RUNAWAY

/ 64 \

💄VERITY💄

Once the car was parked, I scanned the crowd of Skull Reapers. I paused at the view of who I knew to be Axton, based on the video chats. He was pretty tall and broad, but sculpted. From his smile, he seemed kind, but with eyes that you could tell had known pain. I glanced down and saw he was holding Reese and Leesa's hands. Both girls were so adorable, but it's clear that they took after their mom. Pale skin, matching blonde hair and and green eyes. A shade that seemed very familiar, but I couldn't think of whose eyes matched theirs. As I know for a fact I've never met their mom. One thing they certainly inherited from Axton was their height. Suddenly he let go of his daughter's hands and rushed to the car. I reached to open the door, but saw him grab the handle. It honestly bugged me a little, as I'm not a gentle Victorian lady. However, I understood his intentions and chose to smile instead.

There'll be a lot of things to correct him on, no need to ruin first impressions, Ver. However, I draw the line at him helping me out as if I'm pregnant or a granny.

"Welcome to Skull Reapers club, Verity." He cheerfully greeted and surprisingly didn't reach for my hand.

"Vega. It's safer to go by." I promptly corrected.

"Sorry, Vega."

"Hello, it's nice to meet you, Axton," I smiled with all of my teeth.

"Come meet the twins?" He invited with his outstretched hand.

I nodded and followed towards the girls and patchies with Garr following behind.

( ( HONNK ) ) ( ( HONNK ) )

We turned and saw a white limo pulling into the driveway beside Garr's car. The three of us stopped and waited to see who had arrived. A middle-aged Hispanic male exited and ran around to the side. He opened the door and stuck out his hand, palm facing upwards. Heeled feet attached to tan bare legs revealed the guest to be a lady. When the rest of her appeared you could tell she was a rich Hispanic girl.

"SURPRISSSSE." She shouted as she struck a silly pose before strutting towards us.

I inwardly rolled my eyes at the girl. She was wearing a noisy sequinned mini dress with a feathered boa draped over her arms.

"ROSALINDDDDA." The twins squealed and I turned to see two of the patchies hold the girls back.

"What are you doing here, Rosalinda?" Axton growled and I turned to face him.

Could this be THE Rosalinda? The one Axton and Garr had said was their ex-nanny?

After a beat, I decided to go to the twins and introduce myself. As I didn't want to get caught in the aftermath of the problematic girl. However just as I reached the girls, my phone vibrated.

( ( RINNNG ) ) ( ( RINNNG ) )

I shot the girls an apologetic smile before walking down the driveway. When I was a fair distance from prying ears, I took out my phone. The caller was labeled G-VIPER, I promptly redialed and after two rings they picked up.

"Ver-."

"Vega."

"Ve-ega?"