Chapter 4 #2
“Oh, great,” Brett mumbled through another mouthful.
“The chocolate pie is to die for. It’s even better when you lick it off a shirtless man,” Stan said wickedly.
Brett looked down at what was left of her dessert and murmured, “What a good idea!”
“I just can’t with you guys,” Jersey, the man accompanying Brett, said in disgust.
“I can tell you from experience that she doesn’t care if the thought grosses you out,” Ciro, Stan’s guard, informed him.
“I do enjoy a little whipped cream adventure now and then,” I mused as I looked toward the pie case. “Now you’ve got me thinking.”
“We’re all staying in the same house tonight, ladies. Let’s not get any filthy ideas,” Alazei warned.
“When are all of you moving to the hotel?” Stan asked. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but our suite is very nice, and the staff is very accommodating.”
“They should be since Bella had to book almost the entire hotel to house everyone that’s coming into town.”
“Tana and her siblings are staying with family in the area, and I believe her aunts and uncles will be doing the same,” Stan informed us.
“Rin agreed to stay in the hotel since it will give me more of an opportunity to visit with my family when they get here, especially Aunt Frankie. I haven’t seen her since I first moved to Colorado. ”
“Are Park and Sully coming with Rin’s family, or are they staying home?” I asked.
“They didn’t want to come. They adore Bella, and they’re still friends with Matteo, of course, but I think they wanted some time alone. I booked a spa treatment for them and made sure the fridge was stocked, so they’ll only need to leave for therapy appointments at the hospital.”
“I always thought that your situation was unlike any other, but I’ve met some people here that blew that out of the water,” Brett said with a laugh. “You are not a snowflake anymore, Stan.”
“Yes, I am,” Stan said with a grin.
“The twins from the party earlier . . .”
I burst out laughing and asked, “Which ones? They were everywhere!”
“The identical women . . . um . . . Evi and Viv?”
“Yes, Evi and Vivi,” Stan said with a smile. “They’re so funny. I just love them!”
“They have three dads and a mom,” Brett announced.
Stan smiled before she explained, “Their mom and dad had a lavender marriage and used in vitro fertilization to have a child, which resulted in the sisters. While she was pregnant, their mom met her husband, the man they call Papa, while their dad’s spouse is referred to as Dada.”
“The more the merrier, I guess,” Brett said with a shrug.
“Rin was understanding about my situation with Park and Sully because he has two fathers. His mother passed years ago, and no one ever really mentions her, but he’s close to Derek and Loki.”
“Bella told me that she has some friends who are also twins, but they’re fraternal and have different fathers,” I announced. “I met them last night. Jonas and Lawson?”
“They’re like opposite sides of a coin. One is dark and broody, and the other is . . . Hell, they’re both so gorgeous that it should be outlawed,” Stan said with a shiver.
“They have to be putting something in the water here,” Alazei announced. “There’s no way this much hotness could occur naturally.”
“I just can’t with all of you,” Ciro announced as he stood up from the table next to our booth. When Stan laughed, he looked at Jersey, the guard accompanying Brett, who had been listening to our conversation in confusion, and said, “Let’s go smoke.”
“You don’t smoke, Ciro,” Stan reminded him.
“Well, I’d rather stand outside and pretend I do than listen to any more of this shit.”
“He’s so fun to play with,” Stan whispered as she watched our guards walk away. “I adore him.”
“I’m pretty fond of Jersey, but I wouldn’t say that I adore him,” Brett announced. She frowned before she said, “But then again, he did almost die trying to protect Zach, so I might love him a little.”
“Isn’t it nice to just be able to relax?” I asked as I looked around the diner. “To the people here, we’re just a group of strangers with funny accents, but when we’re at home . . .”
“That’s why I love Colorado,” Stan agreed after I let my voice trail off with my unspoken complaint. “This is my kind of place.”
“We should figure out how to buy some real estate under someone else’s name and use this place as a getaway when we want to fly under the radar,” I suggested. “I’m sure Bella knows a good realtor.”
“Then we’ll have Tenillo, Colorado, and Rojo,” Brett agreed.
With a grin, Stan chimed in, “Let’s do it!”
◆◆◆
KENNY “DICE” HAWKES
“Are you sure you want to hang out here instead of going to my parents’ house?” Cydney asked. “Ugh. I hate leaving him.”
“It’s not like you’re dropping him off at the fire station, babe,” I said as I settled Turner on my hip.
“He’s gonna have fun with Nakoa while you guys have your meeting, then we can meet up with Amy and Tiny at the ER to treat whatever injuries they caused each other before we go to your parents’. ”
“You think you’ve got us all figured out, don’t you?”
“I know my kid, and I know how you and Amy are with each other, so it only makes sense that someday our children will love each other and show it through unrestrained violence like their mamas.”
“We weren’t that bad,” Cydney argued, rolling her eyes.
“I’ve heard stories, Cydney. Horrible, traumatizing stories.”
“Amethyst acts like I busted out her tooth yesterday or something,” Cydney grumbled. “Jeez. She probably doesn’t even remember it happening. She’s just heard our parents talk about it so much that she thinks she does.”
“And if you go up there and tell her that, it won’t just be our children we’ll be taking to the ER.”
“As if she’d do anything to me right now anyway,” Cydney said with an obviously fake smile. I suspected that she’d just gotten an idea, probably a horrible one, and found I was right when she said, “I can fuck with her sooo hard, and Amy won’t do shit to me while I’m pregnant.”
“Are you finally going to tell them?” I asked. “Shouldn’t we talk to your parents first?”
“The girls won’t say anything,” Cydney assured me as I reached out and touched her belly.
She was wearing a loose shirt and leggings, so you had to really look to tell, but her belly had finally gotten so big in the last week that she had to put away her jeans and bring out more stretchy clothes again.
“If you keep reaching over and rubbing me like I’m going to grant you three wishes, everyone’s going to know anyway. ”
“Can’t help it,” I said before I gave her a kiss. “Have fun with the girls. If we go anywhere, it will probably just be down the street to that park.”
“Okay. Love you,” Cydney said before she gave me another kiss. She held Turner’s face in her hands and squished his cheeks together before she said, “And I love you, big boy.”
“Mama!” Turner squealed when Cydney started walking away, headed to the end of the building so she could walk around and get to the entrance of her MC clubhouse.
Cydney turned to wave at us just as I heard someone walking up behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder and found my club brother Tiny holding his son, Nakoa.
When I turned to face him, Turner squealed again and lunged toward my friend at the same time his son lunged toward me.
We were close enough that the boys could reach each other, and since both of them acted more like their mothers than we wanted to admit, the fight was on.
Since I was holding Turner with one arm and Tiny was holding Nakoa with one arm, that meant we were both handicapped when it came to pulling them apart.
Tiny had a grip on Nakoa’s black hair while Nakoa tried to shove his tiny fist in my son’s mouth.
Through it all, they were both yelling at the top of their lungs.
“Maybe I should have taken Amy up on the offer to give me a little time to myself so the girls could see Nakoa,” Tiny said when we finally got the boys separated.
“I was thinking the same thing about Cydney,” I admitted.
“Did I hear you right? Are you two expecting again?” Tiny asked. When I nodded, he looked completely aghast and asked, “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“I’ve never professed to be the sanest individual, you know,” I said with a shrug as I turned my body so Turner couldn’t grab his best friend/archnemesis.
“No wonder Amy’s got the bug to have another,” Tiny said so softly that I could barely hear him over the boys.
“Cyd hasn’t told any of the girls . . .” A chorus of screams, clapping, and whistling came through the open window above us. I winced before I said, “Well, I guess she has now.”
“Should we take them inside and risk alienating the diner population or go directly to that park just up the street?”
I glanced into the diner and saw a booth full of women watching us and sighed before I said, “The park is probably our best plan of action.”
“Probably so. I haven’t done a cardio workout in a few days, so this will mark that off the list.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” I said with a chuckle.
“You better get on the treadmill, buddy, because when that next one comes along, you’ll never be able to sit still again,” Tiny warned.
“As if I have any chance now between this boy and his mama. What’s one more added to the mix?”
“That’s what terrifies me.”