I sighed. “He’s aware of the dangers of sex now, trust me.”
Aideen used her hands to wipe away her tears. The movements caused my eyes to shift to her arms. The burn scar on her forearm always made my chest hurt whenever I looked at it. It was a constant reminder that I once came close to losing her and Jax, who was in her belly at the time, when she was attacked by Big Phil, a nightmare from my past. But I eventually got revenge by taking his life.
“The boys are still down in Harley’s apartment,” she said, retaking my focus. “I’ll go get them. It’s almost dinnertime. They probably have me brother’s head melted.”
My brother-in-law had looked after my sons for close to two hours, so I had no doubt he needed a break from them. He did us a solid, though, taking our kids when he already had two of his own to look after. Game days were always a little crazy because we only had two sons in the same age group, but we somehow made it work. Jax was on the sixteen and under team with Locke who was fifteen. Beckett at eleven was on the under twelve team, Jagger at nine was on the under ten team, and Eli, who was seven, played on the eight and under team.
They had been like a herd of elephants just after seven in the morning, which baffled me because the first match, Eli’s game, didn’t start until after ten. Once they were all dressed in their gear and had their own soccer bags with all the essentials inside, we left our home and met up with my brothers and nephews down at the soccer fields next to the team clubhouse. As usual, Alec wasn’t there because he was banned from attending any of the kid’s games, home or away, for two years.
Damien and Ryder filled us in on the bullshit he pulled that morning with Alannah, and it started our day off with laughter. An hour later, the older boys won their games, and the younger kids lost theirs, which led to a lot of arguments about who was at fault and many unhappy faces. Our families split up afterwards, and Dominic took his boys out to see a movie and to eat after they showered in the clubhouse.
After’s Damien’s boys washed the grime and sweat away, they left to go and collect Alannah, who was finishing up her Saturday art class at the community centre. Ryder, the poor fucker, didn’t have time to make sure his kids and Alec’s kids were washed and dressed. Instead, he hustled them in his mini bus and drove home, no doubt dying for some peace and quiet. My three youngest, however, refused to shower because Jax and Locke made them believe the water was tainted with the sweat of dead soccer players who roamed the clubhouse grounds angry with whoever lost a game.
They stunk to hell and back, so much so that I opened all the windows in my car as I drove them home. After we got home, and they showered, all five of them went down to Harley’s apartment. He was the only remaining Collins brother to live in my building. Not long after the kids went down to his place, Aideen called him to send them back up because we had to go grocery shopping, but Harley was cool with them being in his home, so we went shopping.
Jax obviously took this opportunity to try to get some with his female friend.
“Hey?”
Aideen looked up at me.
“It’ll be okay, you know?”
She nodded. “I know, I think I’m just in shock at what we saw if I’m bein’ honest.”
“It’ll pass,” I said. “We’ll tease him about this when he is older.”
“A lot older.”
I chuckled and slapped her ass, making her jump then laugh as she left our apartment to retrieve our tribe. When I was alone, I pre-heated the oven, then got all the food I planned to cook out of the freezer. As I waited, I walked into the living, pausing to look at the many photos on the wall. I looked at my wedding photo, and I could remember that day like it was yesterday. I had worn a black suit, and Aideen had worn a beautiful plain white dress for our courthouse wedding.
She looked so beautiful; it still took my breath away. My eyes slid to the pictures of our kids, then pictures of me and my laughing brothers. I lingered on my brothers for a moment and felt myself smile. I wasn’t sure if they knew it or not, but they were the reason I had a wife and kids to love and adore. Growing up in a family with loveless parents would have completely ruined me had it not been for my brothers. We had been through the wringer, each of us hurting in our own way, but we came out on top.