Chapter 47
ASHER
As I enter the bar, I don’t have to look hard to know where the twins are. There are a pack of chicks swarming a booth, all giggling and flicking their hair over their shoulders as they try to get the most attention.
I roll my fucking eyes.
Striding through the crowd, I come up behind the chicks which the twins called ‘Gold Coast Pussy’ in the message they sent me earlier, and I clear my throat.
“Oh,” a blonde beams as she turns to look at me, her eyes roaming down my body and then up again. “Another one.”
“Not interested,” I bark, before locking eyes with Jude. “Any chance you can lose the parasites?”
Jude rolls his eyes at me before addressing the swarm of chicks.
“Lassies, would you mind giving us lads some privacy?” He holds out a wad of cash. “Get yourselves some cocktails and have a dance.”
They giggle and don’t hesitate to take his money, scurrying off together to leave us alone.
“You’re gonna blow through the money your dad sent if you keep going like this,” I point out, and Ronnie scoffs.
“Pfft. Semantics.”
The twins spent a few weeks further up north with us when we first arrived in Australia until Alexander sent them some money, and then they flew down to the Gold Coast to get the space they needed away from me and Lily.
Sliding into the booth next to Ronnie, I stare at my two best mates.
At least I hope they are still my best mates.
“So, do we call you Dad now?” Jude deadpans, and I fucking cringe.
“Fuck no. I just want to be your friend again.”
He frowns. “Seventeen years is a big fucking age gap.”
Blowing out a breath, I nod, my eyes falling to the cardboard coaster in my hands that I hadn’t realised I’d picked up.
“I know it seems weird to you… to everyone…” I glance up and look between them both. “But it’s not weird to us. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I love her. So fucking much.”
“You know, when I said I was relieved knowing you were watching over our mum, I didn’t mean watching her like that,” Ronnie snaps, and Jude piggybacks his remark.
“I should’ve known something was going on when you said you weren’t interested in skank and were looking for something more meaningful. I thought it had to do with your time in prison, but it wasn’t, was it?”
I shake my head. “Nope. Your mum already had my heart.”
“How long have you been frothing over our mum?” Jude snarls, his fists balling on the tabletop, getting angrier by the second.
I don’t want to fight with them, or make them more angry, but they deserve the truth.
“This is going to sound weird,” I rasp, emotion thick in my voice. “But probably from the first day you took me to your house. I didn’t know what it was back then, of course, but when my hormones kicked in…” I leave it at that, hating to admit that their mum was my spank bank material.
They both regard me for a long moment before Ronnie speaks.
“I thought you were just being a good protective friend when you pulled our dad into line over Easter. I was a little surprised at your outburst at the table, but now I guess it makes sense.”
“I’ll do anything to protect her,” I say easily, meaning every word.
They stare at me for a long moment, and surprisingly, Jude’s face is the first to soften.
“We miss you, man.”
A lump forms in my throat at his admission, and I have to clear it before I can respond.
“You do?”
“Yeah,” they say in unison.
“Are you going to be able to get past me and your mum?” I ask, feeling weird about calling Lily their mum.
Like I know she’s their mum, obviously, but she’s a woman to me. My woman.
“If you can keep the intense PDA to a minimum around us,” Ronnie says, his expression softer now too. “Then, yeah, I guess so.”
Fuck… is this really happening? Are they really accepting me and their mum?
“Can I hold her hand around you?” I ask, and they nod. “What about putting my arm around her? Hugging her?” Ronnie shrugs and Jude nods.
Fuck… this is… something.
“What about kissing her?”
“Don’t push it,” Jude mutters, and I grin.
“Just a peck,” I explain. “Not a pash.”
Ronnie cringes. “If you start snogging our mum in front of us, I’ll dick punch you.”
A laugh bursts from me, and Jude’s and Ronnie’s faces morph with big cheesy fucking smiles.
“Deal.” I let go of the coaster that I’d started tearing to shreds. “But I love her, so it’s hard not to show her.”
“Fine.” Jude rolls his eyes. “Just keep it PG.”
Fuck. FUCK!
It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest, and I can’t wait to tell Lily all about it. The twins have been treating her normally again, which I think has a lot to do with their uncles, but they’d been curt with me at best… until now.
“I guess you’re no longer our wingman,” Ronnie sighs, like it’s a huge inconvenience, and I chuckle.
“You sods never needed me. You have each other.”
They nod knowingly, their eyes drifting to the pack of chicks dancing around with cocktails.
“How’s your mum going?” Jude asks, and for the first time in years, my smile isn’t forced when it comes to discussing her.
“Good. We’ve just come from visiting her,” I say, loving how happy she looked. “I haven’t seen her look that healthy… ever.”
The twins’ smiles grow, and Ronnie grips my shoulder.
“That’s fucking ace, man.”
“Yeah. It really is. She’ll be there for a while, and fuck, who wouldn’t want to be. That place is an oasis.”
“Thanks to you,” they say, but I shake my head.
“Nah, not me. You know your mum is paying for it.”
Jude waves a dismissive hand. “But it’s because of you that someone cared enough to help her. I have a feeling you would’ve found the money to pay for it, regardless.”
He’s right. I would have. Probably not legally, but still.
“Check out this crazy shit.” Ronnie points to the TV up on the wall across from us, where a game of Australian Rule Football is playing on the screen.
“Craziest game I ever saw.” Jude’s eyes go wide as a player gets tackled and thrown hard to the ground. “They don’t even wear pads. Aussies are crazy motherfuckers.”
I grin because I’ve already figured that out.
And one of those crazy Aussies is mine.