I hit the speakerphone button and laid the phone on the bed. “Mom was telling me how Dad is spying on the neighbors with the drone your boyfriend bought him and how I have to go on a date with Dave so Dad doesn’t get arrested.”
“I know all of that,” Carnie laughed.
“You know!” I shouted.
“Your sister is a good girl and calls her mother every other day. You might want to try it sometime,” Mom cut in.
Carnie beamed brightly. “Hey, Mama.”
I growled and shot up off of the bed. “Maybe I just won’t call at all and you can get all of your information from Carnie from now on.”
I was twenty-two years old and my mom and sister could still make me act like a moody teenager.
“Oh, hush, Wendy,” Mom remarked.
“You tell Mom you’re living with Slayer?”
I glared at Carnie and wished I had a roll of duct tape handy. She needed to be shut up.
“You what?” Mom boomed. “You just told me you were going to stay with your sister for a bit longer.”
Carnie shimmied her shoulders and winked at me. “Oh, she’s staying, but not so she can hang out with me. She’s moving in with Slayer to help take care of his daughter.”
“I thought you two hated each other?”
I grabbed my pillow off the bed and tossed it at Carnie. It smacked her upside the head, and I was happy for a second. Then, Carnie kept talking.
“They don’t. I think it’s just sexual tension,” Carnie pondered.
I snatched the phone off the bed and turned off the speakerphone. “Mother?” I said. I pressed the phone to my ear and glared at Carnie. “I’m not coming home now, but I will be home soon. I’m staying to help Adley get settled, and then, I’ll be back home.” I ended the call before she could say anything or tell me her two cents about Slayer and me hating or not hating each other.
I tossed the phone on the bed and crossed my arms over my chest. “Please tell me why you think you needed to tell Mom that there is sexual tension between Slayer and me when there most certainly isn’t?”
“Because there is,” Carnie sang.
I rolled my eyes and moved across the room to my new walk-in closet.
The house Slayer had managed to rent was way better than I imagined.
Two stories.
Three bedrooms.
Large living room.
Huge kitchen.
A bonus room in the attic.
A smile was plastered on Adley’s face when she stepped through the front door, and it hadn’t left.
“I’m here for Adley, Carnie.” And I didn’t really think I would be here that long. Once she got settled, I was going to be gone.
“I know, I know,” she mumbled. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun while you’re here.” She wiggled her eyebrows and smiled wide.
“No.” There would be no fun like the type she was talking about.
“Yes.”
I ignored Carnie, walked out of the room, and headed to the stairs. She caught up to me halfway down the stairs and grabbed my arm.
“You’re kind of moody today,” she whispered.
I looked up at her and scowled. “I’m not moody.” Though you couldn’t tell from my moody tone.
“What’s wrong?”
“Stop it with the sexual tension shit. I’m serious, Carnie. I don’t want to hear it.” Nothing was going to happen with Slayer and me. I was here for Adley, and that was it.
“I don’t know why you’re getting so mad about it.”
“Because,” I hissed. “The more you say it, the more people are going to think that there is something going on.”
“Maybe the more you’re going to believe it, and then, it will happen.” She wiggled her eyebrows, and I just wanted to punch her in the nose.
“I hate you,” I seethed.
She smiled wide. “You sure are getting upset over something that you keep denying.”
I plastered my hand on her face and pushed her away. I spun on my heel and marched the rest of the way down the stairs.
“That is why I wanted a sister,” Karmen sighed. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs with Cole on her hip. “There aren’t many people in this world that you can push their buttons and still love them.”
“You want a sister?” I asked. “You can have Carnie. You’ll give her back to me by the end of the week.”
I moved into the kitchen with Karmen following behind. Most everyone was sitting in the living room but Nikki, Pipe, and Freak were in the kitchen.
“Your woman is driving me crazy. Can’t you take her home or something?” I asked Freak.
He shrugged and took a sip of beer. “She’s happy making you crazy.”
“Really?” I growled. I grabbed a slice of pizza from one of the boxes on the counter. “I’m going to remember that when she starts driving you crazy.”
Freak chuckled and shook his head. “Pretty sure that ain’t never going to happen.”
“We’re heading out,” Alice called.
I stood in the doorway to living room. “Thanks for all the help.”
Alice laughed and struggled to put her coat on. Wrecker took pity on her and helped get her arms into the sleeves.
“I didn’t do much other than help eat some pizza.” Alice grabbed a cow print stocking hat out of her pocket and plopped it on her head. “Peace out, homies.”
My cheeks heated at the word homie, and I looked at Wrecker.
He smirked. “I didn’t tell her yet.”
“Tell me what?” Alice demanded.
“No!” I yelped.
Wrecker gave me a knowing smile, and I knew it was only going to be a matter of minutes before Alice was going to know about God being my homie, and then, it wouldn’t be long after that the rest of the club were going to know. “I’ll tell you in the car, babe.”
After Wrecker herded Alice out to the car, everyone else headed out. Of course, Carnie had to give me a little more shit before she left with Freak, but thankfully, no one heard her teasing me about sexual tension.
“Your room okay?”
I spun away from the window in the living room and came eye to eye with Slayer. He was two feet away from me, and if I wanted to, I could reach out and touch him. “Jesus, Steve, I need to put a bell on you.”
“You’re not being very creative with my names, Wynne.” His hands were in his pockets, and he had a sexy, smug smile on his lips.
The man drove me crazy, but I couldn’t deny that he was not hard on the eyes to look at.
“I must be tired,” I grumbled. I needed to hop online and make a list of names I could call him. Though, I didn’t want to have to pull a list out when I wanted to insult him. I was off my game a bit. “Adley up in her room?”
Slayer nodded. “Yup. She’s watching some movies.”
“Kids singing and dressed up in funky clothes?”
“Uh, yup. Don’t know how it happened, but I watched it with her for a little bit.”
A laugh bubbled from my lips. “Been there. Last night, I told her she could watch whatever she wanted because I figured I would just nod off.” I shook my head. “Nope. I stayed awake for both movies she watched. Those kid movies are addicting these days.”
Slayer moved to the window, and I turned to watch him. Something seemed different about him. I hadn’t really been around him when he wasn’t in the clubhouse surrounded by all of the other guys.
“Kind of crazy how last night we were sleeping in the clubhouse, and now we’re in this house,” he pondered.
“Yeah, I gotta say you really came through on the house.”
He glanced over at me with a smile playing on his lips. “What? Did you think I was going to put us in some hole in the wall?”
“Well,” I drawled. “You had me wondering how you were going to find a house in less than twenty-four hours.”
He turned back to the window and sighed. “It’s good to have connections.”
>
“Those are some good connections to be able to get you into this house.” I was still in awe that we were going to be staying here.
“They’re connections. I wouldn’t put the word good with them.” He dropped his chin to his chest and sighed heavily. “I got so many things going on in my head right now, but all I really want to do is go to sleep.”
“Is there something wrong with your bed?” I laughed.
“It’s only seven o’clock, Willow.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I promise not to tell all of the guys you went to bed earlier than my grandma.”
It had been a long day, and I couldn’t really blame Slayer for wanting to just pass out. Hell, I knew as soon as Adley fell asleep that I wouldn’t be far behind.
“Not sure if I can really trust you.”
I shrugged and moved to the couch in front of the TV. “Well, you gotta have some trust in me seeing as I’ll be the one to help keep Adley alive.”
“She’s twelve. I don’t think she needs much help to be kept alive. You’re more here to help keep her out of trouble.”
I scoffed and grabbed the remote off the coffee table. It was awfully nice to have the house basically all furnished. It was better furniture than I ever had also, I was curious to know who Slayer’s connections were to be able to score this house. “Have you thought about school?”
“School?” Slayer asked. “What do you mean?”
I shook my head and laughed lightly. “She’s twelve, Slim. You think she’s graduated already?”
“Damn.” Slayer ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “I didn’t even think about that.”
“Figured.” There were a lot of things Slayer needed to think about, but since he had never even thought about having a kid before, he didn’t know where to start. “Why don’t you pass out for the night and we can start fresh tomorrow.”
“But Adley is—”
I waved my hand at him and cut him off. “She’s had dinner and is just relaxing in her room for the night. I’ll make sure she showers and brushes her teeth before she falls asleep.”
Slayer just stared at me.
“It’s why I’m here, Slay—Slammer.” Jesus. I almost said his real name. I was slipping on being distant. I cleared my throat and carried on. “I’m here to take care of Adley. Go to bed and leave us alone.”
“Fine. You know where my room is, if you need me.”
I nodded and mindlessly flipped through the channels until I heard his door shut upstairs.
Yes, I knew exactly where his room was. Right next to mine.
I had tried to convince Adley to take the one next to her dad, but she had fallen in love with the room at the other end of the hall that had a huge picture window with settee. Also known as the master bedroom.
Slayer was actually in the smallest bedroom, and mine was almost twice as large as his, but Adley’s room was huge. I figured when I left, Slayer could take my room and then they could do something else with the smaller room.
I finally landed on the Hallmark channel, and I settled into the corner of the couch to watch some cheesy Christmas movies.
“Do we have any chips?”
“Holy sweet cheese balls!” I hollered. I slapped my hand over my mouth and tried to calm my breathing.
Adley stood at the end of the couch with a smile on her face. “Sorry.”
“My God. You’re just like your father. I’m going to have to put a bell on both of you.”
How the heck could they move so quietly that I didn’t know they were right next to me?
“Can I have a snack?” Adley asked again.
I glanced at the time on my phone. “We had pizza a little bit ago.”
Adley shrugged. “I’m hungry.”
I guess I couldn’t really argue with that logic. “I heard the kitchen is stocked.” I stood up and headed into the kitchen. “Let’s check it out.”
Adley opened the fridge, and I rummaged through the cabinets.
“Milk, orange juice, butter, tons of veggies and leftover pizza in here,” Adley called.
After opening three cabinets, I hit the jackpot. “Well, well. What do we have here?” I laughed. “Fruit snacks, granola bars, two bags of chips, cashews, ramen noodles, and ice cream cones.”
Adley’s eyes connected with mine, and she smiled wide. “You think since they brought ice cream cones that they bought ice cream?”
“Only one way to find out, girlfriend.”
Adley opened the freezer and squealed. “We have chocolate and mint chip!”
I grabbed the ice cream cones and one bag of chips. “Grab spoons and let’s get to assembling.”
We ended up back on the couch, each of us with an overflowing ice cream cone and a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips between us.
“Should we have asked Slayer if he wanted any?”
I glanced over at Adley. It was weird for her to call him Slayer, but maybe she wasn’t ready to call him dad. It really wasn’t official yet. “Pretty sure he is passed out.” I winked. “Dude can’t hang.”
My cone was halfway gone when Adley decided it was time to ask a few questions.
“So, what is going to happen now?”
Hard questions. Questions that I didn’t have the answer to.
“I, uh, well, you see…” I huffed and took a lick of my ice cream. I needed to gather my thoughts even if the thoughts I had about the question she asked were sparse. “Tomorrow, when we wake up, we’ll have breakfast with your dad and make a plan.”
That was a lame answer.
“Really?” she laughed. “We’re going to figure everything out over eggs and bacon?”
I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not really a fan of eggs, and we don’t have any bacon. It’ll probably be granola bars and milk.”
Now it was Adley’s turn to wrinkle her nose. “Can we add figuring out better breakfasts to the plan?”
I nodded and tapped my ice cream cone against hers. “You betcha.”
*
Chapter Seven
Slayer
“I’m homeschooled.”
Wendy blinked slowly, and I was speechless.
“Come again?” Wendy whispered.
Adley munched on her granola bar and smiled. “My mom homeschooled me. I did everything online.”
“I’m not smart enough to do that.” Wendy buried her head in her hands. “I barely passed math. I am nowhere capable of teaching someone how to multiply fractions or split an atom.”
“Chill out there, Willa-Jo,” I grunted. We were trying to figure out everything with Adley, not freak her out by having a mental breakdown. “If you are homeschooled, what are we supposed to do with you now?”
Okay, so that probably wasn’t any better than what Wendy had just said, but honestly, I knew nothing about homeschooling.
“I’m on break right now. I finished up all of my lessons last week, and my new semester doesn’t start until after the new year.”
Wendy raised her head. “So, I don’t need to be smart right now?”
Adley laughed. “No, but even after the New Year, you won’t have to do much. All my mom did was set everything up for me, and then the rest, I learn from lessons on the computer.”
“What about homework?” Wendy asked. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “I think I just got hives from just saying the word homework.”
Adley giggled. “You’ll have to look my work over to make sure it is right, but you’ll have an answer key.”
Wendy exhaled and sat back in her chair. “Praise Jesus. I can totally do that.”
“I have all of my schooling information upstairs in my room. The only thing I am going to need is a computer.” Adley looked down at the table. “Uh, Aunt Ava forgot to pack mine.”
“Right,” I drawled. That was a line of bullshit Ava had fed Adley. “Getting you a computer isn’t going to be a problem.”
That was going to be the easiest thing to do. If only everything was g
oing to be as simple as running to the store and buying something.
“I don’t need anything fancy,” Adley added. “Mom got me one from a pawn shop that worked well enough.”
Wendy’s eyes darted toward me.
“We’ll get you a new one, Adley. You don’t need to worry about how much things cost.” Adley needed to be a kid, not worry about adult things.
“A used one is fine,” she stressed. “I don’t want you to have to spend money on me.”
Wendy leaned forward and held Adley’s hand. “Doll, if your dad wants to buy you a new computer, I would just go with it,” she replied with a wink.
Adley snatched her hand away. “Please, no. What happens if he isn’t my dad? Then I’m going to have to pay him for it.” She jumped up, and her chair skidded back. “Please don’t buy me anything. I don’t want it.”
Wendy and I were glued to our chairs, both speechless. Adley ran up the stairs, sobbing hysterically, and slammed her bedroom door.
I blinked rapidly and slowly looked around the kitchen. “I have no idea what just happened.”
“Well, I think we just touched on a major issue that Adley may have.” Wendy grabbed her mug and swirled the coffee around.
I leaned forward toward Wendy. “You actually know what just happened?”
All I did was offer to buy Adley a new computer for her schoolwork, and she freaked out like I was trying to force her into prostitution.
Wendy rolled her eyes. “You are such a man, Squiddy.”
She stood up.
I held up my hand. “Where are you going?” I just had Adley storm out of the kitchen, I didn’t need Wendy following suit.
She held up her coffee cup. “I need a refill. That okay with you?”
I held up my hands. “Only if you pour me a cup and explain to me what just happened.”
She grabbed my empty cup and stuck it under the coffee maker. “Adley’s last computer was from a pawn shop. You know what that means?”
If I knew what it meant then I wouldn’t be sitting here clueless as fuck. “Uh, not a clue.”
Wendy huffed and grabbed a coffee pod. “It means her mom didn’t have a lot of money.”
Well, sure. I guess that’s what that meant. “Again, I have no idea what that has to do with Adley storming off.”
Fallen Lords MC: Books 7-9 Page 19
