“We didn’t want you to kill him without us seeing it,” Declan says to Ben calmly. “He’s a big guy. It could be a good show.”
“I want to help,” Eli says.
“You do realize that without me, you and Kate wouldn’t be,” I remind him. “Don’t make me regret encouraging her to forgive you for being an idiot.”
Beau lays on a bench and begins doing bench press.
“As I was saying,” Ben says, glaring at the other guys. “Gabby is important to all of us. She’s sweet, and she has an innocence about her that makes her vulnerable.”
“She’s the strongest person I know,” I reply. She’s not weak.
“She’s been through a lot,” Ben continues. “I wanted to kill the fucker who knocked her up and left her high and dry, but no one would let me.”
“I would have let you,” Beau says. “If I could have helped.”
“I’d like to kill him myself,” I add.
“Let me put it this way,” Ben says as he steps closer to me. I stand my ground, looking him unblinkingly in the eyes. I’ll be damned if he’s going to intimidate me and scare me away. “If you fuck with her and break her heart, I’ll kill you and no one will ever find the body. I may go to jail, but it won’t be because they found your body.”
“I’m not going to hurt her,” I reply and shake my head. “Hurting her is the farthest thing from my mind. I love her, for fuck sake.”
I push my hands through my hair and pace. “Why does everyone always assume that I’ll break her heart?”
“Because you’re not permanent,” Declan replies. “You’re here for a while, but then you’re leaving again, and Gabby’s home is here.”
“I am gone a lot for my job,” I agree. “But that doesn’t mean that Gabby and Sam can’t join me in the summer sometimes, or that I can’t make New Orleans my home base.”
“You’d do that?” Beau asks, not looking convinced. “You’d uproot your life for her?”
“I’d do anything for her,” I reply honestly. “She is all that matters.”
“There’s Sam too,” Eli says. “They are a package deal.”
“Absolutely. Jesus, do you all think I’m such an asshole that I don’t know that Sam is, and will always be, a part of it?”
“We don’t think you’re an asshole,” Declan says. “We’ve seen the way you look at Gabby, the way you treat both of them, and if we thought it was with anything less than love and kindness, we’d have killed you already.”
“But kids complicate relationships,” Ben says. “People put up with someone’s kid for a while, and then get tired of them.”
Now I’m just getting pissed.
“Those people are assholes,” I reply coldly. “Sam is a great boy. He’s smart and loving, and I love having him around. He’s not an add-on or something for me to tolerate.”
“Gabby’s young, and she’s been through a lot,” Eli begins, but I whirl, cutting him off.
“You’re pissing me off with this whole Gabby’s innocent and weak shit you keep flinging at me. She’s not fucking weak. She’s the strongest person I know, and if you had any respect or love for her at all, you’d see that too. If she didn’t want me around, or if I did something to piss her off, trust me, she’d be the first to kick my ass.
“She’s the most amazing mother I’ve seen, and I was raised by one of the best there is. She loves that boy more than anything. She’d die before she ever let him come into harm’s way. But you know what? She’d do the same for any of you, or anyone else she loves. She’s fiercely loyal, and she loves so big for someone so small.
“Just because she’s a little thing doesn’t mean that she’s weak.”
I stop pacing and ranting to find all four men standing with their arms crossed and smiles on their faces.
“You’re right,” Beau says. “So what are you going to do?”
What am I going to do?
“I’m going to make sure she knows how magnificent she is, and I’m going to beg her to have mercy on me and be with me forever.”
“There better be a ring in there somewhere,” Beau says.
“She can have anything she wants,” I reply. “You guys do know that I do quite well at baseball.”
“If we didn’t think you could take care of her, you wouldn’t be here,” Ben says quietly. “But the money is only one piece of it. No woman we love will ever be hurt by a man again, not if we can stop it.”
“I get it.” I rub my hands over my face, and then meet Eli’s eyes with mine. “You know I get it. Kate was hurt more than any human being should be, and I couldn’t stop it. It’s the most helpless, fucked-up feeling there is. No one deserves that. You have to know that I’d kill anyone that ever tried to hurt her that way again.”
“I do know,” Eli says with a nod.
“And I’d die before I ever let Gabby be hurt. I don’t want to hurt her, I want to love her. I want to make sure she and Sam are safe and happy, always.”
.Beau, Declan, and Ben are much more relaxed. Almost…jovial.
“Did I miss something?”
“Nope, we’re just happy with your response,” Beau says. “Shall we go back in so I can continue to kick Eli’s ass at pool?”