My Triplets

Ch. 9

I have kids. I’m a dad. Fuck I’m a dad. How in the hell did this happen? 2 weeks ago I was fucking women whenever I wanted and was just trying to survive. Now I have 3 little people who are counting on me to survive. Like what the fuck!

Walking into the house, I am pulled out of my thoughts by a scream of terror from one of the kids. Shit. I rush to where I heard the scream come from.

What I see there pisses me the hell off. Poppy is pulling cookies out of the oven and Killian is nursing one of his hands.

“Ok, now let me see that hand buddy,” the nanny says, overly sweet as she turns from the oven to Killian.

Timidly, Killian moves back as she tries to help him. He shakes his head terrified about what she might do to him. After cornering the hurt boy, Poppy grabs hold of his arm roughly and drags him to the sink to put cold water over the burn.

Seeing that the child is being taken care of, I go in search of his siblings to make sure they’re alright as well.

It takes me a while to hear one of them crying through the door of the bathroom. “I’m sorry Miss, please let me out.”

Wordlessly, I walk to the door and open it slowly. “Storm what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry sir, please don’t hurt me! I’m sorry for being a snitch.” She cries out as she scurries as far away from me as possible.

Fuck, she thinks I’m going to hurt her. What the fuck is going on with them. I refuse to accept that someone hurt them before I got to take them in or even before their mom died. Maybe we’ll be able to talk tonight if the nanny didn’t scare them too much.

Cautiously, I crouch down in the doorway to make myself less threatening to her, “Storm, sweetie. What do you mean don’t hurt you? Who hurt you?”

She whimpers quietly, refusing to even glance in my direction.

Sighing in frustration I sit down, “Darling, can you look at me?” she vigorously shakes her head no. “Ok then, can you tell me what happened? Who said you were a snitch?” again she shakes her head no. “Alright. That’s ok. Let’s go find River. Would you like that?”

At the mention of River her head shoots up and she rushes to stand up. I try holding my hand out to see if she'll hold it, but she ignores it, walking past as if I wasn't there.

Sighing, I follow her as she moves to his bedroom door. Silently, she points at it as if she doesn't know if she's allowed to open it.

When I give her a nod, she pushes the door open and rushes inside. Inside the room, I can't see anyone other than Storm who's spinning in a circle unsure of her brother's whereabouts.

A muffled noise comes from the closet, immediately alerting us to where he's hiding. Storm sprints from her place in the middle of his bedroom to open the closet door.

River's appearance shocks me.

He’s tied up in a scarf and there is something tied so it's stuck in his mouth effectively muffling him. Thinking quickly, I grab my phone and snap a picture of him just in case I need it for a court case.

Dear God, what happened here. I move forward slowly so I don't scare the pair and then carefully start untying him.

A boiling rage sprouts within me at the idea that someone had the audacity to hurt my flesh and blood. I do my best to hide it from the kids but based on their reactions I do terribly at it.

River is shaking uncontrollably and Storm is balling into his stomach trying to push me away blindly.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I pull both kids into a hug, whispering calming words in their ears. "It's ok. I'm here now. I'll protect you. Let it all out."