by Khloe Wren
Scout barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Too true. Like I said, we all gotta step up and fill the void you left, now you’re all settled down and shit.”
Lifting my beer, I took a swig while Scout did the same.
“Gus is good with Flick working with me at the range and shop. I’ve been thinking, instead of just having Flick help out Mac, why don’t we expand the program? Start running a gun class aimed at women too. Flick’s more than capable of teaching it, and I’m sure Gus would give us the go ahead. Might also make his shop more profitable, because I honestly don’t know how he fucking affords to eat at the moment.”
Scout nodded. “Sounds good to me, why don’t you arrange a meeting between Mac, Chip, Flick and yourself. Gus can be involved too, if he wants. If we cross promote between the gym and the gun shop, both will benefit.” He nodded toward where Flick was laughing with her brother. “I’m guessing Viper will put Stone in charge of the bunker, since he has reason to visit us now. You okay with that?”
I gave him a chin lift. “We’re good. Stone knows it wasn’t our fault he got fucked over, we were just following orders when we brought him in that day. It was the brass who decided to ignore the fucking truth and fuck him over. When we realized he was with the Cowboys back when we were dealing with the Iron Hammers bullshit, we were worried he’d come after us. But Flick told me what he said to her about it, and he doesn’t appear to be holding a grudge against us.”
“Good to hear. That’s the last thing any of us need. So, you, Mac and Eagle really do fucking do everything together, huh? All settling down with an old lady within months of each other. You got your girl knocked up yet?”
Because the bastard had waited until I’d taken a mouthful of beer, I coughed and choked on it.
“Fucker.” I paused to cough some more. “She ain’t pregnant. Bloody hell. I’m not ready to share her with a kid yet. I’ve heard what those little poop machines do to a man’s sex life. No way. At least, not yet.”
Scout laughed and walked away, leaving me to watch my woman and think about how cute a little girl with my blue eyes and a thick mane of black hair like her mother’s would look. It lit off an ache inside me that left me wanting to tell her to toss out her pills so we could get to making a baby already. I glanced over toward my best friends. Eagle and Mac both stood with their women, each with a large palm on their unborn child. We really did do all of life’s big milestones together.
I needed to talk with Flick.
Dumping my empty bottle into the trash, I strolled over to Flick. Slipping up behind her, I wrapped my arm over her shoulder. When she tensed I cursed and tightened my grip.
“Don’t you dare fucking throw me, woman.”
Stone started laughing so hard he doubled over, and Flick relaxed back against me with a sigh.
“I really am sorry about that.”
“Yeah, well, so long as you don’t do it again, I can deal.”
“Well, quit sneaking up behind me and grabbing me, then!”
I kissed the side of her head. “I’ll try, but after all that careful training the USMC gave me, I can’t help but walk around the place silently.”
She turned to face me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “And it’s all my careful training that means whenever someone is stupid enough to sneak up behind me and grab me, I throw them.”
Her falsely syrupy-sweet voice had my cock throbbing to be inside her.
“Well, since you two are gonna start being all sweet and disgusting, I’m gonna go find something I can mess with. Flick, I’ll call you when I know when I’ll be back in town. I’ll drop in again on Uncle Gus before we head off in the morning.”
Flick unlatched herself from me and gave her brother a hug, and a peck on the cheek. “I’m sure he’ll love that. I’m so glad I found you, An–ah, Stone. Next time you come down, you can stay with us and we can catch up some more.”
He winced and I couldn’t hold in the chuckle.
“I’ve heard the rumors, sugar. No way in hell am I gonna be staying where I’m gonna be forced to listen to my sister being screwed all night long. There are some things brothers don’t want, or need, to know. Their sibling’s sex lives are one of those things.”
With a shake of her head, she gave him another peck on the cheek, said goodbye then swayed her way back over to me.
“So, caveman, now you’ve successfully scared off my brother–”
“I didn’t scare him off. He was looking for an excuse to go find something wet and willing inside.”
She screwed up her face. “Could you not call them that? I mean, I know they are, but that’s a horrible way of describing them.”
I shrugged as I lowered my face in against her neck. “Club whores are what they are, babe. But I don’t want to talk about them at all. I’d much rather discuss making babies with you.”
She laughed. “Well, you can talk all you want. It’ll be at least another couple of months before we can do anything about it. I don’t take a little pill every morning, Taz. I get the shot every three months.”
“And do you intend to keep getting them?”
She pulled back to stare me in the eye. “You’re seriously asking me to have your baby, aren’t you?”
“Hell, yeah, I am. I never dreamed I’d have a woman of my own, but now that I do, I can’t imagine anything better than creating a family with her. I want kids, and I want to watch those kids grow up surrounded by love and protection.” I turned her around to take in the rear yard of the Charon’s clubhouse. Kids ran around playing, Zara and Silk stood beside Eagle and Mac, with their pregnancies clearly visible. “I want to raise my–our–family here, within the Charon family. Here, none of us will ever be left alone. We’ll always be protected and have people who love us at our backs.”
Pulling free from my grip she turned back to face me with tears in her eyes. I’d be worried if she wasn’t smiling so damn wide.
“Flick, I love you babe, and I can’t wait start our family.”
“Oh, Taz. You’re killing me here. You’re too perfect, you know that, right? Fucking catnip.”
Shaking my head I pulled her in against my front, cupping her face in my palm.
“Catnip?”
“You’re like my personal brand of catnip. I get a taste and instantly, I lose my mind and do crazy shit.”
He chuckled, before growing serious. “I’ll never be perfect, babe. But I’ll always be your rock. I’ll always love you and put you first. I’d rather cut out my heart than see you hurt. And I’m glad I make you like that, because you do the same to me, my curious little kitty.”
Tears trailed down her cheeks as she pushed up on her toes to hover her mouth near mine. “I love you so much, more than anything else in this world, Donovan Taz Lee.”
With my heart in my throat, I kissed her, taking her mouth with mine over and over again. I’d never get enough of her. Of this woman who’d brought my heart and soul back to life, so she could cherish them.
EPILOGUE
Three years later
Flick
With a sigh, I sat back down beside my two best friends in our backyard. Before I’d met Taz, he had bought the house between Mac and Zara’s place, and Eagle and Silk’s. They’d soon pulled out the dividing fences so we all shared one big backyard, which I loved. Especially now the kids were all running around. I placed my palm against my growing stomach, as I turned to face Silk. Her belly was as big as mine, which made sense since our due dates were one week apart, which was a little crazy. Zara was leading the charge with this round of kids–her baby was due two months before ours.
“Do you think the boys plan to have everything happen at the same time, or is it just some freaky fucking destiny thing?”
“What do you mean?”
Silk frowned over at me like I was nuts. Hell, I probably was.
“All three of them seem to do big life milestones together. Leaving the Marines was obviously a conscious decision, but meeting
and falling in love with us all within months of each either? The first round of kiddos, and now this lot?”
Silk started laughing. “I hadn’t thought about it, but yeah, that’s some freaky shit. I don’t think they discuss and plan any of it though.”
Zara began chuckling. “Oh c’mon, I mean, can you just picture it? The three of them standing around discussing knocking us all up at the same time? It’s fucking hilarious.”
That set us all off. Because Zara was right. It was fucking hilarious. Especially considering the three of them were currently all standing around the barbecue pretending like they were going to cook something. We’d done our jobs, the salads were all inside ready to be served just as soon as the meat was done.
“Oh my, check out our kids. They are so cute.”
I turned to see what the three terrors were up to now. Eagle and Silk’s little boy, Raven Clint Benally was turning three in two months, while Mac and Zara’s daughter, Cleo Beatrice Miller wouldn’t turn three until September. My little angel, Lola Grace Lee, or Lolly for short, had just turned two. The three of them sat in the newly completed sandbox happily playing with buckets, rakes and shovels. Well, it was happily until Raven decided he wanted something from the other side of Lolly. Naturally, he wasn’t looking where he was going and tripped over Lolly’s outstretched leg as he’d moved. The responding scream had me cringing. My little girl had a set of lungs on her, no doubt about that. Poor little Raven froze, clearly panicking over what he’d done. Knowing Lolly wasn’t really hurt, I turned to watch for Cleo’s reaction. The little redhead was super protective and this was bound to be entertaining.
“Raven’s in for it now.”
Yeah, Zara knew her daughter, like the rest of us did. I nodded as we took in how Cleo gathered Lolly into a hug while she gave Raven a stare of pure death.
“Yep, she’s pulled out her southern-stink-eye-glare. One of the workers down at the daycare called it that the other day. I kinda like it. Fits her to a T. Aww, poor Raven.”
Predictably, Raven had raced off toward his dad in tears, as Cleo continued to make a fuss over Lolly, who had already forgotten all about the whole thing. Lolly was trying to get free from her savior as she reached for her bucket, clearly ready to get back to playing already.
Turning my attention to the men, Eagle had gathered his son up and lifted him up against his chest. We were too far away to hear what he told Raven, but whatever it was had the little boy nodding before he wrapped his little arms around his daddy’s neck.
“Damn, but I tear up every time I see him with Raven like this. It’s like the ultimate in mommy-porn.”
I smiled. “Yep, watching your man be a good daddy to your kids is totally swoon-worthy. “
Zara snorted a laugh. “You two are nuts. Meanwhile, if Mac or I want to cuddle Cleo, we gotta crash tackle her from behind to keep her still long enough to do it.”
With a snort, I nodded toward the sandbox. “Apparently, all you have to do is pretend to be hurt for a few seconds, then you get hugs while your assailant gets a death glare.”
That had us all chuckling again. With a smile, I lifted my glass of lemonade and took a deep drink. I really did love this family I’d found myself in. The Charons as a whole were good, but these people right here with me in our backyard? They were the best. The sound of a Harley pulling up had me rising from my chair.
“Who are you expecting?”
“Stone.”
Yeah, I did eventually get used to using his new name. And he came around often. Turns out my big brother loved being an uncle. He’d even rung our folks to let them know where he was. No more pretending like he didn’t have emotions. He’d called me earlier today, to say he was in town for club business so that translated to mean that he would be on his own and couldn’t give me an exact time. Not that it matter, I loved when he dropped around. And Lolly loved her uncle. Raven and Cleo thought he was pretty cool, too.
I walked–not waddled, despite what Taz tells everyone–to the side of the house to greet him. He strolled up with a wide grin before he pulled me into a tight hug.
“Hey, sis.”
After he pulled back from the hug, he gave my belly a pat while he kissed the top of my head.
“Where’s my favorite trio of trouble?”
“In the sandbox. The guys finished it today, and it’s been a real hit.”
He chuckled. “I can imagine. Get ready to find sand everywhere now.”
I winced. “Yeah, we’re already discovering that.”
Not that I minded, it gave us another reason to hang out in our joint yard with each other. I couldn’t have asked for a better environment to raise my family in. And I couldn’t have asked for a better man than Taz. I glanced over at him as Stone and I entered the yard. He was watching for my return. My caveman protector was always keeping an eye on Lolly and me whenever he could, and I couldn’t love him more for it.
Taz
At the sound of my daughter’s ear-piecing screech, I spun to see what was going on. The fact the women were all sitting there calmly watching the kids stopped me from running over there, but clearly something had happened.
Mac’s girl, Cleo was being all momma-bear over Lolly and giving Eagle’s boy, Raven a good, long, dark stare. Poor boy still had no clue how to deal with that girl. Within seconds he was running toward us with tears in his dark brown eyes.
“That boy’s gotta figure out Cleo, or she’s gonna walk all over him for the rest of his life.”
Eagle shook his head. “He’s not even three yet, Taz. He’s got time. And Cleo’s got one hell of a death stare going on.”
Mac laughed. “What can I say? My girl’s tough, just like her momma.”
Eagle scooped up his boy when he got to him. He was a mini version of his father, with straight, dark hair and dark eyes. But his temperament was a mix of him and Silk. I wasn’t really worried he’d let Cleo turn him into a doormat. I was sure in a couple of years, he’d take his role as big brother and eldest of the family seriously and keep the girls, and any other kids we all had, safe from all threats, while giving everyone around him hell.
Eagle finished consoling his son, and Raven ran off for the back deck of Eagle’s house. Eagle was watching after him, so I turned back to the barbecue, turning the various forms of meat we were cooking for lunch. The girls had finished the salads already and were all lazing around, watching the kids play. Well, until the roar of a Harley filled the air and Flick waddled off toward the side of our place. Fuck, I loved her pregnant. All round and soft. Although she kicked my ass for saying she waddled. But she totally did.
Hopefully our guest was just her brother, but I kept half an eye on where she’d disappeared from view as I flipped another burger.
“Oh, man, I love that kid so much. Taz, you gotta watch this, brother.”
Setting the tongs down, I turned toward the sandbox. Cleo was still glaring at the poor boy, but Raven ignored her as he went directly to my Lolly. Leaning down, he gave her a big hug, then when he pulled back, he held out his favorite toy. A Matchbox version of his daddy’s bike. I knew he slept with that thing.
“He’s giving her his bike? Damn, that is so sweet.”
Mac sounded a little in awe. We all knew his Cleo wouldn’t share her things with anyone. I turned to Eagle. “I’ll make sure I get it back to you before bed time.”
“Thanks, as much as the gesture is beautiful, he’s gonna be heartbroken come bed time.”
A couple minutes later, I relaxed when Stone strolled into the yard with Flick. I still didn’t like her out of my sight. Anything could happen. As soon as the kids saw who was here, they dropped all toys and ran for their Uncle Stone. Well, Raven took a moment to pocket his toy bike before he ran over there.
“He’s sly. Got it back already.”
Eagle chuckled. “Yeah, I caught that too.”
I looked around the yard with a grin. This was truly what a family should be. The entire Charon MC was like a big
, extended family, and I knew they all would have our backs, but these people here in our backyard were even more than that. I knew no matter what happened to me, or Flick, little Lolly and our unborn baby, would never find themselves alone like I had. They would always be protected and surrounded with love. It was a comforting thought, one that helped me sleep at night.
I loaded the now-cooked food onto the platter and carried it over to the large table on the grass. The girls brought out the salads, and after Mac handed out fresh drinks we all sat down. I stood a little longer, looking over each face here, including my new brother-in-law Stone. He and I were very similar and had a good friendship these days.
I held my bottle up.
“To family.”
The others echoed it, and I gathered Lolly up off my seat, and sat down with her on my knee, next to my wife, my old lady, my other fucking half. Unable to resist, I leaned over to kiss her.
“I love you, kitty.”
She beamed up at me, glowing with her pregnancy and love.
“Love you too, caveman.”
I absently ran the palm not holding Lolly over my chest. Naturally, Flick’s gaze followed the movement with a gentle smile. Funny, the names I’d inked on my chest used to be something I avoided looking at, or thinking about, but thanks to my woman suggesting we name our little angel after my mum and sister, the ink held new meaning. It wasn’t just about my dead anymore, it was about life, the future. My gorgeous little Lolly.
“I loves you too, Daddy!”
Speaking of which, said little angel planted a big, wet kiss on my cheek before reaching for her mother. Flick didn’t have a whole lotta lap left these days, but she managed to take our daughter, and receive her own kiss and declaration of love from Lolly. I had to grin when she wanted back to me the moment she was through.
Yep, I totally got myself a daddy’s girl with this one. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, as I settled her back on my knee. As I’d imagined, Lolly had her mother’s black wavy hair, and the Lee baby-blue eyes. She was beautiful, and I knew I was going to have my hands full keeping boys off her when she hit teen years.
