8. Chapter 8
Chapter 8
“This is Tank and Bristol’s house,” Shiloh said, pulling the silver SUV up to the curb. “So you don’t get confused, Bris and his grandmother both call him by his real name, Waylon, but everyone else refers to him as Tank because…”
She didn’t have to finish the sentence because a giant of a man appeared on the porch of a lovely white brick home. I’d thought Hawk was big, but dayum! This guy had to be over six-and-a-half feet tall with a huge body that fit his nickname perfectly. What the hell do they feed these Navy SEAL guys?
Tank was blond with a kind face, and he had a little girl on his hip. She appeared to be around Bella’s age.
Then a tiny woman with lavender hair busted out the door and stopped beside him, tickling the child’s chin. Tank kissed the older lady affectionately on the top of her head.
My eyes practically popped out of my head. “Is that his wife?” She had to be at least seventy.
Shiloh busted out laughing. “No, that’s Gram, his grandmother. Bristol is… oh, there she is. ”
A freaking bombshell exited, closing the red front door behind her, a Louis Vuitton purse slung over one shoulder. Her hair was dark, and she had a small freckle beside her red-painted lips that only made her gorgeous face more appealing.
Tank’s blue eyes roved up and down her perfect curves, and his hand snaked down behind her. Is he grabbing her ass? The man appeared to want to toss her down on the porch and have his way with her. If only his grandma and baby weren’t present. And if it weren’t broad daylight in the middle of a nice subdivision.
Instead, he leaned down and kissed her, and she smiled as she wiped away the smudge of lipstick left on his lips. Then he kissed her again, and he seemed to wear the red with pride.
Shiloh had the sunroof open, so I could hear snippets of their conversation drifting across the hot, still air.
“Oh, don’t you two get started,” Gram complained. “We got shopping to do.”
The couple grinned at each other, and I could practically feel the love snapping between them. I wish I could find someone who looks at me like that…
“Aren’t they hot together?” Shiloh asked, jolting me from my musings.
I turned to her. “Totally. They looked like they were about to,” I bobbed my eyebrows up and down, “you know.”
“Yes, I do know. When they start eyeballing each other, the rest of us just sit back and wait. It’s only a matter of time before Tank has her hauled over his shoulder and out the door. One time at our house, they got all the way to the car before they remembered they left Amelia. ”
I giggled. “That’s hilarious.”
“Yeah, they came back in, looking all chagrined. Tank was like, ‘Uh, we forgot our baby.’ I told them to go on home, and Amelia could have a sleepover with Bella.” Shiloh’s eyes shifted back toward the house. “Oh goody! It looks like Gram is coming too. It’s always fun when she tags along.”
The group was walking toward us, and I hopped out of the vehicle so Gram could sit in the front.
“You must be Mallori,” Bristol said, reaching me first and wrapping her arms around me. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
“You too. I’ve been hearing about all of you, and it’s nice to finally put faces with names.”
She introduced me to the rest of her family, and I received a handshake from Tank and a hug from Gram. She smelled like roses and lemon. Amelia graced me with a shy smile before hiding her face in her father’s thick neck.
Bristol kissed her baby and husband once more before climbing into the back of the vehicle with me.
“Good luck, Mallori,” Tank said. “Hope you survive shopping with these three.”
Why did everyone keep saying things like that?
Four hours later, I had my answer. Bristol and Gram were shopping machines .
“I love those two, but they wear me out,” Shiloh said, collapsing onto the chair beside me after placing our order at the ramen restaurant inside the mall’s food court. Bris was still at the counter.
“Is it sad that I ran out of steam before Gram?” I asked, tilting my head back and staring at the recessed lighting on the ceiling.
“No,” Shiloh said with a laugh. “She’s next level when it comes to shopping.”
“She’s a bad influence. I bought way too much.”
“Talking about Gram?” Bristol asked, striding up and taking the seat across from me, and we both nodded. “You have to hydrate before going to the mall with her. Where is she? Bathroom?”
I jerked my head up, and we all glanced around for the oldest member of our group. Panic swelled in my chest. What if we lost Tank’s grandmother?
“I thought she was with you. Do we need to call security or—” I started but was interrupted when Shiloh pointed behind me.
“Here she comes. Looks like she went to the daiquiri shop.”
“Ah, hell,” Bristol groaned, peeking around me. “Gram came to party.”
The older woman wobbled up and set a drink tray on the table, laden with four frothy beverages in plastic cups.
“Time for refreshments, ladies,” she sang. “The banana daiquiris are fantastic, but I didn’t know if everyone liked bananas, so I got two strawberry ones too.”
“Thanks, Gram,” we all chorused before selecting our drinks. I didn’t really care, so I ended up with a strawberry one.
“Mallori, I really like that robe you got,” Bristol informed me. “It’s sexy as hell. ”
Practically choking on the tangy sweetness of the drink, I shook my head and emitted a cough. “S-sexy? That’s not what I was… no!”
The other women laughed, and Shy elbowed me. “She didn’t mean it like that. It was just really pretty on you. The aqua color makes your eyes pop.”
“And your legs,” Bristol said, doubling down. “Definitely sexy.”
I’d never thought of myself as sexy. If I had to classify myself, I’d probably say I was in the realm of cute. Blonde. Petite. Small, delicate facial features.
Of course, I couldn’t deny that my body was in fantastic shape with toned muscles and legs that were long for my height.
I wonder if Hawk thinks I’m sexy.
Whoa! Where the hell did that thought come from? That’s the last damn thing I needed to be thinking about, so I loaded up that notion and shot it from my brain like a cannonball. Nope. Not going there.
“I just wanted something cooler because it’s so hot here. I only have a thick, fuzzy one, and I didn’t really want to walk around the house in just my pajamas.”
“I’m sure Cam and Shiloh wouldn’t mind,” Gram said. “Unless you walk around in slutty lingerie.”
I’d just sucked up a drink of my daiquiri when she said that, and it went directly up my nasal passage when I snorted in surprise. Shiloh patted me on the back as Bristol explained.
“There was a toilet incident at the Fitz home, so Mallori is staying with Hawk until it gets fixed.”
“Ohhh, has Hawk gotten you into the Den of Sin yet?” Gram inquired .
“I-I don’t know what that means,” I stammered, looking at the other women for help.
Bristol quirked one perfectly arched eyebrow at me, a smirk curving her pretty lips. “That’s what the guys call Hawk’s bedroom because the man is sexually…” She circled a hand in the air, searching for the correct word.
“Depraved?” Shiloh suggested.
“Debaucherous?” Gram added.
“Let’s go with adventurous ,” Bris drawled, stretching out the last word. “Actually, the Den isn’t in his bedroom anymore. Since he’s living by himself now, he decided to use the one next to his. Waylon went over and helped him add a door connecting the two rooms.”
I’m living with a depraved, debaucherous, adventurous sex maniac with some kind of sin room? Holy shitballs.
“Is it… I mean, am I safe there?”
All three women busted out laughing, and their responses had me relaxing a bit.
Shiloh patted my arm with a comforting hand. “Honey, I can’t think of a single place safer for you. Hawk would never lay a finger on you because Cam would murder him. Plus, he isn’t dangerous. Like Bristol said, he’s adventurous in the bedroom. But we all get a little freaky sometimes? Right?”
No.
“Jorge and I do,” Gram spoke up.
“Who’s Jorge?”
“That’s my boyfriend,” she replied proudly.
Bristol leaned forward over the table. “But we call him her friend in front of Waylon so he doesn’t have a stroke.”
“Ah, gotcha. That’s sweet that he’s so protective over his grandmother.”
“Yeah, if Waylon knew half the stuff we got up to, he’d have to be medicated. We’re gonna try anal this weekend.”
Shiloh covered her mouth with her hand to cover her laugh at the same time Bristol’s forehead clunked against the tiled table.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or gasp in shock—probably a bit of both would be warranted—so I sucked down a healthy gulp of my alcoholic beverage in response. This lady was hilarious.
“Number ten, number eleven,” the man from the ramen shop called, and I rose to my feet when Bristol did to retrieve our food.
“Gram is something else,” I commented as we walked across the beige floor, and Bris giggled.
“She’s nutty as squirrel poo, but we love her.”
The next hour was spent eating and laughing with my three amazing new friends. Oh, and more fruity drinks, of course.
I felt so normal and… happy.