Thick as Thieves (The Greystone Family: Stolen Hearts #3)

Chapter 57

57

Evie

London

We’re stood in the hallway just outside the waiting room. It feels like a rugby scrum, and I’m the ball. Everyone is pressing into me. My gravitational pull, that my brothers often talk about, must be at extreme maximum. I can see everyone wants to stay close, but they’re trying desperately not to cling. They’re like planets and I am the sun. They keep drifting away and then floating back towards me. None of them know they’re doing it. Except Jonno, who keeps smirking when one or another person comes back towards me, touching me, checking in unconsciously, then moves off to allow the next one to feel my warmth and love.

I realise I'm consciously pushing it out there, pulsing out the love, keeping them all safe. I want them all with me, but I know fitting everyone in the house will be like a jigsaw puzzle. I need Mick, Tommy, and Jase’s help. The three men I know could catch scotch mist and bottle it if needs be.

I signal to Tommy and he drifts towards me. I whisper in his ear that I want as many people at my apartments in the docklands as possible. Everyone is to be accommodated. No one is to be left out.

He grins, shaking his head at me. “I got this, Kiddo.”

Liaising with Mick and Jase, they walk around everyone, adding names to lists, making the puzzle pieces fit like gloves.

I can see Kell’s not sure about where he’s going to fit in. He’s still not sure if I want him with me, or if I’m still a little mad at him. He’s watching Mick with his phone lists, so I go across to him and gently confirm, “I’ve asked Mick, Tommy, and Jase to sort out taking everyone with us home to Docklands. Is that okay that everyone is with us?” I smile up at him, silently reassuring him that we’re okay. It’s all going to be okay. “We can fit most in the apartment and next door. You do rent the other building, you know.” I gaze into his eyes and see immeasurable relief.

He nods at Mick, who immediately comes across to us. “We’re sorted Evie, everyone’s coming. I haven’t asked Tarron yet, I’m not sure what he’s doing.” Kell looks across at his father-in-law.

“Tarron, are you coming home with us, or do you prefer to go to your home? We can drop you off if you do.” He pauses, then adds. “But I’d love for you to be with us all tonight.” His face shows how much he loves the older man.

Tarron looks so happy as he joins us. Looking into my face. “I’d love to come. Is that okay, Evie? I know I have a London home, but I would rather be with my family today. We can coordinate schedules.”

I smile and pull him to me. “I would love to have you. Plus, I have photos for you.” I wink at him and he’s speechless for a second.

“Photos of my granddaughter?”

“Who told you it was a girl?” Kellen asks. Surprised delight crows in his voice. His face lights up as he contemplates the delightful addition to the very male dominated family. “I didn’t even know that. A girl, no way. Fantastic.”

“Oh, it’s definitely a girl, isn’t it, Evie?” Himself looks at me in a very knowing way. “You’ve already seen her,” he whispers into my ear.

Oh my God. He’s right, I have. The little girl I saw in Scotland, when I thought I was dreaming. My body is covered in goosebumps, and I stare up at him, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Tears come to my eyes and spill onto my face.

“Don’t cry, my daughter, we will all be looked after.” He winks at me and moves off to get into a vehicle.

We arrive at my buildings at the Docklands, the old factory welcoming me home. I can feel all the buildings shouting at me. Calming me down. Tommy has everyone on his list and, with the aid of Mick, makes short work of getting everyone set up. Clearly they’re used to dealing with lots of unruly people.

Bug has gone back to Devon to help Orla with his boys and mine. I kiss my big sons good night and head into the bedroom to find my husband staring down into the empty cribs. His eyes are tightly shut and he’s inhaling deeply.

“I’m taking Xander one of their body suits tomorrow. He slept with their and your pillows for weeks.” He doesn’t tell me to upset me, he’s just thinking aloud. He turns, then finally thinks about what he’s saying. “I’m sorry, Kitten. I didn’t say that to make you feel bad, it was just…” His face is tormented and he looks down into the empty cots.

I touch his arm. “I know, I missed you both,” I tell him. “Come get a shower and into bed.”

I think about the other times he was here, in my bed and in my shower, when we first got married. He looks at me and grins, clearly so is he.

“Fourteen months ago seems like an age, but also no time at all,” he says, bending his head towards me. “Join me?” His expression shutters. He doesn’t know what I’ll say.

“Of course,” I say softly, a smile playing around my lips as I hold his big hands in mine.

He swings me towards him and starts on the buttons on my blouse, pulling it slowly from my jeans as he goes. Touching my bare skin with reverence, opening out the silk of the fabric, his hands caress my body. It’s as if he’s opening a most precious gift. Each movement considered, the delicate touch designed to reveal the glorious offering inch by delicious inch.

My breathing picks up, his face serious, careful, painstaking. He takes in the marks on my body, brushing his fingertips over them as he glides the blouse off my shoulders, lower and lower down my arms, unhooking my bra as his hands skate down my back. His silk-like fingers trail over my nipples, and I sigh and push my enlarged breasts into his hands.

“God, I fucking love your tits. I’ve missed them.” He grins, his breath a whisper against my skin as he bends his head to lick around first one nipple, then the other. “Still so big and beautiful,” he sighs, nipping at me.

I groan out, and it’s the starting gun that breaks his tranquil state. Electricity pulses through me as if we’ve both plugged into a socket. He’s electrified, he’s energised. I’m vibrating with want and pure lust. The growl from the back of his throat amps up the megawattage.

He becomes desperate as I remove his shirt and push at his jeans.

“I need to be inside you, I can’t fucking think straight. Will it be okay?” His eyes are a pool of desire and need, but his voice is full of trepidation.

Why is he asking? He’s being ridiculous. He’s normally full on. Then it hits me. He doesn’t know, not really, what’s okay and what isn’t. He’s never spent any real length of time with me as a pregnant woman. Never had the full glorious experience. First time around I ran. Second time he did.

“Yes, it’s fine, I love you Kell, I need you,” I coax and reassure him. He doesn’t need any further invitation.

He drops to his knees, pulling my jeans down as he goes, dragging them off. “Hold onto me,” he commands as he lifts my leg and puts it over his shoulder, licking into me. My extra blood flow has made me super sensitive, and I cry out, knowing if he carries on there I will not hold on long. He holds me hard and thrusts his tongue into me.

“Fuck, so gorgeous.” He’s eating at me like a man who has been on a diet for a year. He moves his fingers onto my clit and then sucks it into his mouth.

Game over for me. My legs buckle, and I come, juices flowing into his mouth as he licks at me harder and harder.

Picking me up, he puts me onto the bed and thrusts into me. Not a word has he said, when normally he is so full of chat. He arches up and away, his eyes closed, his neck muscles standing out in relief. The pace he’s setting is crazy.

But then he stops and pulls out, manoeuvring me gently onto my side. “I’m worried about my weight on you,” he says, laying directly behind me, lifting my hips gently and pushing back inside with a moan from the bottom of his soul. “Fuck that feels so good.”

He’s gentle at first, but as his movements become more erratic, he becomes wilder and wilder. I push back onto him, craving him to push harder. Telling him so.

“Evie, god I love you, baby,” he murmurs as he holds my hips, slapping his flesh onto mine.

The noise of sex, the smell of sex, permeates my senses as he leans forwards and nips my neck and shoulders, calling out my name as I feel him swell inside me and come.

Continuing to move, like he hasn’t got enough of me, he gentles his thrusts, grinding his piercing onto my overflowing walls. I pulse and call out to him, my pussy grabbing hold and not letting go. He groans out, his eyes closed, breathing heavy as he pulls me in closer to his body. He stills inside me, our connection maintained.

“Christ. I lost it a bit there. Did I hurt you? The baby? God, Kitten, I lost the plot.”

I shush him, brushing his hair out of his face. “Stop. It’s fine. I would say if you hurt me. You never. I love how you love me, you know I do.” He kisses my hair, running his nose down my neck. “Although I have to say, I think my sex drive has gone a bit mad.”

He chuckles. “Not a problem. Here to serve, madam, to the best of my abilities.” He hugs me to him. “God I missed you, so fucking much. I’m so sorry I never told you about the test and the vasectomy.” His eyes are on me, looking traumatised. “I never thought about any more children, how you would feel, what a selfish fucker. I was scared to death that whatever is wrong with me, I would not get away with it again.” He’s choking on his words.

“I know. And I wouldn’t want to put you through it. But I am, in fact, pregnant again, and no pregnancy is without risk. Even if both people are healthy, sometimes things happen,” I counsel.

He nods. “But me being responsible, I just couldn’t cope. But I should have said, and talked it over with you. It may not have changed the outcome, but at least you would have known.” He’s ashamed of his actions, it’s written across his face.

I nod at him. “Don’t leave me in the dark again. And no more paternity tests on any more children.”

“Oh God, what a mess we’ve made of things. The ultimate responsibility for those tests lies with me. I made the final decision to test the kids. I knew someone would come for us. All the hate—from those women, the online trolling, my mother. The woman who tried to push you into the road. I needed it to stop. I wanted to have it just in case, all bases covered.” He grins a little. “Do I sound like Jonno yet?” I shake my head at him. Jonno has a lot to answer for, too.

“I did trust you. I never opened that fucking envelope. Just dumped it in the safe. The only time it’s been opened was at my mother’s dinner.” He sighs. “I didn’t come home from LA because I thought I was cursed. Not to do with how much I love and trust you. It was that I was desperate to have and hang onto. If that would have gone the wrong way, because I turned up, I couldn’t have carried on.”

He pulls me even closer. “I love you. The words are just not enough. The fact that we could have lost Xan. I could have lost you.” He’s shaking his head in disbelief. “I promise, I will never deliberately hurt you. I know I can be an idiot at times. I’m praying Xan will clobber me if I’m being one. But I do love you. I love our family, even your family.” He grins at that. “Not so sure about my mother. She’s in pieces. She’s never off the phone. I know she’s a pain, but she does love Xander. Growing up, he spent more time at our house than he did his own.”

He stops talking, rolling me over to face him, tracing my face with his fingers. His voice is soft, loving, gentle when he starts again.

“When you said yes to me and Xan in Scotland, it was like some sort of unbelievable utopia. I had to pinch myself to make sure it was all real. We were different, everything about us is different. It was love, Kitten. Not sex, not fucking. It was love. That was the difference. Xander wanted love. He wanted to love us. And for us to love him. For it not to be just sex. With you and Xan, it’s so much more. It’s everything. Absolutely everything.”

He buries his head into my neck, taking in my scent, and his voice drops so low. “When Mick read that note and text out, every word cut into my skin. I have fucking scars from those words. And it was all self-inflicted. I never want to cause you so much pain ever again. I could not bear to hear it or watch it, knowing that you felt like that. The pain I caused you and Xan.”

His head remains in my neck, as if he’s hiding. “Xander was traumatised. He couldn’t cope thinking he had contributed to your heartbreak.”

I twist my head to look at him, his green gaze holding mine. “I know how you felt, as I felt it too. I forgive you both. And I want to move on. This baby is for all of us.”

He looks down at my slightly swollen stomach between us. His hands caress the skin there. It’s a touch full of love.

We lay together for an age. Touching, reconnecting. Allowing the threads to tie us back together again.

We wake early in the morning, refreshed and ready for the day. Kell is on his phone before we’ve even left the bed. “Who are you calling at this hour?” I question him.

“I’m not ringing anyone. I’m researching all the best sex positions for pregnancy. I need to be prepared to cater to every whim.” He smirks at me, waggling his eyebrows.

“But, I’m also texting Tim, telling him I can’t go away again. He’ll have to sort out any business in America. I’ve got business of my own to sort out at home. If I say I’ve got to go, don’t let me. Tell me no. Remind me about your hormones.” He’s starting to laugh.

I smile shyly into the pillow, and shake my head at him. He’s crazy.

“Well, until Xan’s better, you won’t be going anywhere anyway. And this baby is due around your birthday, so I won’t be going far. Devon will be the height of excitement for you, the pub the mecca for rockstars these days.”

“God that sounds good.” He puts his hands behind his head and leans back into the pillows, his face relaxed.

I laugh. “Really? Devon, a local pub, no LA party circuit with Kasey.”

His smile drops. “That fucker is on my shit list. Do you know he went on a TV show saying the only woman he ever loved married someone else. They tried to get him to say who it was, but he was all coy. I’m sure it’s you, Kitten.”

I crack out laughing. “No way. When we went out, it was all staged, nothing real about it. But we are friends, and I do speak to him often. I’ve said he can bring his boy to Devon, so you are going to have to play nice with him.” I smile at his face. It’s the picture of disgust. “In fact, Cole turned one a few weeks ago. I sent a present.”

“Yeah, I saw the ridiculous party he had. It was covered in an entertainment magazine. Angie is cashing in on the kid already. I feel sorry for him. We’re having no media, not ever. No way am I having my kids shoved out there to have people look at them, unless they want to when they are at least eighteen, minimum.” He’s deadly serious. “Kasey needs to rein Angie in. It won’t do the boy any good.”

“Kasey says she wants another child with him, a literal sperm donor with no relationship other than the money. Says Cole should not be an only child.” I tell him my titbit from Kasey and he rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, she’s really worried about Cole,” he grimaces through his sarcasm.

“Which is why I told him to fetch him to Devon whenever he wants. But I have told him no cameras.”

Kell grins at me. “You must be one of the only people to tell him no cameras. Mostly people are shoving him out to get publicity. No wonder he’s in love with you.” He kisses the end of my nose. “But he can’t have you. I’ll just need to remind him of that fact.” His eyes glow greener at that.

I shove at him to move out of the bed. “We need to go see Xan this morning, see how he is.”

He flops back onto the bed, flinging his arm over his eyes. “A fucking dinner at my mother’s nearly cost us so much. I just wish she wasn’t so hung up on you. I don’t fucking get it. You’ve never told her to get lost. Even after all the terrible things she did. She could have worked with you.”

He’s trying to figure out his mother? Good luck with that.

“I don’t jump high enough or quick enough for Rowena, or at all actually. She’s not used to subordinates not doing as they’re told. And I, according to her, am in that category.” I smirk at him.

“I keep saying she’s delusional, but she really is if she has you in that box. Even with all that, you still wouldn’t have cut her off. You would have taken the boys to see her.” I watch him trying to get into the mind of his mother.

“She didn’t want them to be yours. She didn’t want me to have another connection.” I shrug. “And now with this baby being Xander’s, she’ll definitely always have doubts, even though she’s seen the proof.”

I don’t want to think about how we’re going to navigate this with someone like Rowena. Problem is, she’s not on her own. There are plenty of Rowena’s out there.

“Well she can do and say what she wants. But if she wants to stay in my life, she has to accept the truth, not her version of it. I will not have any of my children treated differently, and that includes this one.” He touches my stomach, sliding down the bed and planting a kiss in the centre before looking up at me, his eyes soft with love. “They’re all mine as much as they’re all Xander’s. Xander loves James, Bucky, and the twins, thinks of them as his, and I do the same. Even in LA that first time, Xan thought of them as his.” He continues to look into my eyes and I see all the love and devotion of a man in love with his family.

Tears fill my eyes as the last twenty-four hours come slamming back home. “We could have lost him, Kell,” I whisper.

“Don’t, don’t.” He wipes at my eyes. “We haven’t. We’ve got to focus on the positive. C’mon, let’s get going.” He pulls me up and helps me dress.

Our lives continue on repeat over the next few days. Hospital all day, people in and out, waiting for news to see when they will wake him up, or at least try. The doctors have advised us they’ve reduced all the medicines, so he should wake up over the next twelve to seventy-two hours. They insist on limiting the numbers in the room, so the door feels like it constantly revolves.

Tarron, Kellen, and I stay with him, but we can see no change. Tarron has arranged for a long-time friend—a surgeon—to come check and reassure him, and he’s stepped out to meet him. I’m sitting reading a magazine when I feel the flutter in my stomach. I sit quietly and concentrate on the sensation. It happens again and I smile.

“What’s up? What was that smile about?” Kell comes and stands in front of me. “Remembering this morning and last night?” he says cockily.

I shake my head at him. “No, the baby is kicking. Feel.” I move my T-shirt and put his hand where I felt the kick. “It will be really faint at the minute, but you should?—”

He draws in a sharp breath. “Oh my. Yes, I felt it.” He gets on his knees, putting both hands on my tummy. “Hey, baby, it’s your daddy. Do you want your Papa to feel you?” Tears pool in his eyes, but he won’t blink or look away. “He needs to wake up, he has to, he?—.”

“He will.”

Taking Kell’s hand in mine, I stand and walk over to the bed. Xander’s hands are laid at his sides. “Hey Xan, your little girl is kicking. Do you want to feel her?”

I push my T-shirt up and tuck it into my bra, exposing my stomach. It's not large at present but certainly has popped out a bit these last few days. I take his hand and place it where I can feel the flutters. “There, can you feel her? She says hi, Papa,” I tell him as I feel them get stronger.

The door pushes open and Tarron and his surgeon friend walk in. Tarron stops dead, looking at my exposed flesh.

“The baby has started to kick more. I’m just letting Xan feel her.”

The smile cracks his face from ear to ear, and I nearly start to cry. He looks so happy.

“May I?” he asks, walking up to me, and tentatively places his hand on my stomach. I move it to where she’s kicking. “Wow, Xan. I can feel her,” he says reverently. “She’s waiting for you, son.”

He keeps one hand on me and with the other he takes Xander's hand in his. Kellen had moved to stand behind me, allowing Tarron space, but now he wraps his arms around me, cupping my tummy from below. His head rests lightly on my shoulder. And now, all four of us are connected to Xander, our very own life support system.

The surgeon friend adds, “All looks good, Tarron, no issues. Should be anytime now.” He smiles at us all. “I’ll just catch up with the doctor in charge, you come find me when you are ready.”

Tarron turns back and places Xander’s hand onto me. He feels warm, and I can feel his calluses on his fingers from playing guitar. I feel movement against my skin and I freeze, staring down at his hand. I’m sure I felt it move.

I place my hand on his. “Can you hear us? Can you feel her?” I feel it again—a movement in response to my question—and I look up at Tarron sharply.

“What is it?” he asks, staring from me to Xander.

“I felt his hand move, on its own.”

We’re all staring at his hands, then at his face. I see his little finger move, definitely not dreaming. His eyes move under his lids, and I feel Kell tighten his hold on my stomach.

“Xander,” he breathes out as we see his lids flutter and he opens his eyes.