Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
Barrett
Walking into my house, the last thing I expected was a dance club in the middle of my living room. Some more yelling? Yeah. Possibly even some stomping and slamming of doors. Maybe even a few empty threats. But seeing Camryn and my daughter dancing and having fun wasn’t on that list.
Camryn’s back is to me as she dances, her hips swaying to the beat in the tight jeans she was wearing earlier when she came in and served me a ration for taking Syd to the club.
Her wavy auburn hair bounces as she moves.
A sudden urge punches me in the gut, and I have to clench my fists and keep my boots planted to the floor.
Otherwise, I do something stupid like walk up behind her and run my hands through the silky, coppery-brown locks swaying back and forth.
Wait. What the hell is wrong with me?
When she turns, she jumps a little in surprise at seeing us standing just inside the doorway.
Her movements halt and her smile drops, an unsure and cautious look taking over the joy I saw just a few seconds ago.
I hate the fact that seeing me put that look on her face.
I look away because I can’t bear to see the change in her features and catch sight of my brothers, all with varying degrees of amusement on their faces.
Linc is the first to join the group of women as he walks up to Charlie and wraps an arm around her middle from behind. “Hey, Charlie Pie, nice moves.”
She squeals and turns to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck, continuing to dance to the pop song playing through the speaker.
Knox walks up to Mia and he takes her in a tight embrace.
“Let’s not have a repeat of the last time you were dancing in the living room.
Bruises aren’t in my plans for tonight.” He wraps her arms around her back and clasps her wrists together in one hand as his other comes up to her cheek, and he kisses her.
I clear my throat loudly enough for him to hear, but the music is either too loud or he doesn’t care—probably the latter—and the corner of his lip tips up.
The two stare at each other, a silent conversation running between them.
I look over at Camryn, and her eyes are on the couple as a blush spreads across her cheeks.
She looks down at the floor then back up, finding my eyes.
Something flares in her gaze, but it’s gone in the next breath.
“Lucifer, I leave you for a few hours and you’re practically dancing on tables,” Jude says as he prowls toward his woman.
Lucy laughs, throwing her head back as she continues to shake her hips to the beat. “I was saving that move for later.”
Jude sweeps her into his arms and kisses her hard on the mouth, dipping her backward. Jesus, he practically has to mark his territory every time they’re in the same room together.
When he lifts her upright, his palm covers her belly. “How’s the spawn?”
“Hungry,” she answers.
“I’ll make something,” Camryn offers, but I shake my head.
“I’ll call for delivery. It’s been a long day,” I tell her. She shoots me an appreciative smile, and I turn, walking into the kitchen to grab the takeout menus.
“Chinese sounds good,” Syd calls from the living room.
“You got it, kid,” I yell back, then turn to Camryn who is standing in the doorway. “What sounds good to you?”
“I’m fine with Chinese.”
“How about some pizza and a giant plate of chicken alfredo?” Lucy shouts. “And breadsticks.”
I chuckle, grabbing the menu for the Chinese restaurant and my favorite pizza place. “A little of everything?” I ask Camryn who is still standing in the doorway.
“Sure, whatever sounds good.” She looks away for a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek. “We should probably talk about earlier.”
“We should, but let’s eat first. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. We can table it until everyone leaves, yeah?”
Camryn nods, but doesn’t smile. I want to see her smile. She was so damn carefree and happy before she saw me, and I want to see that look on her face again.
Syd bounds into the kitchen and grabs a soda from the fridge.
“How you doing, kiddo?” I ask. Last time I saw her, she was on her way to her usual self, but was still reeling a bit from what happened at school. Or it could have been me and Camryn going at it like when they first arrived.
“Way better. Lucy and Charlie came over with a bunch of junk food, and we laid around watching movies and hanging out. It was fun.”
I smile at my daughter as she sips her soda. “Glad to hear it.” And I’d like to think I played some small part in helping her out today.
She walks past me and before leaving the kitchen, she turns and gives me a brief but tight hug. “Thanks for coming to pick me up today.”
I return her hug before she pulls away and goes back to the living room. Cam is still standing in the doorway, her eyes wide with surprise, probably matching the same expression I’m desperately trying to temper.
My daughter just hugged me for the first time.
I clear my suddenly tight throat. This time, when Cam smiles at me, it’s big and full of warmth. And for the first time since she walked out of the club, I feel like I can take a deep breath.
Thirty minutes later, the food has been delivered and the coffee table is littered with pizza boxes and takeout containers. We all sit scattered around with paper plates piled high, having a living room picnic, as Mia calls it.
“Do you miss working at all?” Camryn asks Lucy.
“No, she doesn’t. And neither do I,” Jude answers for her. “Thank God you came when you did.” He tips his beer bottle toward Camryn.
“Oh, come on, I wasn’t that bad,” Lucy says. “A few outbursts are nothing to get your panties in a twist over.” She lightly kicks Jude in the arm as he sits on the floor next to the chair she’s occupying.
“Lucifer, you threatened to castrate a group of regulars because they were eating ice too loudly. And the week before that, someone dared slurp their drink, and you nearly threw them out.”
“It was fucking annoying, Jude. You would have done the same thing,” she tells him, tilting her chin high. “I stand by my threats.”
“No, honey, I don’t think anyone other than you had a problem with it,” Charlie says, and Lucy rolls her eyes.
“What about when you unplugged the jukebox and threatened to take a chainsaw to it if someone played one more song from that band you don’t like?” Jude asks.
“That was before I was pregnant,” Lucy says.
Jude chuckles. “Oh yeah, that’s right. I’ll give you that one.”
“Thank you,” Lucy says with a wicked grin. “I mean, how many depressing emo songs is one person supposed to listen to? If the guy needed to cry, I would have gladly given him something to cry about.”
“You are a breath of fresh air in that bar,” Knox says to Camryn, a smile tilting the corner of his mouth.
Lucy promptly throws a chunk of breadstick at him and sticks out her tongue. Swear to Christ, she’s the only one who would have the guts to do that and think she could get away with it. Which she does because, well, it’s Lucy.
“I’m just glad Ozzy hired me. It’s been a long time since I’ve tended bar, but I kind of like it. And the schedule works for us,” Camryn says.
“I wish there was something at the school,” Mia says. “Have you thought about teaching something other than art?”
Camryn shrugs. “I’d consider it, but art is my first love. Kids should have a teacher who’s excited about the subject. Honestly, everything else kind of bores me to tears.”
“Matilda has been wanting to start an art therapy program at the shelter. The funding isn’t there yet, but she’s working on it. Have you ever thought about something like that?” Lucy asks.
Camryn tilts her head to the side and considers her question. “I haven’t really considered anything other than a schedule that lines up with Syd’s, to be honest.”
“You should do it,” Sydney chimes in. “If you want to.”
“It would mean getting another degree as a licensed therapist. That’s a big commitment,” Cam says.
“We’ll figure it out,” I tell her. “Syd’s right. If you want to do something with that fancy art degree, you should.” I sip my beer as Camryn offers me a tentative smile.
“Thank you. I’ll think about it.”
I tip my head to her. If that’s something that she wants to do, she should. There’s an entire club willing to step in if she needs us, and that goes double for Syd. Camryn isn’t alone in this anymore, which I know has held her back from doing a lot of things in the past. But not anymore.
We continue to stuff ourselves with all the food I ordered and shoot the shit for a couple more hours.
This is nice, hanging out with my brothers and relaxing at home with my kid and Camryn.
Though we’ve lived together for just over a month, this is the first time we’ve had anyone over for a night like this.
I really like how relaxed Camryn is around my brothers and their women.
She seems to fit right in, and Syd is a hell of a lot more open with everyone than she was when she first came here.
“Alright, honey. It’s time to get you home, or you might fall asleep on the back of my bike,” Knox says to a sleepy Mia, who’s curled under his arm on the couch.
“We should get you home too, Charlie Pie. You have class bright and early,” Linc says, leaning over to give Charlie a sweet kiss on the mouth.
“Taking a double course load this semester was definitely not the smartest thing I’ve done,” Charlie grouses. “All I do is go to class and do homework.”
Linc and Knox stand and haul their women to their feet.
“Let’s head out too, Lucifer.”
“We don’t have anywhere to be in the morning, and I’m not tired,” Lucy says, looking down at him.
He stands from the floor then bends and cups the side of her face, pressing his mouth to hers and giving her a ridiculously inappropriate kiss.
“Um, there are kids here, asshole,” I say as Syd makes a gagging noise.