Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
I gave him a look. Definitely a bad time—and he was doing it. It was part of the job. We had to pull our weight in between contracts.
April 12th, 2001
“Should I give them good-natured shit or just hug them till they’re uncomfortable?”
I chuckled and slipped on my ring again. Danny did the same before closing his locker.
“I vote for the hug. They deserve it,” I replied. I shrugged on my jacket and grabbed the gift bags we’d picked up for the twins, and then I shut my locker too.
“I knew you were a Sadist.” He smirked.
“For thinking it’s a hugging moment?” I laughed.
He grinned and slipped his hand into mine. “No, but for wanting them uncomfortable.”
Well. I wasn’t sure anything could make Reese uncomfortable. River, on the other hand, might’ve been born that way.
Danny and I took the elevator down and walked out, and he grabbed the gift bags right before we reached the garage across the street.
“Should we have at least bought some gag gifts?” He dug through one of the bags. “Maybe they’ll think we’re too sappy. I mean, the folders are engraved and everything.”
I furrowed my brow. “Did you think I was too sappy when I gave you your gift?” Dammit, I’d put a lot of time into his gift. A new watch, a new Beanie Baby, and a romantic weekend in Mexico on the way home.
“Definitely,” he confirmed, the brat. “The difference is, I love it when you get sappy. That’s when you have your most brilliant ideas, like when we made our own porn and when we got engaged.”
I smiled wryly.
I was quite fond of his sappy moments too.
When we reached our truck, I got behind the wheel, and he sat next to me, still sifting through the gifts we’d picked out. Most of which would hopefully add a nice touch to their very empty condo. They’d lived there for two years now, and they were like Darius. It could be emptied in twenty minutes.
After having moved in with Danny and then buying a house with him, I could never go back. I’d even let my mum hang drapes and buy us rugs and tablecloths. Our house was a home, with memories on the walls and trinkets on the shelves. The fridge was a shrine to the drawings my nieces and nephews sent us.
River and Reese needed a home too. I was damn proud of them for working so hard, but they needed to remember not everything was about assignments and training.
For their official graduation presents, we’d bought them each a nice Glock and a folding knife, which they could get their hands on next time they visited. The gift bags were filled with smaller items. Socks, deodorant, cologne, a nice tie—because I knew they didn’t own any—and gift cards to actual restaurants, not fast-food joints. The only picture I had of the twins, Danny had framed and added to one of the bags too. He had also added a few packets of ramen for River and a book of recipes for Reese. Last but not least, cuff links with a Celtic symbol for brotherhood.
We tended to shy away from personalization with initials or anything that could be tied to them unless you knew them very well. It was why Danny and I had engraved our engagement rings with “Our story is without end” rather than names and dates. The twins’ knives… I guessed that was where I got extra sappy. I couldn’t help it. They just read “From family,” because that was what I felt.
I’d never wanted children of my own, but they came damn close to filling those shoes.
Why else would I cross a line and use the emergency key to their place so I could stock their damn fridge? And maybe buy them new bedsheets.
Fuck.
I cleared my throat and checked the rearview before I switched lanes. “Do you think I’m being too much with the boys? Too personal.”
Danny frowned and looked at me. “No? They need us, hon. They will die without us.”
I snorted softly. “We both know that’s not true.”
He shrugged and returned to the bags. “Whatever. When it comes to those two, I think they will always only need each other for survival. But when we remind them of our existence, they light up in a different way. They let their guards down around us.”
I nodded slowly, letting his words settle. He had a point. A big one. Around Danny and me, River and Reese could be more carefree. Like kids.
“When they get older, I will guilt them into coming for Sunday dinners and shit,” Danny added frankly. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they end up dating the same person. And lord have mercy on that guy.”
I chuckled under my breath. To be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me either.
A comfortable silence fell over us, and I checked my watch to make sure we weren’t late. The traffic wasn’t too bad, but the boys were landing any minute, so we wanted to be there in time.