Chapter 23 #2
I grip his shirt while inhaling his scent. It’s the same scent he’s worn for years and it never fails to soothe and centre me. “She’s been naughty all day and is currently in her bedroom. You’ll need to deal with her too because, in case you already need the reminder, I’ve quit.”
“Care to fill me in on the Maddox situation?”
I share what I know with him, including the bit about Maddox swearing. “You need to have a talk with him about that, Winter. I’m not putting up with him speaking that way to me, and while I’ll be sure to tell him that, I think he needs to hear it from you too.”
Winter nods. “I’ll let him cool down for a bit and then I’ll go talk with him.” He bends his face to mine so he can kiss me again, this time for longer. Then, he says, “So, this quitting business, does cooking dinner come under wife or mother duties?”
“You’ll be lucky if I don’t send you to your room, too.”
His lips twitch. “You’ll have to handle all the kids on your own if you do that. I think I’m safe.”
“You can eat Amelia’s veggies. Oh, except for the peas. They’re all over the table.”
He puts his arm around my shoulders and says, “Come on. Let’s get you inside. I’m thinking some time on your meditation pillow might be good.”
I walk with him, sinking into him and his love. Grateful that he’s home. “I’m thinking fifteen straight years might do it.”
“Does that involve time out for sucking my dick?”
“Of course that’s where your thoughts go.”
“I’d give you fifteen years, but only if those lips are around my dick often.”
I look up at him. “Let’s be real; you love me enough that you’d do it without that.”
He meets my gaze, his eyes flashing with love. “Yeah,” he says, “I think you might be right.”
How I got so lucky to have this man by my side I’ll never know.
Lily
I’m sorry I missed all your texts today! It’s been hectic here between King and the kids. Are you okay?
Me
How have you survived so many years of parenting?
Lily
‘Survived’ might be exaggerating.
Me
You make it look like you were made for this job. Me? I’m a hot mess. I mean, it’s a miracle I even manage to dress myself most mornings.
Lily
I think you must be smoking weed. I’m a hot mess too. What happened today?
Me
Amelia has been pushing my buttons all day, and Maddox just lost his shit over his ex-girlfriend while fighting with Abbi. I’m thinking I need to find a book of spells with one for turning your kids into angels.
Lily
I think you need the Stormgirl chat for this.
Me
The what?
Lily
The Brisbane Storm girls have a group chat they use to message for support throughout the day when they need it. You can vent, grumble, share good news, ask for help, anything. Do you want me to add you? It might be good for days like today when I’m busy and don’t have time to text you back.
Me
Add me! Yes!
Lily
OK, I’ve added you.
A text comes through in another thread.
Lily
Hey girls, I’ve added Birdie. She’s had a rough day and needs all our love.
Madison
Hey, Birdie! Kids or husband?
Me
I already love this group. KIDS! Husband is good today.
Velvet
Well that makes one of us at least whose husband is good today. Mine is about to find out how sharp our kitchen knives actually are.
Chelsea
Eeek. What’s he done now?
Velvet
Let’s just say it involved a promise he broke, food that disappeared out of our fridge that I’d made for a BBQ at our neighbour’s place tomorrow, and no fucking toilet paper in the house, which may I add, he was supposed to buy on his way home this afternoon.
Layla
No toilet paper is the worst. That happened to us last week. All Blade’s fault too. I threw a book at him and told him to use that.
Nash
Fuckin’ hell, woman. You never told me that cheesecake was for the BBQ.
Velvet
Don’t even, Nash. I did. End of story. Unless you want me to finish the story while using our knives.
Me
LOL, you’re in this chat too, Nash?
Lily
Oh shit, I added you to the wrong chat group, Birdie.
Me
You have more than one group?
Nash
Fuck knows how many they actually have. I wouldn’t be fuckin’ surprised if they have one for every fuckin’ day of the week.
Gunnar
Yeah, I could see that happening.
Harlow
We have two groups. One for just the girls, and this one for when we have stuff to discuss with the guys.
Nash
And when she says ‘discuss’ she means ‘harass the fuck out of’.
Me
You’ve already made my day better. Thank you
Me
Winter, I’ve just added you to the Brisbane chat group. Scott asked when you’ll be in Brisbane next.
Scott
Thanks, Birdie.
Scarlett
Oh, this is gold. I’m getting my popcorn ready.
Me
LOL, why?
Scarlett
You’ll see.
“Birdie,” Winter says as he enters our bedroom where I’m sitting on the bed texting. “What’s this chat group for?” He holds up his phone.
I place my phone down. “I’ll tell you in a minute. How did you go with Maddox?” Winter gave him half an hour to calm down before pulling him aside for a chat.
He sits on his side of the bed and takes his boots off. “He won’t talk to you like he did today again. He’ll also cut the swearing. And if he does either of those things, he knows he’ll lose more privileges than he’s got.”
“Did you find out more about what happened with him and Leia?”
Winter looks at me. “No.”
My eyes widen. “Why not?”
He stands and makes his way around the bed, heading for the en suite. “It didn’t come up.”
I follow him into the bathroom, standing behind him as he washes his hands. “You suck at this part of the job, just FYI.”
“This part of the job doesn’t involve prying into our kids’ lives, Birdie.”
“Yes, it does.”
“No, it involves giving them the space to come to us when they want to talk.” He turns to face me. “Now, this group chat. What the fuck is it for?”
“Scott asked me to ask you something. I figured it was easier just to add you to the group.”
He pulls his phone out of his pocket and looks at it. “Fifteen texts have come through in the time we just had that conversation. I’m not thinking I agree with you.”
I grin. Winter has a serious dislike of excessive texting. He’d rather just pick the phone up and call. I understand now why Scarlett was getting the popcorn. Stepping forward, I pat his chest, still grinning, and say, “You better check them. The guys might be asking you more questions.”
I turn to exit the bathroom but Winter grabs my hand and stops me. Pulling me to him, he curves his hand over my ass and says, “What’s for dinner?”
“I told you, Amelia’s veggies.”
“Smartass,” he murmurs, brushing his lips over mine.
I smile into the kiss. “I’m thinking pizza with Abbi and Maddox might be good.”
Winter looks down at me and nods. “Yeah, I think that’s a good plan. I’ll order it now. Do you want the usual?”
Pizza with our older kids is something we try to do once a month. We put Amelia to bed and hang out with them for a few hours, eating, talking, and laughing. It’s often the time when we learn what’s going on in their lives, like a monthly update.
“Yes, the usual.” I hook my hand around his neck and pull his face down so I can kiss him again. “I love you.”
“Good. You can show me how much later.” He lightly smacks my ass and then lets me go.
“Did you wake up thinking about your dick today?” He’s mentioned it far more than usual today.
“Baby, I wake up thinking about it every day. It fucking beats any alternative. And you haven’t wrapped your lips around it often enough lately.”
He’s right. Where we used to have sex daily, this year we’ve been lucky to have it twice a week. I’m too damn tired.
“You should see my earlier statement in which I told you I quit my parenting job. We could go back to all the sex in the world,” I say.
He smiles as he slides stray strands of hair off my face. “We’ll get back there one day.”
“Yes, and by then you’ll be old and arthritic and barely able to lift me. Hell, you mightn’t even be able to get it up anymore.”
“I don’t need to lift you to fuck you. And I’ll take whatever drugs we need me to take to get it up. There’s no way I’m not fucking my wife once our kids are off our hands.” His eyes soften. “But we both know neither of us would trade what we’ve got now for more sex.”
I reach for his shirt, my entire body flooding with love for him. “You should go and order pizza before I demand you get naked with me instead.”
With one last kiss, he exits the bathroom and then the bedroom, leaving me with my thoughts. Also, leaving me with a phone that’s going berserk with text messages.
I snatch it up off the bed as I think about Maddox and what I learned today about him and Bri. I know him, so I know he wouldn’t have cheated on Leia, but still, this all came as a surprise. I’m going to need time on my meditation cushion to process it all.
There are a stack of texts from the group. I don’t have time to read them all now and am about to slip my phone into my pocket when Winter texts the group.
Winter
Scott, I’ll be in Brisbane in two weeks. Now, can someone remove me from this group? No fucking way can I sit through a million texts a day.
Nash comes straight back.
Nash
Good fuckin’ luck, brother. This is the gift that keeps on fuckin’ giving. And no one gets out once they’re in. Except King. That fucker somehow managed to get out.
A smile fills my face.
I want some of Scarlett’s popcorn.
“How the hell did we end up with no kids and three pizzas that are going to put me in a food coma that will leave me unable to summon the energy for sex later?” I ask as I drop down onto the couch next to Winter.
He leans over and takes my piece of pizza from me.
I frown as he places it back in the pizza box. “Why did you take my pizza?”