The Long Way Home (Corps Security #6)(57)
“Dee and Beck have a boy.” Sway continues, pulling me back to the conversation. “Liam. Goes by Lee, and he’s the spitting image of his father. Handsome as can be. He’s a cop here in town, and his wife, Megan, she’s a writer. They have two kids, girl and boy. Those two kids weren’t the first to make one of those studs grandfathers, though,” he adds, and I can’t believe my ears.
Grandparents?
“Who was first?” I question, my voice thick with emotion at how much I’ve missed.
“Oh honey child, you’re gonna love this.”
I frown not understanding.
“Axel and Izzy were first.”
“Nate?”
He nods. “And at the same time, Axel and Izzy were becoming grandparents, Greg and Melissa became grands, too.” He snickers a little under his breath.
I frown, not following.
“Dani, short for Danielle, Axel’s little princess and the one and only Cohen Cage. Those two were burning bright and denying it for a long time before they finally got together. I’m pretty certain those two will follow Cohen’s parents lead and keep popping out kids until they can’t anymore. They have three of them now.”
“I bet Ax loved that.” I feel a little more of the dread I felt when I sat down earlier lift away. Beyond happy for my friends and for the lives they’re living.
“It was a sight to be seen, that’s for sure. Though it was even better when Axel’s baby boy fell in love with Maddox’s baby girl. Those two might give Dani-Belle a run for her baby making money.”
He goes on to tell me about Greg and Melissa’s other children, Maddox and Emmy’s daughters and his own daughter, Stella.
My mind whirls as I take it all in. They’ve created one hell of a life and while I’m sad that I wasn’t a part of that journey with them, I know those lives they have may not have ever happened if the day I “died” went differently. I had been so lost in my thoughts, I didn’t even realize he had finished my hair until I hear the buzz of his electric shaver. I don’t look up, not sure I’m ready to look at myself yet. He moves in front of me, blocking my view anyway. Then he starts shaving off the last part of the man I had become so the ghost can come out of the shadows.
Ready or not, Zeke Cooper is back.
“Golden Hour” by JVKE
I’m beyond exhausted.
I feel like I’m about to drop—both mentally and physically.
Davey, for a man, can shop. Shop until I drop, that is, because heaven knows he still had enough energy to keep going when I started waving the white flag. How that man can have as much vigor as he does, I don’t think I’ll ever understand. We didn’t even stop to eat until well after dinnertime. Yet he was like the Energizer Bunny, not needing to power back up once.
My arms struggled to carry the bags from the trunk and on to the hotel’s cart. We had picked up snacks, drinks, clothes, even a few new clothes for Zeke and me. Davey stating, at one point early in our shopping, that I should just trust him because he knew just what I needed. I didn’t care. I was enjoying the distraction. Even with the heat my AmEx was letting off from being swiped so much today, it was just what I needed.
I’m pretty sure a big part of why I was so tired had to do with my concern for how Zeke was handling things. When I left earlier I could feel his nervous energy coming off him in waves. It was as if a beast had invaded and started filling up the space around us. Silent and steady in its stalking, but ready to jump at any given moment or sign of weakness. He had assured me he was fine, but I knew he wasn’t. As much as I wanted to rush back to his side, though, I knew my own worry and fretting wouldn’t be what he needed at that moment.
So I shopped and channeled all my emotions into feeding the economy.
Davey stops me when we step off the elevator on our floor with a gentle hand on my arm. I keep pulling the cart, moving us out of the way of the elevator doors.
“You know what they’ve been doing in there, right?”
“I don’t. I just could sense that it was something big and they needed this time together.” The nervous energy I had beat back during the day starts to climb again.
“I don’t know what he’s been through since he left, and I don’t need to know. I’ve been around these big strong men for a long time, but I still don’t know what they’re thinking most of the time. They’ve talked about him, you know. They’ve never let him die, sweet girl. I’ve seen pictures of him, yet even I struggled to recognize him as he is after all this time. He sure was something back then, and if my honey works his magic the way I know he will, I imagine you’ll be looking at a different man when we open that door. He’ll be stripped of a lot more than hairs. My honey has a way of cutting pain away as effortlessly as he does hair. I don’t mean to pry, but are you sure you’re ready for what’s coming?”
Again, I nod silently, swallowing the thickness in my throat.
It isn’t lost on me when we left and I saw Sway setting up a beauty station, that I was getting out of their for more than just a shopping trip. I wasn’t lying when I told Davey I could sense something. I just knew as sure as the sun would rise in the morning and set in the evening, they needed to be alone. I’m sure I was driving him up the wall earlier, worrying about him, too. I’m not even a little upset that he thought this was something best to do without me.