“You ready?” Harlen asked when we pulled up in front of the douchebag’s house. It was late morning, and the neighborhood was quiet. My target had recently been fired from another job and had been spending his days drowning his sorrows in alcohol. At home. Alone. It was the perfect set-up for me to get some retribution on Vivi’s behalf.
“I’m more than ready.” I climbed out of the vehicle and stalked towards the front door with Nico and Harlen at my back. Jayce stayed near the road to act as my lookout.
As soon as the door opened, I threw the first punch straight into his face. When the douchebag fell backwards, I followed him into the house and kept up with the hits until he was cowering on the floor with his hands covering his face. “The next job you get, keep your head down and your mouth shut about your coworkers. Stop being a prick, and maybe I won’t need to come back and kick your ass again.”
He jumped up and glared at me from eyes that were sure to be black soon. “You asshole! You have no idea who you’re messing with. The cops are going to be all over your ass for this, and then I’m gonna sue you for everything you own.”
His threat came off as weak since he had blood dripping down his chin. He also had no idea who I was. Plus, I had a rock-solid alibi. No way was he going to be able to do anything about the beating I’d just laid down on him. “Good luck with that.”
He puffed up like he was about to say something, but Harlen cut in with a suggestion first. “It looks like your nose is busted. You might want to head to the emergency room and get that looked at.” When he turned around to open the door, the douchebag caught sight of the back of his black leather vest. His face paled, and he stumbled back a step.
I smirked, knowing a bully like him would back down when confronted by someone bigger and scarier. There was no way he’d risk retribution from an MC. “Like I said, good luck with that.”
Nico followed me out and slammed the door behind us. He stopped me at the end of the sidewalk and lifted my hands up to inspect them. “They’re gonna bruise, but you didn’t cut them so you won’t be leaving any blood behind at the scene.”
“It’s a damn good thing I have you to think of shit like that.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks for your help. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“You would’ve figured it out,” Nico disagreed. “Vivi is your boom, after all.”
And soon she’d be my wife.
Epilogue 2
Vivian
I was never interested in learning to cook...until Mani was the one who offered to teach me. It only took me about a hundred times to take him up on it. And a lot of complaints from toddlers who didn’t understand why Mommy couldn’t make them their favorite chocolate chip pancakes. Our three-year-old twins, RJ—short for Richard Junior, which I’d insisted upon since it was a family name—and Robert, were hungry all of the time. They quickly got tired of hearing me tell them to ask Daddy to make something and campaigned to get Mommy into the kitchen.
“You preheated the griddle, right?”
I looked up from stirring the dry ingredients to glare at Mani. “Yes, and you already asked me that before you went to check on the boys. Remember?”
“Yeah, but then they reminded me about how I had to run over to Bryson’s to grab dinner last week because you forgot to turn on the slow cooker before you took the boys to the zoo.” He stole a few chocolate chips from the bag and tossed them in his mouth. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear them since they each re-enacted how you squealed when you dumped the raw chicken into the serving dish.”
“That’s how I ended up taking these lessons from you,” I muttered, grabbing the bowl with the wet ingredients and beating it into the bigger bowl with the dry ones. “Although I have to admit that this step helps with working out frustrations.”
“Wait ‘til I teach you how to make bread. You can knead the fuck out of it.”
“That’ll only work if it’s chocolate flavored bread.” I snagged the bag of chips out of his hand to fold some into the batter. “Every single recipe the boys rattled off when we were making a list of what you should teach me had chocolate as an ingredient.”
“Those little heathens got their love of chocolate from you.” Mani captured my mouth in a quick kiss and looked down at the bowl. “So you only have yourself to blame.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “And you might want to add some more chocolate chips.”
I dumped in more chips, gave it a good stir, and smirked at him. “Tada!”
“I wouldn’t celebrate yet. You still have to cook them,” he reminded me.
“That’s not even close to a celebration.” I wiggled my butt against him until I felt his dick harden. “If it were, I’d be what was spread out on the counter and not all these ingredients.”
“Fuck, sweetheart,” Mani groaned, pressing his hips against my back. “If you don’t cut that out, the boys are going to get cereal for breakfast because I’m going to drag you to our room to take care of this for me.”
“Like they wouldn’t come knock on the door and cock-block you while they demanded chocolate chip pancakes instead,” I laughed, pressing the back of my head against his chest.
“Then I guess you’d better get these right so we can distract them with a stack of pancakes high enough to buy us some alone time.”
Mani got out the plates, forks, and napkins while I poured the batter onto the griddle. He was pouring juice for the boys when I set the bowl down and asked, “How long am I supposed to let these cook before I turn them over?”
“When you see bubbles on the top, they’re ready.” He set some butter and syrup on the table while I busily turned a dozen pancakes over. “Then it should only take about another minute before they’re done.”
I swore the boys had a radar when it came to food. The second I flipped the first pancake off the griddle and onto a plate, they came barreling into the kitchen. “Chocolate chip pancakes!”
“Wash your hands,” I reminded them.
Mani pulled out two step stools and set them in front of the sink. The boys climbed up and held their hands out for soap.
“How’d Mommy do?” RJ asked while he rubbed his hands together to get the soap all foamy. His love of the kitchen rivaled his father’s, and I easily pictured him following in Mani’s footsteps someday.
“She did great, buddy.” Mani ruffled his hair and lifted him off the stool when he was done washing his hands.
“I knew she could do it!” Robert exclaimed. Lyla liked to tell me he got his personality from me because he tended to see the good in everything. She usually said it with an air of envy because her three-year-old daughter, Lucy, was going to be a handful like her mama. But at least she’d always have my two boys looking after her, like big brothers.
“You guys eat up, and we’ll be right back. Mommy and I are going upstairs to get stuff ready for later.” Mani tugged on my hand after we got the boys settled at the table. “You remember what today is, right?”
“Monday Funday!” the twins squealed in unison, digging into their pancakes.
Bryson’s was still closed once a week on Mondays, and we tried always to spend it doing something fun as a family. But it wasn’t the only time we had Mani all to ourselves because he’d done an even better job of delegating after we had the boys. He still put in about sixty hours a week, but the boys and I spent a lot of time at Bryson’s too. Robert usually hung out with me in the office while RJ trailed after his daddy in the kitchen.
“C’mon,” Mani urged, practically dragging me upstairs to our room. “We have maybe five minutes tops to celebrate your triumph over chocolate chip pancakes.”
It was a good thing one of the first things we’d learned as parents was the art of the quickie. Our boys waited for no one, but I still got my celebration in exactly how I liked it...with a double orgasm.
Thank you so much for reading Until Mani! If you’re new to me, you might want to consider giving my debut book, Push the Envelope, a try since it’s curre
ntly FREE as of April 1, 2019! Here's what Aurora Rose Reynolds had to say about it: "I love alpha males.... Yes, I know Alpha males are the in thing but they need to be done right and in this book Drake is perfect."
And if you haven’t read Leo’s story yet, it’s available here!
If you’re on Facebook, feel free to join me in the Racy Readers group!
Also by Rochelle Paige
BLYTHE COLLEGE SERIES
Push the Envelope
Hit the Wall
Summer Nights (novella duo)
Outside the Box
Winter Wedding (novella)
BACHELORETTE PARTY SERIES
Sucked Into Love
Checked Into Love
Mixed Into Love
Slapped Into Love
Married Into Love
Chased Into Love
FORTUITY DUET
Fortuity
Serenity
CRISIS SERIES
Identity Crisis
Protection Crisis
FATED MATES (BLACK RIVER PACK & McMAHON CLAN)
Crying Wolf
Shoot for the Moon
Thrown to the Wolves
Bear the Consequences
Bear It All
Bear the Burden
Bear Your Fate
Give Her the Moon
BODY & SOUL SERIES
Bare Your Soul
Save Your Soul
Sell Your Soul
Feed Your Soul
Body Language
STANDALONES
Star Pupil
About the Author
I absolutely adore reading—always have and always will. When I was growing up, my friends used to tease me when I would trail after them, trying to read and walk at the same time. If I have downtime, odds are you will find me reading or writing.
I am the mother of two wonderful sons who have inspired me to chase my dream of being an author. I want them to learn from me that you can live your dream as long as you are willing to work for it.
Connect with me online:
www.rochellepaige.com
Until Mani Page 7
