Page 25 of Navy

Entering the large barn, I had to smile. It was probably the cleanest barn I’d ever been in. From the few cleaned up oil stains on the floor, I assumed that it usually housed machinery, but it had all been moved out so the kids could camp in the barn over the weekend. I’d have loved to have done something like this as a kid but could just imagine what my mother and father would have had to say about it.

“Come on,” Derek says waving his hand towards the ladder. Taking hold of it, I give it a good shake to test it. It seems sturdy enough.

“It’s fine,” Derek assures me. “I’d never let you or any of my family get hurt.”

Taking hold of the sides of the ladder, I climb very aware of the man coming up behind me.

Once I’m in the loft, I step aside and take a look around. They’ve done a pretty good job of clearing it all out. It now just needs to be cleaned.

It was a good afternoon. I’d not had so much fun in a long time. Vi and George were hilarious. I’d not spent much time around younger children, but I couldn’t imagine they were all like this. And they adored Navy, which went a long way to easing my mind even further that he was everything that he seemed.

“What do you have to do tomorrow?” I ask George and Vi curiously.

“We’ll bring the camp beds, sleeping bags, and the solar lamps and start setting them up. I know we’ll probably have adults here, but we’ll put them downstairs.” Violet looked at Navy a question in her eyes, “Will that be okay, Uncle Alan?”

“That will be fine, sweetheart,” he assures her. “Better make it three beds for the MC.”

“Five,” Derek tells her. “Make it five all together. Tristan and I’ll stay here as well.”

Surprised, I don’t say anything. I was actually looking forward to this weekend.

Navy raised a brow but didn’t veto Derek’s suggestion.

“Five it is,” he agreed.

“I’m not sure if we have enough camp beds and sleeping bags for everyone,” Vi worries.

Derek pulls gently on her ponytail, “Don’t worry, Vi, tomorrow you and I can go to the camp store and buy what we need. It will be fine, sweetheart. I promise.”

She gives him a bright smile, throwing her arms around him, “Thank you, Derek.”

Not giving him time to reply, she releases him and runs out the barn door, shouting for her brother who’d left earlier with his dad. With them gone, it left only Navy, Derek, and me in the barn.

His eyes on Derek, Navy tilts his head towards the barn door. Derek frowns and crosses his arms over his chest. Navy does nothing, just stares at him for what seems hours but I’m sure it’s just a few minutes until Derek caves.

“Fine,” he huffs before walking towards the doors where he stops to point at Navy. “Don’t fuck things up.” With one last look at me, he walks out the doors.

I wait and I wait until finally I can’t help but blurt out, “I’m not like Julian. I’m not him.”

“I know,” Navy grins at me. I let out a sigh of relief. Until that moment, I hadn’t realised how much I wanted Navy to like me. Not just for my sister, but if things went where I hoped they would with Derek, then our lives would be entwined twice over.

“Fuck,” I let out another breath that left me on a whistle.

“I had to be sure,” Navy explains. “Not only for Gia’s sake but also because you seem to have caught Derek’s interest and that in itself is something.”

“Why?”

Navy shrugs and leans against the open barn door. Joining him, I lean against the other door and look out at a paddock that had sheep. It was a picturesque scene, with the sun just going down.

“Derek’s in charge of our security. He takes his job seriously. When he was about your age, someone tried to take advantage of that. It was a lesson learned and since then he’s always held back until he could be sure that there is no harm meant to our family. But with you, he hasn’t done that. I’m not the oldest, but out of the three of us, I have the most knowledge and experience when it comes to fuckery and people that cater to fuckery. It’s up to me to look out for them even if they don’t want it.

“I needed to make sure you were trustworthy even if Gia and your grandmother assured me you were. I’m a pretty good judge of character, so I waited and observed. You had a good time this afternoon.”

“I did,” I agreed. “I’ve had a good time since I arrived this morning. I didn’t realise that families could be like this.”

Navy laughs, “You think this is madness, wait until the rest of the family arrive this weekend. I’m glad you’re staying.”

“Thanks.”