Jensen
I called my parents to tell them we'd moved back to town. I was biting on a bullet casing the entire time I was talking to my father. I know this wasn't easy on our parents.
We can't exactly tell them we killed some high school boys, so it was getting trained to be professional killers or to go to prison for thirty years or longer.
My parents were told we got a once-in-a-lifetime classified job offer. We couldn't say what exactly it was we would do for them. Luckily, Sawyer and Nate didn't bother to correct the lie. They were the only ones who knew most of the truth.
So, tonight is a family dinner that they have once a week on Friday nights. Dad demanded all four of us show up, no exceptions. I'm positive they missed the guys as much as they did me.
Carter, probably more so. He is the favorite of the group.
Carter was forever getting out of trouble as we were growing up, even though he was usually the one to suggest whatever would get us into trouble.
Lucky jerk. He still has a knack for that, too. The rest of us end up bleeding while he won't even have a scratch on him. Most of that is because he runs the IT part of our job.
We arrive at the house. I rode with Storm while JT rode with Carter. My dad drooled over Storm's '69 AMC and Carter's '70 Torino. My mom must be cooking since Dad is the one who met us outside. That or he hasn't started the grill yet.
"I'm about to start the grill. Come on in boys, I've missed you." Dad gives us each a hug.
He has silver hair at his temples that weren't there before in his brown hair. He has more lines around his eyes and mouth.
On our way through the kitchen to the backyard, Mom gives all bear hugs, cooing about how happy she is that her babies are finally home where they belong.
I have a feeling we are going to receive the same treatment from JT's grandmother.
Storm's mother lives in Texas with her wife. Carter won't talk about his family. Which sucks because we are good friends with his twin sister Carley and her husbands.
We head out to the back patio. I'm shocked at how different the backyard looks. There is a whole playground. It's complete with sand, a swing set, a merry-go-round, a seesaw, a jungle gym, and a big pirate ship playhouse with glittering fairies painted on it.
WTF!
Just when I'm about to ask Dad about it, I hear giggling coming from the ship and a curly-headed blonde girl pops out on top of the playhouse. She is adorable and looks so familiar, yet different.
Carmen peers out from behind it with a giant smile on her face, followed by a blonde guy with tattoos all down his arms. He scoops up the little girl, causing her to squeal.
Is this little girl my niece? Did Carmen have a kid with the guy?
"Help! Mommy! Germ got me!" she giggles.
Carmen wraps her arms around the man and girl. "I got you both now!" She laughs.
My heart clenches at the sight.
"Grumps!" the little girl shouts.
My dad chuckles. "Your mommy isn't coming to help you, Katie Pop. You tell your Uncle Germ and Aunt Cary to put you down." The little girl does as Dad says, which confuses me even more.
"Do you want me to send Uncle Crew to put them in jail for mutiny?" Dad asks her, amused.
"Crew put the scallywags in the brig!" A large bald, black-bearded, tattooed guy climbs up onto the ship with a foam sword pointed at Carmen and the guy called Germ. A boy with reddish brown hair is on his shoulders.
Did Carmen have these kids? When?
"Aye, aye, Captain Pop!" the boy shouts.
"To the brig with you vermin," the bald guy says, pointing at them with his sword. I'm shocked to see a big guy like him playing pirates with children.
Carmen and Germ put their arms up in surrender, smiling at the children as they do as they're told, climbing down to the bottom of the ship.
I'm confused because if Carmen is Aunt Cary, who are these children? I know my parents couldn't have another kid, let alone two.
I share a confused look with my brothers, who are frowning at the scene before them. I know they want to ask the same questions I do.
But before I can ask Dad, Sawyer comes out carrying a plate of steaks to Dad. "Grams said to deliver you your meat now that I'm off the phone."
Sawyer walks out wearing a navy skater dress with black leggings underneath and brown flat knee-high boots. Her rainbow hair is pulled up into a high ponytail. I feel my cock grow to life at the sight of her.
Dad thanks Sawyer taking the tray from her. She then bends down into the small fridge, extracting a local brewery beer from it. She pops the top.
She looks at us staring at her. "Beer is in here. Help yourselves."
I watch her throat work as she tips the beer back to drink. My cock twitches and my mouth feels dry.
Sawyer must be even closer to my parents now.
She walks towards the pirate ship, my eyes following her. "Ahoy, Captain Pop! Where be Cary and Germ?"
"Ahoy, first mate Mommy! The crew put them in the brig for mutetany."
Sawyer arches her brow. "Mutiny, huh?"
"They tried to assassinate the captain, but I took care of it," the bald man says with a grin.
Sawyer hugs him. "Good job, crewman Crew."
That guy better not be her boyfriend.
She then sets her sights on the auburn boy standing beside the guy. "Crew did us, proud Mom!" Sawyer bends down to eye level with the little boy, pulling him in for a hug while laughing.
The children are calling Sawyer mommy and mom. Sawyer is a mother. Does that mean the bald guy is the father?
I fall heavily into the nearest patio chair. I notice the others have done the same around the round patio table.
"Did we just hear right? Those little children are Sawyer's?" I whisper to the guys, but not quietly enough since Dad hears.
"Yep. Those kiddos are Darius and Katie, our pride and joy. Katie is a miniature of when Sawyer was a little girl, minus the curls. I remember when you boys and Carmen first brought Sawyer home with you. She was between Darius's and Katie's ages. I think she was six?"
"How old are the kids, Dad?" I croak out. It's hard to talk with the lump in my throat.
"Dare just turned ten a week ago. Sawyer found out she was pregnant and didn't know who the father was. Nor does she care. She was miserable after you boys left until she found out about that life growing inside her. For a while there, we were afraid Sawyer would commit suicide, but Dare changed everything."
The guys and I share looks of anger, relief, and sadness.
"Sawyer finding out she was pregnant was heaven-sent. She started working her butt off to make a life for that little boy. Then five years later, here came Katie," Dad says proudly. I grunt a response.
"Sawyer's an excellent mother, and your mom and I are so thrilled about being those kids' god-grandparents. Hopefully, soon your sister and her two husbands will settle down and give us more grandbabies to love," he says with far too much hope and faith. I snort.
No hope for me, I guess. Thanks, Dad.
"Wait, husbands?" Carter asks.
Dad grunts and then points to the bald man first. "Yep, Cruise, and the other one sword-fighting Sawyer is Jeremy. Those three have been together for five years now. They were handfasted on a Sunday, which I guess is akin to being married."
Dad is so accepting. Well, good for my little sister.
"So does Sawyer have anyone?" I ask Dad, needing to know the answer.
"No, just the kiddos. Carmen and her guys help Sawyer raise them. So do your mom and me," Dad replies.
My family is a tribe raising the next generation altogether. I'm so happy Sawyer wasn't alone all these years while we fought to get stronger to keep her safe.
The children finally noticed my brothers and me. "Who are they, Cary?" The little girl asks my sister.
My sister's lips twist into a maniacal grin. Oh no, I know that look. "See the one that looks like me?" The little nods her head. "That's your missing Uncle Jen, and the other three are in his crew. What's say you, Captain Pop, should we attack them?"
We are about to be beaten with foam swords. I can feel it.
Sure enough, I'm correct. We are surrounded by foam swords held to our throats by Carmen, her husbands, Sawyer, Darius, and Captain Pop herself.
The little boy looks at Dad, who is flipping the steaks. "Grumps? Do we have more swords? We can't fight a crew with no swords."
"Sorry, Hachiman. They are just going to be unarmed this time. I'll have Grams pick up swords for them when she goes shopping for your uncles." The boy's eyes widen and so does Sawyer's, but she turns her head away from her son.
"I have more uncles. They are my uncles, Mommy?" The girl Katie asks.
Sawyer must face her questioning children now. She is chewing on her bottom lip. "Yes, and no. Remember how I explained Cary, Crew, and Germ aren't blood-related, but Mommy views them as the family?" The children nod and Sawyer blows out a breath. "Same with these guys. I guess."
Ouch. That didn't sound very convincing to me.
"But Jen is my blood-related brother and Grams and Grumps' son," Carmen says, nodding to me.
I cannot help but smile at the little girl holding a pink foam sword to my throat. Her eyes are wide with wonder.
"Who are the rest?" Darius asks my sister.
"I'm Jensen, but you can call me Jen." I point to the man beside me. "This is Storm. You can call him whatever you like."
I wink at her, which earns me a giggle from the children, but a scoff from Storm.
I go around the table, pointing at JT next. "This is Jonathan Thomas, but we call him JT. This other guy next to me is Carter." Carter winks at her, which causes Katie to squeal.
"Car!" she shouts, pointing out to him with her opposite hand. Carter nods and laughs, clearly happy about his new nickname. He also seemed a little depressed as well, but it was fleeting.
Katie looks at Sawyer. "What do you call them, Mommy?" From the look on Sawyer's face, this could go one of two ways with the nicknames she has given us.
Sawyer laughs. "I'm not telling you their curse names, so I'll tell you what Mommy called them when we were kids." Katie nods like that is acceptable to her.
Sawyer's sword is already pointed at Storm's throat. "Clyde." She points at JT next. "Capone." Now Carter, "Orpheus." Finally, me.
I gulp. Mine is the most embarrassing.
"Romeo."
"Orfus? Like that story, you read me. Orfus and Ridicy," Katie queries.
Sawyer chuckles.
"It's Orpheus and Eurydice," Darius says with an eye roll.
Does Sawyer seriously read these kids' Greek tragedies as a bedtime story to her children?
I thought she would read the kids' manga instead. She was obsessed with them and anime as a teenager.
Carter smiles at Katie, leaning into her like he is telling her a secret. "Did you know I call your mom Eurydice? We used to read that story to each other all the time." The children's eyes light up.
"You're on my crew then!" Katie shouts.
Seriously!? Carter and his damn good luck!
Carter salutes her, standing in front of Carmen's darker husband.
"Captain Cary and first mate Germ, the other three are your new crew! First, mate Mommy and I will take Car."
Sawyer cackles. "Avast crewman, Car. We have a ship to defend! Crewman Crew guard Captains Pop and Hachiman well." I watch as they run to climb on top of the pirate ship.
"Alright, Pop has spoken, so it looks like you three are on my crew. It's usually just Jeremy and me, so we never win. The object of this game is to kidnap Captains Pop and Hachiman while defeating their crew."
Storm and I grin at each other. Oh, we got this. Although Carter knows all our tricks, it might be slightly difficult, as we are used to working as a team.
"Avast crewmen Jen, Storm, and JT! Let's go capture us a pirate ship!" Carmen shouts. We join her in exclamation for the fearsome fight ahead of us.
Dad ends our game when I scoop up Captain Pop in a football carry and run into the house for dinner.
Storm captured Captain Hachiman, throwing him over one shoulder.
I help Katie wash her hands as she stands on her purple fairy stool. "That was fun, Jen! I'll take my ship back when we play again."
I dry my hands and then ruffle her hair. "You can try Captain Pop, but crewman Storm and I are planning a mutiny to take over the crew from Captain Cary. She is a horrible captain," I say conspiratorially. Katie laughs in agreement with me.
Mom is smiling at us as we enter and kisses me on the cheek after I settle Katie in her seat. "It's great to have you home, Jensen."
It's great to be home, I think.
Even if things aren't the way we left them with Darius and Katie in the mix. I already feel just as protective of them.
Explaining the fact, we are working for a private security company went better than I thought. Dad was afraid because of our cars that we were into something illegal.
I found myself able to get along with both of my sister's husbands. They both work for Sawyer, which I'm thankful for since that means she is safe with them there. They treat her as though she is their sister outside of work, from what I can tell.
After dinner, the guys and I head to Storm's apartment to drink. All of us are still in awe of the fact Sawyer is a mother.
Our girl is a mom.
"Why didn't she say anything about the kids when we talked?" Carter asks.
"Knowing Sawyer, it's because she wanted to protect her children. If we're never going to be around her, why would we need to know?" Storm points out.
My parents could have told me about them, but they didn't either. Then again, it wasn't their business to inform me.
"Sawyer having children changes nothing." JT is correct.
We will willingly still protect those children, same as the rest of our loved ones.
"We could have been helping Sawyer raise them. They could have been our kids if we would have stuck around," I say, still going over the what-ifs of never getting caught and staying in town.
"Still can be, but it's up to Sawyer if she wants us in her life again," Storm says solemnly, swallowing two pulls straight from his whiskey bottle.
I'm not sure how well he will do with children. He has done a lot of things over the years, which makes him an exceptional leader.
His emotions don't get in his way. I'm worried that one of these days his emotions are going to come rushing back and cause him to have a mental break.
"Those offspring are so much like Sawyer. It was like playing with her as kids again," JT says grinning ear to ear.
Katie had fallen asleep in Carter's lap while we all sat around talking to my parents. When he tucked her into her car seat, I swear I saw his heart swell.
However, being called 'Car' once again simultaneously broke it. There is a lot of history for him with that nickname that also comes with a truckload of regret attached.
It is a big deal for Katie to give someone a nickname, according to my mom, too. So, there's that. Lucky jerk.
Darius is a sturdy boy who stayed awake the whole time listening to stories of us as children. He didn't want to get in the car, but we convinced him by getting into ours to go home.
Storm's burner phone rings, which can only mean one thing: we have a job tonight. Ugh, it was a nice Sunday night, too.
"Tempest," he answers, putting it on speaker.
"You have a job in a nearby town a few hours from you. A quick one and done," the man with the same Texas accent as Carter drawls.
A job for us can mean multiple things, but one and done is code for assassination. "We are sending Gator with the information. He'll find you. Thank you for getting this done promptly." Promptly means we have a week to gather info and get it done.
"Yes sir, Fox. We will get it done," Storm affirms to the head of the Death Kings. Fox King is his code name. It used to be the White Fox, but over the years, it has morphed. Even though we know his real identity, we never refer to Doctor Ryder Fuchs-Jamison as anything other than Fox when we are called for a job.
"Very good, Clyde." The phone goes dead with those succinct words.
Clyde is Storm's codename. We all have code names, that are the very nicknames that Sawyer gave us.
Our lives still revolve around that woman and always will. We don't know how Ryder knew them when he recruited us, saving us from prison. He is scarily good at information gathering.
"Well, we should get some sleep. We have a date with the Gator King tomorrow," Storm says, drinking more whiskey.
JT and I leave, while Carter hangs back with Storm.
I'm excited to see Gator tomorrow. We haven't seen him since our first joint job with C.H.A.O.S.