Free Soothing His Madness by Debra Kayn

did the
air he desperately need the last two weeks without his boys fill his lungs. He
leaned forward and braced his arms on the handlebars of his bike, and let his
head fall between his hands. Rain slapped him on the shoulder. He raised his
head and the relief was so great, he laughed.
    Raul grinned,
joining in the laughter. Rain raised his gaze to the sky and shook his head in
amusement. Slade kept laughing, because damned if it didn't feel good.
    Rain walked over
and sat his Harley. "If you boys are done fucking around, let's
ride."
    Slade started the
Harley, and followed the dust trail onto the highway. He couldn't wait to get
his arms around his family. Now that he had half his problems fixed, he could
protect and love his family the way they deserved. He filled his lungs with
fresh air. It was a damn good feeling to have the madness at bay for a change.

 
    Chapter Eleven
    Torque entered
Cactus cove and lifted his chin at Taylor. She leaned against the bar waiting
to clean table number six, smiled and turned around to sit on a bar stool when
she froze, catching a glimpse of a red T-shirt squeezing out from behind
Torque's body.
    Lee fell into the
room, skidding on his sneakers. Taylor's heart raced. Far as she knew, the boys
were supposed to be at their mother's house, and nowhere near Slade. The judge
was very precise on the orders that he only had contact with his kids every
other weekend.
    She hurried over,
catching Lee as he threw himself at her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
She gazed up at Torque. "What are you doing? This could get Slade in
trouble," she whispered.
    "Slade
knows." Torque ruffled his hand in Kurt's hair. "Little men are going
to hang with us. Slade's on his way here."
    All she could do was
stare bug eyed at Torque. He wasn't giving her any answers, and Slade made no
mention of the kids coming. In fact, the last thing he said was…
    "Oh my
God," she whispered. "He wouldn't…would he?"
    "Let's not go
there." Torque moved in closer and pressed his hand into her back, guiding
her over to a table. "I bet the kids would love one of Bruce's special
hamburgers with a load of fries. Why don't you go get the order started and
bring us all a big glass of milk."
    She glanced at the
kids sitting in the chairs to Torque watching her carefully. "Slade?"
    "Is
fine…" Torque raised his brows. "Breathe, sweetheart, and go get the
boys some food. They're hungry."
    On autopilot, she
gave the order to Bruce to relay to the cook, and then filled three glasses
with milk before returning to the table. She passed the boys their drink, and
handed the last milk to Torque.
    The lines around
his eyes intensified and his mouth softened. "Really?"
    "Huh?"
She glanced at the glass of milk in her hand when it dawned on her what she did.
"Sorry. I'll get you a beer."
    His hand came out
and tagged her elbow before she could hurry away. "Slow down. Sit. Milk
would probably be good for me—he raised his brows at the kids—bottoms up,
boys."
    Taylor sat down
when Torque pulled out an extra chair for her. She looked around helplessly,
wondering if she should be doing something. Maybe hiding the children in case
the police showed up or taking them back to their mother's house to keep Slade
from getting in trouble would help.
    Kurt wiped his
forearm across his mouth, erasing the milk mustache from his face.
"Where's dad?"
    "Well…"
She glanced at Torque, but he looked off in Ginger's direction. "I'm not
sure, but Torque says he's coming here."
    Lee whispered,
"We're sick."
    "Huh?"
She took in his grin, his legs swinging on the chair, and the excess energy
that kept him always moving. "Does your tummy hurt?"
    "We're not really
sick." Kurt kicked Lee under the table, eliciting a yelp from his brother.
"Dad had Aunt Tori text me last night. We were only pretending we had the
flu so we could stay home from school and Mrs. Baker would babysit us."
    The pounding of her
blood roared in Taylor's ears. She schooled her reaction to