Ink (Hounds of Hellfire MC #6)

Chapter 11

11

ANNIKA

I had barely caught my breath from our lovemaking when Matteo’s phone rang. “Shit, gotta take this.”

I pulled the sheet over my breasts after he twisted around to grab his phone from the bedside table. “Ink.”

I only caught a few low words from the other end of the call, and then Matteo hissed, “Shit.”

He listened for another moment. “Thanks, cugino . At least this solves one of my woman’s problems.”

I perked up at that, scrambling to my knees while I waited for Matteo to finish his call. After he said his goodbyes, I asked, “What did you find out?”

“The reason your uncle stole from you…tried to hurt you.” He scraped his palms over his face with a deep sigh. “It’s because he’s got a gambling problem.”

“Oh.” I didn’t understand why he seemed so bothered by the news when it certainly wasn’t any worse than what we’d already learned about Uncle Alec. “Is it really bad?”

“Depends on how you look at it,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “You know how I told you that my family is Mafia?”

I giggled and nodded. “Um, yeah. Those orgasms you gave me didn’t completely wipe out all of my brain cells, and it’s not something I’m likely to forget.”

“They’re the ones he owes the money to.”

“Ahh, I get it now.” I shuffled closer and wrapped my arms around him. “Nothing my uncle did is your fault. Or your family’s. It’s all on him.”

“I’m lucky you’re so damn sweet.” He brushed a kiss against my temple.

I tipped my head back to smile at him. “And I’m lucky that you’re…you.”

He captured my mouth in a deep kiss that left me wanting more when he finally ripped his mouth from mine. “You have no idea how much I want to spread you out on this mattress and take you again.”

“Do I get a vote?” I wagged my brows. “Because I like the sound of that.”

“Sorry, dolcezza. I hate to leave you when you’ve just learned that your bastard of an uncle owes money to my family, and that’s why he’s pulled all of this shit.” He stroked his thumb against my cheekbone. “But I need to take care of something urgent. If it could wait…”

“Then you wouldn’t go,” I finished for him with a soft smile. “I know that.”

“Like I said, you’re too damn sweet.”

I winked at him. “You can make it up to me later.”

Lying back on the mattress, I curled against Matteo’s pillow while I watched him get ready. It was a show I would’ve gladly paid for, even more so when he was taking his clothes off instead of putting them back on his gorgeous, tattooed body.

When he was done, he gave me another kiss before he walked out of the room.

He left his extra leather vest for me, like he’d done every day since we met. I tugged it over my outfit with a smile before heading downstairs to see who was around.

It was impossible to feel lonely around here because there was always someone to hang out with. Not that Matteo had left my side often.

Another thing I loved about staying at the clubhouse was that nobody minded if I used the big kitchen. And there always seemed to be someone there who enthusiastically volunteered to eat whatever I made.

Today, I found a trio of pregnant women at one of the tables when I walked into the kitchen. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think there was something in the water around here.”

“In the water?” Violet asked, her brows drawing together.

Thea pointed at her still flat belly. “Yeah, to get knocked up.”

Courtney snorted. “If Ink is anything like his club brothers, he doesn’t need water to make that happen.”

My cheeks filled with heat as I hurried over to the pantry to peek inside.

“I’m going to take that as a yes…Ink is very much like the rest of the guys around here after they’ve claimed us,” Violet teased.

Echo glared at his wife and growled. “No thinking about what any other man gets up to in bed.

“That’s not what I was doing,” Violet huffed.

“We were just kidding around with the new girl,” Courtney chimed in.

“Yeah,” Thea agreed with a nod.

Onyx shook his head and laughed. “Gotta love how the sisterhood sticks together around here.”

Violet crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you making fun of us?”

“He better not be,” Echo warned.

Before the conversation spiraled out of control, I called, “Anyone in the mood for a fresh cobbler?”

“Me,” they all yelled back in unison.

I had only been staying at the Hounds of Hellfire compound for less than a week, but I already felt more at home here than I had in my own house since my parents died. It had taken everything that had come to light about my uncle for me to finally realize he had tarnished so many happy memories of my childhood home. My dad was probably rolling over in his grave due to how his brother treated me.

The last time I cooked anything from my mom’s family recipes was less than a month after their accident. I made my grandmother’s famous peach cobbler with homemade vanilla bean ice cream and had been so excited to share it with Uncle Alec.

But his reaction was the opposite of what I expected. His nose scrunched as though he smelled something bad, and he made a tsking sound. “You really should pay closer attention to what you eat, Annika. It would be a shame if you gained any more weight.”

My parents had always told me how beautiful I was, so his words had come as a shock. From that point on, I never baked another dessert. Until today.

I pulled several large cans of fruit out of the pantry. “It’s better with fresh peaches than canned, but I can make do with these.”

“There’s a big bag of Bing cherries in the fridge.” Courtney stood and crossed the room to dig through the produce bin for them. “I had a craving for them a few days ago, so Pax stocked up in case I wanted them again.”

“Only so he wouldn’t be stuck going out for them in the middle of the night,” Onyx mumbled.

I pointed a wooden spoon at him. “Keep riling the pregnant women up, and you won’t get any cobbler.”

He pretended to zip his mouth shut and toss away the key, making me giggle. Then I got to work on making three kinds of cobbler—peach, cherry, and a mixture of both. When I pulled them out of the oven, I felt closer to my mom, knowing I did her recipe justice.

“Who wants a piece?”

Once again, everyone in the kitchen yelled, “Me,” in unison.

I dished up six plates. “Next time, I’ll make some homemade ice cream to go with this. Luckily, we had a tub of vanilla in the freezer that I could use.”

Matteo’s club brothers and their women were much more appreciative of my efforts than my uncle had been.

“If this tastes as good as it smells, you’re not going to get a single complaint about the perfectly fine ice cream in the freezer,” Courtney assured me.

“Holy fuck, this is amazing,” Onyx mumbled around a spoonful.

“Mm-hmm,” Violet agreed.

Echo flashed me an appreciative smile after seeing how much his wife was enjoying the cobbler, then took a bite of his and murmured, “Damn good.”

Thea just nodded and spooned another bite into her mouth.

The kitchen was quiet while we all polished off our servings. Onyx was the first to finish. He patted his stomach with a wide grin. “I gotta admit, I appreciate the benefits that come with my brothers claiming their old ladies.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” Echo demanded, glaring at him.

Onyx held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I meant the food, man.”

“Then get your own woman,” Echo grumbled.

Onyx shook his head. “Not anytime soon.”

I found myself hoping that Matteo’s friend had just tempted fate.