Forty-Five
Finn
We spentthe night like that.
Her covering me, me holding her.
I woke up about an hour or two after dawn and just savored the closeness because her threats of divorce might have been hurled at me in a tantrum, but a threat was a threat.
I’d never let her go, but that didn’t mean she had to love me, and her love was…
Jesus Christ.
Once upon a time, I’d thought love was a weakness. When Aoife came along, I figured it was a strength.
Now, I was reminded that my earlier belief was fucking right.
No one had the power to decimate me like she did.
Aidan Sr. could nail me to a goddamn cross, and he could slice me up like I was deli meat, and it wouldn’t be as excruciating as this agony inside me.
So I held her for as long as she’d let me. I was her calm as the wild winds of her grief overtook her, and only when she mumbled in her sleep and slipped off me, falling flat on her back in her flour-dusted tee and sweatpants, did I get up.
Knowing she was exhausted, and that she needed to rest, I showered in the guest bathroom, got changed, then I started to get Jake ready too. But after I changed his diaper, I was surprised to realize he wanted to sleep.
Yesterday had taken a lot out of him, I knew. Meeting with Paddy, and then staying up late, I’d intended on taking him with me, but seeing that he wanted more sleep, I decided to leave him.
I needed to head to the office to access some private files the Points had gathered on Hanover Corp., files that couldn’t be computerized.
The last thing I wanted was to leave, but I didn’t have much of a choice. We stored that shit on paper, not computer.
While we’d sent a contract over and they were due to sign it, I got the feeling they were going to dick us around, and I liked to have my leverage firmly in place before I negotiated.
So with my family still resting, I left my apartment with the baby monitor in my hand and went to the floor below where my crew had a place of their own. My guys had fewer tasks than my brothers’, and they acted as guards and drivers for my family.
As the elevator doors opened, Braden got to his feet, dropping a breakfast burrito on the table in front of him. “Everything okay, boss?”
I nodded. “I need to head out.”
“Okay. Want me to go up?”
A part of me did, but another part knew that they’d disturb Aoife, and I wanted her to rest for as long as Jake would let her sleep.
“Here,” I told him, giving him the monitor. “Listen for Jake. Go on up if he stirs.”
Braden shot me a wary look. “You want me to babysit?”
I rolled my eyes. “You have three kids of your own.”
“Yeah, and Nevaeh looks after them!”
“You got three kids and you don’t know how to take care of them?” Ollie muttered, stepping out of the kitchen too. In his hands, he was holding a BLT. “That ain’t something to be proud of, dumbass.” To me, he said, “I’ll handle Jake, boss.”
“Appreciate that. I won’t be long. Just keep an eye out.”
“Will do. Want Sam to drive you?”
“No.”