“Isaac. You need to get up. Ryder and Hunter are coming over to talk to you, and my husband told them that you had never been better,” she says in a surprisingly strict voice. She has pink hair. I thought she would be fun. She’s just as strict as Joslin, and that woman wields a Bible like a weapon – she beat me off her couch with it once and pretended that she accidentally dropped it.
I guess you can’t judge a Black woman by her hair color… Damara keeps glaring at me as I stare at the messy pink strands, wondering when I turned into such a kid that a chick with pink hair is telling me to get my shit together. I’m too old for this… And too…
Damara won’t like my excuses, but I try anyway. “I’m too drunk.”
“Boy if you don’t get your ass up and pull yourself together, I will make Magnum wash you myself.”
“Babe?” Magnum gently inquires from a safe distance.Coward.
“Fine,” I groan. “I’ll get up.”
I head to the shower reluctantly and get clean. By the time I come back out into Damara and Magnum’s living room, we have company. At least I don’t look like garbage. Hunter and Ryder used to look more similar when they were kids, but it’s still eerie having those identical pairs of green eyes staring at me.
“Just like Damara said, I’m fine.”
“She said you were on the verge of suicide,” Ryder says. “And that you needed some purpose in life or she would start whipping you.”
“You do look like shit,” Hunter says.
“I showered.”
“You haven’t trimmed your beard and your hair is… a mess.”
“What the fuck are you all here for? If I’ve overstayed my welcome, I’ll get on my bike and fuck right off.”
Considering what happened the last time I saw Tylee, she’ll shoot me if I get anywhere near the house.
“We’re going out tonight with Wyatt to track Tylee down. She has the kids somewhere and we’re going to find them,” Hunter says. In this context, his words might as well have come from Wyatt himself. From the first time I wanted his sister, he warned me that it would end badly. Three kids later and I convinced myself that I had won. It didn’t matter how badly shit got between us because we had that family binding us together.
My heart aches with their absence. Tylee, I don’t miss as much, but I need my children close to me. I hate that she would use them against me, and I hate that none of them seem to understand. They have their kids – and wives that would never consider taking them away. Tylee’s different. She grew up in our world and that made her cunning.
“I haven’t seen Kyler, Max, or Aimee inthree weeks.They’re my children. I should be out there to pick them up myself,” I grunt, reaching for an open can of beer that might be Magnum’s. He doesn’t stop me from taking a sip. Damara alternates between looking at me with concern and her husband with absolute love.
Love that I’ll never know from any woman for as long as I live.
“Wyatt thinks that might be more dangerous for the kids. He’s pissed off at his sister and the only chance we have at getting through to her is Oske,” Hunter continues.
“So she wants money…”
“Yes, she wants money,” Ryder says. “She always does. There’s something you can do to keep busy if you want.”
“Have either of you seen the kids? Has anyone? For all I know Tylee put a pillow over their goddamn faces.”
I wish I didn’t have to go there, but I can’t stand this.
“Wyatt spoke to them,” Hunter says, his tone coated with understanding that wasn’t enough for me. “Tylee’s lost it. Okay? We get it. But she gets pissed off at the idea of you coming close to her, and we’re worried about them.”
“I love those kids,” Ryder says. “Even if they sneeze a lot.”
“I can’t sit around doing nothing while other men save my children.”
“Do you want the kids to have a father to come home to?” Hunter asks. “Because that’s what we’re talking about. Tylee has access to our network. She’s cunning. She knows how all of us work. If she doesn’t want you getting near those kids…”
Yeah, he’s probably thinking of the same fucked up pillow scenario that popped into my head where she kills them for revenge. I wouldn’t have thought Tylee capable of that, but I never thought of her being capable of drugging another woman so that Magnum could get her pregnant. The implications there disturb me very deeply and Tylee seems to think my mistakes make it all okay.
I won’t deny I’ve made mistakes, but I still love the fuck out of my kids and family.
“So what’s the plan? I sit on my ass?”