“Hardheaded fuck.” Lo pushed up from his chair.
“Or we could do it now and I could tell you to get her out of here before I snap and break her fucking neck, choose your pick.” I went after my kid and left them to see themselves out. I was over the shit already. It had only been a few short hours, though it felt like a whole lifetime had passed, but it wasn’t enough time for people to be hounding me like I had shit all worked out already.
“It’s okay little darling, daddy’s here.” She was muddy so I set up the laptop near her new changing table, and went to YouTube. I followed the instructions to a T and pretty soon my baby girl was freshly powdered and smelling like a baby again.
Now all I had to do was figure out how to feed her and we were in business. I loved the weight of her on my arm, loved the way she already clung to her daddy like she needed me.
We stayed up and talked. Well I talked mostly she just babbled and nodded her head like she knew what the fuck I was saying, in between trying to eat her feet. “Daddy’s gonna teach you how to shoot but we gotta wait until you’re about six or so.
That way anybody fu…ahem, anybody messes with you and I’m not there, you can handle shit yourself.” That sounded about right to me, and I’m sure the others would help me show her all the ways to protect herself. My chest burned with the thought of all the years that were to come and just what the hell we were gonna face.
As the hours wound down and I figured it was coming on time for bed, she wasn’t looking like she was going anywhere anytime soon.
She kept worst fucking hours than a night watchman, what the fuck? It’s not like she had a job to go to or some shit, but she had no regard for my feelings as she stayed up all night either cooing or fussing.
Around bum fuck o’clock she let up a howl that had me scrambling, this only after she’d dozed off for what seemed like two seconds. When nothing worked to get her to sleep I went knocking on Logan’s door. The incubator was there waiting like she knew I was gonna come knocking. “She’s hungry.”
We went through the same routine as before, only this time I paid attention to more than her tit and my hard dick. Like the way she held the baby all loving like, or the way she smelled her hair. I especially noticed the way Zakira clung to her; the bond was hard to miss. Good, I hope her guts hurt tonight when I kick her ass out and she has to be without our daughter. Let her wonder how long I was gonna keep them apart, just like she’d done me.
I let her stay until the baby was asleep; I’m not stupid. Then I had her express milk with the new pump I’d had Vicki Lynn pick up. I didn’t stay around for that shit; I gave her space.
But as soon as she was done and I had a few bottles lined up, I showed her to the door. I didn’t give her a chance to say whatever the fuck she was opening her mouth to say to me, just held my hand up and closed the door.
No I didn’t feel one ounce of remorse, there was no room for that shit next to my anger. I missed the fuck outta her when I crawled into my lonely king sized bed not long after though.
Instead of thinking back and trying to make sense out of why she’d done the things she had, I read through the books on babies. People had some fucked up ideas if you ask me, but hey, I’m no expert. I stayed up long after she’d finally gone down for good, worrying about how the fuck I was gonna make her world perfect. I knew one thing for sure, my kid was not gonna be raised by anyone else but me, and anyone who thought different were out of their fucking minds.
***
Shit, it felt like I’d just dropped off when I heard movement coming from her side of the room. I wasn’t comfortable having her away from me, so I’d set her crib up in the corner of my room. “Ty what the fuck are you doing in my house so early, wait how did you get in here, did you break in?”
I had everything on lock so her damn mother couldn’t get in. I didn’t forget that she was a Marine and all the shit they’d taught her with their sneaky asses. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as he lifted the baby from her new crib. “Did you wake her?”
“Uh-uh she was up.” He was already going in for a smell of her hair.
“Lying ass she was up all night, I know she’s tired and the book says if you interrupt their sleep it makes them cross.”
“What book, she came with a manual?” he looked like he actually believed that shit. I just shook my head and left the bed.
The book I’d stayed up all night reading said she might be hungry and wet or dirty first thing so I needed to take care of that. She wasn’t crying yet and Ty was telling her some shit about how to sight her gun, swear to fuck. She just cooed and laughed and gabbed away at him while he taught her to say his name.
I washed up real quick in the bathroom sink and went back in the room where he was telling my kid tall tales about shit he’d supposedly done. “Give her here, I have to change her diaper.” He watched every move I made and questioned me up one side and down the next. “How’d you learn how to do that? Shit looks confusing.”
“Seriously? You can build a bomb but you can’t figure out how to put a kid’s nappy on?” he just shrugged and took her away from me after I kissed her little head. I went and got the formula I’d bought and a bottle of her mother’s milk just in case. As soon as the coast was clear I was kicking her lying ass out, so it was best I start weaning baby Zak off the tit now.
I would ask one of my sisters how to do it, but they weren’t too happy with me so I was for self. There was a knock at the door before Lo pulled it open and stormed in, followed by Con, just as I was reading the instructions on the can of formula.
“What do you two want?” Ty scowled at them like he fucking lived here and pulled the baby closer to his chest as he came into the kitchen. They both ignored him and looked at me instead. “Bro, you’ve got to come to terms with this shit and fast.” They made a beeline for their niece and started making kissing noises. Babies, like women, turn men into idiots. If I had my camera I’d YouTube this shit. I finally caught on to what he’d said since it felt like my body was moving but my mind was still playing catch up.
“Why what’s wrong with you two?” Like I didn’t know.
“Our women kept us up half the night complaining about your shit. Now I’m all for you standing up and all that, but not when it interferes with my shit if you know what I mean.” Lo looked like he’d slept rough.
“What he means is that when a man grows accustomed to a certain reception from his woman, he doesn’t like being thwarted by a fucking nonexistent headache on account of his brother is being an unreasonable asshole.” Con covered the baby’s ears as she nibbled on Ty while her formula was being heated.
“Damn bitch made one and two, it was only one night, grow a pair.” Ty held Zakira protectively like he expected them to snatch her and give her back. At least I knew I had an ally.
“You stay out of it, you didn’t have much to say last night when your little filly had you in her sights. You might not be pussy whipped…yet, but you’re something. I think I see a yellow streak under his Collar Lo what you think?”
“You’re lucky I got my niece in my arms or I’d kick your ass.” I rolled my eyes at the three of them and got the bottle. “Give her here.” I wonder what the fuck was wrong with Tyler; he was acting like he didn’t want to give up the kid, domesticated fuck.
I sat and held her the way the book had said to. I stayed up all night reading that shit which was fine, since my baby girl fussed half the night. I think she might be teething, I’m not sure; I have to read some more. I refuse to believe that it’s because she missed her mother. She has me now; she doesn’t need anyone else. She wasn’t too happy with the formula, she only drank a couple ounces, so I got her mother’s milk under duress. I wasn’t sure how she could tell the difference, but when she leaned back against me and played with her toes while sucking it down like a wino at a bar, I figured it was going to be a while before I could talk her outta this stuff.
Thank fuck Con and Lo switched gears and concent
rated on the baby instead of trying to make my ass crazy. “Did you get her that food in a bottle stuff? I think her mom has some.” I gave Con the death glare and he piped the fuck down. I’d already told them that I wanted nothing from the she wolf but they were still trying. “I had Vicki Lynn pick some up, but as soon as I can make a run I’ll get the shit and make it myself. The book says fresh is best.”
“What book, why do you keep saying that? I thought babies were like…you know, play it by ear, trial and error, that kinda thing.”
“Ty what the fuck, were you raised by wolves?”
“Close enough.”
I moved my kid closer to me and out of his way, because no joke, he had a serious attachment to her already. I could just see him teaching her all his bad habits, and next thing you know, no one would want to be around my kid either on account of she’d have his damn mouth. I think I might be too late though, because he started making faces and she grinned around her bottle and waved her limbs in the air.
The others came straggling in one by one and I got the distinct feeling from all the sighs of relief that they didn’t trust me to make it through the night with my little girl. Disrespectful fucks. It wasn’t long before my kitchen was full, and everybody seemed to have a damn attitude. Ty, the baby thief was waiting for her to suck the last dreg through the nipple before he was ready to take her from me.
“She needs a bath, it’s going to be hot today. The book says a bath and powder.” He just nodded and headed for my room and her stuff. “Who’s cooking?” Dev pulled up a chair while I passed the baby to Lo so that I could go fill the tub with water. “What do you mean, isn’t Gaby cooking?”
“Didn’t you two tell him?”
“Tell me what?” I came back out and left the water running after Quinn’s statement.
“The women are on strike, they’re not doing shit until you talk to Vanessa and straighten this shit out.” I need this shit first thing in the morning.
“What the fuck, can’t you two control your women?” I shoulda known some shit like this was gonna go down. I took my daughter from Logan just in case he got any ideas and headed for the bathroom, with Ty hot on my heels, with what looked like a couple hundred different bottles of shit and rubber toys. He hovered like an old woman while I got her undressed. “I don’t think you’re supposed to do it like that.”
“Do what like what Tyler? Look, how many kids do you have?”
“None asshole.” He was huffy.
“Exactly, I have one, and this is how you’re supposed to do it.”
“You don’t know shit bro. How is she supposed to sit in that big tub? She’ll drown. Aren’t you supposed to get her one of those plastic tub things that fit in the sink?”
“No you ass she’s too big for that.” He grumbled some shit under his breath that I was sure wasn’t very flattering but I ignored his dumb ass.
He wanted to climb in with her but couldn’t figure out how to do it without getting his clothes wet, and I’m pretty sure he knew I’d skin his ass if he dropped down to his skivvies in front of my little girl. In the end we both settled for kneeling next to the tub and keeping an eagle eye on her as she splashed away with her toys.
“Aren’t you gonna tell me to make peace so you can have decent food again?” He gave it some thought, and for the first time since the baby came, he grew dead serious.
“No.” That was all he said, but I could tell that he had more on his mind. “If it was me, I would react the same way, maybe worst. It doesn’t matter what went down, as long as you weren’t an abusive asshole, she had no right to keep your seed from you. I don’t think you should shut her out forever, because that’s just fucked, but I understand your need for some distance now. Just do me one favor, whatever decision you make, please put baby Zak first.”
“Is that what you’re doing brother?”
“Yeah.” He can be such a pain in the ass sometimes that it was hard to remember his beginnings and how hard they had been. I clapped him on his shoulder as he picked up the little pink washcloth to bathe my daughter. The moment was over almost as soon as it begun because he started his shit again.
“Dude, what the fuck kinda frou-frou shit is this?” He looked at the Disney character washcloth in distaste.
“What? It’s for girls.”
“She’s a SEAL bro, get camouflage or some shit next time.” This fucker is certifiable. “I better go through the clothes you bought, I bet it’s more of this pansy ass shit.”
“What the fuck did you want me to buy, fatigues?”
He fought me to death about every damn thing until I wanted to drown him in the one foot of water in the tub. For someone who had spent exactly four hours in the presence of a baby, he sure was an expert. “Ty, it says no tears, it’s not gonna hurt her.” The ass actually tried to put some of the shampoo in his eyes to check. “Give me that jackass.” I snatched the bottle from him and lathered up her hair while he grumped.
“You know those people lie just to sell shit, fine if it hurts her though, we’ll sue.” I wasn’t even paying him any mind because he’d obviously lost his. When her bath was over he rifled through the bag of stuff that I’d ordered on line and had Vicki Lynn pick up. “See, I knew it, nothing but girly shit.” He settled on a pink and brown set and fought me to dress her. I wasn’t sure what the fuck was up with him, but I was gonna start taping this shit. When we’d deemed her decent enough, and my poor kid was looking like what the fuck daddy, we headed back out to the kitchen where the others for some reason were still gathered. Davey had joined the crew and was already munching away on an apple.
“What, they kicked you out too?”
“Nah, I left when they started the man bashing thing, I didn’t think that was right.”
“Man bashing, who’s man bashing?” He turned to look at Ty whose face was starting to look like a thundercloud.
“All of them, those women are mean. It’s like they forgot I was in the room even, or they don’t see me as a man.” Poor kid, he looked hurt. “Don’t sweat it kid, that bunch is part of the neutering party, they’ve already de-balled these fucks.” Con smacked the shit out of Ty for that one, but the rest of us unattached men found that shit hilarious.
For some reason my place had become command central so with my kid strapped to my chest in her new sling, I sat around the kitchen table and got a rundown. Life hadn’t stopped because mine had been derailed and shit still needed to be dealt with. We sent Davey on a trumped up errand that was sure to take thirty minutes or so, in order to discuss some things the he didn’t need to know about. Hopefully the women would take it easy on him, unless they’d gone full rabid. Fucking females. “Wait did anyone remember to feed that chick in the cottage? It was my turn last night and I got distracted.” Not that I was too busted up about it, but still.
“We let her go early this morning, this shit is bigger than her, or this town come to think of it. If they know we had her and they go after her, that’s the price she pays for getting in bed with them in the first place. Cord where are we with the hair samples for the kids?”
Lo was at the stove trying to whip up something. I felt bad that it was because of me that we were back to gruel and grub, especially since we weren’t sure if it was safe to go into town for a bite, but a man’s gotta stick to his guns.
Cord passed him two separate envelopes. “I took that from them while they were asleep.” Inside were two locks of hair.
“Cool, now all we have to do is set something up so we know if we can trust the chief or not. My gut says yes and I always follow my gut, but we’ve got too much at stake now to take chances.” He looked at little Zakira who was taking it all in from her place on my chest.
She seemed to have some weird fascination with her toes. I’m gonna have to read up on that shit because she kept pulling off her socks to get at them and stick them in her mouth.
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“Not sure yet, but we’ll think of so
mething. I’m hoping to find something in the commander’s files that we can use, something that maybe only those two would know about.”
This shit was getting more and more complicated. If I thought that it would be better for my daughter to be somewhere else, if I was sure I could send her somewhere safe, I would do it in a heartbeat, even if it meant giving her back to her mother. But with so many different variables at play, there was no way I was gonna make that move. I wouldn’t even send Vanessa out there and I hated her guts.
“I got another call from the asshole last night, and no we still haven’t been able to triangulate the calls.”
“What, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because brother, it was your first night with your baby girl and there was nothing you could do. I’m telling you now.” He put his phone on the table and pressed replay so that the tinny robotic voice came through for all to hear.
“Hello my friend, I see you’ve been busy. Too bad the little pigeons you netted weren’t of any use to you, better luck next time. Oh by the way since you have decided not to adhere to our warning to stay out of our business, we have decided it’s only fair to go ahead and expose your old commander for what he really was, and by so doing, discredit your whole team. All that hard work for nothing.” There was a very sinister laugh at the end of it before the line went dead.
“Hold it, that ‘hello my friend’ where the fuck have we heard that before? That’s not American speak.”
“You’re right, see, one more clue to add to the puzzle.”
“Yeah but how much time do we have to put this puzzle together? I say we go back to the beginning and put everything together from scratch starting with when the men first came to us. Then we add in what we’ve found so far from the commander, factor in what Davey knows and see what we’ve got because so far, we ain’t got shit.”
ZAK SEAL Team Seven Book 3 Page 9