Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77236 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77236 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Got it,” I agreed. “I can be over in maybe half an hour.”
“That works. Thanks.”
With that, he hung up, making me wonder what the drop was. And who was doing it. I hadn’t heard a word about it. But I also hadn’t even texted any of the guys in days, let alone dropped in over there.
“Everything alright?” Siana asked, coming out of the hallway, arms still raised, twisting some of her light hair into side French braids.
“I have to go trade the SUV for a car at the club today,” I told her. “I was thinking maybe we could go show you how to shoot, if you’re up for it.”
“Oh,” she said, brightening at being included. “That would be fun. Can we take Frida on a walk first, though? Tire her out.”
Of course we could.
And I was really getting used to that.
Both of us casually using the word we.
Forty minutes later, we were pulling up to the clubhouse.
“It’s a house,” she said, looking from the bikes and cars parked in the oversized lot, then at the clubhouse itself.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “Were you expecting something else?”
“I guess I was,” she said, nodding. “But for the life of me, I can’t think of what else it could be. How many guys live here?”
“Right now? Ah… Levee, Coast, York, and Velle. I think it’s always averaged about five guys at any given time. Usually, by the time someone new joins, someone else moves to their own place. But there’s usually more people around. The other brothers. Their women. The kids.”
“The kids?” she asked brows raising.
“It’s a family,” I said, shrugging. Her stomach let out a grumble, making me shoot her a smirk. “And that fancy-ass car right there,” I said, pointing to it. “That belongs to Eddie. Which means something special is cooking to put in your stomach,” I told her as I climbed out of the SUV.
I led her in through the front, where we found Coast passed out with an arm thrown over his face.
“That’s Coast,” I explained, waving to him, then pressing a hand to her lower back as I led her to the kitchen.
“Oh, good,” Eddie said, coming around the kitchen island in one of his many aprons, a baby on his hip. “Can you take him for me?” he asked, holding him out toward me. “I gotta get something out of the oven, and he doesn’t want to be put down.”
“Ah, I don’t…” I said, shaking my head.
“Your hunnie, then,” he said, holding the baby out to Siana, who was so stunned that she took the baby, but looked just as freaked out about it as I’d been.
“Ah…” she said, shooting me round eyes.
“I dunno,” I admitted. “Everyone holds them on their hips, though,” I said, reaching out to have my hands under his body as she shifted him onto her hip. “He looks massive when you’re holding him,” I decided as she started to jiggle him.
“How old is he?” she asked.
I glanced over toward Eddie.
“Little homie is ten months,” Eddie said as he pulled a giant casserole dish out of the oven.
“What are you making?” I asked.
“You hungry?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
“We only grabbed granola bars for breakfast,” I admitted.
“Gotta toss the pasta in, but it’s Tuscan chicken that I’m serving over egg noodles,” he said.
“For lunch?” Siana asked, brows raised.
“Eddie goes all out for every meal,” I told her. “It’s his love language,” I added, watching as the baby grabbed a hold of her braid, and started tugging. “Ever held one of these before?” I asked.
“No, actually,” she admitted. “No family, so… no babies. And my mom wanted me to have a ‘real’ job for my resume, so I never babysat like all the other girls in my school did. Have you?”
“Imagine I held my younger siblings at some point growing up. But not since then.”
“That’s sad, man,” Eddie said, shamelessly eavesdropping. “Got like a million babies ‘round here.”
“How’d you get stuck babysitting?” I asked as he added salt to the pasta water, making it boil faster.
“Dunno, man. Someone plopped him in the playard while I was getting something out of the garage fridge. Been with me since. You gonna remember your manners, or do I gotta introduce myself to your hunnie?”
“Right. Sorry. Siana, this is Eddie. Eddie, this is Siana. Huck wanted the SUV back, and I thought I would teach Siana to shoot after lunch.”
“Oh, fun. How’s that house coming along?”
“We got a good chunk of it painted yesterday,” I told him as he mixed the pasta, then came around the island to take the baby from Siana, and then deposit him into a highchair, where he sprinkled some sort of cereal onto the tray to hold him over until the food was done. “Gonna prioritize the yard now. Get a fence up for Frida.”