by Beth Abbott
Sacha reached up to hold Zach’s face in her hands.
“And what if you’re wrong?” She whispered. “What if there aren’t any others?”
Zach lifted Sacha’s chin, so he was staring straight into her soulful dark brown eyes.
“Then we’ll adopt, maybe. But if we only ever have Rocco, then we work to give him the best life a kid can have.” Zach said firmly. “And I’ll work to be the best husband I can be, because you deserve nothing less. You’re the most perfect woman I ever met, and nothing will ever make me think otherwise. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone.”
“I love you so much, Zach.” Sacha whispered. “You know I do.”
“Then would you do something for me?” Zach already knew what her answer would be.
“Anything.” Sacha whispered.
“Come with me to see a counsellor about the miscarriages. I think we both need to talk about this properly, with someone who is trained to help.” Zach was ready to beg if he needed to. “And we’ll go and see the doctor to find out if there’s anything wrong with either of us. We need to get ourselves checked out before we think about going through this again.”
Sacha looked like she was going to protest, but after a few seconds he watched her shoulders sag.
“Ok.” She whispered. “I’ll make some appointments.”
“Thank you.” Zach exhaled slowly.
Sacha leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling her face into his throat.
“Promise me you’ll always talk to me about stuff like this, hmm?” He whispered. “We’re in this together, y’know? What hurts you, hurts me, too.”
“I promise.” Sacha whispered into his neck.
“And promise me you’ll think about talking to Candy about what’s happened.” He begged. “I understand why you didn’t want to tell Sara, what with her being due to have her own baby when you had the first miscarriage. But Candy is as close to a sister to you as it’s possible for you to have. She needs you to confide in her, just as much as you need another woman to talk to.”
Zach waited for Sacha to answer, and he was relieved when he felt her nod her head.
They sat on the bed for a while longer until Zach’s muscles protested at holding Sacha’s weight in his arms. He didn’t care how bad the pain was if it gave her an ounce of comfort.
Eventually, Sacha pulled back and looked into his face.
“How did I ever get so lucky as to snag you?” She whispered. “What did I have that other women didn’t?”
Zach sensed an opportunity to pull her out of the darkness.
“Honestly?” He asked with half a smile.
“Yes, honestly.” She insisted.
“Well, leaving aside the great rack, I think it was your ass that first caught my attention.” He grinned. “Like two ripe melons in a sack. No! Hang on… that was your rack!”
“What?” Sacha’s squeak came just as she pushed him back onto the bed. “You’re serious? You liked my tits?”
She grabbed a pillow and started whacking him with it.
Zach let her get out some of the tension before wrestling the pillow away from her and flipping her over onto her back.
“Honey, when you ask a man to tell you truthfully what he first liked about you, you can’t blame him when he gives you exactly what you asked for.” He protested. “Of course, now I think back a little, I could have possibly said it was your lips.”
He leaned down and kissed her softly.
“Or your hair…” He picked up a lock of her curls and tickled her nose with it.
“Or your eyes…” He stared into those beautiful brown eyes as his hand skimmed down, pushing her robe open so he could feast his gaze on her beautiful body.
He glanced down at the smooth pale skin.
“Nope, it was definitely the rack!”
Sacha’s dirty laugh was like music to his ears.
Chapter 10 – Kellen
Kellen sat in Hollywood’s apartment watching the TV, the remote control in one hand and a beer in the other.
The only thing that could’ve been better was if he’d been next door in his own place, because then he could’ve kicked his boots off and not worried if he’d fallen asleep on the sofa.
He couldn’t do that here, not that Hollywood would have minded, but until his friend got back from the hospital, Kellen was responsible for looking after Roman, something he took very seriously.
He’d discovered that while the kid could never be described as a light sleeper, he was prone to walking in his sleep, something that seemed to be triggered by loud noises.
A couple of nights earlier, Kellen had put the kid to bed at his normal time and settled down on the sofa to watch an old action movie. Two minutes after Bruce Willis started shooting shit up, he noticed Roman come out of his bedroom, dragging a couple of his teddy bears behind him. Kellen had called out to him but Roman hadn’t responded, so he’d followed behind as the little guy padded down the hallway until he reached Hollywood and Niko’s bedroom.
He’d pushed the door open and walked up to the large bed.
As if he’d already known the bed was too high for him to climb up on, Roman walked to the end of the bed, hauled himself up onto the blanket box and then crawled up onto the mattress.
It didn’t seem to worry him that the bed was empty. Being there seemed to be good enough as Roman curled up on the pillows and settled back into a deep sleep.
That had been enough to stop Kellen watching action films anywhere near the boy, and he made sure he kept his wits about him while he was acting babysitter. If Roman could find his way to Niko’s bedroom, then he could find his way to the kitchen or the front door, both of which could prove highly hazardous for a three-year old.
The thought of Roman getting to either one while Kellen slept, was enough to have him breaking out in a cold sweat.
The sound of the key in the lock was followed by the thump of the door as it jarred the safety chain.
“Umm, hello?”
Kellen jumped up from the sofa, grinning at the sound of confusion in Hollywood’s voice.
Ignoring his friend’s mystified expression, Kellen pushed the door shut before sliding the chain off and opening it wide.
“Frightened of intruders?” Hollywood chuckled as he entered the apartment, pushing the door shut behind him. “Luke has top grade security in the building, y’know. No need to resort to putting a chain on the door.”
“It wasn’t in place to keep intruders from getting in.” Kellen smirked. “It was to make sure little people couldn’t get out.”
“Little people?” Hollywood looked towards Roman’s bedroom. “Did the kid try and make a run for it?”
“Not exactly.” Kellen chuckled. “But I’ve discovered he has a habit of sleepwalking, which I think might be linked to loud noises. He didn’t like the sound of Bruce Willis blowing shit up all the time, so he decided to take himself into your room. I just figured if he could find his way there, he could find his way to other places too.”
“Thanks for the heads-up.” Hollywood nodded. “I’ll try and keep a closer eye on him.”
Kellen made his way back to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of beers out of the refrigerator.
“You’re nearly out of beer, too.” He grinned as he handed a bottle to Hollywood.
“I am?” Hollywood snorted. “Last time I looked there were two six packs.”
“And now there’s less than one.” Kellen shrugged. “I have two a night, maximum. The nights are adding up though.”
Hollywood eased his large frame down into one of the kitchen chairs.
“Shit! I know how many nights it’s been, and I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time.” Hollywood sighed. “I’ll see if I can arrange for a more permanent solution. Niko’s going to be in the hospital for at least a couple more weeks.”
“Hey, I wasn’t complaining about sitting for Roman.” Kellen reassured his friend. “He�
��s a great kid, and I’m fine spending time with him. I just didn’t want you or Niko thinking I sit here getting wasted while I’m supposed to be responsible for her son.”
“You know I wouldn’t think that.” Hollywood shook his head. “I trust you with the kid over anyone else.”
Kellen looked at Hollywood’s face and could see how tired his friend was.
“How’s she doing?” He asked. “Are the antibiotics working yet?”
Hollywood kicked his boots off and shrugged out of his jacket, hooking it on the back of the chair.
“She hasn’t gotten any worse today, which is something.” He rubbed his eyes tiredly. “But she’s still pretty bad. It’s like it’s taking her five times as much energy just to breathe. It’s knocking her out. She’s asleep more than half of the time.”
“What do the docs say?” Kellen pulled out a chair opposite Hollywood and sat down. “Is there any good news?”
“They’re happy that the operation went well, and that there’s no external infection.” Hollywood confirmed. “But since she started coughing they’re worried that she could bust something. It’s like a catch twenty-two… she needs to cough up all the shit on her lungs, but just coughing it up could bust a rib and get her back to square one.”
Kellen couldn’t believe one person could have so much bad luck. Even now it was like Ilya was reaching from the grave to make sure Niko got screwed over.
“Have you spoken to Hannah today” He changed the subject.
“Only when she checked in to see how Niko was.” Hollywood confirmed. “Why? Did something come up? A new mission?”
“Yeah, something like that.” Kellen snorted. “Drago has to come up with a team of four men to do a spot of cage-fighting minus the cage. It’s his ‘special task’ to get him in favour with one of the big Russian traffickers.”
“Yeah? When do we leave?” Hollywood grinned.
“You don’t!” Kellen said pointedly. “And Logan and Evan are already off doing some other job for Hannah and Alpha Company, so it’s gonna be Kris and I for starters. Plus, Drago is gonna have to bring in one of his old SF buddies, because Yuri can’t fight. Something to do with a busted eye socket and bad concussion.”
“That still only makes three of you, even with Drago’s man.” Hollywood argued. “You’re a man short. You need me.”
“At the moment, Niko and Roman need you more.” Kellen pointed out.
Hollywood opened his mouth to argue, but Kellen could see how badly he was torn.
“It’s all good, man. You stay where you’re needed most, with Niko.” He shrugged. “Tuck’s flown back to Philly today to see if he can sweet-talk Sacha into letting Zach be part of the team.”
“Gigantor?” Hollywood gasped. “You’re shitting me, right? He’s married with a kid. I thought the idea was to leave all the family men out of the Guardians.”
“Desperate times, man.” Kellen smiled. “Well, not really desperate, but we do need a big guy who can fight. Zach’s kinda perfect on all fronts.”
“So am I!” Hollywood protested.
“Yeah, but you need to be with Niko and Roman right now.” Kellen shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about sitting this one out. There’ll be plenty more missions for you to get involved with.”
Hollywood didn’t look convinced.
“What is the job Logan and Evan are working on?” He asked, sulkily.
“No idea. I didn’t even know they were on another job.” Kellen tipped the beer bottle up and drained it. “The first anyone heard about it was when Hannah announced that they weren’t available.”
“Strange.” Hollywood frowned. “How long ago did they leave?”
“Again, I’m not sure.” Kellen stood up and placed the bottle in the recycling box. “I haven’t seen them since Wednesday, when Hannah told us all to take off for the rest of the week. I expected to see them back at work on Monday, but it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen now.”
“When do you ship out?” Hollywood wondered.
“It’s all supposed to be scheduled for next weekend, and we have to get to Russia first, so I imagine we’ll leave by Friday morning at the latest.” Kellen shrugged. “It’s taking place on a ship, so they have to fly us out by plane and then the last leg by chopper.”
“On a ship?” Hollywood’s face was a picture of shock and amusement. “This is sounding more and more like a movie script by the minute. Is Jean-Claude Van Damme gonna show up as one of the other fighters? Or Stallone and the gang from Expendables?”
“If they were, I’d be more than happy. Those guys are mostly in their sixties and seventies.” Kellen grinned. “Even I could give their asses a beat down.”
“What are the chances of serious injury?” Hollywood was watching him closely, and Kellen knew he couldn’t lie.
“Fairly good.” He smiled. “The reason they hold the fights on a ship, is so they can dump the bodies overboard.”
“Seriously?” Hollywood banged his bottle down on the table.
Kellen chuckled.
“I think that’s the story people put around to hype up the event.” He shrugged. “It can’t be that brutal or they’d soon run out of fighters.”
“Or it is that brutal, which is why they constantly have to bring in completely new teams.” Hollywood rationalised. “I’m surprised Hannah is buying into this. She likes to protect her team, not send them out to get the shit kicked out of them.”
“She’s not happy at all, but if we can get through next weekend, Drago will hopefully get the green light on the arms deal.” Kellen explained. “If that happens, he’ll get bank details to make a money transfer, which will give Hannah access to any accounts Lebedev, the Russian mob-boss, has ever used. Apparently, once she has those, she has a way to move all his money out, and then put all his accounts into lock-down.”
“Is that even legal?” Hollywood asked.
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Kellen grinned. “It’s sanctioned, at least. Anyway, who gives a damn how legal it is to take the guy’s money? He’s a drug peddling, human-trafficking arms dealer. I don’t think he’ll be running to the cops to file a complaint, do you?”
“I guess not.” Hollywood smiled.
“Anyway, now that I’ve filled you in on the basics, I’m gonna head next door for some well-earned sleep.” Kellen grinned. “Do you know how tiring it is running around after a three-year old?”
“I didn’t, but I’m learning fast.” Hollywood laughed, hauling his large body up out of the chair. “It’s almost as tiring as sitting by a hospital bed doing nothing.”
“Oh yeah, Hannah asked me to tell you to drop Roman at the Alpha Company creche in the morning, on your way to see Niko.” Kellen remembered. “They’ve got someone coming in to do a magic show for the young’uns, so there’ll be a bunch of kids there that Roman already knows, and it’ll give him a chance to meet the rest of the family.”
“Sounds like fun.” Hollywood smiled.
“Ok, well, I’ll see you sometime tomorrow, then.” Kellen nodded. “I’ll be in the Guardians office all day, so I can collect Roman when I’m finished, and bring him to the hospital to visit with Niko for a little while.”
“Shit, I’m sorry for putting this on you, man.” Hollywood groaned. “I’m gonna owe you so many favours, it’s unreal.”
Kellen shrugged as he pulled the front door open.
“Don’t worry about it.” He grinned. “Maybe you can do the same for me one day, when I’ve got kids of my own.”
He heard Hollywood’s snort of laughter as he closed the door and moved inside his apartment.
Kids were something he definitely wanted at some point, though he didn’t see that being likely any time in the near future.
At the moment, he was so busy with the Guardians and helping out with Roman, that he hadn’t been near a woman since before he left the States.
Last time he heard, you had to at least have had sex with someone before you could get a kid
with them. At least, you did if you were gonna conceive the fun way.
For half a second, Kellen considered getting changed and going out for a few hours. A few more drinks, and maybe a hook-up, could be what he needed to relieve some of the stress and tension.
He glanced at the TV and back at the door.
Or maybe another beer and a couple of hours of Netflix would do just as well.
Kellen kicked off his boots and headed for the fridge.
Going out required far more effort than he was willing to expend. The ladies of London would just have to wait to get their hands on him. He still had half a season of Orange is the New Black to catch up on.
Chapter 11 – Sacha
“Now, watch the film nicely, and don’t spill the popcorn.” Sacha warned the two boys sitting on the big sofa in the den.
Normally, she wouldn’t have given them thirty seconds after she turned her back for Rocco and Dylan to start getting up to mischief, but they looked like they would fall asleep at any second. Goodness only knew what Candy had done to tire them out this much, but she’d damn sure find out and remember it.
Zach was just finishing pouring drinks as she stepped back into the kitchen.
“I thought you were supposed to be in London for a few more days.” She handed Tuck a glass of soda.
“I was, but something came up with the Guardians, and I wanted to get back quickly to speak to you both about it.” Tuck took a sip of his drink before placing it on a coaster on the table.
“Us?” Sacha looked at Zach to see if he was clued in to whatever Tuck was talking about, but he was obviously as much in the dark as she was. “I didn’t think we were going to be working for the Guardians.”
“It wasn’t our intention to use any of the Alpha-Stalwart family for the operations, at least, not on a regular basis anyway.” Tuck nodded. “Alex got involved last time because Sophia was there, but that wasn’t actually pre-planned.”
“But you need us now?” Sacha sat down at the table next to Zach.
“Unfortunately, something has come up, and we need people with specific skills.” Tuck glanced between Sacha, Zach and Candy, leaving Sacha convinced that not even his wife knew what this was all about.