Chapter Eight
THE FAMILIAR RUMBLE and roar of the motorcycle should have cleared Baz’s head, but as he turned down Tank’s driveway, Emerson was still front and center in his mind.
He parked among the other bikes, taking in the sea of Dark Knights on Tank’s lawn. He’d prospected the club at eighteen, had become a member at twenty, and had lived by the club creed his entire life. Love, loyalty, and respect for all. These were many of the men he trusted most. The men who would take a bullet for him.
Too bad they couldn’t fix the shit going on in his head.
Remaining on the bike, boots planted on gravel, he took off his helmet and set it in front of him to check on Emerson before greeting the guys. He pulled up their last text, and the picture of him holding Brennan stared back at him, bringing a rush of the very emotions he was trying to escape. He hated leaving them alone, which made no fucking sense. He’d only just met them.
A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, the strength and surety of it telling him it was Tank before he even said, “We wondered if you’d show up.”
“Damn. That’s a tiny one, B,” Gunner added.
Baz looked up from the picture, meeting Tank’s serious dark eyes and Gunner’s lighter gaze. On some levels, the three brothers were as different as could be. At six four, with tattoos covering nearly every inch of his body, piercings in his nostril, ears, and nipples, with black hair and eyes to match, Tank was a mountain of a man, and intimidating as hell. Since falling in love with Leah and her girls, and welcoming Leo, though, he wasn’t quite as broody. Gunner, a former marine with short blond hair and tattoos from neck to fingers, had always been the playboy of the family, like their cousin Zander. But Gunner had settled down since he and Sidney had gotten together. Then there was Baz, who had been labeled the charmer.
He didn’t feel like a fucking charmer. “Being here is the only thing keeping me from going right back there.” He pocketed his phone without sending a text and climbed off his bike as Zeke and Zander headed over.
“The baby doc made it after all,” Zander teased. “Was Emerson pissed about all the work we did?”
“No. She was shocked, and a little uncomfortable that we’d gone through her things, but I think she appreciated our efforts. Thanks for your help. Where’re Maverick and Blaine?”
“They can’t ride today,” Zeke said. “How are Emerson and the baby?”
“They’re good.” Baz rubbed the tension that had been gathering at the base of his neck since he left Emerson.
“Cuffs said he reported back to you on the neighbor,” Tank said.
“Yeah, the guy’s seventy-eight and harmless.”
“What’s the deal with the baby’s father?” Gunner asked.
“They were already over when she found out she was pregnant, but she told him about the baby, and he didn’t want any part of it.”
Tank lowered his chin. “You want Cuffs to get on that?”
Baz shook his head. “No. The dude had fallen in love with another woman. He wanted a clean slate.”
“Then why do you look like you’re about to bust out of your skin?” Tank asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe because I’m so fucking drawn to her, and it makes no sense,” he barked. “She just had another man’s baby, and it’s not like she’s hitting on me. She keeps sending me away. But I feel connected to her, and to the baby. I never feel that way toward anyone.”
“You and Evie are pretty damn tight,” Gunner pointed out.
“We are, and I’m telling you, this is completely different.”
“You did deliver Emerson’s baby,” Zeke said. “That forges a bond like no other.”
“Doctors deliver babies every day, and I guarantee they’re not all walking around thinking about the mothers like I’m thinking about her.” Baz’s hands fisted with the admission. “I haven’t been able to get this woman out of my head since she blew into my office Friday afternoon. She’s right there. In every thought, like the wind when we ride, and I can’t fucking escape it.”
“Are you worried that something bad is about to go down?” Tank said.
“Not like that, no. I just want to be there for them every damn second. I want to make sure she doesn’t wear herself out, and keep them both safe.” He looked at his brothers’ and cousins’ scrutinizing gazes. “Tell me it’s fucked up. I’ve got plans, man. I need to get this shit out of my head.”
“It’s kind of messed up,” Zander said. “It’s not like you can hook up with her.”
“ Dude ,” Zeke chided.
Baz glowered at him. “Did I say I wanted to hook up with her?”
“No, but you asked if it was fucked up, and who knows what’s going on in your head,” Zander said.
“That’s fair,” Gunner said. “You don’t exactly have a history of long-term relationships with women.”
“That’s exactly why I don’t think it’s fucked up that Baz feels this way about her,” Zeke chimed in. “It means something’s there.”
Tank crossed his arms, serious eyes locked on Baz. “I think so too, B. Nobody caught my attention the way Leah did.”
“Same with Blaine and Maverick. Reese had a hold on Blaine from the second he saw her at some party, and Maverick chased Chloe for an entire year,” Zeke added.
Tank nodded. “Maybe you were meant to deliver her boy, the same way I was meant to go after Leah’s car when it hit the river.”
That was a night none of them would ever forget, and Tank never brought up, which told Baz how strongly his brother felt about what he’d said. “You’re not helping me shut this shit down.”
“Because I think you ought to trust your instincts,” Tank said.
“I second that,” Zeke added.
Baz had been fighting his instincts since the second Emerson had walked through the door. “I don’t know about that.”
“Bro, do you remember what you said when I wasn’t sure which way to take things with Sid?” Gunner asked.
“I remember you saying she was like a cool guy and telling you that you had your head up your ass.”
Zander looked at Gunner like he’d lost his mind. “A cool guy? Sid? Bro, she’s fucking hot.”
“No shit. I was in denial,” Gunner gritted out, and returned his attention to Baz. “You also told me to do what’s best for Sid or what’s best for me and that only I could decide if they were one and the same. That was great advice, and now I’m married to my best friend and happier than I’ve ever been. I suggest you take your own advice and figure it out.”
“Yo, Tank. Are we going to ride, or what?” one of the guys hollered from the lawn.
Tank eyed Baz. “You good?”
No, he wasn’t good, but hopefully the ride would fix that. Baz nodded.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Tank called out, and everyone headed for the driveway.
Baz straddled his bike, thinking about what they’d said. There was no doubt that his brothers and a couple of his cousins had found their soulmates, and the advice he’d given Gunner had been sound. He and Sid belonged together.
Baz, on the other hand, wasn’t looking to get tied down.
Motorcycles roared to life around him, and as he fell into line with them, heading onto the main road, the urge to drive to Emerson’s was so strong, it rivaled the call of the open road.
So much for clearing his head.
EMERSON FINISHED CHANGING Brennan’s diaper, marveling at her beautiful little boy as she snapped the onesie Ginger had given him with I F YOU THINK I’ M CUTE , YOU SHOULD SEE MY MOMMY written in a blue crayon font on the front. He’d woken up about fifteen minutes after she’d lain down for her nap. In the hours since, she’d nursed him several times, changed a handful of diapers, paced the floor with him when he’d gotten fussy, and had spent so much time admiring him, she already knew his soft dimply skin, innocent brown eyes, button nose, and adorably tiny fingers and toes by heart. A pang of longing for her own mother moved through her. She allowed herself to feel it ever so briefly, picturing her mother marveling at her and her father marveling at her mother holding Emerson and falling harder in love with both of them.
She wrapped that image in a bow, gently tucking it away deep inside her with all the others she’d conjured over the years.
“You are the cutest baby in the entire world.” Smiling down at Brennan, she wrapped her fingers around his teeny feet and kissed their bottoms. His eyes widened. “I’m so lucky to be your mama. I don’t care that I’m tired and sore and my belly will forever look like a road map of stretch marks. Those are small prices to pay for our little family.”
She was exhausted, but she was happy. Gwen had called during one of Brennan’s naps, and they’d talked right through it. Emerson had made good use of the time while they’d chatted, baking cookies in the shapes of dogs’ and cats’ faces to give to Baz when he brought Ollie back. She’d confessed to Gwen that she was kind of missing Baz, though she was trying not to think about him. She’d gotten used to him being around. She enjoyed the way he joked with her and whispered to Brennan like he understood every word, and the way he looked after them. Gwen told her she’d done the right thing asking him to leave. You don’t want him sticking around out of a sense of duty, or worse, pity. That was true, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that even if he felt a sense of duty or pity, he hadn’t stuck around just because of either of those things.
But the way her hormones were messing with her, she was probably way off base.
She and Gwen had video chatted when Brennan woke up, so her little boy could meet his surrogate auntie, and Gwen had been as taken with him as Emerson was. After their call, when Brennan had gone down for a nap, Emerson had been too wired to nap and had tried to get a jump on the editing job. She’d only gotten through a few pages before losing focus and moving on to decorating the cookies for Baz.
The sounds of vehicle doors closing and the rumble of motorcycles had her picking up Brennan and turning to look out the living room window. Baz’s truck was in the driveway, and a mountainous dark-haired man was climbing off a motorcycle behind it. There were several other trucks parked along the street, their truck beds full of something she couldn’t make out. She recognized Gunner standing by his truck and Zeke and Zander standing by theirs, but she had no idea which of them was Zeke and which was Zander. One had tousled brown hair, and the other had thick black hair. Baz and the mountainous man were walking toward them as two more dark-haired men climbed out of the other trucks, and all of them gathered around Baz. He must have been talking, because the other men were nodding.
What the…?
Cradling Brennan on her shoulder, she opened the front door and stepped onto the porch. All the men looked over. Baz flashed a smile that made her stupid chest flutter. He said something to the others, then strode toward her with the six other men walking behind him, shoulder to big, broad shoulder, like a hot-guy cavalry. What was it with this town and men appearing out of thin air when she was a mess? First when she met Baz, then when she gave birth, and now, when she had milk stains on her shirt, dribble on her shoulder, and bags under her eyes. The way her day was going, she probably smelled like baby poop, too.
When they got about ten feet from the porch, the other men stopped walking, and Baz continued up the porch steps. They were so in sync, she wondered how often they showed up at unsuspecting people’s houses.
“Hey, beautiful,” Baz said casually, as if they didn’t have an audience that looked ready to jump into action. “How’re you feeling? How’s Brennan been today?”
Beautiful? “We’re fine, thanks. The same as we were this morning. Baz, what’s going on? Why are all of you here?”
“We’re putting in a fence for Ollie.”
Her eyes flew open wider in shock, and she didn’t want to think about the wild flutter the overactive organ in her chest was doing. “You’re supposed to be out having fun, not putting in a fence for some girl you just met.”
He shrugged. “This is fun for me, and for them. Zeke and Zander are master carpenters, and Blaine and Maverick are the best stonemasons around. They own Cape Stone, and they’re going to fix your walkway.”
“ Baz ,” she said exhaustedly.
“Emerson, you miss Ollie, and I’d feel better if you had a fenced yard when he comes back. And your walkway is a hazard.”
The men were watching them, Brennan was sleeping on her shoulder, and her head was spinning with fatigue. “You know what? I’m too tired to argue about this.”
“Good, because there’s no use arguing when I’m going to win.” He stepped closer, eyes holding hers, his rugged scent stirring something low in her belly. He put a hand on Brennan’s back, whispering, “Hey, Little B, I hope you were good for your mama today.”
Confusion and irritation be damned, she couldn’t help but soften at the endearing nickname. “Is our entire friendship going to include you overstepping every time you feel like it?”
His dimples deepened. “I guess we’ll see.”
“You’re such a brat,” she said with a soft laugh, because what else could she do? He was too freaking charming. “I’m paying you back for all of this.”
“We’ll talk. And for the record, our definitions of overstepping are very different. I’m merely taking something off your plate so you can pay attention to the things that matter most, meaning you and that little guy.”
He held her gaze for so long, her pulse quickened, and as he turned around, she realized she was holding her breath.
“Guys, introduce yourselves to Em—Emerson—and her boy, Brennan.”
The monstrous man on the end stepped forward, ink trailing from his neck to his fingers, like Gunner. Silver rings glinted in his nostril and ears. “I’m Tank, Baz’s older brother,” he said so gruffly, it was hard to believe he and Baz were brothers. “I’ve got kids, too. You need anything, you let us know.”
Before she could get a word out, Gunner said, “I’m their brother, Gunner. Your pup is having a blast at my place.” He was stocky, with military-short blond hair and chiseled features, and his upbeat demeanor had her breathing a little easier. “Those cookies were the bomb, and my dogs loved the biscuits. Thanks.”
“He got cookies?” either Zeke or Zander, the one with tousled brown hair, said incredulously.
The other one chided, “Dude, grow up.”
The guy next to Gunner stepped forward. He was almost as big as Tank, with no visible tattoos, collar-length brown hair, and brooding eyes. “I’m Tobias Riggs. I’m engaged to their sister, Madigan.” Madigan’s name brought a light to his eyes, and he hiked a thumb at Zeke, Zander, and the other two dark-haired guys who were waiting their turn. He stepped back into line with the others.
Okay, then. I guess you’re the strong, silent type.
“I’m Blaine,” the guy beside him said. He was a dead ringer for the actor James Marsden and gave off a serious vibe as he motioned to the dark-haired man beside him, and Zeke and Zander. “We’re Baz’s cousins, and if you need a babysitter, my fiancée Reese’s teenage sister lives with us. Lettie’s a great babysitter.”
As if passing a baton, he nodded to the man beside him, who said, “Hi, I’m Maverick. Congratulations on your little one.” He smiled, radiating genuine happiness. “My wife, Chloe, and I have a little girl. Marybelle just turned one, but I remember the exhausting early days. As Tank said, if you need anything, let us know. We’re always happy to help out.”
“Yeah, we are,” the one who had asked about Gunner’s cookies said. He held his arms out as if presenting himself to her with a flirtatious glimmer in his eyes. “I’m Zander, Baz’s coolest and, as you can see, hottest cousin. If you need anything, or just want to hang out, I’m your guy.”
Baz was shaking his head, like Zander’s flirtation was typical of him, but as Zeke stepped forward, he gave his brother a disapproving look. Zeke’s thick black hair was neatly trimmed, and while he gave off a serious edge, it was not quite as sharp as Blaine’s. His expression softened as he shifted his attention to her and said, “Hi, Emerson. I’m Zeke. I’ll try to keep Zan out of your hair. If you’re a nature buff, I know all the best trails on the Cape. When you’re feeling better, if you want to take your pup and your baby on a hike, let Baz know, and we can all go exploring together.”
She felt like she was watching someone else’s life unfold. She could count on one hand the number of people who had gone to any lengths to help her in New York. Gwen’s parents had taken her in after her parents died, but even that had been nothing like this. They’d done right by her, but she’d still felt like an imposition, an outsider. She didn’t even know these men, but she sensed their offers, whether gruff or lighthearted, were as genuine as Baz’s.
“Thank you,” she managed through emotions too thick to sort out. “It’s nice to meet all of you, but I don’t know what to say. I didn’t ask Baz to do this, and it’s really too much.”
“You got a dog?” Tank asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you need a fence,” he said.
Was pushiness a family trait? “Maybe so, but it’s the weekend. Shouldn’t you be with your families?”
The men exchanged confused glances. “We are with our family,” Tank said, and the others murmured their agreement.
Ginger’s voice whispered through her mind. Baz knows you, and that makes you and your baby family, too. She didn’t know if Tank was including her and Brennan or not in his definition of family, but either way, Baz had a big, loving family, and he was sharing them with her , and they weren’t acting annoyed with him or like they didn’t want to be there. Were they just paying it forward for having been helped in the past? She couldn’t imagine any of them needing help with anything. Then she remembered they’d all lost Ashley, and she had the strange feeling that if she stepped off the porch, they’d all sprout wings and spread them, gathering her and Brennan in, in order to protect them, like Baz was.
“You’re not going to change our minds, Lockhart,” Baz said. “But we’d better get a move on while we’ve still got sunlight.” He descended the steps, and they all headed for the trucks.
She stood on the porch watching them unload tools and panels of picket fencing from their trucks, their deep voices ringing out. Picket fencing. As floored as she was that he’d remembered her offhanded comment, she had a feeling he’d listened to every word she’d said since they’d met. She rubbed Brennan’s back, gratitude billowing inside her as she said, “I can’t help but think your grandma and grandpa might’ve had a heavenly hand in all of this, Little B.”