Chapter 6
Bolo
Ifroze when I walked into church and every eye landed on me. “What’s going on?” I asked, already on alert and suspicious.
“Just so you know, this wasn’t my doing,” Ruck said, scowling over at Relay. “I was planning to speak to you after church.”
I’d texted Ruck last night, after saying goodnight to Devyn, and asked if he’d be willing to talk through a plan for how to move forward. Glancing over at Relay, I sighed when I saw the smirk on his face. I had a feeling I was about to get more help than I bargained for.
“We’re all here to help,” Strike told me, confirming my suspicions.
“With what?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“Your lady troubles,” OD told me. He smacked his hand down on Kilo’s shoulder. “We’re experts and can help.”
Kilo nodded with a grin.
Flir snorted. “Experts, my ass.”
“Hey, who here has women?” Kilo pointed out.
He wasn’t wrong. We’d gone from a bunch of single men to three of us having old ladies—or it would be three once Devyn accepted me—and all three being pregnant.
Rue was only a couple weeks behind Devyn.
Hell, OD and Rue were even getting married soon.
The ceremony was going to be simple, but it was all planned out, according to the women.
“Sheer luck,” Drifter said, getting on board with Flir’s skepticism.
“Luck?” OD sputtered. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to win over Rue? I am a fucking expert.”
“She was hesitant with you because you’re a dumbass,” Relay said.
Everyone except OD laughed. He flipped Relay off.
Mercenary glanced over at Ruck. “Should we step out until you’re done?” he asked, motioning to himself, Hype, and Code. They weren’t officers and didn’t typically attend church.
“No,” Ruck replied. “These assholes aren’t going to listen to a damn word I say until they finish torturing Bolo. This first. We’ll do church afterward. Pull up some chairs.”
“Wait, wait, wait, I don’t need any help from the Unholy Trinity here,” I said with a scowl.
Drifter cocked his head. “Hmmm, not bad.”
“The what?” Hype asked, glaring at me.
“No, that doesn’t work,” Relay said with a shake of his head. “Gives them too much…credibility.”
“Three Muska-dickheads?” Kilo suggested.
“Doesn’t roll off the tongue well,” Flir argued. “The three shitheads?”
“Not original enough,” OD argued. “The three Skidmarks.”
“I always think of them as the Brain Share.”
We all looked over at Ruck, shocked that he’d joined in. Strike’s mouth was hanging open even though he’d looked like he’d been about to offer up a suggestion.
“Aw, what the fuck?” Code muttered. “You too, Prez?”
Ruck shrugged. “When the three of you seem to time-share only one brain, you have to put up with us calling you on it.”
“Do you have to sign up on a calendar when you’re going to have the brain?” Drifter asked.
Hype scowled at him, then sighed when Code turned to him and asked, “What’s a time-share?”
“How did this end up being about us?” Merc asked, ignoring Code’s question. “I thought we were here to give Bolo a hard time.”
“Right,” Strike said, looking my way. “What is it you need help with?”
I arched a brow. “When’s the last time you even touched a woman?” I countered.
A smirk settled on his face. “Last night, asshole.”
“How much did you have to pay her?” Relay asked.
Strike scowled at him while Kilo and OD broke into howls of laughter. Even Ruck was chuckling at that one.
“Don’t come to me with any lumps on your junk, or if it starts burning,” Drifter warned, before anyone could suggest it. “I’m not touching shit on any of you. Don’t want my own to fall off.”
Strike rolled his eyes. “My dick is perfect.”
“Not what Drifter’s sister said,” Flir commented.
We all stared at him with laughter and surprise. It wasn’t that he wasn’t funny…exactly. He was usually just so dry witted most people didn’t know when he was kidding. This was a blatant joke, which he rarely made… Or was it?
Ruck rubbed his mouth, and I was sure he was hiding a grin, and then brought order to the meeting. Much to my annoyance. “What is it you need, Bolo?”
I gave a heavy sigh.
“May as well get it over with now,” Ruck pointed out. “Otherwise they’re all going to be coming up to you with suggestions on their own and it’ll never end.”
“Fine, fine,” I muttered. “I met a woman a few months ago.”
No one looked surprised yet.
“I knocked her up.”
There it was. Eyebrows were shooting up all over the fucking place. A couple jaws were hanging. There was a ‘holy shit’ mumbled, though I wasn’t sure if it was from Merc or Hype.
“So…you need help making an escape plan?” Code asked.
Everyone shot him dark looks.
“Real men don’t run from their responsibilities, Kid,” Ruck said, his voice deep and firm. Ruck pointed at him. “You knock a woman…girl…no, better be a woman, whatever…up and try to run and we’ll be beating your fucking ass from here to the altar.”
Code held up his hands in surrender. He was twenty-five.
The worst thing in the world right now for him was probably the idea of being responsible for a wife and kids.
We’d all been that way when we were young, too.
But none of my other brothers were acting like I was doomed.
In fact, I was sure there were a couple looks of envy when I scanned their faces.
And Kilo and OD were grinning like fucking idiots.
“Welcome to the club!” Kilo said.
“Yeah, welcome to the old lady club,” OD echoed.
“She’s not my old lady yet,” I pointed out to him.
OD shrugged. “Only a matter of time.”
“I meant the ‘having a kid’ club,” Kilo told him.
“Oh fuck off. Welcome to both clubs.”
Ruck just shook his head at them. “Congratulations, Brother,” he said to me.
“Is she feeling okay?” Drifter asked.
I shrugged. “People keep asking me that and I have no fucking clue how to answer. They won’t let her get in to see anyone, yet. Booked out or some shit.”
Drifter nodded. “That’s pretty common. Besides there’s not a lot that can be done if there are problems during the early part of the first trimester.
That’s also when most women lose their pregnancies, before twelve weeks.
Plus, they can’t see anything on an ultrasound until around six to eight weeks and even then it’s a blob.
So, they tend to have them come in a bit later.
And if they’re a popular place, they’re usually pretty busy. ”
Everyone was listening intently. As though they were absorbing this information for later use.
I knew it was because they wanted to be supportive, even though you’d have to rip their tongues out to get them to admit it.
My gut had clenched when Drifter had mentioned that Dev could potentially lose our child.
This pregnancy may not have been planned, but I wanted the baby. And the woman.
“We got in at ten weeks with Camila,” Kilo offered.
“Rue is only six weeks,” OD told me. “We’ve got a bit to wait before she can get an ultrasound, too. You’d think they’d do them just to ease the parents’ minds, fuck.”
“How’d you guys find out so damn early?” Hype asked.
OD smirked his way. “When you plan for a kid you tend to track that shit. Or Rue did anyway. We stopped using protection—which we talked about first—and then she ovulated, or some shit. We had sex. Done.” He crossed his arms over his chest, looking smug.
“‘Cause having two teenagers dropped into your life wasn’t enough?” Code asked.
OD shrugged. “Teenager stage is pretty fun.”
“Fun?” Merc said, eyebrows shooting up.
“Mostly. I mean they can be shits but…it’s fun too. Figured I’d see what all the other stages were about.” He and I shared a knowing grin.
We were excited about this. I hadn’t planned this with Devyn, but I wasn’t losing my mind. Like Dad had said, I was ready.
“She thinks she’s about nine weeks now,” I told Drifter, getting the conversation back to my girl.
Drifter nodded. “That’s typically when they start seeing them. Eight to ten weeks, but could be as late as twelve.” He looked over at me. “She in good health?”
“Yeah… I think so,” I said, even though I had no idea what that even meant. “I think she’s getting morning sickness.”
“Oh man, that’s a rough phase,” OD said in an empathetic way. “Camila dealt with that early on.”
Kilo looked over at OD with an ‘oh really, tell me more’ sarcastic kind of look.
OD shrugged. “You bitched about it, and about not being able to help enough. I remembered.”
“I wasn’t bitching,” Kilo shot back. “You’re just fucking lucky Rue doesn’t have any symptoms yet.” He snapped his fingers as something popped into his brain. “Be right back.”
He was out the door before anyone could say anything.
“Why do you look worried?” Ruck asked me.
“I don’t know. I have no idea what I’m doing. She’s worried, I can tell, and I don’t know how to reassure her.”
“I have a friend who’s an OBGYN,” Drifter told me. “I could see if she could get your lady in earlier, if you wanted?”
“Seriously?” I asked. When he nodded, I heaved a sigh of relief. “Yeah, man, that would be great. Thanks.”
“What about Rue?” OD asked.
“I’ll get her set up with my friend, too, though I doubt she’ll do an ultrasound this early unless Rue has something she’s worried about.”
“Nah, she’s feeling good. But we’d be down to use your…friend.”
“You have a friend?” Relay asked. He’d only waited until they had finished talking to ask that as a courtesy to Rue. I was sure of it.
“A female friend?” Strike added with a look of disbelief.
“I’m still stuck at friend, let alone female friend,” Relay said.
“And I didn’t even have to pay her to stick around,” Drifter shot back.
Everyone laughed as Kilo came back in and dropped a circular tub of candies in my lap.
“What the-”
“They help with the nausea,” Kilo said. “Thankfully, Camila is out of that stage so you can have them.”
“Holy…fuck! They’re sour as shit,” Merc said, making a face.
I glanced down. He’d somehow gotten the lid off and taken, unwrapped, and popped a candy into his mouth before I even realized what he’d done. “You asshole.”
He was smacking his lips, slowly shaking his head. “Fucking hate sour shit.”
“Then that’s what you fucking deserve for taking a pregnant lady’s shit,” Hype told him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Flir cleared his throat, catching our attention. He pointed up to the TV screen hanging on the wall. Flicking on the power, he started clicking on his laptop.
We all groaned in unison as a PowerPoint popped up.
“No,” Ruck said, horror and dread heavy in his tone. “No fucking PowerPoints.”
“Death by PowerPoint,” OD said in misery as Flir began speaking as he flicked through slides.
“Some common pregnancy symptoms are-”
“Wait,” I said, interrupting him. “Did you just make this while we were talking?”
“Of course,” he said, scowling at me for interrupting him.
“It’s thirty fucking slides long,” Strike groaned.
“How did you make that so damn fast?” Relay asked.
“Never mind that,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s not what I need help with.” I paused, then looked over at Flir. “Send me that later.”
OD nodded, “And me.”
“Me too. I want to make sure it’s accurate,” Drifter told him.
Flir gave him an offended look. “It’s fucking accurate. You think I’d put together anything that isn’t?”
“What do you need help with?” Ruck asked again, raising his voice so everyone would shut the fuck up.
“I need ideas on how to move forward with Devyn, without scaring her off. She’s slow to trust. I get the feeling that she could bolt at any moment.”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Hype said. Everyone looked over at him in surprise.
“It is?” I asked, suspicious because no one had seen Hype with a woman longer than it took to fuck her and send her on her way.
“You just need to romance her.”
We were all still staring, unblinking, his way.
“...romance,” Flir said.
“What the fuck do you know about romance?” Relay added.
Hype rolled his eyes. “Plenty. Bring her flowers. Take her on dates. Make her feel special.”
It was like the Twilight Zone. Those were great suggestions, and something I already knew about—I wasn’t a complete moron after all—but to have Hype suggesting them was…fucking weird. “I know all that,” I muttered. “I’m just not sure how to get her to trust me.”
“Time,” Ruck said with a shrug. “All you can do is show up for her in the ways she needs, a day at a time.”
I sighed. “Yeah. That’s what I figured.”
“There’s no shortcut to love,” Merc grunted.
“What…is…happening?” I questioned out loud. It never occurred to me that my brothers would be so involved in all this. Or that we’d ever be talking about babies, pregnancy symptoms, or love.
“You can start by going with her to her doctor’s appointments.” Ruck suggested.
“I can do that?” I asked. “Like, I’m allowed?”
“As long as she says so, which she will,” Kilo said. “She’s going to be nervous, having you there will be a big comfort.”
“That…sounds…great, actually,” I said. And it really did. It hadn’t occurred to me that I could go to her appointments. I wanted to be as much a part of this as I could be. It still didn’t feel real yet. I was going to need more than a few days to digest that this was really happening.
“If it helps,” OD offered, “once you gain the trust of a woman like her, you’re going to feel on top of the damn world.”
My lips twitched. “Yeah, it does actually.”
“So, what’s your next move?” Merc asked.
“Move?” I echoed.
“I assume you’re going to take her on a date?” He gave me a look as though I was a dumbass for asking.
Maybe I was. “I was thinking, maybe the fair. It’s in town-”
“Baaaad idea,” Drifter said with a wince.
“Rides, games, prizes, food…” I froze then sighed. “Food.”
“Yeah, if she’s struggling with morning sickness just the smell is going to send her over the edge,” Kilo said with a nod. “It would’ve with Camila, and her morning sickness wasn’t even that bad, according to her.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Since when did this shit become so hard?”
“The minute you decided you wanted to keep her,” Relay said with a smirk.
“Upped the ante with her being pregnant with your baby, too,” OD added.
“You have a lot to lose, so you care about what you’re doing,” Ruck said.
“I guess I could use a hand figuring out a good date then. We already did lunch.”
“It’s probably better that it not revolve around food,” Code suggested.
“What’s the point of anything if we can’t eat?
” I muttered, then realized that made me an asshole since Dev couldn’t eat.
I was going to have to figure out a way to feed her.
That seemed like it would be important during pregnancy.
“Fine,” I sighed when they all gave me pointed looks. “I’m open to suggestions.”