Chapter 4
Wizard
M y phone pings with a text. I pull it up.
She’s here
Tully
Tully is one of our best prospects. He’s due to be patched in soon. Gambit took the vote at Church. It passed unanimously. It’s past his year mark, but he took some time off for finals in school.
I hurry outside in time to see the van park and one of the triplets comes rushing out. She takes off at a run, not paying attention to where she is going, and nearly runs into me. I catch her before she crashes into me.
“Hey, short stuff, why the hurry?”
Her face scrunches up. I can tell I’m in for a tongue lashing. Then she looks up and her eyes go wide. The words die on her lips as she stares at me. She blushes and turns her eyes down to the ground.
I look over her head to see Charlie making her way toward us with an entourage behind her.
“Valentina Teresa Angelica Caruso,” Regina Perillo calls out, passing Charlie on her way toward the triplet. She’s Charlie’s mom, and her pictures don’t do her justice.
The girl in question’s eyes widen, and she turns around. When the group reaches us, Regina shoots out her hand and grabs Valentina by the ear. I see the o’shit look on her face.
“I’m sorry, Nona.”
“As well you should be,” she replies, releasing the girl’s ear.
Charlie smiles up at me.
“Hello Wizard. This is my mother Regina, my grandfather Romeo, aka Pops, and the girls, Val, Franny, and Luci. Family this is Wizard.”
I offer her my hand to her mother and grandfather. “Pleased to meet you. Let me show you around. Why don’t we start out back. That’s where all the kids are now.”
“Give us a moment or two?” Charlie asks.
“Sure. I’ll wait for you over there.”
“Thank you.”
I walk a hundred yards away to give them privacy. Charlie turns on a dime, her face serious. I can tell she’s pissed. Valentina rolls her eyes at Charlie. The second time she does it, Pops smacks her on the ass, once. The girl looks surprised, then drops her head.
After a few more minutes of tense conversation, they head in my direction.
“We’re ready,” Charlie says.
Charlie
SHE’S GOING TO BE GROUNDED for life if she keeps up with this attitude. I wait until Wizard is far enough away that he won't hear us.
“Valentina, two weeks. No social media, no phone, no TV. You don’t leave the house without Ma or I.”
“Hey, what about me?” Pops asks with a pretend pout.
“You always let us off the hook,” Lucia says.
Pops has the grace to look chagrined.
“Two weeks! I’ll miss the summer dance. I have a date!”
“Not anymore.”
“It’s Dad’s weekend. He’ll let me go.”
“You’re not going to your dad’s for two weeks, either. I’ll call him and let him know. Now give your phone to Ma.”
Valentina lets out a screech but hands her phone to Ma. One problem solved. At least for now.
“Francesca, why did you say your father cheated?”
“Come on, Mom, we’re not babies. I know Dad cheated more than once. He introduced us to his girlfriends a few times.”
“What?”
“Sorry, Ma,” Lucia says, casting her eyes downward. “After I caught him, he figured why bother hiding them?”
“We can unpack all this later. We don’t have time now,” Ma says.
I nod in agreement.
“Let’s go.”
We make our way to Wizard.
“We’re ready.”
Wizard nods. “Right this way, ladies, and Pops.”
He leads us around the side of the building. I can hear laughter and music from here. When we round the corner, I see dozens of people. Men, women and children. Wizard leads us to a couple. Both are tall. The man’s long dark hair is in a single braid down his back. The woman’s sapphire blue hair hangs loose down her back. They’re laughing. He’s holding an infant, I’d say around a year old, and her belly is slightly rounded with another pregnancy.
“Charlie, I’d like you to meet Gambit, our President and his ol’ lady, Stormy. Also known as Queenie, our club’s queen. The little guy in Gambit’s arms is Xavier.”
He points out other children. “Their oldest, Bastian, is our newest prospect. Goes by Crab. That’s Genni, Remy, Acadia and Antoine.”
After Wizard introduces us to Gambit and Stormy, he introduces us to other people, mostly couples with children. Hollywood is next with his two kids, Ella and Brayden. They are six and seven. He doesn’t have an ol’ lady. Alena, with her son Xander who will be a year old in a few months, is a friend of the club who lives on the compound. Teagan, whose brother Tully is a prospect. She’s sixteen and her brother is only nineteen. Nitro and Lucia have EJ, Benji and another on the way. Boomer and Olivia have infant twins, Romeo and Rocco.
Pops gets a huge kick out of that. A baby with his name. We have to pry the infant from his arms before Wizard introduces us to Dmitri, Lily, and Dakota with their baby Ace. Outlaw and Delta and their little girl, Delilah. They’re expecting twins in the fall. Papa and Nay are due around the same time.
Smoke and Sabian have triplets. Avery, Riley and James. Two boys and a girl.
“I have so many questions,” Sabian says.
“Ma and I will be happy to answer all of them. She was indispensable with the girls. Still is,” I say, pulling Ma in for a one-armed hug.
“Smoke’s grandmother is moving here to help.”
Smoke nods. “My bio brothers are packing her stuff as we speak. She’ll be here next week.”
“I look forward to meeting her,” I say.
Smoke smiles and Wizard leads us to Millie and Wrath. They have a set of twins that are a few months old. Madison and Mason. They’re due again in December. I almost ask Wizard how the math works out, but decide it is none of my business.
After the couples, he introduces us to the rest of his brothers, fellow King members. Blue, Decker, who’s Wrath’s twin, and Saber, their third brother and Kentucky triplet. Wizard explains Saber was born on the same day in the same hospital as Decker and Wrath, but his parents abandoned him. Decker and Wrath’s parents fell in love with Saber and took him home from the hospital with his new twin brothers. As the boys grew older, the twins didn’t want their new brother to feel left out, they dubbed themselves the Kentucky triplets. A state they chose at random, according to Saber.
We also met Doc, Brick and his wife Red, Angel, Demon, Cobra, Everest, and Saint. The girls asked a few questions before they took off with Teagan, who’s the same age.
I look around, surprised to see a large playground and pool, along with an enormous stage, and a BBQ pit behind the clubhouse. There are a couple dozen more children playing in the pool and playground. Wizard explains they are family of employees.
Over the next hour I meet all the prospects. Havoc, Mayhem, Tully, Flea, another set of triplets Hustle, Hurl, Honda, and Crab. Who I’d met earlier. Wizard also introduces me to several other employees. Ma and Pops sat down a long time ago and are at a table with an enormous umbrella for shade, people watching.