So, until we talked to my—our son, I was keeping the engagement on the down-low.
A smile spread across my face thinking of Dillion as Nixx’s son too. Nixx was adamant he was keen and willing to take on the responsible father figure role in Dillion’s life, and in essence, he already had been since he met him. Dillion too, saw Nixx in that role, and they got along so well, I just went with it. Something I had been doing a lot late recently.
Tossing the magazine to the floor, I noticed an old piece of yellowing paper slipped out from between the pages, folded and torn, it looked like it had a map drawn on it.
“Hey, what is this?” I asked the room at large, bending over to retrieve it.
“What’s what?” Mal asked me, scooting closer to look over my shoulder.
“This.” Holding up the paper, I gently unfolded the fragile-looking paper, not understanding what was before me, but Mallory must have because a string of curses suddenly poured out of her.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” she yelled, snatching the paper out of my fingers, leaving a small piece between my thumb and forefinger.
“Um, gentle Mal,” I drawled, looking to see if the piece that ripped off had any writing on it.
“Mack, you are not going to believe this,” Mallory declared, scanning the paper as if it was the original writings of Moses himself.
I watched as the two sisters read the map, both of them swearing and saying horrible things about their father, not knowing what the hell they were angry about but couldn’t help myself getting caught up in the drama. Blake too, forgetting her rift with Mallory, shuffling on her knees to sit in front of Mal, and waited for them to explain.
In all honesty, the story they spun didn’t make any sense, but that didn’t stop me from getting to my feet, putting my shoes back on and following Mack, Mal and Blake to the back door and out to one of the farm utes.
Yeah, not my best decision.
FENIXX
“Dillion, you touch that gun and your mother will string me up by my balls, mate,” I warned the fourteen-year-old when I noticed he had inched himself closer to the bench where the guns were sitting.
“How is she going to know?”
Hendrixx laughed, then slapped him on the shoulder. “Mate, let me tell you something about women, you only need this one piece of advice for the rest of your life, ready for it?” Hendrixx paused dramatically, Noxx and I both rolling our eyes at his dramatics, Dillion just nodded his head, his eyes wide and waiting for the wisdom of Hendrixx.
“They know everything—believe it, embrace it and accept it. You do that and life is going to be so much easier.”
“Jesus Drixx, just how does Blake put up with you,” Noxx laughed, shaking his head.
“She worships the ground I walk on brother, let’s not forget you are the one that took your kids to Mum’s today because Mack threatened to cut off your balls if she didn’t get some peace and quiet.”
“They have been sick all this week and last, it’s not my fault my beautiful baby girl is the devil’s spawn. And she didn’t threaten to cut off my balls, what she actually said was if I didn’t get the kids out of the house, she was going to use a castration dock on the base of my dick and watch it fall off,” Noxx corrected, holding a hand over his junk.
Slapping my hand over my face, I dragged it down and counted to ten. I swear the conversations that go on between the people in my family get weirder every day.
“What these idiots are trying to tell you, Dillion is this, your mother is the most important woman in your life, and you listen to her. You do as you are told and trust that she knows what is best for you. Then when you find your one, you then have to balance listening to two women, it becomes a juggling act of not replacing your mum, but making sure your woman always comes first.”
“My god, how are the three of you in relationships?” My mate Pete pipped up, laughing as he started packing up the guns into their cases.
“Dillion, don’t listen to these three wankers. Never take advice from people who are known as Hottie 1, 2 and 3.” Pete smirked. “What they are trying to say is simple, you can’t touch the gun until you get your licence, mum will be angry and Fenixx will pay with his life. Got it? Good, now the four of you get out of here, light is starting to fade and my wife will have my balls in a sling if I miss The Bachelorette. For some reason, I have to watch it with her and enjoy it.” Slamming down the lid, he picked up the two cases and stomped off, not saying good-bye just grumbling about the shit show and the hour of his life he would never get back. However, that didn’t stop him from picking up his speed to get to his car.
“And that is what it is all about Dillion, my boy. Whether it is your mum, wife or someone special, you do things to make them happy. Because in the end, if they are happy, then so are you,” I insisted, pointing at Pete as he jumped into his car and blazed through the paddock, off to please his wife.
Dillion looked at me, then Drixx then Noxx then back to me. “Are you going to marry Mum and make her happy for the rest of her life?” His question, not the one I was expecting, but the one I wanted to answer more than anything. With my hands on my hips, I breathed in deeply. This was it; four nights ago, I did it the wrong way, totally arse-about. The ring I bought for Farron at the start of the week, I had been carrying around in my pocket, waiting for the right moment to ask her to marry me. I didn’t want to make a big planned production out of my proposal. That wasn’t the kind of man I was, showy wasn’t my thing, signing in the sky, not my deal. Asking Dillion for permission to marry his mum was number one on my list before asking Farron. The only problem being … nerves. The clusterfuck in the restaurant with his father threw a spanner in the works, at least for me. Farron, on the other hand, blossomed the minute Alec stormed out the door, vowing he was done with her and her kid. Just hearing that comment about Dillion, I wanted to race back after him and knock his teeth down his throat.
Dillion, I could tell, had been rocked by the blatant neglect and uncaring attitude his father displayed for everyone to see that night. Giving him time to absorb and come to terms with his father’s future absence in his life, I thought, was the best way to go. So, I waited, with the ring in my pocket, while keeping a close eye on the boy, watching for any sign he wasn’t coping. Asking for his mum’s hand in marriage probably the last thing he needed to deal with at the present time.
In hindsight, asking Farron to marry me while I was taking her from behind, not the most romantic proposal on paper, but for us, the moment had been perfect. It was a moment that will live with me forever, something I could hold onto, see in my mind’s eye. Farron, her body slick with sweat, that sexy pink blush blanketing her soft skin, moaning my name, telling me she loves me. Her body welcoming me inside with the trust I probably didn’t deserve, but by fuck I was taking it. Taking her.
“I want to marry your mum Dillion, so bad I can’t handle the thought of living without her. But I want your permission, truthfully I have already put the ring on her finger.” Hendrixx and Noxx burst out laughing, interrupting me, but I ignored them and stayed focused on Dillion.
“I will never hurt her, never make her feel less of a woman, I won’t ever put her down or go to bed angry with her. I promise to cherish her and keep her safe. Her happiness will always be my number one priority, and in saying that, it goes for you too.” Taking Dillion by the shoulders, I turned him, so he was looking directly at me, gripping him.
“All of what I just promised includes you mate, I won’t hurt you, make you feel like you don’t belong, that you aren’t part of the family because you are already as far as we are concerned. I’m not going to take the place of your dad because let’s face it, he isn’t much of one, but I will do my darndest to be a better dad than he was.”
“Where do you sit with grounding and withholding pocket money?” Dillion asked, his expression wary.
“If you fuck up bad enough then expect punishment, if you disappoint your mum, expect to get
on your knees and beg for forgiveness.”
Dillion nodded once, then continued to impress me.
“Is it alright with you if I keep calling you Nixx, I mean I am glad you and Mum are together, I just don’t think I am ready to say that name again just yet.”
My heart cracked a little hearing the catch in his voice, the pain his father created, the doubt he planted in Dillion’s mind that he wasn’t good enough to be Alec’s son. Well fuck that!
“Dillion, if you want to call me Dad one day, I would be so honoured to answer to that. As far as I am concerned, you are already my kid. I will ask you if you would consider allowing me to adopt you and give you the Hott name one day. No pressure and no answer needed now, just want you to know that is where I am heading.” My throat choked up with tears, this was getting far too emotional, this day started out as a prelim to our hunting trip and suddenly I was crying like a girl in front of my brothers. Fuck they aren’t going to let me live this down.
Dillion dropped his head, his shuddering breath worrying me. Had I gone too far too quickly asking to adopt him? Hell, I was yet to run it by Farron, not that I was worried she would say no, but maybe she would be mad I mentioned it Dillion without her.
“Dill?”
“Will he let you, Nixx? Will he make it hard for you to do that?” As soon as he said the word ‘he’, I knew he was talking about Alec, scared that the piece of shit would fight me trying to adopt Dillion just because he could.
“If you want it to happen, then I will make it happen. Noxx is a big businessman with a legal team more than capable of getting it done, right Noxx?” I asked my brother, silently seeking out his approval of my plan, at the same time asking for him to reassure Dillion there was going to be no problem, legal wise.
“Absolutely, the dipshit won’t have a chance in hell once I get my team on it,” Noxx promised Dillion.
“Whatever I can do for my brother, I will do, no questions, no complaints,” he continued, “the same goes for our nephew.”
Hendrixx, not to be left out, had to add his two cents.
“I think it is safe to say we want you in our family, Dillion. Our mum already considers you her grandson. And to be honest, you aren’t going to get a better man to be your dad than that man standing in front of you. Your mum will always be the one that loves you the most, but Nixx will be your biggest champion. I am one lucky fucker having him and Noxx as my brothers. There just isn’t anything better knowing they are at my back every single day, no matter how I fuck up or piss them off.”
Strong emotions washed over me, this is what I wanted Dillion to experience, the support, but more importantly, the belief and love of my family. There was no initiation to be part of us, if we wanted you, then you were in. And in for life.
“I’ve never had that before, and I really want it, it is just kind of—" Dillion whispered, his hands now gripping onto my shirt sleeves, steadying himself.
“A little much to take in all at once? I get it bud, how about we go back to the Triple H and have some homemade treats then go pick up your mum. Movie night tonight and it is my choice.”
“Oh god, please can we not watch The Lucky One again. Seriously Nixx, I get the older woman younger man reference, but enough is enough,” Dillion groaned, breaking the intensity with some welcomed humour, even if it was at my expense.
More chuckles came from the peanut gallery behind me, and again I ignored them.
“Just for that, you are mucking out the stalls in the morning.”
“Happy to, shovelling shit is way better than watching you tear up when the chick leaves Zac, it’s kind of embarrassing Nixx.”
Throwing an arm over his shoulder, I walked us to the ute.
“You’re grounded you little shit,” I grumbled, but happy as fuck.
“Whatever you say, … Dad.” It was said with heavy sarcasm and in jest, but that didn’t stop me from wishing for the day when Dillion called me Dad properly for the first time. Until that day, I was more than happy to be his friend, his role model and the man he could come to when times call for it. Anything he needs, I would be there.
***
“Did you pick up a gun, young man,” my mum asked Dillion, cornering him the second he stepped inside the back door.
“No ma’am, I did not,” he answered truthfully, looking directly at my mother.
Good lad, never lie to my mother, she can smell out a lie before it even passes your lips. Where and how she acquired that talent, I could not answer, but there it was. Maybe it came with birthing a child, you know, widened hips and the ability to sniff out liars. Being a mother of triplet boys, I guessed that skill would be extra sharp.
“Good boy, now go into the lounge and protect your cousin from his sister.” Narrowing her eyes, Mum looked over Dillion’s shoulder and glared at Lenoxx.
“Noxx, that girl is the devil. A seven-month-old hellion with cute ringlets but born spawned from the dark lord himself.”
“Jesus Ma, what a way to talk about your own granddaughter, true but cold, Mother, very cold,” Noxx muttered, following Dillion into the lounge room, his phone that was clipped to his belt buzzing.
The phone reminded me I had forgotten all about mine. I’d left it in the car while we were at the range, and failed to look at it when we got in to head back home. Farron had to be ready to be picked up by now, surely. Five hours with Mallory was getting into the realms of punishment, any longer and she might end up hating her as much as Blake did.
Lucky for me, Mallory and I never crossed the line of friends to anything else. So hopefully, there wasn’t too much Mal could tease Farron with, not like she apparently enjoyed doing to Blake.
Turning around to go back outside to get my phone from the console in the car, I stopped when Noxx let out a bellow, the curse word echoing through the large house.
“What the fuck!” I yelled, looking at Hendrixx, a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.
“Watch the kids, Dillion,” Noxx shouted and came running into the kitchen, his face pale, and what I saw was pure fear.
My heartbeat increased, too scared to speak. I knew that look, saw it once before and not that long ago when his helicopter landed at Waterford. Only this time he looked devastated not only for himself but for Drixx and me too.
“Don’t say it Noxx, please,” Drixx pleaded, his voice drier than gravel.
“The girls have been in an accident. Their car went down—”
I didn’t wait for the rest, I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to think about what ‘accident’ implied.
Getting to Farron, that was all I wanted.
Farron.
FARRON
Makena held out the phone, her expression not amused.
“He hung up on me,” she fumed, tossing the phone down on the ground next to her.
“I think it might be more like the reception cut out Mack. I don’t think your husband has ever or would ever hang up on you,” I muttered dryly, again changing my position on the hard, cold ground.
“You’re right, cowboy would never do that. Especially after what I had to tell him,” she replied sheepishly.
“Just saying Mack, telling Noxx that we are trapped at the bottom of a dry bore shaft with a car on top of us wasn’t really the best way to explain what happened,” Blake said, laughing, I was unable to help myself from joining in. It had been a funny call to be a listener to, she started off with “hello honey” and rushed out that the car fell down an open bore shaft with us falling out of the front windscreen when it shattered and popped right out, then the phone went dead. God only knows how he reacted to hearing that version.
“You said your phone was low on battery, so I just told him the condensed version, lucky I did, otherwise they wouldn’t know where to start looking for us.”
If I was being honest, Mack was pretty spot on. We did fall down an empty bore shaft, the windscreen did, in fact, fall out on the downward impact, the only change I would make to the sto
ry was it was me who fell out through the broken screen. Only I had been the idiot to take off her seatbelt minutes before the crash to reach over the dash to grab the map. On the drive through the paddocks to find the spot on the map, Mack, Mallory and Blake let me in on the big family drama between the two fathers. The story was better than any reality show and more entertaining than a movie screenplay. Tales of revenge and hatred, money loaned, cattle promised and a pregnancy hidden. A marriage broken up because of … well, just a lot of drama. I was so focused on it, that when Mack asked for the map to see if we were in the right spot, I had no idea that the repercussions would be so severe.
Dangling in mid-air with just my hands death-gripping the front bumper bar was not something I thought I would ever find myself doing, yet there I had been, screaming myself hoarse until Blake scrambled out after me, a recovery snatch-strap tied around her middle. The rescue would have been epic had I not looked down and saw how far we were underground. The plan was for Blake to grab me, and the other two pull us back in, but it didn’t work out because … well because I panicked and lost my grip and plummeted to the bottom. In truth the car took most of the distance when it fell in, getting wedged over half way down the shaft so the fall was only about twenty metres or there abouts, didn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less, I just didn’t die doing it.
“How is your ankle, Farron?” Blake asked, shielding her eyes from the harsh lights of the car.
“Throbbing still. It might be broken and not sprained like I first thought,” I allowed.
“Ya think! I heard it snap sitting in the car over your hollering at her Blake,” Mallory inserted and not very helpfully. They had been at each other since Makena figured out to use the car’s winch to get down to me. That had been the second plan, winch themselves down one at a time, get me organised, then winch back up into the car. Of course, Blake’s idea that MacGyver did it on an episode didn’t mean it worked in the real world, which it didn’t. Blake and Mallory went first because they were both versed in first aid, then Mack was to follow, only she didn’t allow for the fact that no one was left in the car to operate the winch controls. Having the brilliant idea of wedging the button down under the front seat, Makena lowered herself down, leaving the control inside the car. No one can accuse the four of us of being savvy in the face of disaster, that was for sure.
Hott and Handled (The Hott Brothers Book 3) Page 17