DECEIT (B723) by Hazel Grace (ebook reader for surface pro .TXT) 📕

We both know I’m not.

“You are,” he grounds out, baring his perfect teeth at me. “You’re going to help me keep my and Emmy’s kids safe. You’re going to make sure that this motherfucker doesn’t try snatching them up. You’re going to use your broody, bored ass who isn’t doing anything but planning my demise and show up every fucking day with a smile on your face because Emmy was family. And she’s gone now. She can’t do it herself.”

Atlas suddenly squirms in the nook of my arm, but I don’t pay her any attention.

If I do, I’ll melt and comply.

If I agree, then I’ll be only torturing myself from here until eternity. I was a complete asshole to Emmy. I can only imagine how I’d be with Atlas when she started dating boys and Alaric just having his name being said around me and how his mother did it for me.

Yeah, I’m not going to do this. 

Mills steals a glance at his daughter. A small smile creeps up his face. “She likes you already. Good.”

I glare at him. “I’m not watching your kids. You should’ve thought of that before—”

“It became yours when you fell in love with Emmy.” He trails his attention back to me.

And I don’t bother denying it.

“Still not doing it.”

“You really wanna do this?” His eyes crinkle. “You think you’re going to be able to keep yourself away from these kids?”

“Yeah.”

He bows his head. “Wow, you’re doing a good fucking job already because you’re holding my daughter.”

My nostrils flare at the constant reminder. I don’t fight much with Mills to where he returns with a comeback. Usually, he just takes it up the ass and ignores Marty and I when we order him around like a kid brother and tell him to go fuck himself.

But he’s a father now with two precious gifts to protect. And while I’d normally back him, I’ve washed my hands of that.

“You’re still a dead man,” I leer. “There is no forgiveness for you.”

“Why because you can’t take it?” The hand still being held hostage begins to pull from her grip, but she tightens hers, causing me to return my focus back down to her. “I’d say they were a mistake…but after being with them, I can’t say it. It’s all we got.”

I steel my spine of things I already know. “I’m still not watching your kids.” Atlas blinks at me, and I swear she’s mocking me.

“Mills.” Blue’s voice comes from behind me before a bottle is shoved in my chest. “Feed her.”

The fuck?

“Four blacked-out SUVs just rolled up at Reagan’s house.” That immediately gains both Mills and my attention.

Marty’s cabin is tucked in the woods, a football field away from Reagan’s. He gets his mail there, which obviously hints that someone looked for him as well knew we’d be here.

“Mills,” Marty sneers, marching towards us, his face clouded in anger. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to make me Atlas’s godfather? I had to find the shit out from my sister?”

My face twists because who the hell cares, and Mills flatly ignores him, waiting on Blue to give him more details.

“Let’s go back to Marty’s house,” she says. “I saw it on the security camera and—“

“Wait, wait,” Marty chimes, holding out his hand, then pulls out his cell. “You mean the four Suburbans that just joined the party?”

Mills frowns. “Yeah.”

“I was going to bring that up after I bitched at you about the Atlas thing. If you keep this shit up, I’m not going to ask you to be Blair’s.”

“Do I look like I give a fuck?” Mills storms out. “Who the hell is in the trucks?”

“I don’t know, but I got excited to get my hands on someone for my birthday. Who cares who they are.”

“Because I got a psychopath after my kids.”

“No one is going to take them.” The look on Marty’s face is one of absolute serenity, which, in all honesty, is bugging the shit out of me too. “I got this place rigged.”

“So what you mean to say is that you’re going to blow us all up in the process?” Blue inquires at my side. “Let me grab a drink first.”

Marty narrows his eyes at the redhead. “There are kids running around here so no, Blue, there aren’t any land mines next to the swing set.”

“How about we find out who the hell is here?” Mills wraps up. “Fucking A, man. You guys are…annoying.” Marty and Blue begin to chuckle collectively when Marty’s palm slams into the back of Mills’s shoulders.

“Now you know how we feel, asshole.” He jerks his head. “C’mon, let’s go have some fun.”

They proceed to follow Marty when Blue scoops Atlas out of my arms and gently places her back in her bassinet.

“Hey Rea,” Blue calls out to Marty’s sister. “We’re gonna go smoke. Need you on kid duty.” Reagan waves her off in acknowledgment, and Blue nudges me in the ribs. “Now you can really get some built-up aggression out.”

Once we breach around the woods to get to the side of Reagan’s house—so that we’re not giving away the direction we came in—Mills is already in a guy’s face wearing a suit.

It doesn’t take a brain scientist to know that it’s Alexander.

Blue and I close the distance between him and Marty. And the closer I get is when I can make out everything he’s blabbering about—nervously.

I can’t say that I’ve ever heard Mills break and not be as obnoxiously confident as he always is.

However, he’s got a lot on the line, and if he fails, it’s something I know he’s not willing and ready to pay.

“Get it through your entitled fucking head,” he storms. “Those kids aren’t yours. How many more DNA tests do you need? I thought you spoke and read English, bruh.”

Blue stops short of a few feet from Mills to keep a broader watch on the area, and I—for some fucking reason—stand at Mill’s right.

Maybe it’s because I’m used to doing