Lost MC (The Nighthawks MC Book 4)

by Bella Knight

  Tears ran down her face. “Who…”

  “Katya apparently received at least two of everything from the babushkas,” said Ace. “Gregory and Katya have the house keys, of course. He told me he could give us some stuff.” He had to swallow past the catch in his throat. “I thought he meant in about six months. Not… tonight.”

  Lily walked around, still stroking things. Her tears and silence began to disturb Ace. Did they do something wrong?

  She finally stopped and turned to him, tears streaming down her face. “They did this. For us?”

  “For you, honey,” said Ace, stepping forward. “I’m just along for your ride or your rider.” He held her face, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs, wiping away tears. “I… I love you so much.”

  She smiled tremulously at him. “I… how could they love us so much?”

  “Um, they’re family?” said Ace. “We love each other. That’s kinda how it works.”

  She kissed him, and he held her, swaying back and forth. The dam burst and she wept. He finally caught up. She was not crying because they did this for her. She was crying because asshole daddy made her think she wasn’t worth loving. He thought back to Kelly Clarkson’s heartbreaking song Piece by Piece, and he clutched his wife to him. Wish the rat bastard wasn’t dead, so I could kill him, he thought.

  She finally stopped crying. He opened a pack of wet wipes, helpfully sitting there on the changing table, ready to be used. She sat suddenly, and he went to the floor with her. The dogs came in, and surrounded her, licking her face, making her laugh. He gave her the wet wipe, but it was superfluous with the dogs. He sat behind her, cradling her, his back against the changing table, as the dogs pooled at her feet. He wrapped his feet around her knees, and held on, swaying back and forth.

  “I made your shirt all wet,” she said, petting doggy heads.

  “No, your rat bastard father is to blame for that,” he said. “I really wish I could dig him up, raise him from the dead, and kill him for you.”

  She laughed brokenly. “So do I. Hell, I wish I could raise him from the dead and have Ivy deal with him.”

  He shuddered. “Anyone messing with a kid in front of her is liable to be missing body parts, and she’d take it slow.”

  “I get that he was sick,” she said. “He was an alcoholic.”

  “So are half my friends,” he said. “I think there may be more Nighthawks who don’t drink than those who do. Some of them make it to a program before,” his voice broke. “Before they make their precious daughters feel they’re not worth loving.” He held her, crying into her hair. “You are the most precious woman in the world to me, barring our daughter if that’s what our little rider is. I don’t care if it’s a he, or she, or an it, or a… a hermaphrodite.” She laughed as he covered his gender bases. “Gay, straight, wants twelve wives or husbands, wants kids or no kids, likes baseball or ballet. I don’t care. That kid will be loved, and I won’t leave you, won’t hurt you. We’ll raise brothers and kids and dogs and go on rides and…” He thought a minute. “Good God, do I have to buy a minivan?”

  She laughed, turning to kiss him. “No, no minivans. That scares me too. Just get one of those newfangled cars that seats seven with those fold-down seats in back.”

  “Tonight?” he asked. “I think they’re closed.”

  She laughed again. “Wait until we hold the little rider. Then we’ll go car shopping on no sleep and less money.”

  He laughed too. The dogs kissed away their tears. He helped her up and led her into the hallway, closed the door, and led her to the bedroom, closing the door behind him. The dogs went back to their beds. He undressed her, slowly, slowly. She leaned into every caress. He kissed the top of her head, her forehead, her eyes. She pulled him down for a kiss. The love raged within him. He knew he could love her forever and a day, like one of those perpetual motion machines. He felt himself spinning around, around her, diving into what made Lily his life, his heart. He put his hand on her stomach, felt her put her hand on his.

  They came together in the dark. He took his time. Her moans were soft, but she was wet, and he was so hard he thought he’d break. He sat on the bed, lifted her onto him. They stared into each other’s eyes as he lifted her hips up and down. They went slowly, slowly. She kissed him as if she’d never stop until he lost his breath. Finally, he came in a rush, and she clenched on him and arched her back. They held on tight.

  He stood. She wrapped her legs around him. He took her to the bath. He ran hot water in the tub and put her in. He lit some candles and turned off the light. He washed her hair, put in conditioner, then washed her face with the cleanser and scrub she liked. He rinsed her face and washed the rest of her with soap. She moaned with pleasure. He rinsed her hair.

  He got in, displacing water. She laughed. He turned off the water and washed his own hair. She washed his body. They laid there in the water, floating, kissing, him under her, until the water turned cold. He got her out, dried her body, then her hair, and dried himself. He got her into bed, and held her close, hoping she understood that he’d never let her go.

  “Grow, or die.”

  7

  Danger Zone

  “Take your next steps in life; move forward or get run over.”

  Ivy heard the alarm go off, and struggled to get out of her dream of a desert island, with her wife, and the girls with a sitter. She gave up, hit snooze, and finished off the dream. She woke up when it went off again, and stumbled to the bathroom. She dressed in black jeans and a Rolling Stones t-shirt in record time.

  “What are you doing up?” asked the confused Callie, pounding away on her keyboard. The girls were with Bao.

  “You’re coming with me,” she said. “Let’s go.” Ivy stumbled to the door to put on her boots, a major trick without coffee.”

  Callie broke down her laptop and put it in its case. “Alrighty then. Where are we going?”

  “Umm,” said Ivy, trying to get her right boot on.

  “Sorry,” said Callie. “I forgot you have the He-Man speech patterns in the morning.”

  Ivy flipped her off and put on the other boot. Callie put on her own boots and put the pack on her back. The went out into the dawn, and Ivy stumbled to her bike.

  “Wait. Corner store. Coke.” She ran around the corner, bought two Cokes, put one in her jeans pocket, ran back, popped the top on the other one, and gave it to Ivy.

  “Drink,” she said. Ivy poured it down her throat and burped.

  “‘Scuse me,” she said. She handed Callie her helmet and got on her bike. Callie put on her helmet and sat. Ivy laughed. “You happy to see me?”

  “Another Coke,” she said. She passed it forward, and Ivy put it in her own pants. “Didn’t know if one would be enough.”

  They rode to the other side of the park and pulled into the parking lot of a duplex. A two-story duplex. Ivy parked the bike, waited for Callie to get off, and took off her helmet and stowed it. She stowed Callie’s as well.

  “Why are we here?” asked Callie.

  “Three bedrooms in each one,” she said, walking toward the door on the right. “Different from the other one we looked at online.” The door had a coded lock on it; Ivy put in the code. “I only have the code on this side, but, hey, good enough.” Callie followed Ivy in. The entryway led to a largish den. Trash littered the floor. “We’ll use Henry’s kids to clean up and demo,” she said, stepping over a pile of ancient magazines. “Apparently, some of the kids find demo therapeutic. Also, something may be salable.”

  “What?” asked Callie, stepping to the side.

  Stairs let up to a second floor. Ivy ignored them. “Kitchen will have to be totally demo-ed. The appliances are 1970s avocado. Disgusting. But, there’s a window in the kitchen. You like windows.” She gestured to the side. “This space will fit a banquette table. Or a bigger one with those expanding leaf things, if you want. There’s space in that nook over there for your laptop. We can get you the tilty kind you can bend up and down, pu
t it wherever you want.”

  Callie looked around her jaw on the floor. “It…”

  “In back, lots of space for a gym set, maybe even two, kiddie pools and sprinklers. We can put in desert gardening, Henry’s Nantan can do that stuff. And, up here, the stairs lead to two bedrooms. Go on the left, the right has some loose and squeaky boards. I thought about demoing them and doing those spiral things. Harder to fall off of them for kids. Up here, we have three bedrooms. Two baths. We’ll need to install…”

  Callie grabbed Ivy’s arm and spun her around. “We’re buying a duplex? To put Hu and her family on one side, and us on the other? By the park? Closer to our jobs?”

  Ivy nodded. “I needed to borrow a little from Ace.” She held up her hands. “We’ll pay it back, I swear, in three months, maybe two. But, I wanted to jump on this…”

  “Shut up,” said Callie.

  “I’m sorry if I…,” said Ivy.

  Callie walked up to Ivy, grabbed her, and kissed her, hard. “I fucking love you,” she said.

  “I fucking love you too.”

  They held on, kissing each other. “I’m about to say something crazy,” said Ivy.

  “Go for it,” said Callie.

  “I want to have your baby,” said Ivy. Callie smiled and kissed her.

  They had lunch at Sonic with the real estate agent, who had put in their bid, and said it would probably be accepted, then Ivy dropped Callie off at home. Callie picked up Hu, Bao, and Grace, and they went to school.

  After the Chinese and Paiute lessons, Katya came in to help with the kids. They went to the nearby park to run, play, play soccer, and have fun. Katya was hugely pregnant.

  “I am only pregnant few months, but I feel like cow.”

  Callie laughed. “Lily’s going to feel the same way soon.”

  “I decorate her baby room. Gregory say, you should let her do it, but I say, she want to know she is loved. Then Ace say, she cry, but happy cry. She love baby furniture.”

  “Great,” said Callie. “You know we are supposed to have a baby shower for her, buy her all the things she’s missing?”

  “We do soon. Once I pop out babies, I not have time.”

  “Babies? You’re having twins?”

  “What you think? I fat cow so soon? No, two.” She held up two fingers.

  Callie threw her hands up in the air with joy and hugged her friend. Grace, Hu, and Elena jogged over. “What is it?” asked Grace.

  Elena said, “My mom just told your mom she’s having two babies.”

  “Two babies?” asked Grace, throwing up her hands.

  Hu held up two fingers. Katya nodded. The girls threw themselves at Katya, hugging her. She laughed, and Elena attached herself to her mother too.

  “Congratulations!” said Grace. “Did I say that right?”

  “Yes, you did,” said Katya. “Now, little ducks go play, before it is dark and we must go inside.” They joined the other children, telling them about the babies. The boys acted shocked.

  “Ivy wants to have a baby with me,” said Callie.

  “What do you want?” asked Katya, patting her rounded belly.

  “I think I want to have babies with my wife,” she said. Then, it was Katya’s turn to exclaim and hug her.

  Callie was in a strange, dreamlike state of mind for the rest of the day. She got through the day without stumbling, playing with the kids, mentoring them on their scientific history project on agriculture and how knowledge of astronomy helped ancient peoples to know when to plant and harvest. She got an earful about hydroponics, as they had toured Nantan’s facility. They wanted to create their own hydroponics at school to grow food for lunches. Having been the Lunch Queen, she started them on a list of their favorite fruits and vegetables, then research several hydroponics systems. Then she had them draw up a pros and cons list for the several systems and had them translate the lists and costs into multiple languages. They ate dinner, and debated which plants to grow and which system to use while eating their tortillas, chicken, fruit kebabs, and vegetables.

  They were able to set up a Skype call with Nantan, and he listened very carefully to their Paiute/English pro and con list.

  “I’m learning Paiute,” he said. “I’m Apache. But, from what I do know, great translation. Anyway, I think Choice A, the hydroponics using PVC piping, is best. Who can code?” They all raised their hands. “I’m going to send over the code for determining when to spray and when not to spray. You read the code, and see if you can understand what it does.” They all nodded. “Now, I’m going to need to know your exact specifications, and every single thing you will need to build your system. Figure out where it’s going and how much room you have first before you go insane with the materials list.”

  They got a small geometry lesson about how to determine the area, and they set about finding the best spot. They chose a corner near the books first, but Grace commented on that.

  “What if it leaks?” They switched over to the other corner.

  They finally agreed on the space under the window. They then measured it, and then they figured out the layers.

  “Layers?” asked Hu. Grace made layers with her hands.

  They decided on three trays. They emailed the initial information to Nantan, who Skyped them back.

  “Farming can be vertical. Why not from the floor to the ceiling? Or at an angle to make many rows?”

  That made for more difficult math, but the kids loved the idea of both columns and vertical walls. They chose columns on each end and a vertical wall in the middle and started all over again with their calculations.

  They had to stop for the night. Hu and Grace actually complained all the way home about having to stop doing math, something that amused Callie to no end.

  They made it back alive, and the girls chittered and chattered, refusing to sleep, debating the math problem. Grace told them to draw it out and then make a paper representation. They set about it with glee. They finally fell asleep, a pile of paper and glue sticks on their little, pushed-together desks. Callie cleaned it up a bit, took a shower, and went to bed.

  Ivy came in, pulled off her boots and leathers, and stumbled down the hallway to the shower. She washed up, made it to the bedroom, put on panties and yoga pants and a camisole top, and fell like timber into the bed. Callie divorced herself from her computer and slid it back in its case. She scooted over and held her wife, who smelled of cinnamon candy.

  “I love you,” she said.

  “Um unf wu,” said Ivy.

  “Close enough,” said Callie.

  In the morning, despite their late night, the girls were raring to go. They had their little paper pictures and 3D mockups. Even Ivy, desperately sucking down coffee, was impressed. Ivy fed the girls and took them to walk the dog while Callie withdrew to take an online exam. Callie came out just in time for Ivy to go to work. She was white-faced and said very little. She drove the kids to school, and let Henry deal with the pictures and mockups. He’d heard about it from Nantan, and was ready with criticisms and new ideas. The other students split into groups to do their own mockups. Grace and Hu did their extended reading while they were on that; Henry found a book on architecture and another on gardening.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Henry to Callie, once all the students were off and running on their tasks.

  “I took a test this morning.”

  “Passed or failed?”

  “Passed, great grade, actually. But the teacher is a fu—fricking idiot.”

  Henry laughed. “Welcome to education for educators,” he said. “They get the weirdest ideas in their heads based on what they think are great motives, but you have to scratch your head half the time. Why start language education in high school? That should be done in kindergarten.”

  She laughed.

  “Why learn subjects separately? Don’t math and science intersect, and language and culture, and history and everything else?” Henry kept his voice low, but he was getting into it.


  “Why do we need bells? Do bells ring at work or on farms?” Callie’s eyes glittered.

  “Why do we learn indoors? We’ve been outside more in our semester than the local school has all year.”

  Callie held up a hand. “All true. This woman thinks what’s in footnotes should be on tests. I happened to remember it. Her language is clunky, too. There were several questions with two right answers.”

  “Why do we need tests with little bubbles?” asked Henry. “Does life test that way?”

  “No,” said Callie. “Life hits you in the head with a baseball bat, and either you survive or you don’t.” Callie smiled, a genuine one.

  “Now that it’s getting cooler, a desert survival segment would be excellent.” Henry took out his phone, made a note, and broke up a disagreement about columns versus trays. They batted around some ideas about the desert segment and sent an email to Henry, David, and Inola about it.

  The students finally arrived at a consensus about the best design without coming to blows. Callie texted Nantan pictures, hoping she wasn’t messing up a big night with his boyfriend. He made some changes to the design to save on costs, and made massive changes to the materials lists —it came out cheaper but with more items. Henry bought the items with the club account, and the kids had a “party” at dinner about the items, to be delivered the next day. Callie went out and bought tiny, lemon poppy seed, blueberry, and strawberry muffins, and they ate them for dessert with their juice.

  Can We?

  Callie was never happier to hand her daughter and Hu over to Bao. She went home, finished off a paper, wrote another one, edited the first one and turned it in, finished off the other one, and stumbled into the shower. She turned off the water when she heard Ivy come in and pull off her boots. She put the plug in the bath and started the hot water. Ivy came in the bathroom, undressed while throwing her clothes in the hamper, and slid blissfully into the water.