Custom Built

by Chantal Fernando

  Shaking my head at him, I can’t help but laugh at that. “No one is going to prison. We need you here.”

  Quinn starts to fuss, so I take her to change and feed her, letting Crow have a little time to himself. Is this what parenting is? Tag teaming so much you barely see each other or get to spend any time together or do anything as a couple?

  No wonder only the strong survive.

  “But you, miss, are an angel sent from heaven,” I say, smelling her. “And you smell so good.”

  She holds on to my thumb with her little fingers.

  I don’t care if she keeps me up all night for the rest of my life.

  She is so worth it.

  * * *

  “Crow, can you take your daughter, please? She pooped again,” I grumble, my voice thick with sleep.

  “So now she’s my daughter?” he asks, laughing to himself. “Come here, Quinn, let me change you.”

  “I never realized how much I was taking sleep for granted before this,” I say with my eyes closed. It’s been a week since I had a good night of it. “Broken sleep should be considered a reason to not have to go into work. It feels like shit.”

  “Go back to sleep, Bronte, I have her,” he says, and I don’t need to be told twice. I fall asleep instantly, and when I wake up again the sun is shining.

  Forcing myself out of bed, I head to the nursery where Quinn is fast asleep in her crib, while Crow is out in the living room.

  Doing push-ups.

  Shirtless.

  He has a sheen of sweat covering his body, and I find my lips suddenly feeling a little dry. Here I am, looking like crap, and he’s still looking like a Greek god first thing in the morning.

  “Good morning,” I say, enjoying the view. “Are you doing this on purpose? Because you’re not really playing fair right now.”

  He laughs and continues with his workout. “Just getting some exercise in. Just because I’m a dad now doesn’t mean I need to have a dad bod.”

  I get myself some coffee, and sit down on the couch, pretending to be watching the news, but I’m watching him instead.

  He says something, but I miss it because I’m too busy perving to listen. “What?”

  “I’m going to go for a quick jog around the block,” he repeats.

  “Like that? With no shirt on?” I ask, eyes narrowing.

  So my whole neighborhood gets to see him like that? Even that woman across the road who likes to check out all the younger guys?

  “Yeah, why?” he asks, frowning. “It’s warm out. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

  “Okay,” I reply, gritting my teeth.

  Well, here’s an emotion I haven’t felt in a while: jealousy.

  “Have fun, you big show-off,” I mutter to myself as he leaves. “I could go outside and be all sexy too.”

  Maybe in a few weeks, when I’m not so exhausted. I don’t know how he has the energy for it.

  Quinn wakes up and starts screaming blue murder, so I get a bottle ready and give her what she wants. “Good morning to the most special girl in the world. Where’s your daddy, you wonder? Well, he’s out showing off his ripped body to all the women in the neighborhood.”

  Quinn opens her eyes wider.

  “That was my reaction too, my girl.”

  * * *

  Heidi comes over to spend time with her niece. “She is one beautiful kid,” she says, rocking Quinn gently. “And you get to keep your sexy figure. It’s a win-win, Bronte.”

  I laugh at that. “Only you would even think of that, Heidi.”

  She grins and lifts her head up, looking at me. “So I got a job at Kamikaze. I know I just finished my associate degree, but I also know Crow wants me to get a job. I appreciate you and him letting me take time to go to school. I’m working a few days a week now as a bookkeeper.”

  “That’s awesome news,” I say, smiling. Crow had a serious discussion with her and she reacted better than I thought she would, which means I didn’t give her enough credit. She asked if she could go to school to figure out what she is good at and Crow was thrilled. “How do you feel about working like the rest of us?”

  “It sucks,” she admits, pursing her lips. “But the people there are really cool, and I can’t just live off Crow forever. He has his own family now, and I need to be a little more independent.” She pauses and adds, “Just a little, not completely.”

  I laugh again. “Well, little steps, so, well done. You should be proud.”

  “I am.” She beams. “And while I do work in the back, being in the club environment is fun. The bartenders even let me play around behind the bar before we open, and I even made up my own cocktail. Now they’re going to sell it at the bar, which is pretty sweet.”

  “That is impressive,” I say. “I’ll have to try it next time I go there.”

  “You should. I called it Too Pretty to Work But Still Here Anyway.”

  My jaw drops. “You didn’t?”

  She nods.

  This time I can’t stop laughing. Heidi is a riot. She’s spoiled, sure, but she’s sweet, and now that I have my own daughter, I know exactly where Crow was coming from. Because I just want to give Quinn everything and never see her struggle a day in her life.

  “You’re hilarious. Maybe that’s your calling. Creating new cocktails with names that make people laugh when they order them.”

  “A girl can dream.”

  “Do you want to have kids?” I ask, watching her with Quinn.

  “One day, sure,” she replies, smiling widely. “But I think I have a long way to go before I can be responsible to care for a baby. I can barely look after myself right now.”

  “I’m sure with babysitting Quinn, you’ll be a pro in no time,” I tease.

  Crow walks in and stops when he sees us all. “My three favorite girls all in one room. How did I get so lucky?”

  Damn, the man is charming.

  He comes and sits down, stealing Quinn from his sister. “I heard you had your first day at Kamikaze.”

  “Yep.” Heidi beams.

  “And she already created her own drink for the menu,” I add, pride in my tone.

  Crow looks impressed. “Good on you, Heidi.”

  “Wait, let her tell you what it’s called.”

  She tells him, and then it’s his turn to lose it laughing.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “What a beautiful baby you have,” a girl at the grocery store says to me. She must be in her early twenties, and has beautiful long blond hair. “She is so cute.”

  “Thank you,” I say, smiling. “She’s a week old today.”

  “What’s her name?” she asks, unable to take her eyes away.

  “Quinn.”

  “Love that name.” She beams. “Well, you both have a good day.”

  “You too,” I reply, waving.

  I carry on with my shopping, when Crow calls. “Hey.”

  “Hey, babe. Where are you?” he asks.

  “At the store,” I reply. “Why?”

  “I’m leaving the clubhouse now and was going to ask if you want anything.”

  “I’m good. I’ll meet you home in twenty.”

  “Okay,” he replies, and we both hang up.

  Today is the first day he left our apartment to go back to the clubhouse, aside from dropping in to get his clothes, and it feels so weird being out and about without him, just with Quinn. I get the last few things I need, check out and head back home.

  Quinn starts crying in the back and I feel helpless, knowing I can’t even comfort her or feed her while I’m driving, so I pull over into a fast food parking lot. Feeling overwhelmed, I take a breath, feed her and then put her back in her car seat and drive home.

  I don’t know how single mothers do it, because this whole parenting gig isn’t easy.


  Crow is already there when I get there, and he comes out and carries the groceries in. I’m glad that he’s back, I’m not going to lie. It’s so much easier having that extra helping hand and someone you can rely on. It can be stressful knowing that all the responsibility is on you and only you. I much prefer it when he’s here with me.

  He’s on my team, and it’s so vital to me right now.

  “I had to stop and feed her on the drive home,” I say, sitting down on the couch and lifting my feet up. “She was screaming.”

  “Did you give your mom a hard time?” he says to Quinn as he rocks her. “You should leave her with me and go to the store next time. That will be less stressful for you. Or send me a list, and I’ll go.”

  “I love you,” I say, sighing. “Thank you for being here and helping with everything.”

  He stops in his tracks and turns to me. “I love you, too. And you don’t need to thank me, I’m her dad. This is literally my job to be doing all of this stuff for her, and to support you.”

  “I really do love you,” I say again.

  He is such a wonderful father, and it’s the biggest turn-on ever.

  He bends down and kisses my forehead.

  And I close my eyes and enjoy it.

  * * *

  “So guess who contacted me today?” Nadia asks, sitting down on my couch. She came to spend some time with me and Quinn, and I’m happy to have her here.

  “Who?” I ask.

  “Anne, Jean’s daughter. She wants me to help her find her. Apparently she’s gone missing or something.”

  I sit up straighter. “Jean’s gone missing?”

  In the end Jean was telling the truth about Jasper and her daughter, and she has left us alone since then. I wonder where she is—her poor daughter must be so worried. Her disappearance can’t have anything to do with Jasper, who is behind bars, so I have no idea what could have happened to her. Although he might still have people who work for him, so maybe he’s calling the shots from prison?

  “What are you going to do?” I ask Nadia. “Do you think you can locate her?”

  It’s so weird to think that if my dad were alive, this news would potentially upset him. It makes me want to help find her, even though he’s not even here.

  It doesn’t really make any sense.

  “I could try. What do you think? I don’t want to upset you, so if you don’t want me to take this case, I won’t.”

  “If you want to, then go for it,” I say. “I don’t think Jean is a threat at all, and to be honest, I kind of want to make sure that she’s okay.”

  “I don’t either,” she agrees. “This whole time we all just assumed they stayed together, but apparently Jean sent Anne off to her new college, set her up, stayed for a while but eventually ended up leaving. She hasn’t seen or heard from her since, and Anne is very worried.”

  “Weird,” I mutter. The whole thing makes no sense. I hope she didn’t have an accident or something. Or maybe she has a reason she needs to hide out right now. “Where are you going to start with this one?”

  Quinn starts fussing in my arms, so I grab her bottle from the coffee table and see if she wants to drink. She does, latching on. “Hungry little girl.”

  “I’ll do an online search and see what I can find, and then go from there. Social media might give me a few clues,” Nadia says, shrugging and watching Quinn. “She is so beautiful, Bronte.”

  “I know.” I beam, sighing in contentment. “She is everything I’ve ever wanted. I’m so lucky Molly picked me to be her mom.”

  “I think Quinn is the lucky one,” Nadia adds, making me smile.

  “Do you want some help with this case?” I ask. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the private investigator work, and although I love being a mother more than anything, it might be nice to get out of the house and do something else every once in a while. Plus, this case is a little personal, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it through.

  “Sure. I’ll dive in and let you know what I find and we can go from there,” she says, holding her arms out as Quinn stops drinking. “Now let me have one more cuddle before I have to go back to work.”

  Nadia leaves, and I sit down with Quinn, whose blue eyes are looking right at me. “Your granddad would have loved you so much, you know that? His name was Freddy, and he would have spoiled you. He was a good person and a wonderful parent, and hopefully one day you will say the same about me. And your aunt Billie, well, she would have adored you so much, too. And she would have been the one bailing you out of any trouble you got into, and probably not telling me about it. But you know what? They are both looking over us, and they’re here with us still. I can feel them.”

  Quinn farts.

  Lovely.

  If they are watching over us right now, I’m sure they are both laughing.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Crow and I decide to have a much-needed day date. With Quinn consuming our lives for the last three months, we’ve had little to no alone time, and we both want to make sure we make time for ourselves. It’s hard leaving a newborn baby, though, and I’m trying not to let my anxiety kick in.

  We sit side by side, his arm around me as we wait for our food to arrive. “I still don’t know if I made the best choice,” I admit, checking the menu. “I went with the prawns but the chicken also looks good.”

  “If you like mine better, we can swap,” he says, kissing my temple.

  If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is.

  “What do you think Quinn is doing?” he asks, picking up his glass of soda and taking a sip. “I hope she’s okay.”

  “I hope Temper and Abbie are okay,” I reply in a dry tone, making him laugh. Quinn can be fussy at times, and hard to settle, so I hope she’s not putting them off having babies. “She’s probably asleep. Do you think you’re going to start a trend and all the Knights are going to start having kids now?”

  “Maybe—they’re all crazy about Quinn. Imagine when she grows up and she has all these scary-ass, tatted biker uncles. No one is ever going to ask her out.” He grins, looking extremely happy about it.

  “You don’t need to look so thrilled,” I reply, shaking my head. “If a boy likes her enough, he will still ask her out, so that can be his test.”

  “What? If he doesn’t mind potentially getting killed for her?”

  I roll my eyes. “I’m glad we have at least sixteen years until we have to worry about this.”

  “Eighteen,” he replies. “She’s not dating until she’s eighteen.”

  “And how old were you?” I ask, raising my brows.

  “That’s not the point,” he fires back, frowning. “She’s a girl. And I don’t want her to be how I was. She’s going to have a better role model in you.”

  “I started dating when I was like fifteen,” I point out to him. “Not that my dad knew—it was all done sneakily. Which is what she will probably do if you don’t let her do anything fun.”

  “She can have fun. Just more like ‘board games at home’ fun, not ‘out drinking with boys’ fun,” he replies, flashing me his teeth in a grin.

  Laughing, I cup his face and look into his eyes. “We’ll see how that goes for you, but we have plenty of other stages to get through with her first.”

  “Luckily.” He kisses my lips and then my nose. “I’m so happy right now.”

  The food arrives and the prawns are placed in front of me. “Me too.”

  “Because we’re on our first date in what feels like forever, or the food?” he asks, and thanks the waitress.

  “Both,” I reply, grinning.

  “Did you get an update from Nadia on Jean?”

  “Yeah, no one has heard from her since. She hasn’t updated her social media or anything,” I say, frowning. “But she’s old, so maybe that’s why.”

  Crow s
mirks. “Maybe she just doesn’t use social media. Or maybe she’s hiding from someone and doesn’t want to be found.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know, some of Jasper’s friends or something. Who knows?” he replies, wrapping his arm around me. “These drug lords have a line of people under them just waiting to do some dirty work.”

  “If that were true, why would she come back here to the city?” I ask, frowning. “Wouldn’t she go as far away from this place as she could instead of running back to it?”

  “Yeah, I guess so. There’s probably more to the story.”

  “There always is.” I sigh, turning my face to him. “I have kind of missed working for Nadia, though, so it’s nice to brainstorm a case with her again.”

  “Your eyes lit up when you told me about it,” he agrees, lip twitching. “Missing the adventure, are you?”

  “I love my life and I’m so grateful and blessed to have both you and Quinn, but yeah, I guess I wouldn’t mind a dash of adventure.” I pause, and then add, “Just a dash, and someone else’s drama, not my own.”

  He laughs. “That seems fair.”

  I reach my foot out so it touches his. It’s really nice just being here with him, just enjoying each other’s company with no other distractions, but at the same time, I really miss my daughter.

  Being a parent is weird.

  “You playing footsies with me, babe?” he asks, smirking.

  “And what if I am?” I ask, arching a brow. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “Nothing right now, because that would be frowned upon,” he replies, blue eyes filled with amusement. He leans over to whisper in my ear, “But later...”

  I clear my throat. “Well, I guess we will see then.”

  And I can’t fucking wait.

  We finish up our peaceful, quiet meal, just chatting about everything and anything. It feels nice to have this little break, and to put some extra time into us. We are a happy married couple, but when you bring a child into the world, they become the main focus. It’s so easy to forget to look after your partner, and I want to make sure I never do that with Crow. I want him to always feel well loved.