I slid on the same t-shirt and opened the door to the terrace, replacing the glass with the screen. The sound of the ocean and the sea breeze relaxed my tension as I sunk into bed, and thought about the details Paxton had left out, probably gruesome details that I was better off not knowing. I heard Paxton open the bathroom door and descend the stairs, neither one of us acknowledging the other.

We woke tangled in each other’s arms, and to my surprise, I roused, confused, yet content.

“I didn’t even hear you come to bed,” I admitted when I look to see Paxton awake, too.

“You were, snoring.”

“I was not. I don’t snore,” I assured him with an elbow.

“We should probably get up. I heard the girls in the kitchen a few minutes ago. They probably ate ice cream for breakfast.”

I stared up to Paxton, bypassing his comment, the night before weighing heavy on my mind.

“What, baby?”

“Did you lie to me? Are you hiding something from me that you don’t want me to find out?”

“I’m hiding so much shit from you, Gabriella. I don’t think details are going to help matters. Let’s focus on getting our nephew. Can we just do that? I told you what you talked about on the video. That was the deal.”

“No, the deal was to talk about how we both felt. You’re supposed to tell me what you learned from your perspective.”

Paxton slid from below me and I watched his naked ass walk to the bathroom. “I don’t have to learn any of this, Gabriella. My memory is fine.”

“Why do I feel like I can’t trust you then?” I questioned through the stream of pee, spilling out into the room. I shook my head and climbed out of bed, mentally becoming annoyed, knowing who had to clean the splatter. Of course I would never say a word about it, but it still pissed me off. Like he was the only one who lived there.

“Because you can’t,” he admitted with a handful of cock and balls, scratching, maybe. Paxton kissed me on the lips, sidestepped me, and swatted my ass as he passed by me. “Want some pancakes?”

I dropped the toilet seat and shook my head. “Maybe, but I’ll do it. Give me a minute.”

“I wasn’t going to do it,” he admitted with an honest smile into the bathroom while tucking his package behind jeans, commando style. That would drive me nuts all day. Especially when he raised his arms above his head and his jeans fell below a sexy as hell hairline.

“Dick.”

“Watch it. I can still beat your ass.”

“Go away. I’m trying to pee.”

“Oh, really.”

“No, don’t even think about it. Go away.”

Paxton laughed and walked away, commando style.

To my surprise, Paxton and the girls were already making pancakes when I joined them.

“Look, Daddy made you a heart, Mommy,” Ophelia said, excited for my unexpected breakfast.

I took the plate from Paxton’s hand, looking at it with a peculiar glance, and then back to his cocky smile. “It looks like a possum.”

The smart grin instantly took a frown-dive, and I laughed. So did the girls. “It does not. It’s a heart.”

Phi hopped down from the chair pushed to the griddle, and took Paxton’s hand. “Because you’re in love with Dad. That’s why he gave you a heart. Right, Dad?”

“He said it wrong, baby. Daddy’s in love with me. I don’t even like him very much,” I teased while spreading butter to my pancake, eyes on my handsome guy. The commando one.

“I got a snake, look,” Rowan said as she pulled herself to her knees, letting her blonde hair fall right into sticky syrup.

“Mi is going to take me and Rowan to see the, um, the. What is it, Row?”

“Ice Princess. She lives in an ice city,” Rowan explained.

I looked to Paxton for the answer without asking a question.

“Don’t look at me. I have no idea what they’re talking about.”

“You was in bed. She called you and we talked to her on your phone. Tomorrow she is, and she has a new stone for us, but it doesn’t have the kind of magic like our other stones, right, Row?”

“Yes, mine's blue, and Phi’s is green.”

Paxton passed the buck over to me once again. “You’re the one that leaves your phone everywhere.”

“That’s because you’re the only one who ever calls me. It’s usually not that important.”

“Mi is important, right?” Phi asked.

I frowned at her pancake, sure it wasn’t supposed to be a soft penis. “Mi is important. What is she supposed to be eating?” I asked Paxton totally missing the smirk on his face over his importance over Mi.

“It’s a skyscraper, dirty girl.”

I chuckled and scarfed a few bites of my doughy pancake and left them to call Mi. “I’m going to walk down to the beach.”

“I’m coming,” both girls simultaneously called, sliding from their stools.

“No, you’re both going to eat your breakfast. We gotta paint, remember?”

That got them. They didn’t want to miss that. They already had to wait a whole day.

“Eat your breakfast, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I walked out with my thumb on Mi’s number, having all intentions of walking toward the beach until I heard the loud noise. Curiosity getting the better of me, I walked around to the front of the house. A delivery truck driver slid a noisy metal door closed from Lane and Candace’s house. The moving company pulled out, following two other trucks, and I knew that I would never see Lane or Candace again. Chance would grow up and forget she ever knew me or the girls. I watched as Candace backed her car out of the garage and followed the convoy.

“Bye Felicia,” I called with a snarl and bobbing head, dialing Mi. My real friend.

Mi answered with her happy bubbly voice. “Hey, sleepy head. Long night?”

“Sort of.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. It wasn’t bad.”

“It wasn’t?”

The surprise in her tone sent instant warning bells through my mind. “No, why would it be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t listen to the conversation between Nick and Paxton.”

My toes slid from my flip-flops when I hit the soft sand. “They talked? About what?”

“I don’t know. I just told you, I didn’t listen.”

“But you’re hiding something. I can tell, Mi. You suck at lying.”

“I’m not lying. I swear. Nick just asked me if I have talked to you. He said Paxton had a confession. That’s all I know. He didn’t tell me what it was.”

I shook my head, calling her bluff. “You know your voice rises a few decimals when you lie, don’t you.”

“Did the girl’s tell you that I called? I want to take them to the movies tomorrow. You know, while you do your home visit thing.”

I smiled and let her slide. She’d done enough for me. I wasn’t about to shove her under the bus again. Not to mention, that was super sweet of her, and I was glad someone thought of that. I mean, it wasn’t like they wouldn’t be asking a million questions. My girls weren’t the run along and play type. They were nosey, and had to be right there, afraid of missing some important information. A movie with Mi was perfect.

The mess that Paxton had made over the past twenty-four hours wasn’t as bad as it looked. He helped get everything cleaned up, and then grilled veggie burgers on the grill. All things considered, we had a great day, ending it with a story outside on the cabana bed. That’s why I didn’t pressure Paxton with information I knew he kept hidden. I didn’t care. I cared about this. About the tangled arms and legs, the magic stones, recharging their powers, this dysfunctional tangled up mess. My family. That’s the only thing I cared about. And of course. Vander.

Thirteen

“I’m tired, let’s not get into anything deep tonight. I just want to sleep,” Paxton confessed as we climbed the stairs together.

I was okay with that, we had a long day, cleaning and getting everything ready for the next day. What I wasn’t okay with was the distance I felt between us ever since his talk with Nick. I couldn’t really put a finger on it because he played a good part. He was just a little out there.