The Halo Series Boxed Set

by Kimberly Knight

  She rolled her eyes. “I learned my lesson, Boss Man. It’s still fun watching all the women gawk when you kiss me in front of them.”

  “What if we stay late and I fuck you on the bar?” I smirked, totally wanting to do just that.

  I saw her swallow. “This is not a conversation to be having right before kids show up. You’re making me we—”

  “Daddy!” Cheyenne yelled from her room.

  Fuck, she was always ruining the mood. “You better hold that thought,” I demanded.

  “We’ll continue it tomorrow.” She reached up on her tiptoes and kissed me.

  “Ahh gross!” Cheyenne muttered, entering the kitchen. “Daddy, can we tell ghost stories by the fire pit tonight?”

  I continued to hold Brooke, looking over her shoulder as I spoke. “I thought we agreed on movies?”

  “Yeah, but ghost stories will be funner.”

  I looked to Brooke, and she shrugged. “It’s your birthday. If that’s what you want to do,” I told Cheyenne.

  “Yes!” she cheered. “Can we have marshmallows too?”

  I looked down at Brooke again. She was trying to stifle her laugh. “What’s a fire without marshmallows?” I asked.

  “Oh my God, I can’t wait!” Cheyenne turned and ran back to her room, probably going to text Courtney the good news.

  “I guess I should go to the store and get marshmallows.” Brooke smiled.

  “Might as well get chocolate and graham crackers too.”

  Her eyes widened. “Going for dad of the year?”

  I laughed. “This better win me dad of the year because I will never approve the color pink again.”

  “You know what else is pink?” She bit her lip.

  I groaned, “Yeah, and you better get the fuck out of here before I take you back to the bedroom and eat it.”

  “Tomorrow. On the bar.”

  I grabbed her face between my palms. “You bet your sweet ass.”

  Then I kissed her hard and pulled away before I carried out my threat.

  One hour into the party and I was already ready to kill myself.

  I heard one girl after another talk about petty drama. How did young girls have that much drama? Some girl at their school thought she was hot shit at tetherball and all the girls hated her. Another girl was talking shit about someone’s clothes. Another was jealous of someone’s phone. They talked about how some girl can’t keep secrets and then …

  They started to talk about boys.

  Fuck my life.

  Some girl stole some other girl’s boyfriend, and I was fuming. I wasn’t fuming because of the drama, though. I was pissed because they had eight years to go before they should be referring to anyone as a boyfriend. I knew I was being hypocritical, but this was my baby girl. Peanut needed to focus on school and softball. Period.

  I couldn’t handle it.

  “How are you doing?” Brooke asked, coming up to my side as I grilled burgers and hot dogs.

  “I need a drink.”

  She chuckled. “It’s only been an hour.”

  “Yeah, and I want to officially lock Cheyenne in her room until she’s eighteen.”

  “It’s not going to be that bad. I went through it with Bailee.”

  I hadn’t realized that Brooke would have been in my place—in a sense. I looked down at her. “I think it’s different since I’m her father.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I liked the boys Bailee dated. Hell, one boy was dating her and some other girl at the same time. She found out through Facebook and went ballistic. I wanted to beat the shit out of him, too. But I had to let her live her life and learn from her mistakes. It’s about growing up, babe.”

  “You’re not helping,” I stated.

  “Trust me, we’ll get through this.”

  I smiled as she smiled at me. “Yeah, we will.”

  “By the way, I should take Cheyenne bra shopping.”

  My heart froze at the mention of my Peanut going through puberty. “No.” I shook my head.

  “No?” Brooke questioned with a slight laugh.

  “If we don’t buy her shit like that, then it’s not true, and she’ll stay my baby girl.”

  She shoved my shoulder. “It’s gonna happen, and I want to take her. She’ll have questions you can’t answer.”

  “You’re killing me.”

  Brooke started to walk away. “I’ll distract you from everything.”

  “How?” I inquired.

  She smirked. “I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

  Right on cue, Cheyenne and the girls came into the backyard. “Is the food ready?” she asked.

  “Yeah, Pea—”

  I stopped myself. I had instructions to not call her Peanut in front of her friends.

  “Everything just got done. Who wants cheese?”

  After the girls finished eating, they sat in a circle in the living room and each wrote questions on the large bouncy ball we’d bought. Brooke and I were in the kitchen cleaning up and trying to give them space. My blood pressure had subsided and the burger and hot dog I scarfed down made me feel better as well. I hadn’t realized how hungry and cranky I was until I took my first bite of the meaty goodness.

  I rarely ate hamburgers or hot dogs since I needed to keep in shape. I worked too hard in the gym to not see results and if I ate carbs like they were celery then I would no longer have my eight pack. Today, though, I was going to have all that and the pink cake. I didn’t give a fuck. My Peanut was eleven and dating boys. How the fuck did dating work at her age anyway?

  As we picked up paper plates and refilled the chip bowl and veggie tray, I kept hearing: “My favorite color is green.” “My favorite game to play is Minecraft.” “I like Robert.” “No, I like Robert.” “He texts me all the time.” “He texts me, too!”

  I looked toward Brooke to silently ask if we should go into the living room and stop a fight that was surely brewing. She smiled tightly and turned and left, leaving me standing there. I didn’t follow her. She told me she’d distract me from all the girl drama, and I wasn’t going to put myself in it if she could control it.

  I was going to need two pieces of the chocolate cake with pink icing.

  “Who said cake?”

  I turned toward Avery’s voice and instantly wanted to hug him for adding testosterone in the mix. He and Nicole walked in, carrying a wrapped present in pink paper.

  “Uncle A!” Cheyenne exclaimed. “Everyone, this is my uncle who …” She stopped talking and looked at him. At first, I didn’t realize why she stopped, but then I remembered their pranking session and how it was top secret. He frowned at her, and she quickly added, “who’s the best at Wii bowling.”

  “Are we going to play on the Wii?” Vanessa asked with a hand on her hip.

  “Nah,” Avery said. “We came for cake and to give the birthday girl her present.”

  Cheyenne’s eyes lit up as she turned to me. “Oh my God, can we open presents now?”

  “After cake, Pea—”

  “Birthday girl, come make a wish.” Brooke saved my slip up so I wouldn’t get the look of death for Cheyenne. I always called her Peanut. It was my thing, but I promised her I wouldn’t during her party.

  She skipped over to the breakfast bar, and everyone started to sing as eleven candles flickered in the cake. I walked over to Avery and Nicole and nodded, silently thanking them for saving me—kinda. Cheyenne blew out the candles, and the cake was served.

  How many more hours?

  We all ate cake as the girls continued to gossip. I thought the chicks at Halo were bad. Not a chance. Ten and eleven-year-old girls had more drama than those broads. After cake, Cheyenne opened her presents, and it got that much closer to all of them falling asleep. And me for that matter.

  “Well, we have to go now,” Avery stated.

  Nicole looked to Brooke. “We’re going to pick-up my ring before they close. It’s finally sized and ready.”

  “Congrats,” Brooke
said. “Call me tomorrow, we’ll do coffee or something.”

  “C.C. come give your favorite uncle a hug,” Avery motioned.

  “You don’t want to stay for roasting marshmallows?” she asked, not budging from her spot, surrounded by all her gifts.

  “I would love to, but we have to get Nic’s ring. The store closes soon.”

  She finally stood and walked to him. “Okay, but you’re going to miss out on ghost stories too.”

  “I’ll tell you a really scary one soon. I promise.”

  She hugged both Avery and Nicole as she muttered, “Fine.”

  After they had left, the girls all looked at Cheyenne’s presents while Brooke and I cleaned up.

  “How did you do this with Bailee?”

  Brooke laughed as she washed the cake knife. “I’m used to drama. I’m a girl, remember?”

  I smirked. “Yeah, I remember.”

  She threw the dish towel at me, and I caught it. “Knock it off.”

  “What?” I questioned playfully.

  “I’m going to have the girls set up their sleeping bags and change into their PJs. That should buy us some time before the roasting marshmallows.”

  I nodded. “All right. And I will go get the fire pit ready.” Brooke turned to leave, and I caught her wrist, twirling her until our mouths were inches apart. “Thank you.”

  She smiled. “For what?”

  “Everything. There’s no way I would have been able to do this party alone.”

  “In all fairness, these girls’ mothers wouldn’t have allowed it anyway.”

  “Always a smart ass.” I kissed her lips.

  “You two are seriously not kissing during my party!”

  We turned to see Cheyenne in the entryway of the kitchen, her fists closed at her sides. “We can do whatever we want,” I stated. “It’s our house.” Hearing myself say “our house” sent a shiver of delight through my body. God, I loved my fiancée.

  “Whatever. Can we start the fire pit now?”

  Brooke broke free from my grasp. “That’s exactly what we were talking about. Your dad is going to do that while everyone is setting everything up and changing.”

  They left the room, and I followed suit, passing them in the semi-bare living room. This morning, Phil, Courtney’s dad and I had moved a couch and the coffee table and the end tables to the garage to make room for all the girls to sleep on the floor. White Christmas lights hung around the room to provide enough light for when it got completely dark outside.

  Not long now …

  Next year, we were going out for a pizza party or some shit.

  The girls sat around the orange fire as they once again gossiped.

  “Can I drink now?” I asked, sitting in a chair on the lawn several feet away.

  Brooke looked at me. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”

  I groaned. “I can’t handle all this … cattiness.”

  “You deal with gossipy women all the time at the bar.” She chuckled.

  “Not like this,” I whined. Yeah, I whined. “At least they’re there talking about sex … Shit,” I whispered. “I can’t even. One day Chey is going to …” I trailed off.

  “Okay, calm down. What’s really going on? Why are you freaking out over this entire day?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Last year it was just her and me. I took her to the movies and made her favorite meal. This year she has all these friends, and I have you and …”

  She smiled at me in the darkness, the glow from the fire lacing her features. “And it’s normal. She was finally able to find herself when softball started, and she enjoyed doing something other than going to her grandparents. Plus, you’ve stepped up in the father department. I think she was a homebody because it was hard for her to spend time with her friends since you worked all weekend. Now she has a steady home life.”

  I reached for her hand but then thought better of it. I didn’t want the PDA Police after me again. “It is normal, and we have you to thank.”

  “Stop thanking me. You’ve done plenty for me too.”

  “I will always take care of you.”

  She sat, smiling at me. I guessed she wanted to kiss me. I wanted to kiss her, too. Instead, I stood and walked toward the group.

  “Who’s ready for marshmallows?”

  They all agreed, and I left to grab the bags and stuff to make s’mores. Brooke had already passed out sticks, and after a quick demonstration, we returned to our chairs in the grass, and the first ghost story began.

  The girls finally called it a night. Instead of going to bed, Brooke and I sat next to the fire pit. She leaned up against my side and my arm draped around her shoulder.

  “Do you hear that?” I asked.

  “What?” Brooke asked, leaning up.

  “Exactly. Nothing.”

  “It wasn’t that bad.” She chuckled and leaned back down.

  “It’s enough to give me a headache for a week.”

  “Oh stop!” She jabbed her finger into my side. “You’ll have to do it again when we have a kid.” Her body tensed against mine as if she realized what she’d said.

  In my gut, I knew she didn’t carry the FAP gene. Brooke was in the rare group. “We better have a boy.”

  “Yeah,” she sighed.

  “Nope, we’re not going to do this.” I stood, grabbed my phone from my pocket and started to quietly play the music I had stored. Then I reached my hand out to her. “Dance with me.”

  She blinked. “Dance with you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I thought you didn’t dance?”

  “I only slow dance. Anyone can do that.” I thought back to our first and only dance on the cruise. I never thought I would be settling down again but this girl—I’d do anything for her, even dance to get her mind off of all the bullshit life was throwing at her.

  “We can practice our first dance,” I continued. “You know, whenever we get married,” I teased.

  She stood and took my hand. “About that … What if we get married the third weekend of April?”

  I tried to hide my smile. “You mean on the anniversary of when you left me without a goodbye?”

  She slapped my chest playfully. “No, the anniversary of when I knew I’d love you forever.”

  My smile appeared. “Is that so?”

  She nodded. “If you don’t want to—”

  “It’s perfect.” I leaned down and gave her another feather-light kiss.

  The music changed to a song that always reminded me of her; You Had Me From Hello by Kenny Chesney. Under the hot August night, I took her in my arms, pressing our bodies flush and swaying our hips to the rhythm of the words. The glow from the fire flickered in her eyes as she peered up at me, smiling. The look she was giving me made me want to devour her.

  Once again, I kissed her soft lips. This time, I didn’t let it end with only a faint touch. Instead, I took it deeper, tasting her and wanting to portray the words being sung. That I’d never had a chance to not love her because she’d had me from day one. She said that, on the cruise, she realized she would love me forever. I would always love her too.

  For many years, I was guarded and never wanted to love again. Brooke snuck in and grabbed my heart from the moment I looked into her emerald green eyes on the Promenade. I never realized how much her love would change me. I no longer needed the various broads at Halo.

  I needed her.

  I needed the nights just like this one where I didn’t need anything but the look in her eyes. The look that told me she would, in fact, love me forever. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought I would be this lucky. I’d done some shitty things in my past, especially when it came to Dana, and I wasn’t sure how I got this fortunate.

  We broke apart and danced to the rest of the song, her head on my chest.

  “That was a good song,” she said as we continued to dance to the next song.

  “It’s a favorite of mine.”

  I felt her smile
against me. “Why is that?”

  I shrugged, still swaying as we turned slowly in a circle. “It has a good beat.”

  “Is that the only reason?”

  “Look at you trying to be all coy.”

  “I’m not being coy, you are.”

  I leaned back from her, causing her to look at me. “What do you want me to say? The moment I looked into your eyes, you had me from hello?”

  “You know it’s true.” She laughed.

  “Shut up.” I grabbed her face and took her lips again. “Stop being a smart ass since I can’t punish you for it.”

  She smirked. “You’d never.”

  “You made me watch that movie with the red room. I’ll tie you up and—”

  “Daddy.”

  My head snapped to where Cheyenne was coming through the door. Always ruining the mood! “Why aren’t you asleep, Peanut?”

  “I had a bad dream, and I don’t want them to know.”

  And just like that, my little girl was back.

  The next day I met Nicole for lunch. It felt good to finally get back in the groove of us hanging out again. The entire time she talked about what venues she’d researched in Vegas and how perfect it would be for her wedding. How we could party like old times for her bachelorette party, and all the sun we could absorb just like we had on the cruise.

  Saying Nicole was excited would be an understatement.

  As we sat and drank the rest of our coffee, Nicole finally changed the subject. “Have you gotten your test results?”

  I shook my head feeling almost defeated in a way. “No, not yet.”

  She frowned. “What’s taking so long?”

  I shrugged. “Backlogged I suppose.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “Not everyone can work magic like you,” I teased, remembering what she’d told me when she scheduled my first CT.

  She grinned. “Apparently.”

  “Well, I need to get home. Easton will need to head to Halo soon.”

  “Okay.”

  “What do you have planned for tonight? I’m going to Halo,” I asked as I stood and grabbed my purse.