****

Robert

“Fore!” Joshua yelled as Aaron took a swing at the ball with his golf club.

I squinted at the sun shining brightly, high in the sky, as I tried to follow the ball’s trajectory. I lost it somewhere in the distance, not finding it again until it landed only a few inches away from the hole Aaron had been aiming for.

“Excellent,” I grunted.

“You know, this is an eerily normal way for the five of us to be spending time together.”

Frowning, I turned to my youngest, the shit starter that he was. “I almost told your mother to abort you,” I responded.

Tyler, not taking me seriously, merely bent over, laughing. “Could you imagine this family without me?”

No. No, I couldn’t. The problem was he knew it, too.

“Little shit he might be, but he does have a point, Father.” That was Joshua, my more level headed, even-keeled child, except for rare occasions.

“We spend quality time together,” I finally responded while pulling one of my sleek, new stainless steel clubs from the bag that held it.

“Yup, usually spent in basements of abandoned homes …” Joshua stated.

“Or out in the woods,” Carter added.

“And the hidden office in Townsend Industries,” Aaron tacked on.

I made a sound, something between a grunt and a laugh. These little fuckers were right. We did have a particularly odd way of spending family time together. But that was because … “A threat to one of us, is a threat to all of us. Someone messes with one of you, and the rest of you don’t step up, you’ll have to deal with me.” I’d never hit my boys while they were growing up. Never even thought of it. I didn’t want to raise them the way I’d been raised.

But I sure as hell taught them how to strike at someone who posed a threat to them or their family.

“Same lesson I expect you to pass on to all of your sons. I only learned the importance of protecting my family when I first fell for your mother.”

“Are you going to tell us more of the story?” Tyler questioned.

I watched as all four of my sons moved in closer. They obviously wanted to hear more.

Acquiescing, I shoved the golf club back into my bag and leaned against one of the carts we’d rented for the day.

“Sure.”

Chapter Six

Then

Robert

How in the hell does a woman make studying World Mythologies fucking sexy? That was the question that’d been dominating my thoughts over the last thirty minutes. We were in the library again, using one of the silent study rooms to work on our class assignment.

“Did you get the bo— What? Do I have something in my hair?” Deborah questioned when she looked up and saw me staring. She began running her hand through her long, dark brown tresses as if trying to remove whatever she thought was in it.

I grinned, a move I rarely ever did but came naturally when around her.