Chapter 4
VIVI CONNER
When my phone dinged with a text, I looked up from my book and realized what time it was.
I’d been lost in the pages for way longer than I planned, but that wasn’t anything new.
It wasn’t my fault, though. I blamed it all on the author.
Apparently, she had a devious plan to distract me and all the other readers, causing us to forget things like the laundry in the washing machine that needed to be put into the dryer and the dirty dishes in the sink.
But the laundry would have to wait and, unfortunately, so would my book.
It was time for dinner with the family, which was usually almost as entertaining as my books that I loved.
I checked my reflection in the mirror and tucked a stray curl behind my ear before I slipped on my shoes and left to meet my sister.
As I walked down the sidewalk, I looked toward my sister’s house at the other end of the block and burst out laughing when I realized she was already closer than I had assumed.
When she stopped in front of me, I shook my head and asked, “When are you going to get rid of this thing, weirdo?”
“I just got a new battery, so she’s good for another few years,” Evi assured me. Her eyes drifted from my head to my toes and back again before she said, “Although, you might not fit if you don’t start going to the gym.”
“I could say the same to you since those are my fucking pants,” I snapped as I stepped into the battery-operated hot pink Barbie Jeep that Evi was driving.
She’d had the thing forever - we’d each gotten one on our fourth birthday.
Of course, hers was pink, and mine was purple.
It was a trend that had followed us from birth since we were still identical.
Neither of us minded and still laughed when people got confused and called us by the wrong name.
Sometimes we’d pretend they had gotten it wrong even when they were right, which still irritated our parents to no end.
“Were we supposed to bring something today?”
Evi huffed before she said, “Of course not. I’m sure the barn is fully stocked with paper goods, and since they got the ice machine, our input is kind of irrelevant.”
“We should really start those cooking classes,” I reminded my sister. “We’re gonna have kids one day that will end up either starving to death or stuffing themselves with so much fast food and junk that their ass will get as big as yours.”
Evi suddenly veered to the right and bumped the curb, jostling me so hard I almost fell out, which wouldn’t have been difficult to do since I was sitting on what was supposed to be the roll bar since neither of us had fit into this thing since we were seven.
“Ladies,” our cousin Flynn called out as Evi turned at the corner so we could slowly make our way up the slight incline that led up to the barn.
“Lazies,” our cousin Ebbie said as she crossed her arms and frowned at us. “You know it would have been quicker just to walk here, right?”
“But we arrived in style like . . .” Evi argued.
Because it irritated Ebbie so much, I finished Evi’s sentence and said, “We always do.”
“Freaks,” Ebbie muttered as she put out her hand to help Evi pry herself out of the Jeep.
Flynn wasn’t nearly as nice and started laughing when my foot got caught in the floorboard and I almost fell onto the grass, but he grabbed me before that happened.
“Are we the last ones to get here?” I asked as I walked beside Flynn around the building to the entrance.
“I don’t think so,” Flynn answered as he looked over his shoulder and scanned the neighborhood from our higher vantage point. I turned to look, too, just as he said, “Vaughn, Mason, and Jordan are walking this way.”
“Did you have a chance to look at those plans I sent over Friday?” my cousin Teague asked as he held the door open for us.
“I did, and I made a few changes, but they weren’t anything major,” I assured him.
When I stopped behind my Papa’s chair and bent down to give him a kiss, he said, “No work at dinner, remember?”
I gave him a loud kiss on the cheek before I said, “He started it.”
Mom laughed as I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek just like my sister had and then asked, “Ronan Conner, how many times have I had to remind you over the years that there’s no shoptalk over dinner?”
“She started it!” Papa said with an incredulous look.
“Are Dada and Dad coming to dinner?” I asked as I looked around for my other fathers.
They might not have been born into this family, but they were just as much a part of it as me and my sister, and it was rare for them to miss a get-together.
Just then, one of my cousins moved, and I spotted them across the room.
As I walked toward them, I called out, “I see ‘em.”
I got to their table and leaned down to kiss Dad, just like I’d kissed my Papa, and then wrapped my arms around Dada’s neck before I asked, “Did you make poppers?”
“Of course,” he assured me. He turned and kissed my cheek before he whispered, “And there are a dozen extras in our fridge just for you.”
“You’re my favorite father figure, as always,” I whispered back before I squeezed him tight and then let go.
“I’ve always found it ironic that you’re so gorgeous because of my input into your genetic makeup, yet you love him more,” Dad said as he gave us a bored look.
“Alex, babe, you’re gorgeous as ever, but they got their looks from Thea, and everyone knows it.”
“But their brains came from me,” Dad boasted.
Romi, my youngest brother, asked from across the table, “Did you just say our mom was stupid? Give me five bucks, and I won’t tell a soul.”
“Extortion is a crime,” Dada reminded him.
“So is the price of gas, and I’ve got a date this evening. I need to fill up,” Romi said in exasperation.
“Get a job, loser,” I said as I walked away.
He didn’t take offense because he already had a job, working as a laborer on one of the family’s job sites like almost all of us had done throughout our teen years and most of college.
I didn’t even look over my shoulder as I said, “Swing by my place later, and I’ll float you a loan. ”
“She’s my favorite sister,” Romi announced. When I heard Evi gasp behind me, Romi hurried to say, “But for twenty bucks, you can take her place.”
I slid into the empty chair across from Bella and asked the table, “How’s the hangover, gentlemen?”
“They spent most of yesterday in bed and only got up long enough to eat before they all went back to bed,” Tabby, Luca’s wife, tattled.
“I’m pretty sure that you were trying to kill us,” Matteo grumbled.
“We all got gussied up and went to a tea party in the bright light of day,” I replied.
“That’s because women are made of tougher stuff than men,” Brett said knowingly. “Whiny babies, every damn one of them.”
“We’re smarter too,” Bella announced.
“You’re the one that left the house willingly after a night of partying,” Matteo reminded her.
“We could because we know better than to drink moonshine,” Bella said with a laugh. “Been there, experienced the agony the next day, and learned from it.”
“Your cousin and his friend Nix were passing out the whiskey like it was a party favor,” Brett complained. “I have to admit, I haven’t had that much to drink since . . . I don’t even want to think about it.”
“I’m never drinking again,” Zach said without any hesitation. “It’s just water for me from now on.”
“Is that water?” I asked as I looked at the can of orange soda in his hand.
“It’s made with water and not jet fuel, so it works for me.”
“I guess they’re not joining us tonight after the meeting?” I asked.
Bella had been the vice president of our MC from the beginning but had gone nomad when she moved to New York for a job opportunity and fell in love with Matteo.
I wasn’t quite sure which event had come first, but I had a feeling that the idea of being closer to Matteo had influenced her career decision, at least a little.
Even though she wasn’t in the position anymore, she was still a huge part of the club. We never made a decision without getting her insight and input, just like we had when our friend Rain lived down south with our friend Cydney, who had moved to Vegas.
“Amalia and Tana will bring Brett and Tabby out with Stan when they join us,” Bella announced.
“Girls’ night! I can’t wait.”
◆◆◆
TABBY RUSSO
“Is it just me, or are there more hot men in this town than anywhere else in the country?”
Stan laughed at my question and said, “Wait until you meet the rest of Tana and Amalia’s family.”
“I agree,” Alazei, Bella’s guard, announced. “It’s almost too much to take in at once whenever they all get together. We came here, and I realized that I don’t just want a Viking to plunder my ship, but a biker to help him do it.”
“I’m going to have to walk back to New York at the rate we’re going,” Brett said before she took another bite of pecan pie.
I leaned back against the booth before I announced, “I’ve eaten more in the last three days than I have in the last month.
When we got to Bella’s house, the fridge was stocked with food, but then women kept stopping by with casserole dishes.
I started to wonder if they were trying to fatten us up like Hansel and Gretel.
It reminded me of living with my parents and having parishioners stop by all the time - without the judgmental condescension, of course. ”
“Everyone I’ve met who lives here eats at this diner. The woman Rin and Bella call Gamma is Martha herself, and she still has a hand in running it,” Stan explained.
“If this is her recipe, I can see why the place is so popular,” Brett said before she took another bite.
The look on her face was pure bliss. I picked up my fork to snag a bite, and Brett frowned as she pulled her plate closer and settled her arm in front of it to protect it.
“I love you, but that only goes so far.”
“Wow.”
“You can buy whole pies here too,” Stan announced.