Cupid’s Double Shot of Whiskey (Rebel Vipers MC Valentine’s Day Romance #12)

CHAPTER ONE

DUCHESS

FIRST MONDAY OF FEbrUARY

“You are seriously a lifesaver, sis.” Angel looks at me over her shoulder as she wrestles with her son Taren to put his shirt on.

At four-and-a-half, Taren is not only the spitting image of his dad, dirty blonde hair and caramel brown eyes, but he also has the grumpiness and stubbornness of him too. Hammer has been a force of nature since they day I met him, so I wouldn’t expect anything less from his kids.

“You’d do the same for me if I was in your shoes.” I pick up her second son and set him on my lap.

Ace is the middle of the three boys at one-and-a-half and is by the sweetest of my nephews.

He loves anyone who will pick him up, hold him, or play with him.

I will never admit to having favorites when it comes to my family members, but between me and him, I will always take Ace and auntie snuggles whenever he asks.

I hope he loses his sweetness, no matter how big he gets.

He also is just two days younger than my son Krew, so the closeness in age, along with them being best buddies, has made us closer as well.

“In a heartbeat.” With Taren finally dressed, sans the shoes he refuses to let his mom put on, Angel points to the small table in the corner of the exam room we’re in at the clinic. “Go play please.”

“Do you wanna go play with your brother?” I playfully growl in Ace’s ear, causing him to giggle.

Seeing the colorful wooden blocks that his older brother is stacking, Ace wiggles in my arms so I let him down. He’s off in a flash, snuggle time in the rear view mirror.

“Two down, one to go,” Angel sings as she lifts my youngest nephew out of his stroller. At just over seven months, Hayes is not only her youngest, but also the youngest baby in the entire Rebel Vipers MC family.

It’s crazy to think that in the almost two-and-a-half years that I have been with Whiskey, there have been eight babies born in the club, including my Krew, who is also one-and-a-half.

There are also numerous other older kids as well, Taren for example, but the wave of babies lately has been nothing short of insanity at times.

“How did you manage to schedule one appointment for three kiddos to see two different doctors?” I ask as I pull my hair up into a high ponytail.

Why I left the house without it already up, I’m not sure, but I must have been feeling brave.

It probably was because my morning routine was thrown for a loop when Angel called me for help.

She had forgotten that her boys all had wellness checkups at the doctor today, so she needed another set of hands.

Hammer, Angel’s husband slash Old Man, has been out of town for a few days on a run for the club and doesn’t get home until tonight, so Auntie Duchess came to the rescue.

Oh, that’s right! My phone rang just as I was getting Krew dressed, so I hustled through finishing getting ready . . . hence my hair not being restrained in its usual updo.

“Ever since Hayes was born, I refuse to make three separate appointments. I would probably be here every other week if I did that,” Angel chuckles as she tickles Hayes’s belly.

“So when I brought this little man in for his first checkup, and I realized the other two were due for their s-h-o-t-s soon, I insisted that the receptionist find us one time slot. I don’t care that Hayes has a different doctor until he turns one and gets bumped to the big kid doctor, I bring them all together so it’s less trips and less tears and less stress on me. ”

“Sounds like they’re pretty used to that around here.”

“They are. We see Doctor Michaels for Taren and Ace, then Doctor Pearlman for Hayes.” Hearing his name, Hayes starts kicking up a storm and starts babbling.

“But this will be your last time seeing the infant doctor, right my little soccer star. Your next time here will be to see the big boy doctor with your brothers. Isn’t that right? ”

His only reply is to blow bubble filled raspberries as he continues to kick.

“Hopefully Hammer will be home next time.”

“From your lips to the biker god’s ears.”

It’s a good thing for times like this that we, and various other family members, all live so close together. When last minute things pop up, having a majority of us living on the club’s compound has gotten all of us out of a pickle a time or two. Family helps family.

My Old Man slash husband, Whiskey, had already left for the day for work at the club-owned recycling and salvage yard he runs, so I needed to call in my own back-up for the day.

That’s where my amazing mother-in-law came to my rescue.

I called Blue and she hustled over to watch my boy while I help my sister with her three.

Blue, who is Whiskey’s dad’s wife slash Old Lady, is also his aunt.

Crazy but long story-kind of-short, Whiskey’s mom left when he was about two, so his dad, Mountain, raised him with help from the club until he was ten.

One day, Blue showed up at the clubhouse looking for her older sister who she hadn’t seen since she was in her teens, only to be told that she had left and passed away a few years before.

Crazy as it sounds, Mountain and Blue fell in love instantly and they were engaged three days later.

And now, twenty-three years later, she is the grandmother to my son and countless other club family kiddos who call her BeeGee.

“Whooowee. This one has the worst smelling poops I have ever smelled.” Angel lays him on the exam table and blows out a breath as she unsnaps Hayes’s onesie. “Can you grab me a diaper and the wipes from the backpack please?”

I stand up and walk over to the bag, which is in a chair across the room, and grab what she needs. As soon as I step beside Angel to hand them over, I get a whiff of the smell she described and almost lose my breakfast.

“Holy crap.” I cover my mouth and have to turn away. “What are you feeding him?”

Knock knock.

“Come in,” Angel calls out.

The second nurse of the day walks in. “Hi, ladies and little gents. I’m Cammie. I’m one of the pediatric nurses and will be getting Hayes’s vitals before the doc comes in. Is that okay?”

“Do what you gotta do.” As she fastens the last tab on his diaper, Angel picks up Hayes and turns to face the nurse. “Where would you like him?”

“On scale please.” She points to the tray like looking scale on the counter behind us. “Let’s get him weighed and measured, then you can put him back on the exam table.”

Still feeling a bit nauseous, I park myself in the chair I was using before and watch Taren and Ace who have now moved on to playing with plastic dinosaurs. I suddenly get very warm and a little dizzy, so I close my eyes and lay my head back to rest against the wall.

“Are you okay?” The nurse asks.

“Oh my god!” Angel exclaims.

I sit up fast, too fast if I’m honest, and look around the room to see what’s wrong. “What?”

“You’re pregnant.”

“No I’m not,” I deny, shaking my head. Again, not a good choice, so I rest myself back in the chair again. “I probably ate something my stomach didn’t agree with. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

“Yes, you are.” Looking at me like I’m the crazy one, Angel lifts Hayes from the scale and props him on her hip. “Don’t try and lie to me.”

I fold my arms across my chest and stare her down back. “How do you know?”

“Umm, hello? I just did this.” She playfully bounces the baby in her arm.

“You just did this a year and a half ago too. Think about the amount of babies born in the last two years. That damn clubhouse has something in the water. It’s stupidly contagious.

I’m honestly surprised you didn’t get knocked up sooner with how your hubby looks at you. ”

“When was your last menstrual cycle?” I forgot the nurse was still in the room for a second.

I try to think the last time I had my period but can’t remember. I pull my phone out of my pocket and open the health tracker app and scroll back on the calendar. I haven’t entered anything since the middle of November. It’s now the beginning of February.

“Well, shit.”

“Why don’t you go give a urine sample and we’ll find out?

” The nurse opens an upper cabinet and pulls out a specimen cup.

“The bathroom is down the hall to the left. Write your name and date of birth on the label, pee in the cup, screw the lid back on, then put the cup in the silver cabinet in the wall by the sink. We can have an answer for you by this afternoon.”

“That soon?” I question. When I came to the doctor when I realized I was pregnant with Krew, it took the clinic an entire day to call me back.

“If you want to wait here thirty minutes, we can let you know positive or negative before you leave,” she replies with a smile and a nod.

“We’ll then call or text with an estimation of how far along you are.

Then you can schedule a follow-up appointment with your OBGYN to bring you in for an exam and maybe even an ultrasound to get a due date calculated. ”

“Go pee in the cup.” Angel grabs it from the nurse and forces it into my hand as I stand. “The pediatrician still has to come in and see Hayes, so we’ll be here for a bit yet. That’ll give them plenty of time to run the test.”

One foot out the door, I spin back around. “Should I call Whiskey first?”

“Nah,” she waves me off. “You can surprise him with the results if it’s positive. His birthday is coming up.”

I’m hit with a wave of déjà vu as I step into the bathroom and lock the door behind me. It was just about this time two years ago that I was in this very building, doing this exact same thing, so why do I feel like I have no clue what I am doing?

Fumbling with the cup, I almost drop it in the toilet because my hands are shaking so hard. I manage not to and finally get it set down on the counter. After I pull my pants up, I screw the lid on, wash my hands, and slide the cup into the box in the wall.

After washing my hands a second time, because my scrambled brain cells weren’t working enough to tell me not to wash them before touching the cup again, I look at myself in the mirror. Do I look or feel any different?

Now that I think about it, my boobs are a bit tender. And I know I haven’t lost all the baby weight from having Krew, but my pants have been fitting a little more snug lately. I also have been hungrier than usual. How could I not have noticed the signs?

I’ve been hoping for this for a year already.

Krew was an unexpectedly fast blessing. Whiskey and I had only been together for almost three months when I got pregnant with him.

This time it has been a year and a half with no over obvious signs, until now, so I started to wonder if something was wrong.

Once Krew turned six months old, and we decided to really start trying for a second baby, I took a pregnancy test every month like clockwork.

It became almost like an obsession and I had to force myself to stop.

All the negative results were starting to feel like torture and I cried for days as month after month passed me by.

I could feel my heart breaking a little more and more each time the words ‘Not Pregnant’ showed on the tiny screen.

After the last test six months ago showed the same result, I refused to buy any more.

I can’t help but smile back at my reflection as I rub a small circle over my belly.

If there really is a baby growing in there, I am going to be over the moon with happiness.

I really hope this test comes back positive.

Angel was right. This would be a really great addition to the birthday gift I already have for Whiskey.

Now the question is, how am I going to keep this to myself until I know the results?

Knowing that standing here isn’t going to make anything happen any faster, and that I’m supposed to be here to help my sister with her crazy monkeys, I hurry back.

Just as I step out of the bathroom, and make my way down the hall, the doctor comes around the corner from the other direction. He is a different pediatrician than I have for Krew, but I have seen him here before in passing.

“I hear we may be having another baby on the way,” he says with a smile as we walk in the exam room. “You see Doctor Stanley, right?”

“We do,” I reply and nod.

“That reminds me.” Angel starts to laugh. “I told Hammer the other day that with all the babies being born recently, that the club should hire its own pediatrician.”

“Probably would save us a bunch of time and money if we had a member who was trained in baby medical stuff,” I can’t help but laugh too.

Doc will help with stuffy noses and small boo-boos, but unless it’s an emergency, he prefers to be hands off medically for the little ones.

I can’t blame him really. He didn’t join the club to be a baby doctor.

Once the doctor gives Hayes the all clear, he passes out stickers to Ace and Taren, then heads off to his next patients.

Angel and I get the boys bundled back up in their shoes and coats, buckle the younger two into the stroller, and we make your way out through the maze of hallways back to the lobby.

After Angel stops at the receptionist desk to make the next round of appointments, everyone is loaded up so we can make out way home.

It has been a fun few hours, but I’m ready to see my little man and snuggle with him while I wait for my phone to ring.

I really hope it’s good news.