Elaina

by Jennifer Hanks

  I couldn’t resist this kid, I didn’t know how anyone could. I leaned down, smiling when I saw him standing on his tip-toes stretching as far as he could, trying to see me.

  “Wanie!” He yelled excitedly.

  I leaned down and grabbed him, pulling him up, and tossing him gently on the bed beside me. We giggled together rolling on our sides to face each other. I widened my eyes and put my finger to my lips shushing him when I heard footsteps in the hall. Grabbing the blanket, I pulled it up over us until we were covered entirely, my hand holding it up enough not to cover our faces. “Shhh.” I whispered.

  Braydon started giggling and I knew right away he wasn’t going to be able to stop. As his giggles got louder, I couldn’t help but join in, his happiness was that contagious. I strained, trying to listen for footsteps over the sound of giggling, but couldn’t hear anything.

  I squealed and Bray rolled onto his back laughing when the blanket was ripped off of us. Jake stared at us from the bottom of the bed, his face taking on a mischievous look I’d seen a few times over the last week usually ending in him doing something unexpected.

  “Jake…” He turned his attention to me and smirked before throwing his body onto the bed attempting it seemed to land between Bray and I, but most of his body falling onto me, causing Bray to laugh even harder. He wrapped his leg around my legs and leaned up on his elbow, grinning when Bray crawled on his back. I took my eyes off Jake for a moment to smile at Bray who was laying spread out across his back, not realizing I’d done exactly what he wanted until it was too late. His fingers reached out, digging into my side, making me yell out in surprise before laughing uncontrollably.

  “Jake,” I yelled through a laugh. “Stop it! I hate being tickled.” If I could stop laughing he may actually believe I hated it.

  Bray rolled down off Jake’s back. “Don’t you dare Braydon!” I yelled when his little hands dug into my side alongside his dad’s.

  After another minute of torture, Jake turned his tickling towards Bray and I sat up, scooting back to rest against the headboard. I quickly looked towards the open door when I caught a glimpse of something and returned the smile Luke was sending me from his spot leaning against the doorjamb. He threw me a wink before he turned, heading towards the kitchen.

  Jake rolled onto his back, pushing to sit up and also slid back to rest against the headboard. Bray saw Beasley standing beside the bed slowly wagging his tail and he jumped down, sliding across the floors landing right in front of Beasley and pushing his face into his neck. They took off out of the room, heading down the hall towards the kitchen just like Luke had only minutes before.

  I rolled my lips together, for some reason feeling nervous. “I guess I should actually get up, huh?”

  Jake wrapped his hand around my wrist when I moved to crawl from his bed. “Hang on.”

  I settled back in and waited, my fingers running over my bracelet. He put his hand over mine, stopping me. “Lanie look at me.”

  I jerked my head up and smiled.

  He cocked his head to the side. “Why are you nervous right now?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

  He nodded and continued on. “Will you come to my parents for dinner today? I know they’d really like to see you, make sure you’re okay.”

  Most members of his family had shown up at the house this past week to check on me so I wasn’t sure that was the real reason, but after all he and his family have done for me, especially after the attack, I knew I couldn’t say no. I didn’t really want to either, I had a very good feeling it would be the last dinner I’d be invited to.

  Just another loss I’d have to learn to accept.

  “I’d like that, actually.” I admitted.

  He smiled, but then his face took on a very serious expression and I tensed, anticipating a conversation I didn’t want to have.

  “Lanie…”

  I cut him off. “I’m moving out.”

  His jaw hardened and I waited, hoping he would think about it and understand it was not only the best thing for everyone, but also the right time. They hadn’t found Julie yet, but that could take months or years, and I couldn’t put off the inevitable forever.

  “No, you’re not.” His voice cut through my thoughts.

  I raised my eyebrows, surprised that’s all he had to say. “It’s time Jake. I know you feel guilty about what happened and you want me to stay until you guys find Julie, but let’s face it that could take a long time, if it ever even happens.” I took in a shaky breath. “I’m not going to my house,” I looked down at my hands lying on my lap. “I’m not ready for that. I’m going to talk to Paige about living with her for awhile.”

  He rolled his lips together, giving the appearance he was considering what I was explaining, but something in his eyes told me he was only humoring me. “You’re not moving out Lanie, for a lot of reasons and yes one is because of Julie, but that’s not the biggest reason.”

  “What’s the biggest reason?”

  He shook his head. “We don’t have time to get into that right now, there’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

  He seemed so serious, I was beyond curious. “What is it?”

  He paused, maybe searching for the right words. “I asked Striker to try to find your father.”

  My body jerked back like I’d been punched in the stomach. “What?” I whispered.

  He nodded, his lips twisted, face filled with concern. “I’m not sure if it was the right thing to do or not, but I wanted you to at least have his name if Striker could find out who he is.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that.” My voice shook. “Why would you do that?”

  “I thought you’d find some closure if you knew about him.” He defended himself.

  I scrambled off the bed, pacing along the side. “I don’t want closure.”

  “You need closure Lanie, so you can move on.”

  I threw my arms in the air and stopped to stare at him. “Move on!” I lowered my voice when I realized I’d yelled, not wanting Bray to hear us. “I’ll never move on Jake, and now I’ll know what he looks like and if he has a family he actually wants. Or better yet maybe he can tell me to my face how much he didn’t want me, how much I didn’t matter.”

  He moved to the side of the bed and sat, pulling me to stand in front of him between his spread legs. “Lanie.” He reached up and pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. “Let me tell you what Striker found out and then you can decide if you want to see him. Okay?”

  Did I want that? Did I even care anymore? Oh, who was I kidding, of course I wanted to know, my reaction proved that and Jake knew it, but I had no words so I nodded.

  He wrapped his hands tight around my waist and I stepped closer, with his height and the height of the bed, we were almost face-to-face. “Striker found out that about a year before you were born, your mom worked at the grocery store in her neighborhood. He was able to find out who she worked with, who her boss was and with Kyle’s help, he tracked down a friend she had while she was there. He spoke with her and she told him your mom dated a man while she worked there and that man gave her a silver bracelet. She remembered that because your mom wore it all the time. Luckily she also remembered his name and gave it to Striker who did some digging on him.”

  He paused, giving me time to digest the information he’d already given me before moving on. “Do you want to know what he found out about him?”

  “How does he know he’s the right guy?” I whispered.

  “He doesn’t without a DNA test, but he said there’s enough resemblance that he felt confident in saying he’s fairly certain they have the right man. He also said he has two giant ass dogs and besides you he’s never known anyone who would want dogs that size.” He grinned. “Sounds like you have something in common.”

  I liked that. “I want to know about him.” I admitted.

  Jake smiled. “He’s retired now, but was an English teacher, first at high school level an
d then for about ten years as a college professor. He’s married to an elementary school teacher, also retired and Striker said they never had children.”

  I twisted my hands together. “He didn’t want any?”

  Jake smiled sympathetically. “Striker wouldn’t have that kind of information.”

  “Right,” I shook my head at my own stupidity. “Of course he wouldn’t.” I paused before continuing. “What’s his name?”

  “David Cooper.”

  David Cooper. That sounds like a teacher’s name somehow. “Did Striker talk to him, tell him about me?”

  “No.” Jake said. “He wasn’t sure you wanted that. If you do, Jax said they can arrange a meeting and a DNA test for the both of you.”

  I gulped. Did I want that? “I need to think about it.”

  He squeezed my hips before he stood up, gently pushing me back a few steps. “I’m here, whatever you decide, I’m always going to be here.” He leaned down, his face close to mine. “Okay?”

  “Yeah.” I whispered and acting purely on emotion I stretched up, put my hands on either side of his neck, pulled his head down, and laid my lips over his.

  He groaned and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me hard against his body, his tongue licked the seam of my lips and I opened for him wanting to feel him close. We stayed like that, our lips pressed tightly, his hands roaming my body, mine moving up to run through his hair until we both needed to take a breath. He ripped his mouth from mine and laid his forehead against mine, his breath coming in the same type of short pants as mine.

  When we both were breathing normally, he pulled back and smirked. “We should get ready to go. I’d offer to shower together, but It’s obvious you’re not going to be able to control yourself if we do, so we’ll have to take separate ones today.”

  My jaw dropped, but I realized quickly he was teasing me when his lips turned up in a smile. I reached out and slapped his shoulder, laughing. “Shut up.”

  He laughed and pulled me to him, burying his face in my neck, and biting down, making me squeal. He pulled back, looking exasperated. “Jeez woman, get a hold of yourself. We don’t have time right now.”

  I rolled my eyes, a smile pasted to my face and moved to walk around him. I felt the crack of his hand against my butt and jumped. Turning quickly, I saw he was almost to the door of the bedroom, but he turned his head and shot me a wink and a smile before he disappeared down the hallway.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  JAKE

  “That can’t be true.” Lanie laughed beside me at a story Ben was telling her.

  He held his hand up in the air. “I swear. Scout’s honor and all that shit.”

  “You were never a boy scout Ben.” Chris laughed. “They kicked you out.”

  Ben rolled his eyes. “That was a misunderstanding.”

  “No, they understood completely.” Jax laughed.

  “Understood what?” Lucy asked, but then scrunched up her nose. “Oh wait, maybe I don’t want to know. I spent a lot of time with you in college and I don’t want to remember most of that.”

  Chris laughed harder and Lucy leaned her side into him when he flung his arm around her shoulders. They were good together, but so were all of my brothers and their girls, they all just fit.

  “I definitely want to know.” Sydney wiped the tears in the corner of her eyes from laughing. “Just cover your ears Luce while he tells it.”

  “No that won’t work, then all of you will know and I’ll be left out.” At Lucy’s words Cam shook his head, and sent her a grin.

  They were close, the four of them. Cam and Chris had always been that way, constantly with each other. Luckily, they found women who liked each other, otherwise there could have been a huge disaster.

  “Just tell it Ben.” Kasey encouraged.

  “You already know it.” Jax smiled at her.

  Grace came into the dining room from the kitchen, oblivious to the conversation already taking place, but that wasn’t unusual for her, she’d done it since she was little. “Hey, has anyone heard from Gia and Brody?”

  “Grace, I was in the middle of a story.” Ben complained.

  She waved her hand in the air, dismissing him. “You can tell it later.”

  “It won’t be funny then.”

  She sat down in a seat across from him. “Then it probably wasn’t that funny anyway. I’ve actually done you a favor.”

  Dad laughed and laid his hand on Grace’s shoulder, squeezing it. “Brody and Gia called last night to talk to Lexi. They’re having a great time and will be home by the end of the week.

  “I think it’s so romantic they decided to take their honeymoon at the same place they met.” She said.

  “You think it’s romantic to take a honeymoon where you met someone, had a one-night stand and never even asked for the other person’s name?” I laughed, along with my brothers.

  “It is.” She protested.

  “How the hell is that romantic?” Ben asked.

  “Ben, you don’t understand romance.” She sighed.

  “Then I don’t either.” I admitted and felt Lanie giggle next to me, her eyes bright with happiness.

  “What the hell do you know about romance?” Jax barked across the room at Grace.

  Kasey rolled her eyes. “Oh please Jax, she graduated college. Do you really think she has no experience?”

  My head snapped up, similar to all my brothers, but Cam was the only one who spoke up. “What experience?”

  Grace rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Ben. “Why don’t you finish your story?”

  “Too late.” He scowled at her obviously blaming her for ruining his moment. “It lost momentum.”

  “Which one was it?” She asked the room.

  “The boy scout one.” I provided.

  “Oh,” She smiled. “Wasn’t that the one where you ran naked through the neighboring campsite of girl scouts?”

  “You ran naked through camp?” Lanie’s eyes were as wide as saucers. Little did she know that was tame for some of the shit Ben and I pulled together.

  Ben puffed out his chest proudly. “Yep.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Around ten, right Mom?”

  All of our heads swiveled to look at our mom. She was unfazed by the story, having lived her life with all of us boys. I’d be surprised if anything could faze her anymore. She smiled and nodded. “Yes, Ben, you were ten.”

  “Why?” Lanie asked.

  Ben looked confused. “Why what?”

  “Why would you run naked through the girls’ camp?”

  He shrugged. “Why not?”

  His answer was followed by laughter, including Lanie’s, but I could tell she was still trying to make sense of it when she turned her head to me. “Were you a boy scout?”

  “Let’s be clear darlin’” Dad started, chuckling along with mom. “All of them wanted to be boy scouts and they all joined, but not one of them made it the whole way through.”

  Lanie’s eyes scanned the table. “All of you were thrown out?”

  We all nodded, mostly out of pride, it was hard to get tossed out of the boy scouts.

  “Were you a boy scout Jack?”

  Mom snorted, answering for him. “Of course he wasn’t Lanie. Where do you think the boys get their bad behavior from?”

  Dad leaned down, his face close to mom’s ear, but still talking loudly. “You never complained about my bad behavior before.”

  I shook my head, used to dad saying things like that to mom, always trying to make her blush, and he succeeded again. She turned towards him, trying to shush him, but he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her close. I noticed the others were talking again, all being used to this, but Lanie was sitting very quietly.

  I leaned over. “You okay?”

  Her head snapped my way and she smiled. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just need a minute. Can I use the bathroom?”

  “Yeah, come on, I’ll show you w
here it is.”

  She shook her head. “No, that’s okay, just tell me. I’ll find my way. I’ll peek in on Lexi and Bray too.”

  I agreed and gave her the directions. Bray and Lexi had left a while ago to play with the toys Mom keeps in the living room, obviously bored with the adults.

  “How’s she doing?” She was no sooner gone than I heard Jax’s voice. My eyes left the empty doorway she had disappeared through, and found his.

  I shrugged. “Better health wise and she’s sleeping better, the nightmares aren’t as bad, but I don’t know, something still feels off.”

  Lucy reached for Chris’ hand. “It’s going to take awhile Jake. When I was attacked at work, it took me a long time to feel safe again.”

  I nodded, I remembered that and I also remembered how hard Chris worked to bring her back from that. The hard work I didn’t mind; I just wasn’t sure our outcome would be as great as theirs.

  “Did you tell her?” Jax asked.

  I nodded again. “Yeah this morning.”

  “Tell her what?” Grace asked, concern lining her features.

  I ran my hand along the back of my neck. I might as well tell her, it seemed everyone else at the table already knew anyway.

  I turned to Grace. “I asked Striker to find Lanie’s dad. She never knew him, but it always seemed like he was standing between us or at least what she thought he’d done was. I don’t know, I thought knowing about him might give her closure.”

  “What did he do?” Grace asked quietly.

  “The lady that raised Lanie implied her dad hadn’t wanted her. We don’t know that for sure, but that’s what Lanie has believed.”

  “That’s so sad.” Grace said quietly. Dad reached out and wrapped his big hand around the back of her neck, and she gave him a sad smile.

  “Daddy!” Bray’s high-pitched scream sliced through the room. I jumped from my seat, pushing through my brothers and rushing through the house yelling his name. I saw the front door was open and he was standing in the front yard, crying, his body shaking from the sobs.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  LANIE