It's better that way. For her."

"For you?"

Seven crossed the room, joining him on the couch. "No one wants to put their mom in a nursing home, especially now. I'm too young. She's too young. It's just… It sucks."

"I'm sorry."

"What about you?" she asked.

"Family?" He shrugged when the kids sounded as though they were coming out of their rooms.

Seven seemed to have both him and them under observation, and it was a talent to manage without seeming as if she were watching a tennis match. "You weren't magically conceived."

"Ha. No, I wasn't—"

A beep sounded from the kitchen, and Seven popped up. "Don't forget whatever you were about to confess, but mac and cheese waits for no one, not even magically conceived SEALs."

As soon as Seven rushed to the kitchen, Nolan and Bianca arrived. The little boy crawled next to Jax with a Lego plane in hand, while Bianca played with her dolls.

"Want to pway with me?" Nolan shoved the plane into Jax's hand. "Up like this." Then hoisted his arm in the air. "Up!"

"Vr-vroom," Jax flew it back and forth and glanced at the kid. Big fail.

"Pwanes don't vroom."

Well, the kid knew his shit.

"I'll show you."

Jax landed the plane and moved to the floor as he followed Nolan's lead.

"They can stwart here." He took what was clearly not a plane and added wings. Jax wasn't going to point that out even if Nolan took issue with the vrooming. "And go… Vrrrrrrrrrr."

Around the room he went. Jax followed, and Nolan was dead right. With a couple "Rrrrrrrs" and "Annnnnrrrrrsss," Jax had regained trust in the land of block-built toys.

They landed their planes, and Nolan led him toward a box of Legos that rivaled the size of the kid. "Open and out!"

An avalanche of the blocks crashed onto the floor, and Jax jumped as though he were going to get in trouble then laughed at himself. No one else was fazed by the loud cascade. Then Nolan turned into a captain and dictated orders. Jax needed this and that, and before he knew it, his hands were filled with skinny pieces, wide ones, the kind that had angles, and others that attached wheels. And he couldn't see how any of them worked together. But the kid had a vision.

"Put them down." Nolan waved Jax over, as if he had forgotten how to walk, and patted the floor. "On the gwound."

If nothing else, Jax could follow instructions when under command. He lined up the Legos as Nolan set up shop in front of Jax. "Like this?"

"Put that one on thwat side."

"Got it." Jax rearranged, checking with the three-year-old for approval. "What now, captain?"

Nolan glanced up, holding a Lego in each hand, and the kid's happiness doubled down. "Mine and yours gwo like thwis."

For the next five minutes, Jax obeyed every instruction, and they built a tower that connected to an axle with spinning wheels. He latched it on to the flat platform.

"Biwanca, we made it fwr your dollws!"

Jax leaned back, studying the structure that Nolan had created, and saw what the kid had done. It was a swing set—of sorts—but it would work, and it was the right size.

Jax held his hand up. "Nicely done, little man."

Nolan dive-bombed onto Jax as Seven walked in. "Fifteen—minutes." She watched Nolan hugging Jax. "Until dinner."

Shit. Maybe he wasn't supposed to hug the kid? He mouthed silently, "Is this okay?"

Seven nodded, watching quietly. Then Nolan jumped off and spun to her. "Did you see what we bwuilt?"

She smiled one of those proud-mama smiles that made women so beautiful. "Sure did."

Then she winked and went back into the kitchen. Jax scooted back, listening to the oven open and close, Seven's cell phone ring, and a fridge clinking shut. He liked the sound of plates and silverware, drawers opening and closing. "Hey, Seven. Do you want any help?"

"No. I like doing things a certain way."

"Okay. Lemme know if you change your mind."

Jax noticed Bianca watching their conversation as she changed a doll outfit.

Nolan crawled onto the couch and leaned over Jax's shoulder. "We need to make anwther one."

"Good thing you don't need my help," he called back to the kitchen. "My talents are being used elsewhere."

Her laughter rang through the house, and Bianca turned toward the kitchen. A perplexed line drew across Bianca's forehead.

"Why was that funny?" Bianca asked.

What had he said? "It wasn't a joke, funny, ha-ha. It was, well, she was amused. I mean, it made her happy. So she laughed." Was that a good way to explain amusement to a five-year-old? Jax had no idea.

"We make her laugh. Victoria and Ryder do. Glamma. Aunt Delie. Sidney." Bianca tilted her head as though she were wracking her brain to find another source of Seven's laughter.

"I guess I do too," Jax added.

"But you're one of them?" Bianca asked.

"Them?"

"Where's your motorcycle?"

"Oh," he said quietly. "I'm not one of them. I'm a friend, like they are, but I'm not part of their group."

"You're like Sidney?"

Almost… "Exactly."

Bianca's expression defrosted somewhat. "Have you ridden a motorcycle before?"

"There's not much I haven't done, sweetheart."

She put her doll down. "Really?"

Jax flew a Lego into the air. "I've flown up high." Then he dive-bombed it. "And dropped down low." He made waves with the toy. "Dove deep into the water." And then he leaned toward her, gliding it across the floor and flicking it the rest of the distance toward her doll with the bright-green hair. "And I help people when I can."

"How'd you do that?"

"I was in the military."

Nolan ohhhed, and Bianca didn't react. "You shoot people?"

"Um…" Where was Seven when questions like this popped up? "Bad guys."

"How do you know they were bad?"

"I ask questions." Maybe he should've gone to help Seven with dinner even though she'd said no.

"Some people think our parents were bad guys."

Foot in mouth. Fucking hell. "I would not hurt your parents, Bianca."

"They hurt themselves. It's their fault they're gone. Not our fault," Bianca recited.

He shifted on the floor as Nolan pulled on his hair. Jax had no idea what to do with this conversation. Hell, he hadn't known they weren't Seven's biological kids. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Sometimes it's hard for grown-ups to understand tough stuff like this." He crawled closer to her as Nolan paid no mind but clung to his neck and hung down his back like a cape. "I can't imagine it's easy for you."

Watching him down on his stomach, she crouched down too. "Hi," Bianca said.

"Hey." He smiled. They both put their chins on their hands and propped their elbows on the floor. "I don't have a lot of friends in Sweet Hills. Your mom is my friend—"

"She's everyone's friend."

He could see that. "I could use another. Got any ideas?"

"I could be your friend too," she offered.

"I'd like that."

Bianca's smile beamed. "Okay. I'm going back to my doll."

"Okay. I'll go back to my block-building." Jax pushed onto his hands and knees, letting Nolan stay on his back for a ride to the couch.

The little boy threw his arms in the air. "More! Kweep going!"

Jax turned his head. "More what, buddy?"

"He wants you to give him a ride," Bianca explained.

Then it clicked. Nolan was on his back, and Jax crawling to Bianca had been a ride. Game on. "I can do better than that."

Jax held on to Nolan's leg and bounced around the living room to shrieks of laughter ringing out. When he stopped, it wasn't just Nolan laughing. Bianca was too.

"Come on, my new friend. You too."

Hesitantly, she gathered her two dolls—one with green-dyed hair, the other with pink—and set them against the wall. "Can they see?"

"Sure."

As though no one had ever given her a ride before, Bianca beamed and jumped behind Nolan. Both kids bounced on his back, and Jax couldn't remember a time when he'd cared less about what he looked like or had that much fun.