Chapter Five #2
I looked at her across the coffee table, at the certainty in her expression. I wasn’t sure how it made me feel.
“I showed up at my first club party with literally nothing but the clothes on my back and a fear of God that would make my uncle proud,” Cheri said, breaking the sudden tension.
“I hadn’t counted on meeting Friar or falling for him.
He was the opposite of everything I’d known, and yet, our relationship works. ”
The conversation found its footing gradually.
They told stories about their first days at the compound, about the brand of chaos that came with loving men who lived by their own rules.
Lyssa described her first meeting with Beast. Cheri laughed about the night Friar had decided to surprise her with dinner and had somehow managed to set both the table and the oven on fire.
Whisper told a story about Forge’s first attempt at changing a diaper that ended with all of them in tears.
And through it all, they talked to me -- not at me, not around me, but directly, their gazes on mine, their attention complete.
They asked about the babies -- how far along, how I was feeling, whether I’d picked names -- but didn’t push when I gave short answers.
They told me about the compound’s doctor, about the way the club handled pregnancies, about the network of women who would show up with food and advice the minute the word got out.
They treated me like I was already one of them, like the question of whether I belonged had already been settled and they’d simply come to make sure I knew it.
I felt my hands loosen around my mug, my back easing away from the rigid line it had held all morning.
The tea was cool now, the cookies reduced to a scattering of crumbs on the plate, but the conversation kept going.
These women had walked into the house and managed to make me feel as if I belonged here.
The unguarded laugh came as a surprise -- a sudden burst of amusement at something Cheri had said about Friar’s first attempt at assembling a crib.
“He had the instructions upside down, and he was so determined to do it himself that he wouldn’t let anyone help.
Three hours later, we had something that looked like modern art and definitely wasn’t a place to put a baby. ”
The laugh escaped before I could catch it.
I covered my mouth with my hand, but it was too late -- the moment was already there, hanging in the air between us.
Three women looked at me with expressions that ranged from pleased to satisfied to something warmer and harder to name, and I felt my face heat with a flush I couldn’t control.
“He’s going to be exactly the same way,” Lyssa said, her voice carrying the certainty of someone who’d seen it a hundred times.
“All of them are. They’ll swear they know what they’re doing right up until the moment it becomes clear they don’t, and then they’ll double down and insist it’s part of the plan.
That’s why you need us. We’re the ones who will help keep you sane. ”
Across the coffee table, Cheri caught my eye -- held it for just a moment, steady and warm and completely without agenda.
Not assessing, not calculating, not looking for the angle or the weakness or the thing I was trying to hide.
Just looking -- seeing me exactly as I was, with all the complicated mess of the last four months written across my face, and accepting it without question.
I didn’t look away. Couldn’t look away. The moment stretched between us with something I couldn’t have named if I’d tried. Recognition, maybe. Understanding.
The visit began to wind down with the unhurried rhythm of something that had reached its natural conclusion.
Lyssa capped the thermos, Cheri gathered the empty plate, and Whisper wiped a stray crumb from the coffee table with the edge of her palm.
None of them rushed, none of them checked watches or phones or made the movements that signaled a need to be somewhere else.
They’d carved out this time deliberately -- for me, for this moment, for the kind of welcome that couldn’t wait until I’d figured out exactly what I was doing here.
Lyssa looked at me directly. “The rest of the old ladies will come around. Probably tomorrow, knowing them. They’ll bring casseroles and baby clothes and enough advice to fill a library. But we didn’t want to wait. We wanted you to know from the start that you have people in your corner.”
“Being claimed by a King is a lot to absorb all at once,” Whisper added. “It’s okay if it doesn’t feel real yet. It will.”
Cheri didn’t speak -- just reached across the counter and squeezed my hand once, briefly, her palm warm against mine.
The moment passed, and they moved toward the door together.
I followed them, my steps sounding too loud in my ears. “Thank you. For coming. For the cookies. For…” I trailed off, not sure what else to say.
Lyssa waved a hand, dismissing the thanks before it had fully formed. “This is what we do. You’re one of us now. Deal with it.”
Whisper smiled -- a quick, genuine movement that transformed her face. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Cheri was the last to go, pausing at the threshold to squeeze my hand one more time. “They’re good men. Impossible, sometimes. Stubborn always. But they keep their promises. Remember that part. It matters.”
Then she was gone, following the other two down the porch steps.
I stood in the doorway watching them go.
The door closed with a soft click that seemed to land in the center of my chest. I stood in the living room with my back to the empty space, suddenly aware of how different it felt -- warmer somehow.
I still wasn’t quite certain what to make of this situation, or the women who’d just left.
And yet, I felt a little less alone. I wondered if this could really work, if I could fit in here.
They’d called this club a family. What would it be like to be part of one who actually cared about each other?
It was a novel concept. And I had to admit, I liked the idea of my babies growing up with so much support, so many people who would be there for them no matter what.
But it didn’t mean I didn’t have my reservations, or fears.
It would take more than this one visit to dispel the feelings churning inside me, and the doubts filling my mind.
Regardless, they’d given me a lot to consider.
And perhaps, I’d been a little too rough on Nitro.
After talking to the women, it sounded like he really had been trying to keep me safe and not putting a leash on me.
Maybe I could make this work.