by Marie James
“His girlfriend told him she needed space,” Ace chirps.
Snake snarls at him, and my eyebrow raises since this is the first I’ve heard of Snake having anything serious with a woman.
“Her old man just got out of prison,” he mutters, because he’s Snake and he just can’t help speaking what’s in his mind.
Shadow leans forward in his chair. “Something we need to worry about?”
Snake shakes his head before tilting his beer up. He’s discovered over months of research, that he’s more tolerable when he lays off of the hard liquor.
“I don’t think so. They got divorced shortly after he got sent up for dealing drugs. Been inside for a decade, but she said he wasn’t the nicest fucker before he was locked up,” he explains.
“From what I can see,” Ace cuts in. “She doesn’t have anything to worry about. She took their boy to visit the whole time he was in, and she says their relationship is amicable, but she was a little nervous about him getting out and seeing a biker hanging out at the house all the time.”
So that’s where he’s been. He’s been scarce for several months. I just figured he’d been mad that Kincaid ripped his ass a few months ago, but clearly, he’s found a better way to occupy his time.
“Let us know if he becomes a problem,” Kincaid says.
“I will,” Snake grumbles. “I just hate being away from her.”
Snatch looks over, catching my eye. The grin on his face matches the one on mine. Seems no one in our little club is immune to the love bug.
“How old is her son?” Dom asks from out of nowhere.
“Ten, I think.” Ace answers for Snake. “Goes to Dolchester Elementary.”
“That’s where Jasmine goes,” Dom says. “I wonder if they know each other.”
“Couldn’t tell you that,” Snake says. “There are so many kids around I can’t keep up with shit.”
“More to come,” Shadow says grinning around the mouth of his beer. “Three more months and my little boy will be here. A week or so after that Dom’s son will be here.”
“Like I said, so many kids.” Snake tosses his empty beer bottle into the trash and grabs another from by his boot.
“You don’t need to be involved in her life if you can’t handle her kid,” Dom chastises.
Look at Mr. Suddenly Talkative over here.
He’s been an amazing father to Jasmine, and we all know he’s going to spoil his son as much as he does her. I don’t think he’ll ever make her feel as if she’s less just because she’s not his blood relation.
“I just miss them. Haven’t seen her all week, and phone sex really isn’t my thing,” Snake says with a sigh.
I chuckle. “So we get to the root of the problem.”
“Could always hook up with the blonde from Jake’s,” Ace offers.
“No thanks,” his best friend says.
Yep, he’s definitely caught the love bug.
“What about you guys?” Snake says directing his attention to Snatch and me. “You ever plan on having kids? I mean adopting or some shit.”
I look at Snatch who turns at the same time to look at me. We laugh as if the funniest joke has been told.
When we finally gain our composure Snatch speaks for the both of us. “No, man. No kids for us. Don’t get us wrong, we love playing Uncle to all the wonderful kids around us, but we aren’t the daddy type.”
As if on cue, the baby monitor sitting beside Kincaid activates, and the small whimper of one of the girls can be heard through it.
“Nice chatting with you guys,” Kincaid says as he stands. “But my sweet angel is awake.”
“She doesn’t sound very happy,” Snatch adds when the whimpers turn into full on wails.
“The joys of parenthood. Ivy is teething, and it’s as if Gigi feels her pain because she’s fussy and upset too,” he explains. “See you assholes in the morning.”
We all say our goodnights as he leaves the garage to go take care of his girls.
“You guys looking forward to that stage?” Snatch directs his question to Dom and Shadow.
They both grin.
“I can’t wait,” Dom says just as Shadow says, “Not a chance.”
Shadow looks over at Dominic. “You have no idea what you’re asking for.”
“I spent twenty years in the Marine Corps; I can handle an infant.”
Shadow just shakes his head in disbelief. “Ok, then. When you realize how hard and exhausting it is, I won’t even be an asshole and tell you I told you so.”
“You staying over?” Ace asks Dom as he stands and grabs another beer from the fridge.
“Yeah. Jasmine said Ollie was missing Matilda, so we’re here so they can visit.” He smiles, knowing he’s wrapped around that little girl’s finger, and not giving one single fuck about it.
“You’re going to end up with a litter of damn dogs at the house of yours, if you’re not careful,” Snatch warns.
He chuckles. “Yeah, I think we’re past that. That dog’s stomach is already swelling. But what can I say? Matilda and Ollie love each other. I can’t keep them separated. Griff loves Ollie so I can’t bring him home with us, besides Em would never let him leave the clubhouse overnight. So because my damn dog is head over heels for the dog here, I’m stuck with you assholes tonight.”
“Not stuck with me,” Shadow says as he stands from his chair. “Misty is waiting on a foot massage.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Mak is ready for me to rub her back,” Dom says getting up from his chair as well.
“Sweetheart,” I say sarcastically as I stand and hold my hand out for Snatch. “Ready for me to massage your cock?”
“Jesus,” Dom mutters with a laugh.
“What?” I ask with a wry smile. “His feet and back are fine.”
Snatch swats my hand away playfully and stands up. “Only if you do that thing with your tongue.”
Snake groans and begins mumbling about needing a cock massage and something about rubbing one out to Skype again.
We hold hands all the way back to our room, fingers twined and only break free when we cross over the threshold. His hands are in my hair, and I’m pushed against the wall almost immediately.
“You trying to make me blush in front of them?” he snarls against my mouth.
“You going to deny your cock being hard before we walked out of the garage?” I counter.
His lip twitches with a smile I can tell he’s trying to hold back. “I always get hard when you mention wanting to do things with my cock.”
“I’m going to take care of you for hours, but I wanted to show you something first.”
He shakes his head, lips brushing against mine. “Play first then show me.”
“Not this time, Romeo.”
I push against his chest, and even though it’s the last thing he wants, he backs up so I can slide past him.
I step into the closet and pull a cardboard tube from the back.
“You’re done with them?” The giddiness is clear in his voice. “I thought it would take several more weeks.”
“I had some motivation,” I tell him.
“What would that be?” Snatch asks as he helps me spread the floor plans across our king-sized bed.
“I’m anxious for you to be able to fuck me in more than one room, of course.” If his smile got any bigger, it wouldn’t fit on his handsome face.
We both look down at the plans, and I begin pointing out different areas that we’d agreed on. We got together and decided as a club that as much as we love everyone here, it just isn’t feasible with the kids multiplying for us all to stay here. Cerberus owns dozens of acres around the clubhouse, and we’ve all started working on plans to build our homes on the land behind our existing building. We’ll be in shouting distance, and when we head out on missions, the wives and kids plan to stay in one house. Safety in numbers and all that.
“This is way too big for us,” Snatch says noticing the second floor and additional bedrooms.
&nb
sp; “It’s not,” I argue.
“This whole section up here,” he says pointing to the second floor. “This wasn’t what we discussed.”
“I’ll pay for it,” I tease.
He glares at me. “It’s not the cost, and you fucking well know it. Why so much extra space?”
I turn and cup his face in my palms. “Because, after you make me an honest man and propose with more than a cock ring, I know you’re going to want kids. We have to have room for them.”
His eyes glisten. “We’ve said we don’t want kids.”
“You said you didn’t want kids, but I see how you play with Griff and the girls. Hell, last week you taught Jasmine how to fish. Dominic is still a little pissed about that.”
“He should’ve taught her sooner,” he mumbles when I hold his face tighter.
“He was on the way to the store to get her a fishing pole.”
He grins.
“I know you’re going to want children. I’ve said I don’t want them because I figured that’s what you really wanted until I started really paying attention to you when you’re around kids.”
“You just said in the garage you didn’t want them,” he argues.
“I didn’t think the garage was the place to tell you that I want what you want.” I kiss him softly. “It wasn’t the place to get my cock sucked when it finally hit you that I’m saying yes to the family you’ve been too afraid to ask for.”
His eyes dart between mine before he growls. “You better get those floor plans off the bed because I’m about to fuck you on them.”
I don’t get the chance to move the floor plans, but he’s cognizant enough to fuck me on the floor instead.
Epilogue
Itchy
15 Years Later
“That’s not the way to go about getting what you want, son.” Snatch’s voice is marked with irritation, but it’s been the same thing over and over for the last couple of weeks.
“Dad,” Samson whines again. “Everyone is going to be there. Jacob’s dad is letting him go.”
Snatch catches my eye, but I just tilt my head. He knows how I feel about letting our sixteen-year-old son go with friends from school on a trip to Mexico. He’s against it, and I don’t see the harm. Snatch cited all the missions we’ve gone on over the last two decades which have just recently begun to dwindle since Kincaid has hired a whole new outfit to work them so we can stay closer to home with our families.
“No, Sam. You’re sixteen,” Snatch points out.
“I’ll be seventeen by the time the trip happens.” This child will not give up. “It’s the senior trip.”
“Which is awesome, and when you’re a senior next year, you can go on your senior trip.” Snatch gives him the ‘don’t ask again’ look, but Sam has never been one to listen when he’s this worked up about something.
“Rachel will be there!” he yells.
I roll my lips between my teeth to keep from laughing.
“A little help here?” Snatch asks in my direction. I shake my head when Sam looks over his shoulder and pleads with me.
Snatch narrows his eyes at me and I know exactly what that look means, and I honestly can’t fucking wait until we’re alone later. Maybe he’ll even schedule a visit to Alexa and Garrett’s club in Denver. The sex club we’ve been to a handful of times over the last ten years has been amazing. We’d go more often if we could.
I pick up the tray of sandwiches from the counter in the kitchen and carry them out to the living room. We’re all piled into the clubhouse which has transformed some to fit our needs. Half of the rooms, the ones that were on the left of the hallway have been cleared to open the space more.
“You aren’t going to help him?” Khloe asks as she grabs a sandwich, places it on a small plate already on the table and hands it to her son.
“Nope,” I answer. “He wouldn’t want to hear what I have to say.”
“You should fight for him. Sam really wants to go, Dad.” I look over at my daughter, Samson’s twin sister.
“Delilah,” I sigh.
They were over a year old when we adopted them. Thankfully they were too young to have been greatly affected by the brainwashing that was going on in the religious cult their mother birthed them in. We still have concerns about their father, the leader of the sect, but he’s been given life in prison for the atrocities he committed on the girls who were under his care.
“Do you want to go to Mexico?” I ask her.
“If I say yes, does that mean Sam gets to go?”
I shake my head, and she sighs in relief.
“Thank goodness,” she mutters. “I have no desire. I plan to spend the summer filling out college applications for next year.”
“Atta girl,” I say with a quick kiss on her forehead.
“Suck up,” Gigi whispers, which Delilah ignores.
“Enough,” Kincaid says getting onto his daughter. “If you can’t be nice, you can spend the day back at the house, alone.”
Gigi crosses her arms over her chest and grumbles incoherently.
I ignore the teen girl drama. Delilah knows she can come to me if it gets to be too much. How Ivy and Gigi ended up so different, I’ll never know. Ivy is a lot like Delilah, very brainy and bookish. I couldn’t be more proud of my girl.
The doorbell rings, pulling me away from the group just as Shadow and Misty begin talking about Griffin’s first deployment to Germany. He graduated last year and has already sailed through training.
I open the door, and my heart stops.
If it were twenty years earlier, I would’ve sworn my husband was standing right in front of me. His jet black hair ruffles in the breeze and ice blue eyes narrow when he sees me. It isn’t until the slightly younger boy standing beside him shifts from one foot to the other, do I even realize he’s got someone with him.
“Babe,” I call out over my shoulder. “Can you come here?”
I feel Snatch walk up behind me, his hands sliding into the back pocket of my jeans before he looks past me to see the two young men standing on the front porch.
“You must be my dads,” the older boy says.
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We Said Forever
Rock bottom.
They say the only way to go from there is up, but what is “up” when you’re born into someone else’s rock bottom?
At ten, football became my first love. It’s what got me out of the house away from my self-destructive family. My love for football landed me at Las Vegas University with a full ride scholarship, and the orange on my jersey was my favorite color…until my eyes landed on the red dress Fallyn wore the night we met.
At twenty-one, I jumped off the cliff into the unknown the second Fallyn McIntyre danced in my arms at a party. I had the greatest girl in the world and the opportunity to play college ball every Saturday. My rock bottom was looking up, thanks to my two first loves.
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Bryson hears the conversations through the paper thin walls, but there’s a pain inside Olivia he can’t seem to walk away from. He vows to be there for her when the voice on the other side of the computer inevitably breaks her heart, but will he ever be able to compete with someone who’s more than a memory?
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