Liam (Devil Souls MC Book 4)

by LeAnn Ashers

  “Come on, Baby, let’s change and go to sleep.” He yawns and stands up, walks to our closet, and throws me a shirt and a pair of shorts

  I change clothes, and I already feel much better after getting out of my tight jeans and this bra. There is no better feeling than taking your bra off after a long day.

  I climb into bed, pulling back the covers and slipping between the sheets, and I sigh loudly. Liam comes out of the closet a second later in a pair of shorts.

  He falls into bed beside me then turns over, pulling my back to his front. “What a fucking day, good night, Baby,” he grumbles and I close my eyes, letting sleep take me.

  Paisley

  I wake up and look at the clock by the bed, and it shows it’s eight o’clock. I peek over my shoulder at Liam and see that he is still in a deep sleep. I need to get up and check on Caiden.

  I slowly slip out from under Liam’s arm. Usually every time I move in my sleep he wakes up and pulls me back to him. Since he didn’t do that, he must be exhausted.

  I pad across the room and to Caiden's room, and he is sitting up in bed looking into the hallway.

  “Want some breakfast?” I whisper and he climbs out of bed and walks to me. I smile at him and he lowers his head, blushing. I turn away and, together, we start toward the kitchen.

  I feel a hand touching mine, and I look down and see that he is trying to hold my hand. I open my hand, and he slips his hand into mine.

  “What do you want for breakfast?”

  “Cinnamon rolls?” he whispers.

  “Anything you want, honey,” I tell him and, together, we walk into the kitchen. “Want to sit here or do you want to help me?”

  He fully smiles for the first time since I met him yesterday, and I almost fall on my ass right there because of how much, once again, he reminds me of Liam. “I would like to help you, Paisley.” Be still my heart! He is so cute.

  I get him a little stool to stand on so he can reach the tabletop, and I hand him a bowl and some eggs. “Crack these eggs in here, then use this to whisk them.” He eagerly takes an egg, barely tapping it on the counter.

  Liam

  I walk downstairs and the sight before me is something I want to see for the rest of my life. Paisley and Caiden are laughing, having the time of their lives cooking together.

  I woke up worried about Caiden and I know now, in this moment, that everything will be okay.

  “Good morning!”

  Paisley and Caiden look at me, and Paisley smiles that smile that fucks with my heart every single time. Caiden smiles at me too.

  “You know, I think today we should go shopping,” I tell Caiden pointedly, and he tries to play it cool, going back to putting icing on the cinnamon rolls.

  Paisley smooths down the back of his hair. “We have to get stuff for your room.”

  He looks up at Paisley. “My room? I am going to be living here? With you guys?” He looks genuinely shocked.

  “Yes, you will be living here with us.”

  “What happened to Mommy?” he says, and I can tell that he is sad.

  FUCK.

  Paisley looks at me, panicked. What the fuck do I say to that?

  “She left me, didn’t she?” he says sadly.

  I don’t know what to fucking say or do, and I also don’t want to lie. I bend down so I am face-to-face with him. I put my hand on his arm to get his attention.

  “Do you want to live with your mommy?”

  He shakes his head. “I don’t want to stay with her anymore, I like it here.” His body starts shaking under my hand.

  “You’re not going anywhere, and you will be living with us forever. Your mommy decided to give you a better life and let you stay with us,” I say.

  He relaxes. “Okay, I would like to stay here.” He looks at me and hugs me.

  I close my eyes, hugging him back tightly. His little arms squeeze me with all of his might. Someone touches my side and, when I open my eyes, Paisley is standing beside us with tears falling down her face.

  “Can I have my cinnamon rolls now?” His voice is muffled against my shoulder. I laugh and set him back down on the floor.

  Paisley leans down and gives him a quick hug. He hugs her back with a smile on his face. I am fucking glad that he is getting comfortable with us. I hope that the shit he had to deal with before leaves his life completely. I want him to have good memories, like making breakfast with Paisley.

  Paisley helps him fix his plate and he carries it to the dining room table; I grab mine and hers. We all sit down together digging into our food. “Are you guys married?” he asks, his face covered in icing.

  “Not yet.” I wink at Paisley, and she blushes and looks down at her plate, smiling wide. A bell rings in the house, letting me know someone is at the gate. “I forgot Braelyn was coming.” I stand up and walk to the iPad hanging from the wall. The video shows it’s Braelyn and Ethan. I push the button unlocking the house and the gate, letting them in. I turn around and notice that he looks nervous.

  “Braelyn is your sister and mine,” I tell him and he kind of relaxes.

  He scoots his plate across the table. It’s empty. “Do you want more?” Paisley asks him and he shakes his head. I can tell that he is nervous.

  Braelyn walks into the dining room and looks straight at Caiden, then at me. “He looks just like you.”

  I laugh because it’s true.

  Caiden is staring at Braelyn. “You look like Mommy,” he says; then he stands up and walks over to her.

  She bends down and hugs him. “Yes, I do. I’m your sister Braelyn.”

  “I’m Caiden.” He smiles at her.

  Braelyn looks at me. “We found a box of yours at the house and brought it to you, Liam.” Ethan sets the box down on the table.

  “We are going shopping in a little bit, Braelyn, if you want to go with us,” Paisley says.

  Braelyn nods immediately. “I would love to go.”

  A little bit later they leave, leaving me and Ethan alone. “She still alive?” he asks about Caiden and Braelyn’s mom.

  “For now,” I tell him straight out. I don’t care if he is the chief of police. First and foremost, he is family and he hates the bitch just like I do.

  He has firsthand knowledge of what our childhood was like. Braelyn lived that life until she was eighteen and went off to college, but her troubles didn’t end there. I can’t even stand the thought of what she went through.

  Ethan saved her. He took her right off the streets and made her realize that she is more than the life she was dealt. Then he took me in and treated me like I was his son, even though I was practically grown. Although I was seventeen years old, in a sense, I was a kid. He made me into the man I am today, with the MC helping mold me.

  Paisley was another huge influence on my life. I knew that I wanted her, and I did everything I could to be the man that would deserve her.

  “I have a proposition for you.”

  I lean against the counter. “What’s that?”

  “Let me put her in jail for the rest of her life. She won’t ever get out but, this way, if Caiden ever wants to see her again, it will be an option. I have connections with a judge.”

  I think on it. She tried to kill me, and she put this little boy through hell. Left him in a fucking drug house, where anything could have happened to him. But I understand the part about Caiden wanting to see her later in life.

  I am not in the business of hurting women. I can’t even fathom hurting one, even though she is a bitch who doesn’t deserve mercy. “I will talk to the club,” I tell him. Ethan nods.

  “How are Xavier and Samantha?”

  He grins. “Samantha is a mini Braelyn, but she has a temper on her that is all me. Xavier is fucking smart and has it in his head that he is going to be a vet.” His face grows serious. “He came out to me that he is gay, and he was fucking terrified. I hate that he felt that I would look at him differently.”

  Fuck me, I’ve known Xavier was gay for a whi
le, but I am glad he finally came out to Ethan.

  “I love him and who the fuck cares if he likes boys? I just want him happy.”

  “I found out a long time ago. I knew he was worried, but I told him he had nothing to worry about. You’re a fucking good dad, man, I want to thank you for taking me in all those years ago.”

  “Don’t make me fucking emotional, Liam, I can’t handle that shit.” His voice cracks and I laugh.

  “Want a beer?” I ask him and he nods, the subject over.

  Paisley

  Hours Later

  After many hours of shopping, we’ve gotten just about everything he could possibly need. He has had a blast. He was bursting at the seams and laughing, having the time of his life. That was the most amazing part: seeing him let himself go, quit overthinking his every move, and be a kid.

  It’s around eleven o’clock at night. Caiden is in bed asleep, and I am putting everything away. We also went grocery shopping because I wanted to make sure we have things he likes.

  I want to spoil him. I know that he’s never had much. The clothes he wore to our house the first time were so worn out they were paper thin and on the verge of falling apart.

  “Liam, want to go through your things Braelyn brought?” I ask him. He is finishing putting stuff away in cabinets in the kitchen.

  “Yeah, Baby.” He shuts the cabinet door and walks over to me. I open the box and the first thing I see is a pair of shoes.

  Liam reaches in and takes out the shoes. “Holy fuck, these are the shoes I wore to Braelyn’s. And my clothes, along with the few things I had at the time.”

  I stare at the fucking shoe, with a hole in the front where his toe would be. Tears fill my eyes for the tenth time in the past two days.

  Liam looks at me. “Why are you crying, Baby.” He reaches over and catches a tear.

  I look at the shoe and back at him. “The shoe, it’s sad that you wore a shoe with a hole in it.”

  His face softens, and he throws the shoe in the box and pulls me into his arms. “Baby, that is not my life anymore. It’s just a fucking shoe.” He kisses my forehead, running his fingers through my hair.

  I sniff loudly. “I know it’s just a shoe, but—meeting Caiden, then seeing the shoe—it hit me again how hard you had it.”

  His hand slides down my back and he squeezes my ass.

  “I am trying to be sad here, Liam,” I tease and he squeezes again.

  I lift my hand off his back, smacking his ass.

  “I don’t want you sad, Baby,” he tells me through his laughter, and I bury my face in his neck, nipping at his throat to make him laugh harder because he is ticklish there.

  He grabs my hands and puts me on the table. I smile at him. I am so happy. I am blessed to have someone like him.

  He smiles down at me, his hands on either side of my face.

  “I love you, Liam, so much.”

  He smiles wider, his dimple popping out. “I love you too, Paisley, you have given me a life that I never thought was possible. You’re my whole fucking world and have been for years. I thought for years about how it would be if we were together, but I never expected this. You’re beyond my expectations.”

  Don’t cry, I chant over and over in my head, but I am not sure that I can hold it in. He is the sweetest person on this earth, and he is mine.

  My Liam.

  Caiden

  I watch Liam and Paisley, and I wipe the tears off my face because, for the first time ever, I have a family.

  A family.

  The family that I have always wanted.

  I look up at the ceiling. Thank you.

  Epilogue

  Wedding Day

  “Baby, just move back in with me and be my little girl forever,” Dad pleads with me for the tenth time since we got up this morning. He and Caiden stayed in the room with me while I was getting my hair and makeup done.

  Caiden and I have become really close. Honestly, I think of him as my son, and he accidentally calls me Mom sometimes. He makes the same mistake with Liam. I wouldn’t mind him being mine. In my heart he is my little boy, and I know Liam feels the same way.

  “Daddy, we’ve gone over this,” I tell him, rolling my eyes.

  He glares at me, his arms across his chest. He is leaning against the door, and I know he is doing that on purpose. “Apparently not fucking enough, because you are getting married today.”

  I laugh out loud because he looks like he is in pain.

  “I hope that you have a baby soon so I can have someone to play with,” Caiden says.

  My father turns as pale as a ghost. “You don’t have babies.” He grips the wall.

  “I will probably have a few,” I tell him.

  My father gives me the meanest look I have ever seen directed toward me, and Caiden grips my hand and steps up closer to him.

  Caiden has been around Liam a lot. Liam is protective and it’s been wearing off on Caiden. If we are out alone, he sticks right by my side the whole time. He has come a long way. In the beginning any loud or sudden movements made him nervous. You can’t wake him up abruptly because it scares him. We noticed that he would hide food in his room, a habit from years of not having enough to eat.

  He is in school and he is playing baseball. He is scary good at it. He’d never played before, until he asked to try out. When he has a game, an entire stand is ours because so many people show up. It’s hilarious seeing the looks we get when we get so into the game, even though it’s just little kids playing.

  The door is opening, and it hits Dad’s back. He turns around to see Kayla looking through the crack. He steps back and she walks in. “It’s time.” She smiles widely.

  “No, it’s not!” Dad says loudly and I can’t help but laugh.

  “Come on, Daddy.” I stand up, and Kayla comes over and takes off the sheet that I had wrapped around my dress while I was getting my makeup and hair done. I love my dress. It’s a mermaid-style dress. It’s body hugging until it gets to my thighs, where it flares out. It has a heart-shaped top with lace down to my elbows.

  My hair is in long barrel waves, and it’s pinned up on one side. Brittany did an amazing job. She is a princess of the Grim Sinners, like Shaylin, and she is the best makeup and hair stylist in Texas.

  Caiden puts his hand in mine and, together, we walk to the entrance of the main room, where Liam is waiting. I stand out of sight watching all of my groomsmen and bridesmaids walk down the aisle.

  Liam’s best man is Tyler, and we have almost all of the MC guys as his groomsmen. I have a lot of the ole ladies as bridesmaids.

  Kayla has been absolutely amazing the whole time I was planning the wedding. Over the years I have come to think of her as my mother. My dad married her when I was nineteen, and she was the best thing to ever happen to him. He was the best thing that happened to her too. She had nobody in life until him, and he gave her something she has always wanted. Family.

  Caiden walks out with the rings and the doors shut. Dad is standing across the room.

  “Come on, Daddy.”

  He stares at me for a few seconds then shakes his head and approaches me. “Why do you have to get married, Angel? When did you grow up?” His voice cracks.

  “Daddy, don’t make me cry.” My voice cracks and he pulls me over, hugging me. He kisses the top of my head, and I grip his suit.

  I love my daddy so much. He is my best friend, and I have been blessed to have a father who has done everything he’s done for me. “I love you, my baby,” he says softly. The music starts playing.

  “I love you too,” I whisper and the door opens, revealing the packed church and my Liam. I smile and he smiles back at me, and every single person in the room disappears, leaving Liam and me,

  Mr. and Mrs. Beckham.

  A Couple of Months Later

  Christmas Morning

  This is Caiden’s first Christmas with us, and Liam and I are really excited as we sit on the couch waiting for him to wake up. I have a huge sur
prise for Liam, one that he won’t expect.

  A minute or so later I hear Caiden running. Liam and I sit up, waiting for him to come into the room. Caiden skids to a stop and looks at the presents on the floor.

  “Merry Christmas, Caiden!” I tell him and he runs over to hug me and Liam. “Ready to open your presents?” I ask him, and he nods so fast his whole body is shaking. I laugh and motion for him to go for it.

  Liam and I have our presents separated so that Caiden can just open all of his. He sits down on the floor. His hair is messed up on top. The last time I took him to get a haircut, he wanted the same style as Liam. He and Liam have become like best friends. Liam bought him a mini-Harley, and he never wants to get off it. My heart is about to burst with fear every time he gets on it. I will have gray hair before I get to thirty years old.

  Caiden finishes opening his presents and crawls under the tree. He comes out with an envelope in his hand. I look at Liam, confused, but he just smiles. I guess he is in on it.

  Caiden walks over to me. “I have something for you.” He sets the envelope on my lap. I smile at him. I slowly open it, pulling out the papers inside.

  My stomach twists at the sight of the words: “Adoption of Caiden.” My eyes fill with tears, and I look at Caiden. “You want me to adopt you?” My voice is shaking along with my hands, and Liam touches my back.

  Liam has already adopted him, but we weren’t married yet. “I want you to be my mommy.” Well, fuck. I set the papers on the coffee table and pull Caiden to me, hugging him. I couldn’t stop the tears even if I wanted to. “I want nothing more, Baby.” Liam never once takes his hand off my back.

  “Okay,” he whispers and hugs me tighter.

  A few minutes later, I manage to compose myself, but I can’t bring myself to let him go. This little boy is so precious. He took over my heart the moment I met him, and it’s only grown.