by Carina Adams
He smirked. “You don’t have to go home. We’ll go up tomorrow, get the kids, and bring all three of ‘em back for the week. Ten days with my girl and our littles? I can’t think of anything better.”
“All three?” My voice drifted off. “Do you have Sam next week?”
He shook his head. “No. But Bex will let me have him.” He opened his eyes, looking into mine. “Come on, babe. It’ll be a blast! We have the room, plus it’ll show us what our future will be like. And, that way, I don’t have to worry about how I’ll sleep without you.”
I smiled back, his enthusiasm catching. “Ok. I’ll tell the kids tonight.”
*****
My kids were ecstatic. There was a Jack and Annie light show going on at the planetarium that Ben ‘just had to see,’ and Lily asked if we could visit the aquarium so she could see her beloved Rockhopper penguins. Even Will seemed happy about it, but that might have been because he knew he had the next two weeks ‘off’ and had something planned with his girlfriend.
Unlike most divorced couples, I didn’t have to have his approval to bring the kids down here. Part of our parental rights and responsibilities agreement specified that since neither of us had full custody, during the two weeks that we had the kids we did not have to ask the other parent permission to take the children over state lines. Our PR&R was pretty in depth, but we felt it was to protect us from having to go back to court and argue over the kids. We’d fought enough over the last few years and were done. At least until he found out that I was marrying Matty.
I promised the kids I’d be at the house when they got home from school the next afternoon, told them I loved them, and hung up. Glancing up, I found Matty leaning in the doorway, watching me. He smiled and sauntered across the room, and then climbed onto the bed next to me and pulled me close.
“We’ll pick Sam up on the way back here, and I promised Becky I’d have him home by seven next Sunday. For the next week, we get to be a real family. I can’t wait to tell them we’re getting married!” I don’t think I’d ever seen Matt that happy. Hopefully this time we could make us last.
Chapter 27
Jo
“No! Not happening!” I seethed again.
Matty simply crossed his arms over his chest and tipped his head back slightly. “Get in the fucking car, Joes.”
“No.”
“Look,” he leaned in close, growling, “you promised the kids you’d be there when they got off the bus. If you don’t get in the car this fucking instant, we’re gonna hit Friday traffic and be late.”
I took a deep breath, torn between not being home when I promised and standing my ground. I glared at the man I loved. “I’ll call T and have her go up. Tell them I got stuck in traffic. Get him out of the car, and I’ll get in.”
Matty shook his head. “He’s coming, too.”
Dean opened his door and gave us both an annoyed look. Then he turned his icy gaze on me. “I don’t want to be here either, Jo. But, my President gave me an order to stay with you, and I have no choice. The quickah you accept that, the fastah we can get on the damn road. You wanna take the train up instead? Fine, I’ll get my shit and take the damn train, too. Just make up your fuckin’ mind already!” He slammed his door as if to accentuate the last word.
I raised an eyebrow at Matty, who looked like he was going to laugh. Then he shrugged. “You heard him.”
I groaned, rolled my eyes, and then stomped to the passenger seat. We were taking Rocker’s Expedition because it could fit all three kids, their gear, the two of us, and apparently Dean. I slammed my door, mimicking Dean’s behavior, and closed my eyes as I leaned back into the seat. This fun family trip had just turned into a nightmare.
Until fifteen minutes ago, I thought Matty and I were going alone. Matty had gone to get the car, leaving me to pack us a lunch and some snacks, and I had been singing along to the radio as I looked forward to a great day with my favorite people. Then, Dean had walked into the kitchen with a duffle bag and had given me the evil eye. Rob, as it turned out, had decided that with the three new additions, we needed another Bastard to keep a watch out. And out of all of the Bastards, he’d picked Dean. Awesome.
“Come on, babe,” Matty had crooned as Dean settled into the SUV. “He really isn’t that bad. He’s great with kids and he’s one of my best friends. It’ll be fine.”
I heard Matty get in and start the car, then we were moving. His hand moved to my thigh, and I reached out, clutching it. I wasn’t angry with him, just the situation. But, that didn’t mean I was going to sit up and make small talk with someone that hated me. I was asleep before we made it out of the city.
I woke up a few hours later to the two of them laughing uncontrollably. I listened for a few minutes instead of sitting up. The conversation was about fishing and how afraid of the fish Sammy had been. Dean surprised me when he sobered and said, “Can’t wait to see him, man. It’s been what? Three or four months? I miss that kid.”
The way he talked about Sammy surprised me, but then again, Sam was an amazing kid. Even so, hearing a total douche nozzle talk about a little boy that I adored as if that little boy was the coolest thing in the world wasn’t something I expected. Dean gave off a certain vibe, and it wasn’t one you’d expect from someone that liked women or children. If I was going to be stuck with him, I might as well make the most of it.
*****
“Mom! Mom! Mom!” Lily screamed as she ran off the bus and straight into my arms. “You’re here!”
I laughed, hugging her little frame tight. “I’m here, Lily-Belle.” I leaned down and kissed her curly blonde head. “You ready for a week in Boston?”
She nodded vigorously, tipping her head back to see me. The smile she’d had faded. “What happened to your rock star hair?”
I laughed, running a hand through my curls. “Yeah. Mommy needed a change.”
“Hmm.” She crossed tiny arms over her chest. “I liked it. I didn’t think it made you look like you were trying to recapture your youth like Nana said. I agreed with Daddy—it was fun and you need fun.”
I raised my eyebrows as she talked, trying not to laugh as she parroted a conversation she’d obviously overheard. Pushing my sunglasses to the top of my head, I contemplated her words. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, and wondered which nana had commented on my hair—my mom or Will’s? Thankfully, I was saved when the last of the neighborhood kids filed off the school bus.
“Mom!” I looked up as Ben jumped off the bottom step and shuffled away from his friends. “Did you get a new car?” he asked as he got closer to me, eyeing the Ford parked in front of our house.
“That’s the first thing you wanna say to me after two weeks away?” My mini-me shook his head and threw his arms around me. “It’s not mine. It belongs to a friend of Uncle Matty’s. We’ve got it for the week in Boston. Nice, right?” I hugged him back, tight. Hugs from him were few and far between now, and I never got one in public. “Geez, did you grow another two feet while I was gone?” He might look just like me, but he got his height from Will. At eleven, he was only an inch shorter than me.
“I did actually.” He giggled, a rare sound that reminded me of his toddler years. He pulled back and his laughter died instantly. The look he gave me was another thing he’d obviously gotten from his dad. It was one of horror mixed with rage, and though I hadn’t seen it in a few months, I almost took a step back. “What happened to your face?” His voice had gone ice cold.
Out of my peripheral, I saw Lily squinting up at me to see what he was talking about. Instead of letting him go, I tucked him under one arm, pulled Lily under the other, and turned them towards the house. Ben hesitated, obviously irritated that I hadn’t answered him.
“She’s decided to learn how to box.” The voice from the doorway had them both glancing up. When they realized that their favorite uncle was standing there watching us, they forgot all about me and ran to him. I couldn’t decide who I enjoyed watching more—the kids or t
he love of my life. He greeted them the same way he always had—kneeling down, pulling Lily into his arms, and picking her up, ruffling Ben’s hair and then pulling him in for a hug while dropping a kiss on the top of his head. The scene would have made a beautiful portrait, one that reflected the love a father gave his children. There was no doubt in my mind that they would never feel unloved or unwanted by their stepfather.
“As in Mohamed Ali?” Ben asked, awed.
I laughed as we ushered them inside, trying to answer all of the questions they kept throwing at us while redirecting them to get their school bags to their rooms and grab anything else they might want. Within ten minutes, we’d loaded them in the car, locked the house, and were on our way to get Sammy and Dean.
The ride took a little longer than the normal half hour, but with the two chatterboxes in the back seat, it passed quickly. Ben talked about his upcoming science fair and how he still wasn’t sure what he was going to do for a presentation, while Lily kept interrupting to tell us all about her drama club and how they were going to be performing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Matty jumped right into the conversation, never missing a beat, and corrected the kids when they were being mean to each other. I sat back and watched the three of them. Life with Will had never been this laid back or exciting. I was one lucky girl.
Once we pulled into Becky’s, the kids jumped out and ran around back, Matty hot on their heels as soon as the car was in park. Before I’d had a chance to make it to the front door, laughter and shrieks of enjoyment filled the air. I fought the urge to join them. There would be plenty of time to play over the next few days.
Becky was in the kitchen piling snacks on a tray. The idea of this woman doing anything domestic, like baking, amused me. But then again, she’d always been a conundrum. Just like the rest of the women Matt slept with, Bex was built like a supermodel, with pale golden hair, legs that went on forever, and dimples that could convince anyone to do anything. That’s where the similarities between her and the others ended, though. Becky’s long hair was in dreads, her arms colored with tattoos of her favorite poems and song lyrics, and she had more piercings than I wanted to know about. Even the way she dressed set her apart. It was only mid-April, but she was wearing corduroys, a tiny tank that showed off her ink, and was barefoot.
I smiled at her eccentricities. She stopped and came around the corner to greet me with a giant hug. We’d been friends before the divorce, but I’d been Matt’s friend first, and he kept me when they split. Over the past couple of months, though, she and I had spent some time together and were finally starting to get close again. As she pulled back from the embrace, she grabbed my hand.
“I hear congratulations are in order.” She beamed. “It’s about freaking time, don’t you think?”
“Thank you.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. The fact that she was happy about my engagement meant the world to me. I took off my glasses and set them on the table. “What can I do to help?”
Bex raised an eyebrow, reaching out and grabbing my chin in a way only another mother could. “Those bruises the reason Dean’s sitting on my deck?”
I shook my head, pulling back slightly, not understanding the connection she was trying to make. She turned, grabbing a pitcher out of the cupboard, and started making iced tea. My curiosity got the better of me. “Why would Dean’s being here have anything to do with my bruises?”
She turned back to me, brown eyes so intent I was frozen in place. “Please! You don’t have to pretend around me. I’ve been living this life a long time, Joey, and I can handle the truth. I know that when Dean shows up here something serious is going on. Maybe you can’t tell me what, but don’t insult me by acting like nothing is happening. Especially when you look like you’ve been beat to a pulp. Matty better kill whoever touched you!”
I tried not to gape at her but my mouth wouldn’t close. Her eyes searched mine, and I could tell she was angry with me, but I had no idea why. “I think I’ve missed a step.”
Her face went blank but she couldn’t mask the surprise in her voice. “You don’t know. You really don’t know.”
It wasn’t a question, but I shook my head. “What does Dean have to do with anything? Why would he come here?”
She bit her lip, playing with the hoop in the middle. She sighed before she answered. “Dean’s an enforcer, Joey. Whenever the club has trouble, he comes to stay with us. Whatever is going on, it’s bad enough that they want to have eyes on us.”
“Enforcer?” My voice sounded weak even to my own ears.
She tipped her head and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, ‘How do you not know this?’ Instead, she swallowed and then clarified. “For the club, Jo. He does security, amongst other things. He doesn’t have a family of his own, so it’s his job to protect us if Matt can’t be here.”
Suddenly it all made sense—Dean telling me that he had to come because Rocker sent him, Dean acting like he’d known Sammy his whole life, Matty telling me he’d trust Dean with his life. “I don’t know about any of that,” I assured her. “My face looks like this because I’m taking a self-defense class.”
She smirked. “You actually have balls enough to get in the ring with Cris?”
I laughed. “No! Nick’s teaching me.”
“Your fiancé’s brave.” Becky looked behind me just as hands grabbed my shoulders, pulling me back into a familiar body, and lips found the spot where my neck met my shoulder. Wrapping his arms around me tight, he inhaled, making me shiver. Then he was gone, crossing the kitchen in two strides and grabbing his ex-wife in a bone crushing hug. “Don’t hug me!” she admonished as she hugged him back. “I’m pissed at you.”
“Me? Why?” He stood, looking from me to her and back. I knew the look on her face too well, and excused myself before they started arguing. I wanted to hear what they were going to say, but they needed a few minutes to talk in private.
Wandering out onto the deck, I saw Dean. He didn’t turn when he heard me. He just sat in his chair, watching the kids and sipping on a bottle of beer. I plopped down on the edge of a chaise lounge next to him. “Are you really here to be our security guard?” He nodded. “So, you’re just gonna follow me and Matty around?”
He didn’t turn to look at me. “Not you and Matt, no. My job is to protect them.” He nodded his head towards the kids, still playing and screaming away. “I’m gonna follow them, stay with them, play with them, and make sure nothing at all happens to them.”
“Really?” I asked, my tone cool. “You’re just gonna spend all your time with kids? And, how exactly are you gonna keep them safe?”
“I like kids. I’d rather spend time with them than adults. We have more in common.” Makes sense, since you’re about as emotionally mature as they are, I thought snidely. “I’m good at my job. You don’t need to know how I do it, just that you can trust me with the lives of your children.”
I swallowed and looked back to the kids. The silence stretched between us as we watched them play capture the flag and chase each other. Lily got the advantage and shot up the ladder before either boy could stop her. Once the flag was in her hands, she twirled and hooted, doing a victory dance.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Did you seriously just tell me my eight year old was beautiful?”
He scoffed. “Jesus, Jo. I don’t belong to the Bastards just so I can be a pedophile and fly under the radar. We kill sick fucks that have those thoughts.” He sound pissed at me, and without giving me a second to process the words he’d just said, he continued. “I’m saying that she is a beautiful little girl. And, if she’s that pretty at eight, we’re gonna be fucked by the time she’s a teenager and starts realizing boys are not the enemy and that they definitely do not have cooties. She is gonna be a world class beauty, and we’re gonna haveta scare the vultures away. She is adorable.”
I laughed at that, taking the compliment for what it was and trying not to read too much into it. “She is. She gets her looks f
rom her Daddy.”
Dean turned towards me then, shaking his head. “Not from what I can see. She looks just like her Momma.” I felt the blush rise in my cheeks. No one ever looked at Lily and saw me. Even though I had been blonde as a child, everyone assumed she got her hair from Will. Her skin was a blatant contrast to mine, darker than I got when I was completely tan. And, she was a tiny spec of a child, short and skinny for her age, where no one had ever accused me of being skinny. As if reading my thoughts, he continued. “She’s not always gonna be a minuscule little girl. One day, she’s gonna grow up and be all feminine curves. Then you’ll see that she is the spitin’ image of you. That’s probably gonna be the day you decide she can’t leave the clubhouse without at least three brothah’s watchin’ her every move.”
“Four. And, that’s when we let her out of the clubhouse. I say we send her to an all girl’s boarding school.” Matty’s voice was full of humor as he walked to my chair, swung a leg over, and pulled me back into his chest.
“We may have to.” Dean nodded, as if taking Matty’s absurd idea seriously. “She’s gonna be trouble. Does Cris know the club has a new princess?”
Matt laughed. “Jesus, don’t tell her. Then poor Lily will be her new pet and we’ll have two of ‘em on our hands. Naw, we’ll just let Lil grow up and see where time takes her.”
No. Uh-uh. Never happening. Absolutely not. “You two are wrong. My daughter is not gonna grow up and be the next Cris. She’s not gonna grow up and be the club princess, or a club whore, or an old lady, or anything else to do with the club. She’s gonna go to college, have an adventure, and find herself. Away from men that tell her she doesn’t have a say and that she has to belong to someone.”
Matty tensed behind me, but Dean just laughed. “You’re right, Jo. She’s not gonna be any of those things. ‘Cause that little beauty right there?” He pointed at Lily with his bottle, still dancing around and insulting her brother and Sammy. “She’s gonna have every single brothah wrapped around her little fingah. One day, she’s gonna be the motherfucking club Queen.”
