06 All Bark And No Bite

by Jana Leigh

  “You know, I think for some reason y'all think you have a choice in this matter,” Jazz said.

  “Now, baby, you know I will totally do what needs to be done. He is my half-brother. But I have to go slowly here,” Rex said reasonably.

  “He is my half-brother also and I, for one, will certainly offer to help raise him,” Phoebe said.

  Blake frowned and then put a hand behind his neck and said, “Safety first, babe.”

  “I suggest we stop standing around here yapping and find out what the hell is going on. Either way, he will need to have some clothes and other things. So let's agree to disagree for the moment, until you can get the facts shall we,” Lily said calmly and then turned to the girls. “Let's grab the computers, I believe if we order directly from the stores one of the guards can pick them up.”

  “Fine,” Bailey said glaring at her men, “Long memory, boys, I have a long memory.”

  “We know,” Noah and Dallas groaned and pulled the men back into the office, so they could figure out how to get the boy out of State custody on the day before Christmas.

  Chapter Nine

  Lily helped the other women with the shopping online while she also secretly made her own plans. The week after Christmas, she would be putting this into action to save one more life. Shaking off her feelings of gloom, Lily joined the women in their high shopping spree they were having.

  By looking at the file that Jolly could pull up, they figured out exactly what size they were talking about. The boy had the same build as Rex and Andres, it was nice because the women could shop for him more easily. They all commented on how handsome he was also with his black hair and green eyes, he could have been a little clone of Andres and Rex combined. He had to be a heart breaker.

  They also were able to pull his school records to see that he was also a genius. His behavior profile for the State showed that he had no issues other than getting close to people. He had gone through therapy for four years while he was growing up, all for attachment issues. However, if anyone looked close enough they would see why he had those issues.

  The first home he was placed in was a little more than a kiddie mill. The parents, and the word is used loosely in this instance, were only using the children for the money. The second home, the boy seemed to have problems with connecting with the parents, and so they put him in therapy. However, if you looked closer, those parents were looking for a baby to adopt, and really didn’t want the boy in the first place. After the four placements, there was just a series of bad parents, while the child thrived in school. It was probably because no one knew how to deal with his intelligence.

  Lily and the girls were sad that no one had taken the time to figure out what the child needed. They would certainly be able to help him out. With all the brains in this place, he would fit in. They shopped for everything he would need, including a computer, an iPad, several school programs for advanced children, clothes, an iPod, and everything a teenager could want. They were completely going overboard. Lily bought everything to decorate and retrofit his bedroom upstairs.

  “Who is going to go start picking this stuff up? We have to get some of it wrapped before he gets here,” Calli said.

  And then the madness began.

  “Where is he right now?” Dallas said into the phone with his no—nonsense hard tone.

  Steve and Jolly dug into the State records to discover the boy wasn’t a psychopath, yet. He was highly intelligent, and they were completely shocked he was as well-balanced as he appeared to be.

  “His mother was just a poor coffee shop owner, Briana, who fell under Senior’s charms and then was completely snowed by him until she gave birth. It looks like she went on the run, probably found out what he was and was terrified. She was barely out of college, the sick bastard. Anyway, she pops up in Nebraska and then Florida before quietly coming back to New York. The boy, Evan Rego, is never mentioned after his birth. It was as if she gave him up or something, there isn't a record of her even having a child after the hospital stay. She was killed coming home from work in a car accident. Damn, these guys sure know how to hide shit. Apparently, so did she,” Steve murmured at the end.

  “What do you mean?” Rex asked.

  “Well, Evan Rego, technically died at birth. Here is the death certificate filed with the State the day of his birth stating he died from complications. However, Briana set up a fund for an Alexander Pinker five days after he was born. A deposit of five hundred thousand dollars is in a trust until Alexander turns twenty-five. Then he will receive the full sum, which has grown over the years because of interest. From there we can trace Alexander Pinker, entering into the system the day after Briana’s death. According to the records, a stranger who says she found him wandering the street turned him in. However, she gave a fake name and address for reporting,” Steve read.

  “No behavior problems,” Jolly said.

  “Were there reports of missing animals near any of the homes he stayed in?” Blake said dryly.

  The guys laughed a little and Steve replied, “It was the first thing I checked. And no missing animals or reports of weird things going on in any of the homes. The reports say he is quiet, well behaved, and withdrawn. So there you go. He could be a budding psychopath. However, I can't find any indications he is blatant about it.”

  Rex nodded. “So we bring him here.”

  “Agreed,” the guys all said.

  Dallas hung up the phone, turned to them, and grinned, “Who wants to go and pick up our new ward?”

  Andres and Bear stepped forward. “We got it.”

  “Along with me,” Rex said.

  “Hey,” Trent said and stepped up.

  “Okay, so we all go and see if we don’t scare the piss out of the poor boy,” Jolly said and called the guards to bring around several SUV’s.

  The women took care of getting all the things they ordered and setting up a room any teen would love in the Big House. They guessed his size from the pictures they were given and Calli was sure she was right on the money.

  As the dresser was filled, the desk set up, and the new full-sized bed was made, they talked about the logistics of who was going to legally adopt the boy. He was a teen after all, but none of them wanted the State to be able to come and go from here. They were going to protect Alex with everything in them, just as they would each other. So plans were made for home schooling, the most logical decision was for Bailey and Dallas, who she was legally married to, to adopt him.

  While they waited on pins and needles for the sounds of the tires crunching in the snow out front, they were busy preparing food and wrapping presents for everyone. It was a team effort.

  Good God, it was like they were becoming fathers for the first time. The men were nervous to meet the boy who was going to be living with them for the foreseeable future. They talked as they were driving, and they all agreed that Dallas and Bailey should be the ones adopting, however Rex and Andres were going to be in his life as brothers, as well as the rest of them. It was a crazy weird situation, and some looking in could consider them a weird cult or something. None of them cared, the only thing they wanted was for the boy to be safe, and have all the opportunities he could.

  “So I signed the papers with the State, my lawyer is pushing them through, using a home study that we gave them. Hopefully, the worker will be overwhelmed with the holidays, and we can push this right on through. Money talks in this instance,” Dallas said dryly.

  “Cool, so you are going in to get him and then we will take the long way back,” Rex said. They had taken the SUV to where they had a Hummer limo waiting for them. The men could fit in there and also have room for Alexander. They were just twelve miles away from where he was. It would take them another three hours to get him and then drive back. More than enough time to see if his was crazy.

  Andres called back to the house and got an update first from the guards then from Ginny. They were busy getting things ready for Alexander’s arrival. Andres rolled his eye
s when he heard everything they were doing. Their Christmas celebration became much larger.

  As they pulled up to the run-down house where the Group home was located, Noah made a noise of displeasure. “Seriously?”

  “The State doesn’t have enough money to keep all the homes up to par. They are sadly lacking in funding. With more and more kids coming into the system, and not enough quality homes and foster parents available, the kids are shuffled and put where they have space. Many of the ones who can be ‘saved’ are lost in the system because of the children who have serious psychological problems due to abuse and neglect, which needs the services more. It is crazy how many damaged children there are in the world. If the funding was there, some of them could be helped a lot more than what they are,” Noah said quietly. “That is what I have discovered when doing this research. I am shocked and surprised at the amount of children who are simply lost in the system. I wish we could save them all. However, I think maybe we can help one at a time,” Noah said.

  “I agree, let's get Alexander home and then we can go from there,” Andres said.

  Dallas was in the house for a long time. For a few minutes, they were prepared to leave empty handed, thinking that somehow the papers were not going to be enough to get Alexander out of this place. Then the door opened. Dallas walked behind a tall, thin boy who looked like he was relieved to be out of the place. His clothes were worn, but he looked like he tried to take care of them, although the pants were a bit too short. He had obviously gone through a growth spurt, and the State had no money to get him new clothes yet.

  When they neared the limo, Alexander paused and turned around. None of them could hear the question the boy asked, but they saw the amusement in Dallas’s face and waited. The door opened and Alexander looked in.

  “Hey, no way, I’m not stupid. There is no damn way I am getting in a car with nine guys. What the heck? Are you like child-porn people or something? All I have to do is scream, and there will be like fifty workers from the Home out here in a second,” Alexander said and backed away from the Limo.

  “Really?” Dallas drawled. “We aren’t in a sex ring looking for kids or anything. Shit, I will explain when you get in. I can’t really have this long drawn-out conversation in the open where anyone can hear.”

  “What guarantees do I have?” Alexander said suspiciously.

  “Right here,” Dallas said and handed him his wallet. “You have everything in there to use, here is my phone for you to call someone if you need help, there is a thousand dollars of cash in there for you to use if needed.”

  “If you are so confident, hand me all your IDs and let me check them out,” Alexander said calmly.

  Dallas leaned in the limo and laughed, “Well, we are at a stand-off, guys, what’s up?”

  Andres pulled his wallet out and handed it to Dallas and laughed, “Here you go.”

  The rest of them did the same thing, and they sat and waited patiently while the young man took Dallas’s phone and accessed the Internet with his browser. He walked to the front of the car, and then he opened each of the wallets, punched in their names, and waited. They watched as he went through each one of the wallets.

  “Shit, is he running background checks or something?” Jolly murmured.

  “I have no idea, but the scores he had on his testing were off the charts, I would guess he knows what he is looking for,” Shane said.

  “Hey, I can access the FBIs database from my phone,” Blake shrugged, looked around, and laughed at the men’s face. “What, it's on my favorites list.”

  The others shook their heads at Shane and Blake as they joked about it. Alexander finally appeared to be done, closed all the wallets, and put them in his backpack. The only bag he appeared to have. They hoped the girls were getting him clothes.

  They could hear him as he spoke to Dallas. “I keep the wallets and sit by the door. If there is one move in my direction I will jump from the car, no doors will be locked.”

  Dallas laughed and rolled his eyes. “Okay, kid, let's just get into the car, and let’s get out of here.”

  None of them was certain that Junior still didn’t know his whereabouts. When they hacked his computer, he was looking, but some of the data was saved to a different computer. They all assumed it was his personal one and as of yet, they didn’t know how to gain access to that one. Blake and Shane were looking for where he was connecting to the Internet.

  When Dallas got in, he smiled sitting in the back with Noah, who wanted to put his hand on his husband but knew the boy would freak out, so he smiled and winked before the boy got in. Once the doors were shut, the driver took off.

  Alex stared at all of them in turn, as if he was trying to decide what the hell was going on. Bear wanted to laugh at the confused look on his face, but they all waited for him to speak first.

  “What do you guys want with me?” Alexander said.

  “Well,” Andres said holding his hands open and searching for a way to tell him some of the truth but not all of it.

  “I know who you are,” Alexander blurted out and looked at Andres in the eyes, and then turned and looked at Rex, “You, too.”

  Rex frowned and said, “Who do you think we are?”

  Alexander pulled his bag up on his lap, and then opened the top slowly. He pulled out a file that looked full and worn. He opened it and pulled out pictures. “You are Andres Digrossi, my brother. You and Dallas, Noah, Jolly, and Steve were attacked, and then put on a hit list when you decided to turn States evidence against my father. Rex is also my brother. Drew, Blake, Shane, Trent, and Sebastian, used to be in the FBI together and they retired recently to places unknown. So what would two multi—millionaires, security corporation owners, and retired FBI want with a fifteen year old kid whose only claim to fame was that my father was a scum of the earth mobster who was killed in prison?”

  “Well, that kinda took the wind out of our sails,” Noah laughed, “And Bear—Sebastian, really?”

  “Shut up, asshole,” Bear muttered and looked at the kid. “Listen, we are taking you somewhere you can be safe, obviously you know who we are. Can I ask where you got all that information?”

  Alexander looked at each of them finally deciding that he was safer here than he was at the Group home. “Internet, the FBI database is a snap to hack into. My mother left me this note, not to be opened until I was like twenty-five. The Social Worker didn’t really care about following the rules. She just wanted to be rid of some of the paperwork, so she gave it to me. It says in here who my father was, and how I needed to stay the fuck away from him at all costs. I began a search and found all of you.”

  “Okay then, can we watch the language?” Dallas said and laughed. “I guess you have this all worked out then.”

  Alexander shrugged and then said, “I have two sisters also, and then two other brothers. I assume my sisters are with you because I know they are involved somehow.”

  “Wow, we are gonna have to watch this one real close.” Noah laughed.

  “We will explain everything,” Rex said.

  “Thanks, I am pretty much sick of everyone lying to me,” Alexander said. “And the name is Alex.”

  “Fine,” Rex said seriously. “It all started with a bookkeeper.”

  “Oh my god, they are taking too long,” Phoebe whined.

  “Have some patience.” Jazz laughed.

  “Right, like I can actually do that. What if he hates us, what if is mad at us because of his mother?” Lily said quietly.

  “It will all work out!” Ginny said confidently.

  They had dinner done and waiting. The presents were wrapped under the huge tree the men cut. They had the guards bring it in and help them trim it. Lily pulled out all the old family ornaments she wasn't going to put out. By the time they were done, the tree was gorgeous. And they had done all the presents in the shiny, pretty paper with bright, perfect bows. It looked like a Hallmark card.

  The women all dressed in the pretty outfits they were
going to wear tonight anyway. “GRRRRRR, I am gonna call,” Lily said.

  “NO!” All of them yelled, and Calli grabbed the phone from her hands.

  “You can’t, we promised,” Bailey said.

  “But what if they were driving back with him, and they were talking to him, got pissed, and jumped from the car. They would have had to call an ambulance and the police, all of this would be blown. You know our luck, nothing ever goes as plans,” Phoebe whispered.

  “Drama-free Zone, we promised,” Calli said rolling her eyes. “There are nine grown men in that car, one of them would have text or called if there was an issue.”

  Lily and Phoebe looked at one another, shrugged, and resumed their pacing. Bailey, Ginny, and Calli were sitting on the couches, and Jazz was checking the meal for about the millionth time. Then they heard the crunch of the car.

  “Crap, they're here, how do we look?” Lily cried.

  “We look amazing,” Calli said confidently, and the women looked out the window to see what they could see.

  “We look like window peepers, I hated it when my neighbor used to do this,” Bailey whispered.

  “I don’t care, I wanna see him,” Lily whispered back.

  “I know, just saying,” Bailey said.

  They all felt like they were going to be parents, and they were nervous. But in a way they were. Alexander was going to be living here with them.

  “There he is, and he's smiling,” Jazz said excitedly, and they all backed off and went to the door. The cold air flowed into the house, but none of them cared as the men filtered in and the boy followed. Once they were all in the house, Rex turned and put a hand on Alexander’s shoulder.

  “Ladies, this is Alexander, he prefers to be called Alex. Alex, this is Bailey, Calli, Ginny, Jazz, Phoebe, and Lily,” Rex said.