“Y’all goin’ high tech? Nice.” Po’Boy pulled out a chair along the side of the table, intending to leave his back to the door in an overt sign of respect he knew Ace would note and appreciate.
“Retro recommended a guy. His brother’s club’s got a tech wizard, and I figured if I had a resource, might as well take advantage of it. We’re in the process of setting up every member with an app, so if I need them, I can get them. It’s a private network thing.” He shrugged and laughed. “Not a fucking thing of it that I understand, but I’m told it’s nearly impossible for even the Feds to break into it. I’m down for that kind of cockblocking anytime.” Ace remained standing, and Po’Boy paused, holding his place, waiting.
The prospect scurried in and dropped the two bottles on the edge of the table nearest Po’Boy before turning and leaving, closing the door behind him. Po’Boy studied the door, then looked at the beers and finally glanced up at Ace to see him grinning broadly. “What the fuck’s the matter with him?” He picked up a bottle and held it out to Ace, who took it with a laugh.
“I suspect he’s a little awed at being in the company of the infamous Po’Boy.” Ace kicked a chair out at the end of the table and sat, and Po’Boy settled into his chosen seat.
“The fuck you say?” He waited until Ace had sipped from his bottle before doing the same. Another intentional sign of respect he hoped would move some tokens over to his jar of favors. With what I’m asking, I’m gonna need all the help I can get.
“No shit, man. You are the talk of the club these days. Every time I turn around, folks are askin’ about you.” Ace shrugged. “I play it up. See how far I can drag things out.” Po’Boy laughed. “How’s things in IMC land?”
“Good. Surprisingly good, considering everything that went down happened so recent.” He decided to stop beating around the bush and get to business. “You know why I’m here?”
“I have my suspicions.” Ace shrugged. “Why don’t you lay it out for me, so there’s no misunderstandings. I’d hate to find out later I got anything wrong.”
“Talked to Twisted last week about this. He ain’t happy, but he gets it. I talked until he understood. Everything begins and ends in this room, Ace. You’ve made no secret about your succession plan here with the CoBos. My goal is to not get in the way of that, because it’s what you need, and it’s what Wrench wants.” He thumped the table with the tip of one finger. “I like where I live, like the people here in the region. I like to keep things…stable. CoBos being solid helps keep everything copasetic for all of us.”
“Ain’t your only reason.” Ace narrowed his eyes as he sipped his beer. “Lay it out there, Po’Boy. You ain’t gonna shock me.”
“One of my biggest arguments against Twisted takin’ Penny to his bed was her pedigree. That woman had been owned by CoBos since she was born, and there he was making her IMC’s queen.” Po’Boy shook his head. “Went against the grain, and you know it did. You probably had your own version of those same kinda conversations here.”
“You ain’t lyin’. I hated that man for our Penny at first.” Ace lifted an eyebrow as if to say, “So?”
“That changed when I got to know her. She’s as true as they come, and it’s not that she’s shifted families, because she still loves the CoBos, but anyone can see that Twisted has her loyalty, through and through. And that’s as it should be. She just brought the two organizations a lil closer together, which is a good thing in and of itself, ya know?” Po’Boy nodded and lifted his beer. “Same thing’s happenin’ with me and Wrench. I know it, he knows it.”
“And I know it,” Ace said as Po’Boy took a drink. “But boy, you been IMC since you first straddled a bike. You’ve been the keeper of their skeletons in the closet for a time now. You sayin’ you can leave that behind without any conflicts?”
“Yup.” He nodded, keeping his expression carefully neutral. “I will not turn on them. Let me be crystal about that. But me holding my tongue about things that happened in the past? That ain’t a divided loyalty. That’s the basis of loyalty and should prove my worth even more.”
“Be that as it may, why should my men trust you’d have their backs if anything came down on us?” Ace stomped the floor three times and set his empty on the table. He pointed a finger at Po’Boy’s beer. “Finish that, the scrub’ll be in here in a minute with fresh.”
Po’Boy tilted it up, killing the bottle, and reached over to place it near Ace’s. They were quiet as the door opened and the prospect came in, beer held in each hand. This time he placed one in front of Ace, then Po’Boy, before gathering the empties and leaving, again closing the door behind him.
“That’s freaky as shit, man.” Po’Boy glared at the doorway, listening hard. “Man a mute?”
Ace laughed. “No, he’s just wary. Like I told you, your reputation precedes you.” He angled in the seat, slinging an arm over the back of his chair. “Down to brass tacks, Po’Boy. Is this you asking if we’d take you as a patch?”
He stared at Ace for a moment before he nodded slowly. “It is.”
“You and Wrench, this a long-term thing?” Ace surprised him by asking so directly. “Forget that gal, this something you’re in for real?”
“Can’t set her aside, man. We’re a three-pete package deal these days.” Po’Boy turned down the corners of his mouth. “You love your wife?”
“Ayeap. No second thoughts there. She’s it for me.”
“Wrench and Crissy are that for me. Same. I can’t imagine my days without them, and if you won’t have me and I have to go naked to be with him, I will. I won’t put IMC at risk, but by the same token, I won’t put him at risk, either. He needs me to wear blacks without even a support patch, I’ll do it.” He sat straighter, alert to every nuance of body language from Ace, holding his breath. He might be ready to do whatever was needed, including have nothing to do with either club, but never in a million years had he actually thought it would come to that. “He’s it for me.”
“In that case,” Ace drawled the words slowly, then smiled big, head shaking side to side, “when you’re ready to drop the IMC patch, we’ll bring you in as a non-voting member. Keeps you out of prospect territory, which I suspect would be hell on earth for all of us, but keeps you from influencing club politics or business for at least a year. We’ll put the full-member piece to an officer vote at the end of twelve months.”
Po’Boy pulled in a shaky breath, hating that his reaction exposed so much of his hidden fears to this man. “Fuck.”
“Damn, boy. You shoulda known how this would go.” Ace stood and walked to where Po’Boy sat. He crouched down, putting himself at a disadvantage for a moment, head below Po’Boy’s shoulders. “You know that boy’s like a son to me. I love him. I wanted something for him. Something good. What you’re building with that gal ain’t what I expected, but as long as he says it’s good, I can get behind it.” He gripped Po’Boy’s arm tightly. “Be that for him. Be good to him. All I can ask, brother.”
“With everything I have, brother,” purposefully using the phrase, Po’Boy responded quickly and gave a firm nod. “With everything I have.”
Over the first few minutes of his ride home, Po’Boy let the certainty that everything would work out settle over him, then with a loud whoop, he gunned the throttle, weaving through traffic like a madman.
Wrench’s bike was parked behind Crissy’s car in the drive, and Po’Boy took a moment to study the house as he angled back into his spot.
Home. This was more than just a convenient place to stay, more than a temporary room across the lake, this was the building where he hoped to spend the rest of his life with the two people he loved more than anything else. He slung a leg over and stood, long legs eating up the distance to the door as he hurried inside.
“Honeys, I’m home.”
Chapter Nine
Ty
Crissy had propped her feet in his lap, and was seated sideways on the couch. They were watching some TV show he didn’t g
ive a shit about, but she wanted company and he didn’t mind being that for her. Also didn’t mind touching what he could reach of her, especially when she moaned so sweetly as his rubbing fingers found a tender spot. She sat up slightly and looked at the front door just as Ty heard Lewis’ bike roar once then fall silent.
“Do you know where he went today?” She tipped her head to look at him, hair swinging alongside her cheek. He shook his head. “He left early, and then I fielded two calls from Twisted for him. I guess he wasn’t picking up.”
Ty narrowed his eyes and turned back to the door as the handle twisted, Lewis stepping inside with a broad smile on his face. “Honeys, I’m home.” Ty lifted a hand and Lewis angled to look at them, the smile growing brighter. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” Ty resumed rubbing Crissy’s feet, smoothing over her skin with his thumb, digging deep behind her toes, nails today painted a bright red that was sexy as fuck. “You have a good day?’
Lewis nodded, striding past and into their bedroom. He called back, voice distant and pitched to carry, “Yeah, I had a good one. Did you?” The thump of his boots hitting the floor rattled the boards under Ty’s feet, and a moment later, Lewis walked back out, pulling on a clean tee. His fingers tugged the hem past his defined abdominal muscles, soft skin of his belly on display for a flashing moment that caught at Ty’s breath. “Y’all got any ideas for supper?” He settled on the floor between Ty’s knees and leaned his head back next to Crissy’s feet, looking at Ty upside-down. “Hey, baby.” He held out a hand and Crissy threaded her fingers through. “Babies.”
“I’ve got some leftover soup I can heat up.” Lewis groaned and threatened to bite her feet, bony teeth clacking near her toes. “Stop, it’s healthy. You guys eat like animals most of the time. You could do with something that doesn’t come out of a box.” He gripped the side of her foot between his teeth and growled. Crissy shrieked and laughed. “Stop, stop. You made your point, brute.” Ty chuckled at her put-on anger, happy to see that even when she tried, she couldn’t hide her smile. “But, I might have the fixin’s for a gumbo, if you’d prefer.”
“I do prefer.” Lewis pressed a kiss to her fingertips as she tried to shove his face to one side. “I can help cook, darlin’. You got the fixin’s, I can do the prep work. I chop some mean celery.” With the back of his skull pressed into Ty’s groin, Lewis seemed to ignore the hardening cock under his head as he looked towards Crissy. “Love you, darlin’.”
Her expression softened, that sweet, secret smile curving one corner of her mouth. “Love you, too. I have a call with Bob and Missy in half an hour. I can meet you in the kitchen afterwards, if you’d really like to help.”
“How are they doing?” She hadn’t spoken of her brother-in-law recently. Most of her stories surrounded her beloved niece. The pair lived with Bob’s parents in Minnesota, their move precipitating Crissy’s journey to Louisiana and into Ty and Lewis’ lives. Crissy had stayed with her sister’s family until Rhoda’s death from cancer, and then afterwards to help ease Bob and Missy’s burden. Now, she’d been in Louisiana for long enough it was time to think about a visit, one direction or another. Ty hoped Bob would bring Missy down south, so they’d get a chance to meet these people so important to Crissy. “He given any more thought to comin’ for a visit? We got a spare room we can put him in, and there’s the smaller bedroom that would be perfect for Missy.”
“Or a nursery.” From how Lewis froze after uttering those words, Ty would bet money he hadn’t intended them to slip out. Crissy was staring at him with an open mouth, and Ty studied the man’s face intently.
“Is that something you want, Lewis?” Crissy had regained control of her voice quicker than Ty and asked the question beating at his brain. “You’ve never really talked about kids.”
“Ain’t none of us have.” Lewis shrugged and turned to face the TV, angling his face away. “It wouldn’t take much to fix that room up for little Missy. You let me know if Bob’s up for the trip, and I’ll get on that.” Ty and Crissy shared a look, and without speaking or needing to coordinate their movements, they both slipped from the couch to sit on either side of Lewis on the floor. “Fuck.” Lewis dropped his head backwards onto the couch cushions. “It ain’t nothing, you two. What show’s this?” He snagged the remote from the coffee table and thumbed the volume up, and up, and up.
Ty plucked it from his hand and kept his finger on the button to turn the device down, until the sound was a quiet murmur. “It’s something. And it’s new. You really think you can drop a bomb like that and not have us tackle you to the ground to talk about it? Damn, Lewis. It’s like you don’t even know us at all.” Ty snorted a laugh. “Crissy mine, what do you think? You think Lewis is lookin’ for rugrats soonish or this a long-term plan?”
“I dunno, lover mine. How about you? Do you want kiddos? You haven’t said anything, either.” His gut clenched at the question, but he ignored that reaction. Crissy’s laughter rolled just under the surface of her words, and Ty loved that sound more than anything. “And no one’s asked my pithy opinion, either.”
“You want kids?” Ty and Lewis spoke at the same time, Crissy laughing at both of them.
“I do.” She spoke quietly, confidently, and when Ty leaned around Lewis to look at her, she held his gaze steadily. “I really do.” She smiled, the expression radiant on her face. “I didn’t know how much I’d like my Missy Prissy until she wormed her little way into my heart. She was the light of my sister’s life, and after Rhoda died, she became the light of mine. If that’s the kind of joy that a child can bring to a grieving house, then I imagine what would happen here, where there’s so much happiness and love, and just the thought of it makes me happy.”
Lewis leaned back on Ty’s shoulder, hand out to Crissy. She crawled towards him, nesting into his lap and draping herself across Ty’s legs. He wrapped his arms around them both, unsure what he was protecting them from, but it was an instinct he didn’t try to dissect. Something profound was happening here right now, and he wanted to hold them all together.
“How does that work with us?” Ty knew it wasn’t something he could approach like a bulldozer, but he had to ask. “I’ve watched the little ones growing up around the club, cousins havin’ babies, friends doing the same, and you can see the legacy being made. Would you pick one of us and the other be an uncle or something?” That also set a churn up in his belly he didn’t understand. “I’ve never given a great deal of thought to it.”
“I have.” Lewis’ words were soft, velvet-smooth, and Ty could feel how still he’d gone, holding Crissy and being held by Ty. “Even back when we were just startin’ out, I wondered what it would feel like to build a family with the two of you. I could be daddy, and Ty could be papa, and Crissy, you my love, would be our pretty, pretty momma.”
“We can’t both be the father.” Ty chided him for dreaming the impossible. “That’s now how biology works.”
“Any child we have would be blessed with two fathers, Ty.” Crissy lifted her head from Lewis’ shoulder and gazed up at him. “Would it matter how it happened? The mechanics?” She pushed upright and twisted to look between their faces, an expression of dawning horror on her features. “Would it be a thing that came between you?” Head shaking, she started trembling. “If so, then we finish this little chat and I’ll go make supper, and we’ll never talk about it again. I love you.” Her palm caressed Lewis’ face, then Ty’s cheek. “I’d never hurt you intentionally.”
“It wouldn’t matter to me, sweetheart.” Lewis’ arms bunched as he gave her a squeeze. “But I’m further along the path of thought than either of you. We can table the discussion for…fuck, indefinitely. No reason to upset the applecart over a bunch of coulda conversations.” His neck twisted and he pressed a kiss to Ty’s jaw, lips and teeth moving along his skin as Ty arched his neck to give better access. “Supper sounds like a good bet about now. I need to feel productive.”
Lewis lifted Crissy and set her on the c
ouch, then rose to a knee and kissed her before he stood, feet firmly planted between Ty’s widely spread legs. Broad hands clasped both sides of his head and Lewis pressed a firm kiss along his hairline. “So much fuckin’ love here. We’re already blessed.”
Chapter Ten
Lewis
Fuck.
Lewis tugged on a drawer pull, bringing out a cutting board and selection of knives. On autopilot, he retrieved the vegetables Crissy would need for the gumbo and rinsed them in the sink. His little mental slip had caused a tsunami of potential trouble. The instant the words were out of his mouth he was already kicking his own ass, because it wasn’t what he’d been about to say at all. I’m a fucking idiot. Bowls handy to toss the chopped and diced veggies into, he started his portion of supper preparation, using slow, controlled breathing to calm his swirling mind.
As the scent of crisp, fresh vegetables began to fill the air, his stomach rumbled loudly and he chuckled at himself. Gumbo was good and satisfying. But it wouldn’t be enough for him, and probably not Ty. He had his head stuck in the refrigerator, digging through the meat drawer, when a hand fell on the small of his back. Fingers tucked around his belt and firmly tugged him backwards. “My chef arrives, and I find myself unprepared.”
He was surprised when he turned, and it was Ty standing behind him, not Crissy. “Or, my sous chef arrives, and he’s less prepared than I am.”
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