“Is there any ice cream left?”
Adley’s words startled me from enjoying Slayer’s words.
“Sure is,” Slayer called.
I cleared my throat and scooted away from Slayer. I shouldn’t be enjoying the sound of his voice or the heat from his body. I was there to help with Adley and then get the hell out of there.
Adley walked into the living room with an ice cream cone piled high and plopped down on the couch next to me. “You guys want to watch a movie?”
This was the most Adley had talked to me since this morning. It was a nice change from the broody teenager she had been all day. She wasn’t even a teenager yet, and I could tell Slayer was going to have his hands full with her.
“Only if I get to choose what we watch,” Slayer replied.
Adley shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Hey,” I protested. “I’m already watching a movie.”
Slayer snagged the remote off the coffee table and flipped the channel. “I am not watching your cheesy movie shit.”
“Maybe I’ll just head up to bed and pass out for the night,” I grumbled. I was going to have to get a TV for my room so I could watch what I wanted.
“You ain’t that tired,” Slayer mumbled. He landed on a show about celebrities singing in masks and tossed the remote on the table. “This looks dumb enough to be entertaining.”
A man dressed in a dog costume belted out a popular song, and I had to admit that he was damn good.
“I have no idea who that is, but he can sing.” Adley licked her ice cream cone and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. “Who do you guys think it is?”
Slayer and I glanced at each other. Whatever had happened with Adley this morning was obviously in the past and things were back to her actually wanting to talk to us.
“No damn clue,” Slayer laughed. “Celebrities aren’t really my thing.”
Adley guessed a name of an actor who I didn’t know.
“Maybe it’s Vanilla Ice?” I suggested. I really didn’t know who it was, but he was the only celebrity I could think of that would do a show like this.
“Who?’ Adley laughed.
Slayer shook his head. “How the hell do you even know who that is?” he asked me.
I shrugged. “I watched a lot of VH1 growing up. They played all the oldies from your time. You know, a long time ago.”
Slayer moved the ice cream out of my reach and grabbed his beer.
“Don’t you dare,” I hissed.
He held the beer above the ice cream and slowly tipped it into the bowl. “Take it back,” he warned.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
The beer was at the mouth of the can, and it was so close to ruining a perfectly fine bowl of ice cream.
“Like you weren’t calling me old.”
I shrugged and tried not to care if he poured the beer. I did, though. “Those words never came out of my mouth. You are older than me, though. By a…”
My words trailed off.
Slayer quirked his eyebrow. “By a what?”
I bit my bottom lip. Did I dare say it? He was more than ten years older than me. Though it was hard to tell most of the time.
I glanced over at Adley, and she had a huge smile plastered on her face.
My eyes traveled back over to Slayer, and I decided I wasn’t too tired to get up and make my own bowl of ice cream. “A lot,” I enunciated clearly. “You’re much older than me.” I batted my eyelashes and stood.
Slayer tipped his beer the rest of the way and poured the offending liquid over the sweet and delicious ice cream. “I’d like to see you eat that disgusting concoction.” Slayer dropped the empty can on the coffee table and stirred the ice cream and beer together. “Just like a root beer float.” The ice cream turned a light brown and thinned out.
I gagged and covered my mouth with my hand. “You are disgusting,” I hissed.
He pressed the bowl to his lips and took a slurp of the grossness. “Mmm, tastes like my childhood.”
Adley rolled with laughter.
“Your childhood tastes like beer and ice cream?” I visibly shook and closed my eyes. “I can’t even look at you right now.”
I tried to hoist my butt up off of the couch, but Slayer’s hand clamped down on my leg and held me down. “Where are you going?” His voice was light and he was trying not to bust out laughing.
“Adley, help me,” I called.
Adley was giggling so much that she couldn’t even string two words together. “Grab…my…” More giggles bubbled from her lips, and I managed to grab her hand.
“Pull,” I pleaded. I opened my eyes when I heard the sound of Slayer’s bowl of grossness hit the coffee table. “Help me, Adley.”
My first problem was I was relying on a twelve-year-old who couldn’t control her giggle.
“My ice cream,” she gasped.
Another round of giggles took her over, and I lost my grip on her hand.
“Oh, I got ya now!” Slayer’s other hand clamped on my waist and yanked me toward him. “Adley, join the strong side.”
“Never!” she screeched. She catapulted herself over me and landed half on Slayer and half on the floor. She jarred Slayer’s hold on my waist, and I planted both of my feet on the floor, grabbed the other arm of the couch, and pried myself out from his grasp.
“Victory!” I held my arms over my head and hopped from foot to foot like Rocky Balboa.
Slayer grabbed both of Adley’s arms, lifted them over her head, grabbed her ankles, and lifted her off him. He raised her up, slipped out from underneath her, and she landed on the couch. Her cone had landed on the coffee table, upside down, and she couldn’t get a hold on her giggles.
Slayer and I both had huge smiles on our faces and couldn’t get a handle on our laughter either.
“That was so much fun,” Adley gasped. Her eyes opened brightly, and I had never seen someone look so innocent and happy. “Let’s do it again!”
*
Slayer
I shook my head and tried to wipe the smile off my face. “Two against one isn’t fair.”
“It is when you’re bigger than both of us!” Adley’s laughter bubbled from her lips, and she smiled wide.
“Besides,” Wendy echoed, “Someone needs to clean up the mess you made.” She grabbed the ice cream cone off the coffee table and laughed. “The one who started the nonsense has to clean up.” Wendy held the cone out to me.
“Oh really?” I grabbed the cone and shook my head. “I see how this is going to go. You two are going to gang up on me, make a mess, and then make me clean it up.”
“Yup!” Adley shouted.
Wendy followed me into the kitchen and grabbed the ice cream from the freezer. “Just add a scoop to the top.” Her tone was light, and I could tell she was fighting off another laughing fit. She grabbed the ice cream scoop from the sink and dug a huge scoop out of the container. “I still can’t believe you poured your beer over our ice cream.”
“Ours?” I chuckled.
She glanced up at me. “Uh, yeah. Remember, you bribed me to move over with it? Now I gotta make my own bowl.”
I shook my head and walked back into the living room with Adley’s cone. “Here, girly.”
She grabbed the cone and moved back over to where she had been sitting. “Thank you.”
“Heads up,” Wendy called.
A wet cloth sailed through the air and hit me smack dab in the center of my chest.
Adley sputtered with laughter, and Wendy gasped.
“Whoops,” Adley sang.
I grabbed the cloth before it hit the floor and looked at Wendy. “You are going to pay for that.”
Wendy snickered and ducked back into the kitchen. “Consider it pay back for the nasty beer you dumped in my ice cream,” she called.
I shook my head and wiped up the coffee table. “I can’t believe I have to live under these conditions.”
Adley giggled, and I realized
that was my new favorite sound.
I grabbed my bowl of melted ice cream and dropped it into the kitchen sink. I rinsed out the washcloth and draped it over the faucet.
“Such a waste of ice cream,” Wendy tsked. She set the ice cream back in the freezer and shielded her bowl from me. “Don’t even think about touching this.”
I leaned against the sink and folded my arms over my chest. “Touching what?”
She grabbed a spoon from the drawer and stabbed it into her ice cream. “My ice cream.”
“Oh,” I chuckled. “Don’t worry about that, sugar.”
I was getting a taste for something different than ice cream.
“Is there something else I should worry about you touching?”
I wiggled my eyebrows and shrugged. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”
Wendy was only a couple of feet away from me, but I wanted her closer to me. I wanted her right next to me and my hands touching more than her leg.
“Don’t forget you hate me, Swifty.” She waved her spoon at me and smiled.
I shook my head. “Nah. We went over this already. I never hated you, sugar.”
“You just hated making sure I didn’t end up dead.”
“And now, I don’t need to worry about that.”
My words sunk in, and her eyes dropped to the floor.
Now, I couldn’t help but notice Wendy. The dark brown hair she always had piled on top of her head begged to be let down, and my fingers itched to sift through it. Her lips begged to be kissed, and her lush body made my hands tingle wanting to know what she felt like beneath me.
“Wendy,” Adley called from the living room.
Wendy pushed off the counter, and it took all of my willpower to not grab her and find out what she tasted like right then and there.
“I better go see what Adley needs.”
I nodded and watched her walk away.
Right now, we were going to worry about what Adley needed, but eventually, I was going to fill my need to find out just what Wendy tasted like.
*
Chapter Nine
Wendy
“So.”
“So,” I echoed.
Carnie tapped her fingers on the counter and looked around. “How many days has it been?”
“It’ll be eight tomorrow.” It was Sunday afternoon, and Carnie and I were sitting in the kitchen of the clubhouse.
“You think you’ll find out tomorrow?”
I shrugged and sipped my coffee. “Maybe.”
Carnie sighed, disgusted by the fact we hadn’t heard from the lab on the results of Adley’s paternity test.
Last Monday, Slayer had gone to the lab, gotten swabbed, and now we were just waiting. All week, Adley and I had tried to find a routine to our days, but every day seemed to be different.
The only thing that was the same was Slayer eating breakfast with us every morning and then him coming home in the afternoon to eat dinner with us. Every day, he went to the clubhouse to do God knows what, and Adley and I just hung out getting to know each other.
The timer on the stove dinged, and Carnie jumped up. “You sure you guys aren’t going to stay for dinner?”
I had assumed we would stay for dinner, but Slayer had told me he had a surprise for Adley and me. “I guess not. God knows what Slayer has in store for us.”
Carnie pulled two large pans of chicken and rice casserole from the oven and set them on the stove. The delicious aroma of creamy chicken and rice hit my nose and my stomach growled. “You couldn’t have waited to pull that out until I left?”
Carnie laughed and shook her head. “Nope, because I was hoping you guys would smell it and decide to stay.”
“Wendy!” Adley ran into the kitchen and grabbed my arm. “It’s time to go!”
“Well, that’s my cue to get out of here.” Adley pulled me out of my chair, and I grabbed my bottle of water. “I’ll let you know when and if we hear anything.”
Carnie smiled wide and crossed her fingers. “I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”
The clubhouse was oddly empty as Adley pulled me out the door and over to Slayer’s truck.
Carnie had told me Freak, Wrecker, and Pipe had been out of town all week, but they were on the way back to the clubhouse this afternoon. In usual Carnie fashion, she planned a huge welcome back meal because that was just what she did.
Carnie was happy, she cooked.
Carnie was worried, she cooked.
Carnie wanted something from Freak, she cooked.
No matter the case, Carnie cooked.
Adley pulled open the door to the truck and climbed up into the middle. “She was talking.”
I rolled my eyes and climbed in behind Adley.
“Figures,” Slayer mumbled.
“Excuse me,” I laughed. “No one told me you two were waiting for me in the truck.”
As soon as I closed my door, Slayer shifted into drive and pulled out of the parking lot. He headed in the opposite direction of the house and draped his arm over the back of the seat. His fingers rested on my shoulder, and I tried not to read anything into it, but it was hard not to.
It had been a week since Slayer had blatantly hit on me, and I was confused as hell trying to figure out what, if anything, was happening between us.
“So,” I drawled. “Just where are you taking us?”
Slayer glanced over at me. “Just sit back and enjoy the ride, sugar.”
“That’s easy to say for the person who knows where we are going,” I grumbled.
“I know!” Adley bounced in her seat. “Let’s guess where we are going.”
“First, let’s have your dad give us a clue.” I never knew what to call Slayer in reference to Adley and had just settled on calling him dad. We hadn’t talked much about her being his daughter, but it just felt like he was her dad. They may have not met each other more than a week ago, but they had some eerie similarities to each other.
When Adley thought hard about something, she tapped her finger to her chin. Slayer did the same damn thing.
They both had the same shade of brown hair.
Their noses had the same shape, and when they were upset their nostrils flared.
And the biggest thing that made me think Slayer really was her dad was just the fact that I felt it.
I know that sounds ridiculous, but I couldn’t shake it off.
If it came to be that Adley wasn’t Slayer’s, I was going to be shocked as hell.
We drove for half an hour, Adley guessing every crazy and ridiculous thing that Slayer could be dragging us to.
“Christmas tree!” Adley pointed excited at the large billboard we passed.
Slayer shrugged. “Could be.”
Adley clasped her hands together and shimmied in her seat. “Yes! I hope we’re getting a tree!”
It was three weeks until Christmas, and even I was excited by the fact that just maybe Slayer was hauling us out into the woods to get a tree.
Three turns later, we pulled into a grass field full of cars and trucks.
“Yes! I knew it!” Adley shouted. “Go, go,” she ordered.
I slipped out of the truck once Slayer parked.
Adley clamored out behind me. “Mama and I just had a fake plastic tree. I always wanted to get a real one, but we never did.”
She jumped up and down and was barely able to keep her cool. Hell, I was pretty damn excited too.
Adley ran ahead of us toward the entrance, and Slayer leaned toward me as we walked. “You know, sometimes she seems way older than twelve and then times like these she acts exactly like twelve.”
I shrugged and pulled my coat tight around me. “It’s part of growing up. I remember when I was that age. It was like I knew I should act more mature but then someone would break out the Barbies and bam, I’d be on the floor putting a wedding dress on Barbie so she could marry Ken.”
Slayer chuckled. “Ken and Barbie, huh?”
I shrugged. “Hey, I’ve got no
shame.” I nodded to where Adley was standing waiting for us. I held my forefinger and thumb a centimeter apart. “I’m this close to skipping through the trees right alongside Adley.”
“Well, you aren’t that far out from being her age.”
I scoffed and looked up at him. “Excuse me. I am ten years older than your daughter.”
“Just a baby,” he laughed.
I curled my lip and scowled. “I am not a baby.”
He looked me up and down. “Maybe not, sugar. God knows you don’t look like one.”
There it was again. Slayer was flirting with me. He was noticing me as more than just someone keeping an eye on his daughter.
“And neither do you.” Gah, my flirting game was weak. And so lame.
Slayer silently laughed and shook his head. “You’re one of a kind.”
“Ditto to you.” I cringed and looked away. So lame.
“Can we get a wreath, too?” Adley called.
A couple walked past her with a large wreath that had a huge red and white striped bow on it. Her eyes lit up, and she clasped her hands together.
“Did you bring your wallet?” I turned to look at Slayer, and my eyes connected with his.
“I did, but let’s hope I have enough in there.” He gave me a wink, and his arm brushed against mine. He grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. “Ready to find our tree?”
I nodded my head, unable to speak.
Slayer holding my hand.
Adley over the moon excited.
Finding our tree.
This was more than I could process.
Slayer pulled me along while we listened to Adley babble on about the shape and size of tree she wanted.
All I could do was try to take it all in and try not to think about that I was living a life that really wasn’t mine.
This was Christmas this year, but next year, I would be back in Pines Peak and this would all be a memory.
Enjoy it now, Wendy. This will never last.
*
Chapter Ten
Slayer
Fallen Lords MC: Books 7-9 Page 21
