by Susan Stoker
It wasn’t hard to find out which one was reserved for Nathan’s party. All he’d done was call up the park office and inquire about the party on Saturday, and the secretary on the other end of the phone told him without quibble. It was a little disheartening she’d shared the information so readily, especially with Donovan on the loose.
“Hey, Nathan. I got all the things you asked for,” Felicity told him, her head buried in one of the bags she was digging around in. “There was a ton of Pokémon stuff, but I couldn’t do it.” She turned to him then, one hand on her hip, the other gesticulating wildly as she spoke. “Some of those things are just creepy. Fat, squat, yellow bug things. Ew. So I went with something easy. Legos and Star Wars, like you requested.” She held her hand up as if Nathan voiced a protest.
He simply looked on with amusement.
“I know, I know, they don’t really go together, but when I was standing in the toy aisle and looking at Legos, there were a ton of different sets with Star Wars. A woman was there with her son, who looked around ten, so I asked her. She said her son was obsessed with both. I figured if you still liked Star Wars, I couldn’t go wrong with combining that with Legos.” Felicity shrugged. “So I went with it.”
“All this is great, Felicity. Thank you. I’m sure he’ll love it,” Nathan told her.
Felicity stopped fiddling with the bags and decorations and pinned him with a look. Her eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head as she said, “You’re going to an awful lot of trouble for a woman you didn’t know until a week ago.”
Of course Grace had been talking to her.
Nathan started arranging the presents he’d brought on one of the tables in the shelter. “Joel’s a good kid. I like him.” He knew full well it didn’t answer her implied question.
“And?”
Nathan sighed and looked at Felicity. She was wearing a white tank top that made the colorful tattoos on her arms stand out in stark contrast. In that way she reminded him of Bailey. They looked similar, with their tattooed arms and height, but that was where the similarities ended.
Nathan didn’t know Felicity’s history; she hadn’t grown up in the area, but she was around his age, maybe a year or two older. Despite Bailey’s time with the Inca Boyz gang, she still had a look of innocence about her. Felicity had lost her innocence long ago. There were flashes of deep pain in her eyes that she couldn’t hide. She didn’t make friends easily—Grace and Felicity’s partner, Cole, were the exceptions. She worked hard and was at the gym more often than not.
He studied Felicity for a long moment. For some reason he had a feeling she and Bailey would get along really well, and not just because they both had tattoos. There was something about Felicity that made him want to take her in his arms and let her know that everything would be okay. She’d never allow it, but he had that same feeling about Bailey. He was a good judge of character, and the pain that sometimes showed up in Felicity’s eyes matched Bailey’s. Yeah, they probably had a lot more in common than anyone knew.
He sighed and answered her earlier question. “And I like them both, okay?” he told her in a low voice. “But she wants nothing to do with me, or any man. I can’t blame her. So I’m just helping out a friend.”
Felicity held his eyes for a long moment before she nodded and changed the subject. “You think Grace is ever going to have those babies?”
Nathan smiled, thinking about his unborn nephews. “I’m hoping she holds off another week. That’s the date I picked for the bet.”
Felicity laughed. “I don’t care when she has them. I just can’t wait to hold them and squeeze their chubby cheeks. I’m ready to get on with my godmother duties.”
Nathan turned to one of the bags of decorations as he remembered how happy Felicity had been when Grace had asked her to be the babies’ godmother. At the time, Felicity didn’t have any idea what a godmother did, but she was tickled pink to have been asked anyway. As far as she was concerned, it meant that she was allowed to spoil the babies rotten.
The two continued to hang banners, cover tables with the Star Wars–themed tablecloths, and put centerpieces on each table. Felicity had bought party favors for the children—fake light sabers and little boxes of Lego sets they could take home at the end of the day.
Nathan had ordered cupcakes instead of a full cake, figuring it’d be easier for the kids to eat. The bakery was supposed to deliver the confections in a half hour.
“Good Lord, Nathan. Did you buy out the store?” Felicity asked when she got a look at the gift table.
He eyed it. “Hmm,” he murmured. “Is it too much?”
“Too much? Nathan, there have to be at least twenty presents here!” Felicity told him.
“But is it too much?” Nathan repeated.
Grace’s friend eyed him for a long moment before saying, “If you’re trying to impress Bailey, I’m thinking not.”
Nathan’s eyes whipped up to hers. “I’m not trying to impress her.”
“Uh-huh. You can deny it all you want, but it’s easy to see how much you like her.”
When Nathan stiffened, she said quickly, “It’s a good thing.”
“It’s too much,” was his response, and he reached for the gifts, piling three into his arms. “I’ll go and put them in my car. I’m sure I can return them.”
Felicity put her hand on his arm, stopping him. “Nathan, it’s fine. Put them down.” After he did, she said softly, “Caring about her, and Joel, isn’t a bad thing. I would’ve done anything to have a man like you in my life when I was Bailey’s age.”
Nathan looked down into Felicity’s eyes. The pain that was usually banked was suddenly not. The sincerity and agony was clear to see. “What happened to you?” Nathan whispered, wanting to help her. He hated to see anyone hurting, but especially a woman who was close to not only him, but the rest of his family as well.
His question shook her out of whatever memories had taken over, and she blinked, her eyes showing nothing but polite interest again.
Damn. He’d almost gotten in there.
“I’m good. Anyway, all this is great. Joel is gonna be so happy.” Felicity turned away from him then and fiddled with one of the centerpieces.
“Hey, guys!” a feminine voice said from nearby.
Nathan turned to see Alexis walking up from the parking area to the shelter. She was carrying three two-liter bottles of Coke. “There are about twenty more of these in the car if you want to help.”
Felicity jumped at the chance to escape from Nathan’s piercing gaze, calling out a greeting to Alexis and hurrying for the car and the drinks.
Forty minutes later, Nathan looked at his watch nervously. It was ten o’clock and there was no sign of either Bailey or Joel. The cupcakes had been delivered and looked like perfect fluffy confections, weirdly reminding him of Bailey herself—a work of art on the outside and soft and squishy on the inside. Sappy, but true.
Logan and Grace were there, Grace sitting in a camping chair his brother had brought. He’d assisted her into it, then warned her that she wasn’t to move an inch. She looked uncomfortable, and Nathan hoped he lost the bet and she had her babies sooner rather than later. She looked like she was about to pop. But hopefully she’d wait until after the party.
Three of the four families had arrived, and there were six kids running around already playing with their toy light sabers. There were bikes and skateboards strewn about the area, and one of the families had brought a corn-hole game as well.
All they needed was the birthday boy.
Nathan walked down to the parking lot, pulled out his phone, and dialed Bailey’s number.
It rang twice before she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Nathan. Everything okay?”
“Uh . . . hi, Nathan.” She paused. “Why are you calling?”
“It’s Saturday. I’m at the park for Joel’s party.”
“Oh yeah, well, we canceled it. He doesn’t want to have one.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. He’s not in a good mood.”
“Bailey. I’m here at the park with my brothers, their women, and about a dozen other people. We’re all here to wish Joel a happy birthday.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve called you.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Nathan told her in a gentle voice. “Let me talk to Joel.”
“Okay, but I warned you,” Bailey said, sounding unsure.
He heard her walking, then a tap on a door. “Joel? Honey? Nathan is on the phone and wants to talk to you.”
Joel said something that Nathan couldn’t hear because it was muffled; then he heard a door open, the hinges creaking loudly.
“He said it wouldn’t take long. Here,” Bailey told her brother, obviously holding out the phone to him.
“Bitch, I told you not to bother me.”
Nathan inhaled at Joel’s words. They were disrespectful and hurtful. He clenched his teeth, hoping the boy took the phone from his sister.
Finally, in what was most likely a battle of wills, with Bailey standing firm and holding the phone out, Joel huffed, “Fine.” And took the phone.
“What?” he barked into the receiver.
“Hello, Joel. Happy birthday,” Nathan said calmly.
“Whatever,” Joel grumbled.
“So . . . you decided you didn’t want a party?”
“They’re stupid. For babies. No one was coming anyway.”
Nathan heard the pain in Joel’s voice. “Really? Hmm, that’s weird. Because I’m here at the park, and there are a ton of people here. There’s a present table, which is sagging because of all the gifts, kids running around, enough soft drinks for a kick-butt burping contest, and Star Wars light sabers for everyone.”
Joel was silent for a moment, and Nathan could just picture him sitting on his bed with his mouth gaping open. “Really?” he finally asked.
“Really. Me and my brothers were looking forward to seeing you, but if you don’t want to come . . .” He let his voice trail off, not feeling guilty in the least for manipulating the young boy.
“Your brothers are there too?”
“Yup. I told you we’d be here. And we are. I keep my promises.”
Nathan heard Joel’s fast footsteps; then he was telling his sister, “I changed my mind. I wanna go. Can we leave now?”
“Is Nathan still on the phone?” Bailey said in the background.
“Oh yeah, here, you talk to him. I gotta find my shoes!” Joel said.
There was a crash and muffled noises coming from the phone, before Bailey was there. “Sorry. I dropped the phone. I take it you heard that he changed his mind?”
“Yeah, I got that.”
“What did you say to him?”
“Just that I was here waiting for him.”
Bailey’s voice got soft. “Thank you, Nathan. Seriously. I think he found out this week that none of his classmates were going to be there, and he got depressed about it. I can’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to go to a party if no one showed up.”
“Just hurry up and get here, Bailey,” Nathan said softly. “I’m here, and we can throw the football around or something.” He purposely didn’t tell her about the small army of people who were waiting on them.
“Okay. It won’t take long. I can hear him tearing around in his room.”
“See you soon, pixie.”
“Yeah. Okay. See you in a bit.”
Nathan clicked off his phone and stared down at it for a long moment. He didn’t know why he kept calling Bailey pixie . . . except that it seemed to fit. One of the first things he’d noticed about her was her height. Next to him, she seemed small and delicate. Pixie just seemed to fit. Besides, she hadn’t complained about the nickname, which made him hope she didn’t truly mind.
Twenty minutes later, he was still standing near the parking lot, pacing, when he saw her classic Chevelle pull in. He gestured her over to a space in front that he’d saved just for her. Nathan could see both her and Joel’s wide eyes as they caught sight of the number of people milling about and the decorated shelter. Black-and-blue streamers were blowing gently in the wind, and the banner, which stated MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, was flapping around as if waving hello.
Bailey turned off the engine, and she and Joel stepped out of the car. The little boy ran up to Nathan and threw his arms around his waist.
Nathan took a step back in surprise, but then locked his legs and put his arms tentatively around Joel’s shoulders. “Hey, buddy.”
“Is this all for me?”
“Of course. Do you see any other birthday boy around here?”
“No!” Joel tilted his head back so he could see Nathan’s eyes. “Who are all these people?”
“Why don’t we go up and I’ll introduce you to everyone, and you can get on gettin’ your party on.”
“Okay!” Joel said happily, stepping away from Nathan. He turned to his sister. “Bail, look!”
“I see, honey,” Bailey told Joel before bringing her eyes up to Nathan’s. They were sparkling with tears, but she merely said, “Hey.”
“Hey,” Nathan returned, wanting to take her into his arms, but instead he put his hands into his pockets. He reminded himself that she didn’t want anything from him. The only reason she was here was because of her brother and wanting to make him happy.
She looked good, though. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and sneakers. She had on a turquoise top with a long-sleeve cardigan over it. It covered the tattoos on her arms, and as he observed her, she hugged herself around the waist as if giving herself comfort. He hated that. He wanted to be the one comforting her. More, he wanted to be by her side supporting her so she didn’t need comforting.
“Come on, you two,” he said abruptly, “let’s go introduce you. And, Bailey, you can take a load off while your brother plays.”
He held out a hand indicating they should go ahead of him. Joel ran up the concrete walkway, and Bailey followed at a more sedate pace.
“You didn’t need to go to all this trouble,” she said softly once Joel was out of earshot.
“It wasn’t trouble, pixie,” Nathan told her. “It was fun.”
She eyed him sideways at that. “I doubt that.”
“You did the hard part of reserving the shelter. All I did was get a few decorations and arrange for the food,” Nathan said, stretching the truth just a tad.
“Bail! Look at all the presents!” Joel yelled from the top of the walk.
They didn’t stop walking, but Bailey looked over at Nathan. “Presents? It’s too much, Nathan.”
“No. It’s not. Now hush and enjoy,” Nathan admonished.
When he got to the shelter, he brought Bailey and Joel around to everyone and introduced them. He noticed Bailey was extremely reticent around both Grace and Alexis, but she seemed to click with Felicity, which didn’t surprise Nathan at all.
Felicity’s tattoos seemed to be a good icebreaker, and soon the two of them were sitting at a picnic table quietly chatting.
Nathan stood with Logan and watched Joel greet the kids who were there, and then immediately start playing with them as if he’d known them forever.
“He seems like a good kid,” Logan observed, coming up beside his brother.
“He is,” Nathan returned immediately.
“No side effects from living in the shadow of the Inca Boyz?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Logan looked at Nathan for a long moment before turning his head to check on his wife, then back to Joel. “You’ll help him through it.”
Nathan couldn’t help the skeptical look he aimed at his brother.
“You will,” Logan insisted. “Out of all of us, you’re the most patient. The one least likely to lose it if he back-talks Bailey. The one who can stay calm in the midst of chaos. I admire that about you.”
Nathan swallowed hard. Whe
n he was little, he’d felt like the brother the others had to look out for. He hated that feeling and, as a result, had done what he could to look after others, especially women and kids, who were being bullied or picked on. He’d tried really hard not to be a burden to his brothers since they’d started Ace Security. He might not be as strong as they were, but he’d held his own in a few fights. But to hear his brother tell him flat out, without hesitation, that he believed in him and admired him, made him feel good. It wasn’t that he thought Logan or Blake didn’t love him, but hearing those two words—you will—meant the world to him. “Thanks,” was all he said, though.
“You’re welcome. Heard any more about Donovan or the Incas?”
Nathan shook his head and tried to get his head straight again. “No, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time. The more we do things like this,” he said, using his head to indicate the party around them, “the quicker he’ll find out about Bailey and make his move. She accused me of using her for bait, and that’s the last thing I want to do.”
“So you want to pull back? Leave her alone?” Logan asked.
“Honestly? No. But I should.”
“Fuck that,” his brother said quietly. “Look at her. Look at Joel. They wouldn’t have had this if it wasn’t for you. You want to deny him this? Her?”
Nathan glanced over at Bailey and saw her throw her head back and laugh at something Felicity said. She looked so carefree it made his heart hurt, knowing she probably hadn’t had that in a long time. He then looked at Joel. The boy was chasing a little girl, being careful not to get too close to her or to run too fast, so she wouldn’t get hurt. He looked back at his brother. “I’m not like you and Blake. I have no idea how to keep them safe. I’m afraid she’ll get hurt by association. I can fight Donovan, but I probably can’t fend him off in a prolonged one-on-one fight.”
“You know exactly how to keep them safe,” Logan countered. “You’re underestimating yourself. I’ve seen you take down perps bigger and stronger than you. You use your brain, find their weakness, and even use their strength against them. Do the same with Donovan. Out of all of us, you’re the best man for that job. You’ve always been the smartest one. Remember in high school when we wanted to go to homecoming, but Mom wouldn’t let us go?”