Rolling her eyes, she got up and moved over to where he was standing, staring at his hand when he held it out to her. “I’m only coming because you asked nicely, Jaeger.”
Letting out a loud growl, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out of the room.
“Fratello, please save me from your son. He’s drooling on my three thousand dollar shirt.”
I gasped and stared at the shirt, wondering why it cost that much, and where you’d get one for that amount. “I’m so sorry, Ben. You should have said.”
“Like I give a shit about the shirt,” he muttered, watching Walker with a smile. “I just need to piss, and his dad isn’t doing anything but standing there.”
Something struck me about the situation.
Benito De Luca was the head of the Chicago Cosa Nostra, and Dimi and Taras were the heads of the Fedorov Bratva. All three of them were dangerous men, who’d likely done things I never wanted to know about.
Yet, all three of them treated Walker and Hendrix like they were as fragile as glass, and didn’t even bat an eyelid at them drooling on them.
One of the things that’d been worrying me about being with Taras was opening myself and the boys up to the world he lived in, yet all of them proved they wouldn’t let anything come to us. Hell, even Bogdan practically worshipped the ground the babies drooled on.
We were safe here, and they’d make sure it stayed that way. Anything that went on behind the scenes was up to them, it was a man’s world like the one I’d grown up in.
That didn’t mean the women were hidden away and abused. My relationship was proof of that, and Taras had made sure I knew it.
In a way, the boys and I held all of the power.
Yes, I wanted it to be equal between Taras and me, but wasn’t this what all relationships were like? The give and take, putting weights on both sides of the scales, supporting each other when needed, and loving them all the time.
With that epiphany, I focused back on what was happening in the room, seeing Taras sitting down now with Walker in his arms, and watching him with a smile on his face.
“He’s making movements with his mouth like he’s dreaming of milk,” he snickered, then checked his watch. “He’ll be waking up hungry in twenty minutes.”
Raising his eyebrows, Ben smiled over at me. “Is he always like this?”
“Yup, he’s got their feeding times set on his watch so he can help out.”
“Cute,” he murmured, then looked at Taras. “And totally not in keeping with your status. I like it.”
“Cut the shit,” Dimi chuckled, stretching out on the chair now.
“I’m serious, amico. My parents always said that a real man’s capable of holding something precious in his hands one minute, and shooting a man through the head the next.” When I looked at him horrified, he shrugged a shoulder. “We’re modern and progressive. One man’s brains, is another man’s good luck.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
He went silent as he watched Taras stroking Walker’s hand with his thumb, almost like he wanted to be in his shoes. There was something sad about his expression that just made me think it.
Then, he sat up straight and looked at me. “Mom says I can give you her recipe. She also sent some more for you to try, so I’ll email them to you.”
Waving his hand to get my attention, Dimi shook his head. “That’s a progressive man for you—bullets to the head and brains one minute, swapping recipes for Italian food the next.”
As I laughed, I did it knowing this was my life. It wasn’t traditional or what little girls dreamed of when they were little.
It was better.
My knight would absolutely climb up a tower to save me from a dragon, and he’d bring his badass friends and their guns with him. To make it even better, my family would follow on their bikes as backup.
Dreams happened, but when you were an adult, you adjusted them to become more realistic. A woman who loved her man and the father of her babies would constantly adjust, if it meant keeping him in her life.
I didn’t need to adjust anymore, though. He was perfect as he was.
Almost like he knew what I was thinking, Taras lifted his head and smiled at me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Taras
Leaving Nell in the middle of the night had been shit, but something big had happened, and I wanted to see it.
Five of the compounds housing Los Segadores had been raided during the night, thanks to information Nick and Raig had gotten from their meeting with Ribeiro, Abar, and Azarov. We’d then passed onto Lena’s brother in New York and to our local detective, and they’d moved in quickly once things were in place because kids were involved.