Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
“You saved my life,” I whisper.
He chuckles. “You would have survived regardless. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
I snort. Odd way of looking at it, but if you’re in Carnage, you’ve got to have a sense of humor.
“Congratulations on becoming a grandpa,” I add when the silence gets uncomfortable.
“Thank you for letting me experience it.”
We hang up, and I pocket my cell and stare out into the courtyard once again. My mind remembers the first time I ever heard his voice.
“The first wave is tolerable…the second gets colder…” He pauses before whispering, “The third is the coldest.”
It took Sin coming to us looking for Nicholas for me to realize who he was. I always thought my father was fucking Laura, and he might have, but the big secret was they were holding her husband for her. He never did anything wrong. After our fathers died, I went easy on him. Well, as much as I could because of what he did for me that night. I wish I would have set him free. Maybe it could have saved Elli from what she went through.
The door opens, and I turn to see Ashtyn enter the room with a glowing smile on her face. “A boy and a girl. Both healthy and with their momma who is doing great.”
I walk over to her, cup her face, and kiss her passionately. Tasting the saltiness in her happy tears that she’s cried witnessing both Laura and Elli give birth. They both had scheduled C-sections. Gavin performed one while Devin did the other.
I pull away, and her heavy eyes open as she breathes deeply. “How are my babies?” I ask, dropping my hand to her growing belly.
“Great,” she whispers.
“Have you felt okay today?”
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, Saint.” Laughing softly, she adds, “We’ve been good for weeks.”
Her first couple of weeks were rough, but I still worry about her. That’ll never change. I understand what Nicholas was saying because I feel the same way-I don’t deserve the life I have. I get to lie in bed with my wife at night, holding her, loving her, and talking about our future while during the day, I’m covered in another man or woman’s blood, making them pay for their betrayal. I’m not sure what I did to deserve the life I have, but I’ll do anything to keep it.
EPILOGUE TWO
SAINT
EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER
I sit at my desk at Carnage when my cell rings. I see it’s my wife, and I hit answer. “Hello, sweetheart…”
“Is she there?” she asks in a tone that tells me she’s not in the same good mood that I left her in this morning.
“No.” I look around the office that I share with my brothers and see I’m the only one here. My eyes drop to my watch, and I see it’s a little after nine. “She should be in class.”
“She’s not. I just got a call from the school that she’s absent.”
My door swings open, and my eyes narrow on the brunette. She’s got her long dark hair braided and hangs over one shoulder with a white ribbon tied into a perfect bow at the end. It makes her look sweet and innocent, but I know the truth. “She’s here. I’ll call you back.”
“Do not let her sweet-talk you, Saint,” my wife barks into my ear. “She needs to be in school.”
“Uh-huh. I’ll call you back. Love you.” I hang up before she can yell at me. “Why are you here?” I lock my cell and set it down. “You were supposed to ride with your sister to school this morning.” Tinsley is grounded from driving for two weeks. Having to ride with her sister is a punishment that she hates.
She rolls her blue eyes and plops down across from my desk. “Berkeley left before the sun came up to go meet with her boyfriend. She’s trying some new rose quartz shit on him.”
“Boy-boyfriend?” I ask, stumbling over my words. “Since when does your sister have a boyfriend?” I’m not even going to try and decipher what the fuck rose quartz means. I’ll have to google that.
She waves her hand in the air. “It’s nothing serious. Pretty sure he’s married.”
“Married?” I slap my hands on the table.
“We’re eighteen, Dad.”
I run my hands through my hair and take a deep breath. This is going nowhere. “Why are you here in my office?” I ask again. Let’s start back at the beginning.
“I got suspended, remember?”
“Last week. Today is Monday. A new week. You should be in school.”
“Look what I got.” She ignores me and pulls out a rectangular box from her black backpack that has pink butterflies all over it. She’s a walking contradiction in every aspect of life.
This is where her mother would tell her not to deflect and drive her ass to school. But curiosity gets the best of me. “What is it?”
“It’s a souvenir.”
I frown, sitting back in my chair. “For what?”
“I didn’t even wash it.” She laughs.
“Tinsley, that better not be what I think it is.” I growl. She lifts her mother’s eyes and smiles at me. “You can’t take a knife to school.” She knows this. We just went over this last week. With me, her mother, the principal, and the police officer that were present for our mandatory meeting.
“I’m going to mail it to him.”
I run a hand down my face, holding in a sigh. I thought Carnage was going to be the death of me. But nope. It’s my teenage daughter. “You stabbed him. I’d say the scar he’ll have will be souvenir enough,” I remind her as if she could forget.
“He put his hands on me, Dad,” she snaps defensively.
“I-“
“He tripped me, and when I didn’t fall on my face in front of everyone embarrassing myself like he wanted me to, he pushed me into my locker.”
Being a dad is hard. I have to pick my battles with not only my wife but also a little version of her who thinks she’s invincible. It’s my fault. I’m definitely one of those parents who takes a hundred percent responsibility for the monster I created. “Tins, have you stopped to think that maybe he likes you?”
She gasps dramatically, placing her hand on her white school blazer. “Are you defending him?”
“No-“
“It doesn’t matter if he likes me. That doesn’t give him the right to be a fucking jackass.” Getting to her feet, she leans over my desk and grabs a marker off it. I watch her write watch your back, fucker!
“You can’t do that.” I shake my head. “That’s a threat.” Jesus Christ, she’s going to get arrested. She’s lucky I’m a Lord. I had to pull out some major stops for her to stay in her private school. It’s her senior year, I didn’t want her to ruin it over some boy. No matter who he is.
She jiggles the box in her hand as her eyes meet mine. “I’m going to wait for him to open it. He’ll probably be dumb enough to put it on his nightstand or dresser. Then I’ll break in and stab him with it again.”
“Tinsley.” I get to my feet.
She flips her braid over her shoulder and gets to her feet as well. “I’ll drop it off on the way to school. See you later. Love you.” She throws her backpack over her shoulder and skips to the door like she’s off to see a wizard on a yellow brick road.
“Tinsley.” I growl.
She stops, one hand on the door, and turns to face me with a big smile on her face. I’ve been a sucker for that smile since the moment I held her. It’s amazing how cute and evil something can be at the same time. I’m thankful that if she was ever in a situation that required her to fight, I have no doubt she’d win, but that’s also what will throw me in an early grave. “Don’t kill anyone today,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood. I know her mother is being hard on her right now. I’ve always been the lenient one, which is crazy considering the life I live.