Blind Copy (The Technicians Series Book 5)

by Olivia Gaines

  Raphael, now behind the desk again, sat still staring at the wall. Once more he would need to update his list with more items.

  Clean the gun.

  Threaten teenage boy with gun.

  Show daughter how a boy is supposed to hold her when they dance.

  Dance lessons with teen daughter.

  Clean bigger gun and knife to threaten teenage boy.

  Movie night.

  Set time with the girls on Saturdays.

  Write financial plan, include stocks, bonds, index funds and a few blue chips.

  Talk to Willow about setting an allowance for the girls.

  Talk to Willow about her monthly allowance for the house and personal accounts.

  Debit card for Willow’s crafting.

  Swimsuits for the girls and Willow. Get those on the way.

  Remind Willow to pack dresses for the girls. White gloves for tea? Straw hats?

  A tablet for Karli.

  Create online account with child parameters for Karli to buy 100 books.

  Two things had become abundantly clear in the last couple of hours. His father was a bloody saint to deal with both him, his sister, and their mother and run a successful practice. He’d been a father for a week and now his oldest daughter was going on a first date tonight. He was seriously considering calling Mr. Merge to develop a potion to keep that Skylar kid from getting a boner until he turned 21.

  “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to handle one from the womb until college. A baby. I don’t know about that,” he said, coming out of the office and seeing the gifts his wife was making for the other wives. He watched Willow work and immediately felt a familiar tug at his midsection. A carbon copy of her in a boy child, but a wood crafter, or a fisher, he thought, would be pretty amazing.

  “A son with her. Oh yeah, I can do that easily.”

  Chapter Eighteen – Bootleg

  HALF PAST THE HOUR of 12, the doorbell rang, sending melodious chimes coursing through the Hoyt home. Willow, not sure if Raphael was expecting anyone, didn’t feel comfortable answering the door. She called for him.

  “Yes, Willow?”

  “Someone is at the door,” she said, feeling the blood rushing in her ears. For the oddest reason, the ringing of the bell brought a new level of fear that she didn’t know she was hoarding. The anxiety showed on her face, making him pause to touch her arm.

  “It’s okay. I’ll get the door,” he said, noticing that both the girls had taken to hiding behind the couch. Suddenly, the reality of the life they’d been living on the compound presented a new actuality for him and the children who called him Daddy. He held up his hand, telling them to stay put as he opened the front door.

  “I ordered groceries,” he said, letting the delivery driver inside. “I don’t have time to go shopping so I placed an order. Let me know if I missed anything.”

  He handed the delivery driver a few bucks and directed him and the bags of food to the kitchen. Willow stood in the same spot like she was frozen to the floor. Lunch was nearly ready, and the sound of the oven timer dinging made her physically jump as if someone snuck up behind her slim form and yelled boo. Raphael saw the fear in her eyes. The driver left as quietly as he arrived, but neither the girls nor Willow moved from the spots where they’d taken refuge.

  “You are my family. You are safe,” he said softly. “If it is within my power, I will never allow any harm to come to any of you.”

  Willow was physically shaking uncontrollably. Raphael hurriedly went to her side and enveloped her in his arms. There were no words to console her since he didn’t know why she was afraid. Instead, to obtain a moment alone with his lady, he gave the kids tasks to do.

  “Dusty, please go check on the oven and take out what your mother made for lunch,” he said, looking at Karli. “Pooh Bear, please get Daniel and Pierce some water for their bowls and an afternoon treat. I ordered snacks for both. You will find those in the grocery bags.”

  The girls didn’t reply but hurried to handle the chores and leave their daddy alone with their mother to address her fears. Strong, firm hands rubbed at her arms. Using a bent index finger, he placed it under her chin, lifting her face to look at him directly.

  “I can’t help if I don’t know what’s wrong,” he whispered softly in Willow’s ear.

  “All of it is wrong. All of it,” she whimpered against him. “It was too easy. We got away too easy.”

  “I don’t know about you, but getting you away from the compound wasn’t easy at all,” he said, not wanting to laugh, “The only intel I had to go on was the word of a 10-year-old. Had I been caught or had we failed, I would more than likely be dead now.”

  Her fingers bunched the fabric of his shirt into her hands. “You don’t know Hymn. That man is evil incarnate. He’s not going to let us go this easy. All week I’ve had this sinking feeling that a monster is hiding in the shadows coming for us. Coming to take us back to that bastard. I think both girls are his biologicals, but if he had a chance, he would take...take...take Dusty.”

  She began to cry hard. Her body shook in fear and frustration at the thought of what would await them if Hymn were to find their location. Willow knew the punishment the cult leader planned to dish out started with her.

  “I hear the fear, but I don’t understand it. You are safe with me,” he said, rubbing her back.

  “As long as that man breathes air, we are never safe. I’m running around this wonderful house playing B. Smith, baking, cooking, and creating crafts as if I didn’t live in a shitty camper less than two weeks ago,” she sighed. “The girls are happy and flourishing. I don’t know what a Potterhead or a Muggle is, but Karli is enormously proud that she’s becoming one or the other. Hell, I only have half of an idea what she’s talking about. You do know that book came out in 1999? I barely remember 2009. Raphael, please don’t misunderstand, this is a beautiful life and we came in and took over your world. I’m terrified that you’re going to wake up one day and decide none of this is worth the headache.”

  Raphael’s hands went to her shoulders. “Would you feel better if I went and killed Hymn?”

  Willow stopped crying. She sniffed back the snot trying to escape her nose to look at the man who held her tenderly as if she were the most precious item to ever grace his hands. Her eyes blinked several times.

  “What? I’m sorry. I thought you asked me if I wanted you to kill Hymn?” she repeated, pulling back further and looking up at his face. No humor showed in his eyes. “Raphael, tell me that you’re joking.”

  “I’m sorry, what? Lunch? Yes, I am starving. And hey, that smells delicious, what did you make for lunch, and who is B. Smith?”

  “Don’t change the subject on me. I’m genuinely terrified. This is all wonderful, so fantastic it feels like it’s unreal,” she told him, leaning forward to whisper in his ear, “and you’re great in bed too. I’m so scared it could all be taken away or you’ll take us on this trip and leave us to be somebody else’s problem.”

  “I receive what you’re saying, but you forgetting one thing,” he said. “Do I appear to be a man who does anything I don’t want to do? I like having a family. I like having you here. I love the girls, and Willow; I have learned what it feels like to love you. If you think for one minute that Hymn or anyone else is going to walk in this house and take my family, you have another thing coming.”

  She sniffled and looked at him with that I’m going to make you squeal really loud look. “Raphael, you’re not just saying that are you?”

  “I don’t say anything I don’t mean,” he replied, looking toward the kitchen. The scents were making his mouth water. “I’m going to get fat as hell. What did you make for lunch?”

  “It’s a Croque-Monsieur with homemade potato chips,” she said, wiping her eyes. “Raphael, I’m having a mental breakdown, and you’re worried about your stomach. I don’t believe you right now.”

  “My stomach is a pressing concern. What you’re fearing is not. You s
hall be my wife and the girls shall be my daughters, and hopefully in the near future, you will come and tell me that you are expecting our next child,” Raphael said. “In the meantime, I have to figure out an allowance for the girls and for you, and Karli wants a tablet.”

  “Wow, just like that, you have it all figured out,” she said, swallowing hard.

  “Not really. I can only concentrate on what I can do and have control over. However, I do want you know if Hymn or any of his people show up, I have no issue with putting a bullet in any orifice of their bodies. As long as you know that, then you shouldn’t worry, because I guarantee you that I protect what is mine,” he said, pulling her body close to his.

  Until now, he’d made no sexual overtones toward Willow. Outside of the bedroom, he’d shown her very little affection other than a terse smile on occasion or the thumping of a body part. She’d been the instigator in all the interactions. In one move, he eased her fear and lightened her heart, and she believed everything he would ever tell her to be the God’s honest truth.

  Raphael’s hand slid down her back, cupping her buttock. He lifted her from the floor, wrapping her legs around his hips. She could feel his readiness pressing toward the center of her heat. He didn’t move his body, but shifted her incrementally to work her body up to a slow burn, and her mouth fell open, craving, wanting, and needing more. His mouth came to hers, claiming it with heated passion.

  “If the girls weren’t in the other room, Willow, right here on this floor, in the middle of the day, me and you... When I was done, you’d have rug burns on your ass and knees and the front of your thighs,” he whispered near her ear. “I still have yet to make love to you my way. We have been moving at a pace that worked with what we’ve been handed. In my head, I’m working it out. I’m working through it, imagining your belly swollen with my son. Baby, I’m going to put in the work to keep your belly round and fill this house with as many children as I can feed and you want to give me. I’m pretty well off too, so I can feed a lot of kids.”

  “Babies, as in more than one?” she asked, clinging to him and moving her hips against the hardness standing between them.

  “Yes, Willow. Marry me. Be my wife, the mother of our children,” Raphael said. “Tell me yes, and tonight I’ll show you how I make love. It will be my turn to make you squeal.”

  “I’m not scared of you, Raphael Hoyt, and yes, I will marry you,” she said, squeezing him tight. “A couple more rubs and you won’t have to wait until tonight.”

  Pierce began to bark, announcing the arrival of the girls who had taken the time to put away the bags of groceries, allowing their “parents” a few moments alone. Raphael lowered her legs to the floor, planting a deep passionate kiss to her mouth.

  “You are mine, Willow, not in a way where I feel I own you, but in a way that connects you to my heart. I will care for you, love you, and nurture your needs. No harm shall come to you by my hand or any other. Do we have an understanding?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she replied breathily.

  “Are there any of your needs that I’m not meeting or have yet to be met? If I can’t figure it out, I’m open to you asking or telling me what you require. Ask me for what you need, and I’ll move an ocean if I must to give it to you. Your happiness means a great deal to me,” he told her.

  “I want to make sure you’re happy too.”

  “Then feed me so I can give Dusty her dance lessons,” he said softly. “I have not eaten Croque-Monsieur since I was in Paris nearly 20 years ago. Did I have the ingredients in the house to make it?”

  He made sure to keep his back to the girls and excused himself to climb the stairs to the master bedroom. Raphael needed to catch his breath. Time and time again he’d avoided coming on strong with her, demanding her body or her emotions. He’d made a calculated move that he’d enjoyed far more than he’d anticipated.

  She responded to his every interchange.

  Willow reacted to his touch like few women ever had.

  “She’s in my damned head,” Raphael growled. “I have to stop fricking growling, but my God that woman reads me left to right. How can I not help but love her? Fuck, she made a Croque-Monsieur with homemade potato chips. I don’t even think my Momma knew how to make that sandwich.”

  LUNCH WAS SO DELICIOUS, he pushed aside the napkin, opting to lick his fingers to get every last drop of the velvety béchamel oozing out of the sides of the sandwich. The girl’s sandwiches didn’t include the ham, just the cheese, but he didn’t hear a peep from them either. The chips were the perfect level of crunchiness without being too hard, and Willow brewed iced tea with large slices of peaches floating in the pitcher. If he weren’t so full, he’d send the kids to their room and make out with her on the couch like two horny teenagers.

  “Daddy, we need to dance,” Dusty reminded him, fidgeting with her fingers.

  “Are you nervous to learn how to dance, Punkin Puss?”

  “I don’t have any rhythm, and it looks like I’m trying to step on bugs when I attempt to dance. I should just stay home so I don’t make a complete fool of myself, and embarrass Skylar,” she said, throwing herself onto the couch. Pierce jumped on the couch to comfort his mistress, licking her hands in an effort to encourage petting and scratching behind his ears. “I’m just going to stay home.”

  Raphael was smiling and good with her emotional decision. He didn’t think she needed to go on a date, especially not with that little grabby handed Skylar Malone. The child was only 14 years old. His sister didn’t date until she was 16, which was a perfectly good age for Dusty. The look of disappointment on the girl’s face shook him, prompting a change of heart and his mind.

  “Come on, Dusty, let me show you the basic four step. If the music goes fast, you do it fast, if the music is down tempo, meaning not so fast, you can still use the same four steps,” Raphael said, pulling out his phone cueing up a station with modern teenage songs. He piped it into the home surround sound system.

  The music filled the family room as he stepped forward with his left foot, then his right, back on the left, back on the right. He repeated it several times, and Karli joined in, followed by Willow, and eventually Dusty took part. Pierce, wearing his new orange cape, barked at the moving feet, and the kitten, sporting a new striped shirt, sat on his hunches like a Meerkat observing the day’s activities. At the end of the four o’clock hour, Dusty Rose moved like she’d been dancing an entire lifetime.

  “Dusty, please allow me to show you how a man should hold and guide you when he slow dances with you,” he said, opening his arms and allowing adequate space between them as he moved her around the floor. “You do not need to be body to body and touching at your age.”

  “Yes, Daddy,” she said, following along. Satisfied she had it all under control, she took off up the stairs to her bedroom to get dressed for her date.

  Two hours later, Dusty Rose descended the stairs to an awaiting Skyler Malone, who wore 50s styled jeans with penny loafers and a cardigan. Dusty looked sharp in white sneakers and a blue and white poodle skirt with a snazzy white button down with a blue scarf around her neck.

  “You look amazing,” Raphael said, taking his phone to snap pictures of her and the date whose hands he wanted to break off. “Have fun tonight. Remember, if anything is happening that you don’t like, or there’s a situation that you’re uncomfortable with, you call me, and I will come and get you. The dance then home. Skylar, she needs to be home by 11, do you hear me?”

  “Yes sir,” Skylar said, slipping his hand inside of Dusty’s. “I will keep her safe.”

  “Have fun you two,” Raphael said through clenched teeth as they left out the back door and walked down the patio stairs. He watched them until their forms narrowed and were no more.

  Skylar’s father Jeb was also outside on the patio, but it looked more like he was lurking in the bushes on the back porch. Raphael pointed at him. Jeb eased out of the darkness.

  “Hey-O, Hoyt-O!” he called out with
his specialized signature greeting.

  Raphael responded, “Eat me, Jeb!”

  “Sorry, whatcha say there, Hoyt-O? Looks like we may end up related to each other if this keeps up with the kids,” Jeb yelled across the back yard.

  “Not if I poison you first,” Raphael called back, waving a middle finger at the man. His eyes went back to the kids. He started down the back stairs and Willow stopped the descent with her hand.

  “Raphael, it is only two and a half blocks,” Willow said, coming up beside him and rubbing his back.

  “I know, but maybe we should...you know...walk down and make sure they made it,” he offered, staring into the yard.

  “If we do that, Dusty will think you don’t trust her judgement and therefore don’t trust her. That’s not what you want, is it?”

  “Hell, it’s not her I don’t trust. I don’t trust a 14-year-old boy with a working dick, that’s what I don’t trust,” Raphael said, looking back to see Karli on the couch, her head immersed with Harry’s search for the sorcerer’s stone. The idea of her reading the book and then seeing Fluffy, the three headed dog, on the big screen television made him smile.

  “Relax a bit,” she told him. “I’ve taught them well how to handle themselves in the presence of grown men. Dusty can handle a 14-year-old boy; besides, you’ve taken both girls on a date, but I haven’t had a date with you yet. When do I get my one on one time with you?”

  “Now is pretty good, and I was thinking of maybe cooking dinner for you tonight. Put some veggies on the grill, hell I don’t know,” he said, crinkling his nose. Jeb was making his way across the back yard wanting to chat. He didn’t desire a chat with Jeb. They weren’t friends; never had been and weren’t going to be now.