Jax (Titan #9)(39)

"Family?" He shrugged when the kids sounded as though they were coming out of their rooms.

Seven seemed to have both him and them under observation, and it was a talent to manage without seeming as if she were watching a tennis match. "You weren't magically conceived."

"Ha. No, I wasn't—"

A beep sounded from the kitchen, and Seven popped up. "Don't forget whatever you were about to confess, but mac and cheese waits for no one, not even magically conceived SEALs."

As soon as Seven rushed to the kitchen, Nolan and Bianca arrived. The little boy crawled next to Jax with a Lego plane in hand, while Bianca played with her dolls.

"Want to pway with me?" Nolan shoved the plane into Jax's hand. "Up like this." Then hoisted his arm in the air. "Up!"

"Vr-vroom," Jax flew it back and forth and glanced at the kid. Big fail.

"Pwanes don't vroom."

Well, the kid knew his shit.

"I'll show you."

Jax landed the plane and moved to the floor as he followed Nolan's lead.

"They can stwart here." He took what was clearly not a plane and added wings. Jax wasn't going to point that out even if Nolan took issue with the vrooming. "And go… Vrrrrrrrrrr."

Around the room he went. Jax followed, and Nolan was dead right. With a couple "Rrrrrrrs" and "Annnnnrrrrrsss," Jax had regained trust in the land of block-built toys.

They landed their planes, and Nolan led him toward a box of Legos that rivaled the size of the kid. "Open and out!"

An avalanche of the blocks crashed onto the floor, and Jax jumped as though he were going to get in trouble then laughed at himself. No one else was fazed by the loud cascade. Then Nolan turned into a captain and dictated orders. Jax needed this and that, and before he knew it, his hands were filled with skinny pieces, wide ones, the kind that had angles, and others that attached wheels. And he couldn't see how any of them worked together. But the kid had a vision.

"Put them down." Nolan waved Jax over, as if he had forgotten how to walk, and patted the floor. "On the gwound."

If nothing else, Jax could follow instructions when under command. He lined up the Legos as Nolan set up shop in front of Jax. "Like this?"

"Put that one on thwat side."

"Got it." Jax rearranged, checking with the three-year-old for approval. "What now, captain?"

Nolan glanced up, holding a Lego in each hand, and the kid's happiness doubled down. "Mine and yours gwo like thwis."

For the next five minutes, Jax obeyed every instruction, and they built a tower that connected to an axle with spinning wheels. He latched it on to the flat platform.

"Biwanca, we made it fwr your dollws!"

Jax leaned back, studying the structure that Nolan had created, and saw what the kid had done. It was a swing set—of sorts—but it would work, and it was the right size.

Jax held his hand up. "Nicely done, little man."

Nolan dive-bombed onto Jax as Seven walked in. "Fifteen—minutes." She watched Nolan hugging Jax. "Until dinner."

Shit. Maybe he wasn't supposed to hug the kid? He mouthed silently, "Is this okay?"

Seven nodded, watching quietly. Then Nolan jumped off and spun to her. "Did you see what we bwuilt?"

She smiled one of those proud-mama smiles that made women so beautiful. "Sure did."

Then she winked and went back into the kitchen. Jax scooted back, listening to the oven open and close, Seven's cell phone ring, and a fridge clinking shut. He liked the sound of plates and silverware, drawers opening and closing. "Hey, Seven. Do you want any help?"

"No. I like doing things a certain way."

"Okay. Lemme know if you change your mind."

Jax noticed Bianca watching their conversation as she changed a doll outfit.

Nolan crawled onto the couch and leaned over Jax's shoulder. "We need to make anwther one."

"Good thing you don't need my help," he called back to the kitchen. "My talents are being used elsewhere."

Her laughter rang through the house, and Bianca turned toward the kitchen. A perplexed line drew across Bianca's forehead.

"Why was that funny?" Bianca asked.

What had he said? "It wasn't a joke, funny, ha-ha. It was, well, she was amused. I mean, it made her happy. So she laughed." Was that a good way to explain amusement to a five-year-old? Jax had no idea.

"We make her laugh. Victoria and Ryder do. Glamma. Aunt Delie. Sidney." Bianca tilted her head as though she were wracking her brain to find another source of Seven's laughter.

"I guess I do too," Jax added.

"But you're one of them?" Bianca asked.

"Them?"

"Where's your motorcycle?"

"Oh," he said quietly. "I'm not one of them. I'm a friend, like they are, but I'm not part of their group."

"You're like Sidney?"

Almost… "Exactly."

Bianca's expression defrosted somewhat. "Have you ridden a motorcycle before?"

"There's not much I haven't done, sweetheart."

She put her doll down. "Really?"

Jax flew a Lego into the air. "I've flown up high." Then he dive-bombed it. "And dropped down low." He made waves with the toy. "Dove deep into the water." And then he leaned toward her, gliding it across the floor and flicking it the rest of the distance toward her doll with the bright-green hair. "And I help people when I can."