“I don’t want to control Blake, Fenixx, I just—”
“Hate the thought of her getting hurt and would never forgive yourself if she did, and you weren’t there,” Fenixx finished, knowing exactly where my head was.
“Yeah,” I choked out, grateful for our triplet connection.
“Don’t you think it’s time, Drixx?” my brother asked quietly.
My fists gripped the steering wheel in a tight hold. “Yeah.”
“Good. Okay, she is off the horse, and nothing is broken or sprained by the looks of things so you can slow down. Noxx is in the ring with her, and helping her lead Hercules into the stables.”
Easing my foot off the pedal, I listened to what Nixx was saying, believing that he would never try to shit me, not when it came to Blake’s safety.
“How the fuck am I going to survive the next fifty or so years with her pulling these stunts,” I grumbled, not meaning to say my thoughts out loud.
“I have no idea mate, but fuck it is going to be fun watching it unfold,” Fenixx laughed before ending the call on me.
“Bastard.”
By the time it took me to drive the six kilometres through the paddocks to the training arena we’d set up for breaking horses, Blake or Hercules were nowhere in sight. My brother’s Cayenne was parked up by the main house, which meant he was still here with Daxx.
Parking the ute by the stable doors, I jumped out of the car.
“Blake!” I roared, slamming the car door with the force that matched my mood.
Receiving no answer, which didn’t surprise me, I strode up the gravel path and into the main stables where Blake had her own office. I had plans to move hers down the end of the row with mine, but it was something I put off simply because … well, because I knew how much of a distraction it would be for me having her so close. Now though, my plan was back to being a priority. No more waiting, no more procrastinating. The sooner she sees what she is to me, the sooner my mind can give me a rest.
I started in on her before I even got inside the small space she used for her office. It once had been a tack room, and even though we offered to build her a decent space, Blake insisted she liked the smell of the worn leather.
“Blake Isobel, what the fuck—and I’m talking to an empty room,” I muttered when I saw no sign of her. “Blake!” I yelled again in pure frustration, turning on my heels and taking off for the only other place she could be. If Daxx was here, then she must be with him, she had grown very fond of the rascal during his frequent visits to the Triple H, and it was really nice to see that they got along so well. I don’t know if Blake wants kids of her own one day, that wasn’t a subject we had ever discussed. Hell, to be honest, I don’t know if I want to have any either, I liked kids well enough, fucking loved Daxx and couldn’t wait for my niece to arrive, but having one of my own?
Suddenly, a vision of a little girl with white-blonde hair, hazel eyes and freckles across her nose appeared in my mind, and it nearly brought me to my knees. She looked so much like Blake did when she was no more than five years old, then my imagination decided to fuck with me more by adding a little boy with piercing blue eyes and a rough and ready smile, and my feet stumbled.
Maybe I did want kids, after all.
Interesting.
Breaking into a jog, I raced towards the house I grew up in. The big homestead style house held so many great memories, and it was the place to go to when you were feeling out of sorts because every corner, every room, every piece of furniture was familiar and safe. My brothers and I grew up knowing our parents loved us, our mum not afraid of showing it, Dad was more the tough love kind of a guy. He pushed us to work hard, not sit back and just take, he would never let us sit on our hands and let the Hott name make us into men, not my dad.
We worked the land before and after school, feeding horses mucking out stalls, lugging hay out to the cattle, driving tractors, and fixing farm equipment. All three of us were self-taught mechanics, expert horsemen and global businessmen. For me, the most important part of all those sides of me was the love I had for my family. Nothing mattered more than the people who still lived or once lived inside that big house.
Even my dad and what he had done behind our backs, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. Couldn’t replace the love and respect with the hatred that boiled below the surface inside me. Every time I saw Daxx and held him in my arms, that hatred threatened to take over, but I just couldn’t do it. I could not hate my father.
Shaking off the negativity towards my old man, I launched up the steps of the front porch. Before I could reach for the big old brass door handle, the door opened, and my nephew was standing there smiling a toothless grin at me.
“Hey, Drixx,” Daxx yelled out excitedly.
“G’day little dude, how’s my favourite kid?” I asked him, reaching down, I picked him up and tossed him up on my shoulders.
“Good! Mummy is fat and tired and she can’t stopped cryin’, cos she wants a gasm, but Daddy said she has to wait till after her nap,” Daxx announced as I walked into the lounge room and all the people in it.
“What’s a gasm, Drixx?”
Fenixx was standing by the large stone open fireplace, not even bothering to stop his laughter, nor was my mother.
Glaring at Noxx, who was unashamedly grinning, I gave him my
