The three of us wound up by the register to pay, and I had to laugh at the difference of each of our cups.
Slayer had boringly put hot fudge on one half of his ice cream and strawberry sauce on the other.
Adley’s cup was filled to its limit with at least four kinds of candy, three sauces, sprinkles and a cherry on top. I couldn’t even see her ice cream anymore.
“Oh, that looks good!” Adley licked her lips and nodded at my cup.
While Slayer was a minimalist with his cup and Adley had went overboard, I tended to fall in the middle.
A squirt of vanilla ice cream topped with a swirl of chocolate. Hot fudge and caramel cover my toppings choice of bananas, chopped pretzels, and a few cookie dough bits. Rainbow sprinkles over the whole thing, and of course, topped off with a cherry.
“You’re making mine next time,” Slayer grunted. “I’ll just wait in the truck.”
“Do I look like a carhop ready to wait on you?” I bumped my shoulder into him and couldn’t hold back my giggle.
Slayer set his cup down and pulled out his wallet. “You won’t be giggling when I steal your ice cream in two minutes.”
I held my hand over my cup and stepped back from him. “You wouldn’t dare,” I gasped.
Slayer handed some bills over to the cashier and shrugged. “I guess you’re gonna have to wait and find out.”
Adley peeled off into a fit of giggles. “Knock it off, Dad.” She shook her head and walked over to a table by the front door.
“Did she just...” Slayer’s words trailed off, and he grabbed the change from the cashier. He dropped a five dollar bill into the tip jar and grabbed two spoons.
“Uh, yeah.” I grabbed a spoon from him and smiled wide. “Now that really makes it official.”
“How the hell did I get so lucky, Wen?” he asked softly.
I shook my head and tried not to get choked up. “I think you both needed each other, and it happened at the right time.” It had only been about two weeks since Adley had come into Slayer’s life, but I truly believed that happened at just the right time. Sometimes in life, things just happened like they should and the pieces fell into place. “Though, I think you need to be warned.”
Slayer shoveled a spoonful of his boring ice cream into his mouth and stopped in his tracks. “What is it?”
“You have all of her teenage years in front of you, and well, this moment might be a fluke.”
Three seconds later, Slayer threw his head back and burst out laughing. “I’m sure you are more than right, sugar.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the table where Adley was sitting.
At least Slayer wasn’t delusional thinking that this was going to be his life. As much as I wanted ice cream and giggles for him, I knew it was more than likely going to be mood swings, boy crushes, and slamming doors.
Adley babbled on about things that Slayer and I really had no idea about, but we both listened and enjoyed being together.
If Adley had taught me one thing, it was to just sit back and live in the moment. You never knew when things were going to change.
*
Chapter Fifteen
Slayer
“Uh, Wendy?” I called up the stairs.
“Yeah?” she yelled from her room.
The doorbell rang, and I glanced at the door. My gut told me to make a run for it and not come back for at least ten hours. I had spotted the maroon SUV pull into the driveway through the living room window and had watched the three women unload with bags and totes filled to the brim.
Female chatter and laughter sounded from the other side of the door a minute later, and my desire to run grew.
“Is that them?” Adley appeared at the top of the stairs with a huge smile on her face. “Is it time?”
The doorbell rang again, and Wendy appeared behind Adley. “Well, are you going to answer the door, Slim, or are you going to make my family stand on the stoop all day?”
Was that an option? “Can I seriously do that?”
Adley flew down the stairs and beelined straight to the door. “I’ll get it, Dad,” she called.
I still wasn’t used to that.
Dad was one name I never thought I would be called.
There were times I would get upset remembering that I had actually been a dad for a while, but Adley’s mom had made the decision to not tell me.
I didn’t think I would ever forgive her for taking my daughter away from me those twelve years even if she thought it was for the best. That decision should have been mine to make.
Adley threw open the door, and Wendy’s mom, aunt, and sister descended upon us. I had, of course, met them all before, and I knew Carnie the most since she was with Freak, but this felt different.
They were seeing me as someone other than just a member of a motorcycle club.
“I’m surprised you’re still here.”
I turned back to the stairs and was face to face with Wendy. “I was just about to leave and then the doorbell rang.”
“Foolish man. I told you they would rope you into cookie duty if you were here.” Wendy stood one stair up from me, and it made her my exact height.
Also the perfect height for me to kiss her, which I did a hell of a lot lately.
It had been a few days since the paternity results had come back, and I was settling into a pretty fucking awesome routine with Adley and Wendy.
Breakfast with my two girls, most of the day spent at the clubhouse trying to figure out where Brinks was, and then back home to end the day with Adley and Wendy.
“Need anything before I leave?”
She shook her head. “Pretty sure if I don’t have it, they’ll have it.”
I glanced over my shoulder and couldn’t help but smile.
Wendy had mentioned to Adley a couple of days ago that they should have a cookie making party. Adley had, of course, thought that was the best idea ever. Now it was Saturday and it was time to kick off the cookie making party.
Agnes, Wendy and Carnie’s mom, was hugging Adley close, and she whispered something in her ear.
“That didn’t take long for your mom to win over Adley.” I turned back to Wendy and slid my arms around her waist.
“Your daughter just has to smile and people fall in love with her.” Wendy brushed her fingers through my hair. “That might be a problem with boys when she gets older.”
“It's a damn good thing that she is homeschooled so I can keep all of the boys away.”
Wendy rolled her eyes. “You’re such a man,” she mumbled. “You really think you’re going to keep the boys away from your beautiful daughter?”
I shrugged. “Yes, but I don’t really want to think about that.” I had already missed so much of Adley’s childhood. I didn’t want what was left to pass any faster than it should. “Give me a kiss so I can get out of here.”
Wendy pressed a kiss to my lips without hesitation, and I held her close. “Be good while I’m gone,” I whispered against her lips.
“Hurry back,” she replied. “I love my family more than anything, but by the time you come home, I’m going to need a stiff drink and a few minutes of silence.”
“Is that for code to come home with the biggest bottle of wine I can find?”
Wendy nodded. “Yes. I finished the bottle last night.”
I pressed another kiss to her lips and stepped back. “You got it, sugar.”
I managed to make it out of the house with only a few words from Carnie’s family and a quick hug from Adley.
My phone buzzed as I shifted the truck into drive after backing out of the driveway.
Make that two bottles.
I typed a quick reply to Wendy and headed to the clubhouse.
I kept thinking how crazy it was that your life could change in a matter of seconds, but I had to admit that as insane as it was, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
*
Wendy
“Why are the bells purple?”
Adley peeled off into a fit of giggles.
I smiled innocently at Carnie. “Huh?”
Carnie rolled her eyes and took the piping bag away from me. “I don’t know why Mom thought it was a good idea to put you in charge of decorating.”
I didn’t know why she thought it was a good idea either. “Your guess is as good as mine, Carn.”
Adley and I were having a blast icing the cutouts crazy colors, but Carnie didn’t really appreciate it.
“How am I supposed to take pictures of these and put them on the blog?” she scoffed.
I grabbed the offending purple bell and bit into it. “Problem solve,” I muttered around the mouthful of delicious, buttery cookie.
“Hey,” Adley protested. “I want one.”
Mom brought over another batch of cookie that needed icing and set them next to me. She reached up and wiped a smudge of icing from the corner of Adley’s mouth. “I’m pretty sure you’re doing a good job at taste testing, honey.”
We worked two more hours on cookies, ‘til the ovens were empty and the counters were overflowing with every kind of cookie you could imagine.
Adley was camped out on the couch watching some movie with dancing and singing kids.
“I wish they had shows like those when we were her age.” Carnie walked into the kitchen and plopped down in one of the kitchen chairs.
“We had High School Musical,” I pointed out.
Carnie curled her lip. “The only good thing about the movie was the fact Zac Efron was in it.”
I grabbed the just washed pan Mom dropped into the sink and dried it. “That’s a valid point.”
“Who?” Elle asked. She was sitting on the other side of the table with her feet kicked up on a chair and a coffee cup clutched in her hand. She looked like your typical aunt type, but I knew that she had more than coffee in her cup. I had lost track of how many times I had watched her and Mom splash RumChata into their cups.
Carnie pulled out her phone and searched for a picture of Zac Efron. She held the phone up to Elle. “This is Zac Efron.”
“You could have just asked me to show her.” I smiled and popped a piece of puppy chow into my mouth. “I have a few saved to my phone.”
“Does Slayer know that?” Carnie asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Pretty sure that has nothing to do with him.”
Mom hushed us and peeked her head into the living room. “Adley?” she called.
“She’s sleeping,” Carnie replied.
“Perfect,” Mom sighed.
She pulled out a chair from the table and sat down. “Now we can talk about you without her ears hearing.”
“Talk about me?” I laughed. “I didn’t know I was a topic of interest.”
“Spill it,” Carnie ordered. “Everyone at the clubhouse wants to know what the hell is going on with you and Slayer. I have strict instructions to not return until I have answers.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed another handful of puppy chow. “I think you guys need to get a hobby or something.”
“Normally, I would tell your sister to knock it off, but even I want to know just what is going on with you and the new dad.”
“Mom,” I whined.
Elle grabbed the bowl of puppy chow and hugged it to her chest. “Spill or you don’t get anymore.”
“That’s playing dirty,” I mumbled. They all knew that puppy chow was my favorite.
“Spill it,” Carnie repeated.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have anything to spill.”
“Right,” Elle drawled. “You’ve always had a hottie kissing you goodbye. No news there.”
“Hottie?” I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. “Slayer is not a hottie.”
Mom reached over and pressed her hand to my forehead. “She doesn’t have a fever but she’s talking crazy.”
Hottie was not the word I would use to describe Slayer. Sexy was more like it.
Totally kissable worked, too.
“Look, just tell us what is going on with Slayer.” Carnie leaned forward. “If you don’t and I come back to the clubhouse with no news, Alice is going to flip her shit.”
“I…there…” I sighed and hung my head. “I don’t know what is going on with Slayer and me. I’m here to help take care of Adley.”
“You need to kiss Slayer to properly take care of Adley?” Carnie snickered.
Elle fist-bumped her. “More like she’s taking care of Adley while she also takes care of Slayer.”
I hadn’t even hesitated when I kissed Slayer this morning. It came so naturally to me now that I didn’t even realize when I did it.
“Unbury your head from the sand, Wendy. There is something going on with you and that man, and it's more than being his daughter’s babysitter.” Mom grabbed the bowl of puppy chow from Elle and set it in front of me. “Eat up and talk.”
“Start from the beginning,” Elle ordered.
I grabbed a handful and sighed. “You mean the beginning where we hated each other?”
That seemed like a lifetime ago.
“What changed?” Mom asked.
“Uh.” What had changed? Everything happened so fast that I never really had a chance to sit back and think about it. “Well, Adley showed up, and we moved here and then…”
“And then you were kissing,” Carnie laughed.
“Well, yeah.” But it felt like there was more than that. Moving out of the clubhouse made me see Slayer in a different light. He was more than just some guy in a motorcycle club.
He was a dad. He was kind and compassionate. There was just more to him that I would have never seen if Adley never would have come into his life.
“Wendy,” Mom called.
I grabbed a cookie and nibbled on it. This conversation was making me eat everything in sight. “Yeah?”
“This is where I have to be your mother.”
I tipped my head to the side and laughed. “Okay.”
“What are you normally?” Elle chuckled.
Mom slid her finger over her lips. “Zip it, Elle. You were the one who brought this up on the drive over here.”
Elle held her hands up. “Okay, okay. I just probably would have said it a hell of a lot better than you would have. But carry on.” Elle held up her cup in a cheers motion. “Why don’t you tell her I’m her aunt and that’s her sister.”
Mom shook her head and flipped Elle off. “I don’t know why I brought your cranky ass with me.”
Elle smiled broadly. “Because you love me. That’s me being your sister.”
Mom mumbled under her breath, and Carnie giggled. “I missed this,” she wheezed.
“Silence!” Mom bellowed.
Elle clicked her tongue. “That was brilliant, Agnes. Wake up the kid so we can try to have this awkward as hell conversation in front of her.”
These were the times that I was okay with not living in Pines Peak anymore. “Mom,” I said. “Just say whatever you have to say.”
Mom huffed and folded her arms over her chest. “Now I’m all flustered and nothing is going to come out the way I want it to.”
Elle snickered. “Ain’t any different from when you normally open your mouth.”
Carnie stifled her laugh and rested her hand on Elle’s arm. “Ellie,” she scolded.
“Fine, fine!” Elle folded her arms over her chest and clamped her lips shut.
Mom glared at her for a few seconds to see if she was actually going to keep her mouth shut.
I looked from Mom to Elle and waited.
Mom sighed. “Okay. I just want to tell you that all I want is for you to be happy. That’s all I want for you and your sister.” That was it? “But I just want you to know what you’re walking into.”
“Uh, okay?”
Mom rested her hand on my arm. “This is all new, Wendy. And I’m not talking about you and Slayer. I mean Slayer and Adley. It’s all rainbows and sunshine right now because they’re getting used to each other.”
“I know,
Mom.” I wasn’t stupid.
“Wendy. Just listen to what I have to say, okay?”
I nodded, and she continued on.
“You’re walking into a ready-made family that was just made.”
Elle slapped her hand over her face. “Sweet Jesus, please bless this woman with the ability to say something that makes sense.”
Carnie chuckled but didn’t say anything.
Mom closed her eyes. “I’m saying this is new.” She opened her eyes and motioned around. “This house is new. Slayer having a daughter is new. Your feelings for Slayer are new. Everything is new and as much as I hope it stays this way, things will change. Slayer and Adley won’t always get along. There are going to be arguments. Attitude and sass on a whole new level as she gets older. Things will get hard, and I just want you to understand that before you get on this ride with Adley and Slayer.” She grabbed my hand. “I know that you love deep and you always want to help however you can, but I want you to know that Adley is not your responsibility. Slayer does not have a choice when it comes to her, but you do.”
“Mom,” Carnie gasped.
“That was better, but you came across as super bitchy.” Elle sat forward. “You think I can butt in and try to make this better?”
Mom sighed and nodded. “Yes, because when you explained it in the car, it did not come across as bitchy. It sounded so much better in my head before I opened my mouth.”
Mom held onto my hand, and Elle grabbed the other.
“Choosing to be a stepmom or stepparent is one of the most selfless things a person can do.” Elle squeezed my hand. “Slayer doesn’t get a choice on loving Adley and being her dad. You, you have that choice. You have the choice to be her mom. That’s why the love of a stepparent is so powerful because it’s a choice and not an obligation.”
“That is what I was trying to say.” Mom pointed at Elle.
Elle rolled her eyes and continued on, “I personally believe after seeing you today with Slayer and Adley that this conversation didn’t need to happen.”
“Shut. Up!” Mom yelled. “Couldn’t you have pulled your ear or winked or something to tell me to shut up when I started this conversation? You were the one who kept telling me that I needed to say something.”
Fallen Lords MC: Books 7-9 Page 24
