Chapter Twenty-Four
Laughter, loads of food and everyone that meant a damn in Knox’s life all in one place. Not exactly how he’d thought tonight would go. Or where for that matter. But by some quirk of fate they’d ended up re-routed to Dave & Buster’s of all places, the details behind how that had happened a mystery still uncovered.
The bonus? No Haven meant the family only rule didn’t apply. Which also meant his woman was beside him, her face animated and hands gesturing as though to paint the picture created by her beautiful voice.
“Have you seen the pictures of the canals in Venice?” she asked Trevor’s son, Levi, across the table.
Levi stuffed another French fry in his mouth with the finesse of a hyped up eight-year-old boy and bobbed his head, a chunk of his longish blond hair falling over one eye. “Yeah, they use those skinny boats and guys in funny clothes steer ’em around.”
“Yes, well, in St. Petersburg they have canals as well. The Neva River runs all the way through it and connects to the Baltic Sea. It is quite beautiful in the summer, but in the winter it freezes.”
“Wow! We never have things freeze here.”
“Oh, it can get very cold there and we have snow for much of the winter.”
“Is it cold where you grew up, too? That Yekat...” He frowned and changed course. “That other funny sounding place?”
“Yekaterinburg,” she said, beaming her sweet angel smile at him. She crossed her arms on the table, just as comfortable chattering back and forth with the unstoppable and candid eight-year-old as she’d been with Ninette and Sylvie when they’d first walked in the building together. “It’s similar. A little warmer, but I found St. Petersburg more interesting. More things to see and do. More art to enjoy.”
Levi opened his mouth, undoubtedly to launch yet another question.
Before he could voice it, Natalie cut in. “How about we let Darya get a solid breath in before you ask her anything else.”
“Yeah,” Trevor said. “Besides it’s time to get our Skee-ball championship underway. The man with the most coupons is the winner.”
“Hey,” Ninette said from her place to Darya’s right. “What makes you think it’ll be a man? I’ll have you know I was quite the Skee-ball expert in my day.”
Levi straightened in his chair and re-engaged with Darya. “I’m the best at Skee-ball. We always play games at family night and everyone gets a turn picking food and games. Tonight was my turn for games, so when Dad told me Uncle Beckett picked Dave & Buster’s for food, I challenged everyone to a Skee-ball championship.”
Knox swiveled his head to Beckett beside him and muttered, “So you’re the reason we’re here. I don’t suppose you made that decision the same time you helped Sylvie and Ninette plan their mani/pedi invasion?”
Beckett shrugged and bit into a wing. “Waitin’ on you is like watchin’ grass grow. More fun to nudge.”
Darya drew him out of his sidebar with Beckett with her innocent question to Levi. “What is Skee-ball?”
The look on the kid’s face was priceless. Like he couldn’t possibly comprehend anyone had gone through life without such dire information. “They don’t have that in Russia?”
“Well, I don’t know. We might call it something else.”
Levi twisted in his chair and shot puppy dog eyes at Natalie. “Can I show her, Mom?” Not waiting for an answer, he spun back to Darya. “It’s way cool. They’ve got these balls made out of wood. Or maybe not real wood, but they look like wood and feel like it, too. Then you roll it up this ramp and try to get the ball in different holes. The harder the hole, the more points you get.”
He paused for all of one beat, seemed to realize he’d yet to get an answer and turned back to his mom. “Can I? I mean, Darya gets a chance to play, too, right? So, someone needs to teach her how to do it.”
Natalie tried to fight back her laughter, but with Levi’s enthusiasm she’d have had to be the devil to pull it off. “I’d say that’s up to Darya.” She shifted her attention across the table. “Do you want to learn how to play Skee-ball?”
“Well, if I’m going to learn,” she said, her pretty gaze locked on Levi, “I’d do best to learn from a champion.”
“Awesome!” Levi jumped to his feet and held out his hand to Trevor. “Can I have my game card now?”
“Don’t look at me. This is Uncle Beckett’s thing.”
Axel chuckled from the end of the table and raised his scotch in salute toward Beckett. “The price of matchmaking, brother. Fork over the loot and let the lad win our girl over.”
Darya leaned close to Knox and whispered, “What does he mean by that?”
Knox cupped the back of her neck, her silky hair playing over his knuckles. It should have scared him, how easy it was being with her. How natural it felt to have her beside him at a time reserved for only family. But seeing her smile—feeling her presence beside him—was more natural than anything he’d ever done in his life. Made more sense than any line of code or tricky riddle. “It means family night is usually just for family because we do it out at Jace and Axel’s ranch, but Beck knew I’d want you with me, so he changed venues.”
“Who said it had anything to do with you?” As soon as Levi got within arm’s reach, Beckett forked over a stack of game cards big enough to tire out a whole brood of kids. Levi promptly started divvying out one to each person, but Beckett kept talking. “Maybe I’m biding my time until she figures out I’m a better bet so I can slide in and reap the rewards.”
“And here I’d thought I was gonna make it a whole day off without having to stitch anyone up.” Zeke wrapped an arm around Gabe and took a pull off his beer.
Jace chuckled, but it was Vivienne who spoke, her attention focused on Darya. “You see? This is why we can’t have family dinners in public. Too much testosterone gathered in one place. I can never tell if they’re going to beat their chests or each other’s faces.”
“At least they’re old enough they’re not beating something else all the time,” Sylvie said under her breath.
No matter how quiet she’d said it, it still garnered a table full of laughs, even from Darya who didn’t seem the least bit put off by the crude reference.
“Now, that’s a picture I didn’t need,” Danny said.
Ninette stood as soon as Levi finished rounding the table, cupped his shoulder and motioned Darya toward the arcade area. “Come on, Darya. The Skee-ball master’s getting impatient, and these guys look like they’re gonna marinate in their after-dinner drinks awhile longer.”
“All the better for us,” Sylvie said, standing as well. “The more the sots drink, the worse their coordination.”
Despite the amused but slightly overwhelmed expression on her face, Darya stood and pushed in her chair, following Sylvie’s lead.
Sylvie scanned the rest of the table, her gaze resting a little longer on Viv, Natalie and Gabe. “How about the rest of you ladies? Care ta team up and trounce the lads?”
“Oh, yeah.” Viv tossed her napkin on the table and stood, spurring Gabe and Natalie to do the same.
“You realize you’re still outnumbered by three,” Jace said, his eyes lingering appreciatively on Viv’s ass.
“Nope, only by two.” Natalie leaned in and gave Trevor a kiss on the cheek. “We’re gonna sweet talk Levi into pinch hitting for us.”
“Don’t do it, son!” Trevor shouted over his shoulder as the group migrated from the table, Darya casting a quick wave over her shoulder as the women herded her into the sea of games.
Axel grinned and lifted his scotch for another swig. “Too late. The lad’s got that gleam in his eye that says he’s already smitten.”
“Just like his dad,” Jace added. “Can’t help bein’ a knight in shining armor for the women.”
“Like you don’t buckle the second Viv crooks a finger,” Trevor said.
“True, but my armor’s dirty.”
Zeke chuckled and set his beer on the table. “Something tells me it’s the dirty part she likes best.”
The quip drew a full round of laughter, the overall tenor of it a little empty without the women’s lightness to round it out.
“So...” Axel eased back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. As usual, he stood out from the rest of them, his tailored brown slacks, shiny loafers and crisp white button-down rolled up at the sleeves making him look like a corporate CEO caught in a casual moment. Even with his wild russet hair knotted up tight at the back, he still made the look work. “Darya seems to be settling in.”
And there it was. The nosey prodding he’d halfway expected the second he’d learned their family night had been relocated to a public place. Well, they could prod all they wanted. He wasn’t ready yet and until he was, there was nothing to talk about. “Yep.”
The table got quiet, all of his brothers looking from one to the other.
Not surprisingly, Jace was the one to break the silence. “That mean we need to talk about her future?”
“Hers or mine?” Knox said.
“Maybe both.” Beckett peeled his attention off Darya where she stood beside Levi across the room at the end of a long line of Skee-ball machines. “The two don’t have to be exclusive.”
Letting out a heavy breath, Knox snatched his beer and tipped it for a healthy draw.
“For a guy that looked as comfortable as you did about fifteen minutes ago, that sound doesn’t jibe,” Trevor said.
“Sure it does,” Zeke said before Knox could answer. “Or did you forget how long it took for him to figure out we weren’t gonna leave his ass swingin’ in the wind? The only thing Knox does fast is type and hack into other people’s business. Everything else he has to stew on and overthink twice as long as the rest of us.”
“That true?” Danny asked. “We pushing where we shouldn’t be?”
Knox set his beer bottle on the table and shrugged. “You’re not asking anything not already in my head. I’m just not ready to go there. Not yet.” He anchored both forearms on the table and grappled for some way to share what was in his head without coming off like a ginormous pussy. “She knows about me. My past. All of it.”
“You ask me, that’s the biggest hurdle you’ve got,” Axel said.
“For me, yeah.” Knox studied his brothers, letting his gaze rest on each of them for a split second before moving to the next. “But I don’t know hers. I’m the only one standing out there full Monty, and until she’s ready to do the same, I’m not willing to bring my family into it.”
“We’re already in it, brother.” Jace sat forward, mirroring Knox’s pose. “We always will be. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got a toe in or the whole damned enchilada. We’re always with you.”
“Not like you to beat around the bush, though,” Axel said. “If not knowin’ her past is the only thing holding you back, just ask her.”
It wasn’t like him. But then nothing he’d done since laying eyes on Darya had been status quo. He met Axel’s steady stare. “Is it whacked I want her to give it to me?”
The hardness in his green gaze softened, understanding and a shit ton of compassion reflected back at him. “Not whacked at all. Surrender’s the sweetest gift a woman can ever give a man. Worth the effort to earn and the wait that goes with it.”
“So, we wait,” Trevor said, the easy drawl in his voice belying the stout vow behind his words. He rocked forward, guiding the front two legs of his chair back on the floor, grabbed his beer and lifted it in salute. “But we do it together and give your girl a safe place to share.”
The rest of the guys grabbed their drinks and lifted them as well, a mixed chorus of agreement echoing back at him.
God, they were a motley group. Every one of them incredibly different and fallible on their own, but unbreakable and steadfast as a whole. And they were his. His brothers. The family he’d always wanted patiently waiting and willing to support his future however he chose to build it. He lifted his own drink. “Yeah, we do it together.”