Chapter 107: Rhys
Caleb popped right back up, but the stunned look on his face didn’t disappear quite as quick, as I jumped between them, a hand out in each direction.
“Good to see you too,” Caleb mumbled under his breath.
In the past, that would have been all it would have taken for Caleb to start a fight, but Sammy was watching, and I knew he was trying to be better than before.
“Dad?” Sammy’s voice held the question we were all wondering.
“I’m okay, Sweetie,” He soothed as she ran over and wrapped her little arms around his waist. “Uncle Sawyer was just having some fun.”
Sawyer’s face paled as he stared at the little girl who looked so much like her dad it was a little unnerving.
“Sawyer,” Caleb’s voice turned a little nervous as Maizie called the other kids over for lunch. “This is your niece, Sammy. Sammy, this is your Uncle Sawyer. He’s my brother, just like Uncle Rhys.”
“Why did he push you?” She asked innocently with a little glare toward Sawyer.
“He was mad at me.” Caleb shrugged. “Brothers do that sometimes, and I kind of deserved it.”
“Well pushing people is never nice and you never deserve physical punishment. Come on dad, you know this.” She lectured cutely, causing Grace to stifle a giggle just behind me.
“You’re right. And Sawyer’s sorry, so why don’t you go grab your lunch from Maizie, I’m going to talk to my brothers for a few minutes, and then I’ll come hang out with you and Jack.”
The little girl looked at all of us before finally landing on Sawyer. She raised two fingers to her eyes and turned them to Sawyer, and I raised my brows at her boldness. She was fiercely protective of Caleb which I was lowkey glad for because someone needed to be.
“Well, she’s definitely your kid,” Sawyer muttered.
Caleb smiled softly as he looked at her on her way to find Maizie. “Yea, she is. She is the best thing to ever have happened to me.”
“Hopefully she isn’t a fuck-up like her dad.”
A flash of hurt crossed Caleb’s face before he pushed it away the way we were all trained to do with our emotions.
“I thought you of all people would be happy to see me?”
“You thought wrong.” Sawyer snapped at him.
A quick look at Sawyer showed that he was furious and getting tired. We needed to wrap this up or he would push too far and end up exactly where we had just left.
“Sawyer...” Grace placed her hand on his shoulder, her tone sympathetic.
“No! He left! He doesn’t get to waltz back in here as if everything is fine!” Sawyer shouted causing all of kids to look at us.
“Is everything okay over here?” Maize asked as she wiped her hands on the towel she had clipped to her waist.
“Fine.” Sawyer answered through gritted teeth.
Maizie ignored Sawyer’s attitude, and the fact that she was surrounded by not just 1, but 3 princes. “Well then whatever this is, break it up, or do it somewhere else. You’re scaring the kids, and I won’t allow that.”
“I’m going to my room,” Sawyer grumbled, and nobody moved to stop him, but we all watched him go.
I honestly was really surprised by his reaction. I had been so sure that he was going to be happy that Caleb was back... But clearly, I was wrong.
Maizie whirled back around and pointed at both Caleb and I.
“Why would you blindside him like that?” She whispered angrily. “You knew he was fragile!”
“Remember who you’re talking to.” I growled softly, not appreciating the disrespect.
“I don’t care if you are the Alpha King or the King of fucking England, you don’t get to make a scene in front of the kids or treat your brother like his feelings don’t matter. You chose to handle this poorly, so you deal with the consequences.”
She then turned on her heel and headed back to the small kitchen she was using to serve all of the kids lunch. I stared after her, a little shocked before turning to Grace to see her reaction.
Grace however just shrugged and said, “She’s right. We should have told him as soon as he was strong enough to know. He could have processed before seeing Caleb in his kitchen.”
I rolled my eyes. She had suggested telling him a while ago, but I had asked her to wait, and low and behold my mate was right. Fucking shocker.
“Come on, let’s go, we have a meeting to get to.” I said, placing my hand on the small of Grace’s back.
“I have to shower first,” Grace rolled her eyes.
I smirked. It was not a fact I had forgotten as I guided her to our room.
“Are you still mad?”
A small frown creased Grace’s face. “Mad at what?” She asked.
My smirk grew. “Nothing.” I told her as I set my finger on the keypad to let us in.
She looked up at me with narrowed eyes as our door swung open.
“What are you up to?” She questioned.
“Why would you think anything is up, my love?” I played innocent, it wasn’t time yet for her surprise. We still had a lot of day left before tonight.
“You’re being weird.” She answered, scrunching her nose up in the cutest way. Damn. I was falling harder and harder for her every day. “And aren’t you worried about Sawyer and his reaction to Caleb? Do you think we should move Caleb downstairs?”
“We haven’t told anyone that he’s back yet.” I reminded her as she grabbed a light blue sundress and a long sleeve white tee to go under it.
“Well, maybe we need to be more translucent.” She answered.
“Maybe when we have more information.” I conceded. “But for now, I think our best option is to get all of our ducks in a row and then lay it all out.”
“Aye Aye sir,” She smiled, saluting at me.
She slipped in the bathroom and began to shut the door, but I caught it.
“Am I not invited to this shower?”
She laughed, a sound I would spend forever trying to replicate, even if it was in my face. “No. We have things to do, remember? And if you come in here with me, we’ll never get through any of them.”
I pouted, but she didn’t fall for it. She just gently removed my fingers, shut the door, and clicked the lock into place. A few weeks ago, I would have never imagined Grace to have this level of confidence. But ever since the night of the attack and Ethan’s betrayal, she was a new person. And because of her, so was I.