“Nice to meet you, Charlotte.” Serena lets out a bit of nervous laughter. “I guess it’s not a good time to ask if I can come hang out upstate?”
I lean over and kiss Charlotte’s cheek. “I’ll be at the bar.”
After Teller leaves, Serena flicks her gaze around the room. I guess I don’t blame her for being nervous. I practically ran over here and peed on Marcel’s leg to mark him as my territory.
“How did you know who I was?” she asks with an almost hopeful eyebrow raised.
“Tawny.”
“Let me guess. She told you to come over and get your man before I blew him.”
Now I’m the one with the nervous laughter. Yes, Tawny ended up being the kind of ol’ lady I expected. “Sort of.”
“That’s exactly why I was thinking about moving back upstate.” She flashes a quick smile. “Hope’s always been nice to me. And I guess word has spread through some of the LOKI chapters, that upstate has the nicest president’s old lady.”
Something about that strikes me as both sweet and sad. “Hope’s good to everybody from what I’ve seen.” I hurry to add, “But I’m pretty sure she’ll kill anyone eyeing her man.”
Serena laughs. “Probably. Can’t blame her.” She hesitates, then tilts her head. “Teller said his sister and Murphy are together?”
At once it clicks who this chick is, Murphy’s sort-of ex. That’s a relief. When I first saw her talking to Teller, I assumed she was a bunny he used to shack up with when he visited this clubhouse.
“They’re engaged, yes.” I’m not sure how much I should say, but surely that’s common knowledge.
“Wow. Never thought. Wow.” Her gaze strays across the room to Teller. “He probably forced that, huh?” Another nervous giggle rolls out of her.
“Uh, not really. I don’t think Murphy was going to let anything stand in his way.”
Her pretty smile falters and I have a small twinge of regret for my words. But I also feel protective of Heidi and don’t like this stranger making assumptions about their relationship.
Before the conversation turns any more awkward, a rough looking, dark-haired Lost King walks up, grabbing Serena around her tiny waist. “Where’ve you been, sweetheart?” he asks, slurring each word.
Serena’s mouth turns down. Maybe he’s not her favorite of the Lost Kings, I don’t know.
“Hi, Shadow,” she says. “Have you met Teller’s old lady Charlotte?”
Busy licking Serena’s neck, he barely throws me a greeting. Serena wiggles her fingers at me as he drags her way. “I’ll catch you later, Charlotte.”
I’m not alone for long. An older Lost King swaggers over, but before he opens his mouth, Teller’s at my side. “She’s with me.”
“No disrespect, was just coming to say hello. How you been, T?”
My gaze and mind wander while they talk, leaving me in the perfect position to notice the biker at the door pulling out a gun.
“Marcel!” I can’t miss the anxiety in Charlotte’s voice.
Before I determine what caused it, a blast silences everyone in the room. “Get behind me,” I say to Charlotte. She doesn’t argue or hesitate. In seconds, her soft warm body molds to my back.
At the front door, an older brother who I recognize waves a pistol around. My only concerns at the moment are keeping Charlotte safe and locating my president.
I don’t have to say anything to her. She follows my lead and slowly backs up toward the bar with me. I slip into a spot next to Rock, leaving Charlotte protected between my body and the thick wooden bar.
“Jesus Christ,” Sway says. “It’s Smoke. Told you he hasn’t been right since the accident.”
“He need to blow off steam or is he an actual threat?” Rock asks. I don’t see any sign of Wrath or Hope and Trinity, so I assume they’re safe somewhere else in the clubhouse. Rock hasn’t lost his shit, so he must be certain Hope’s okay.
I drew my pistol at the first shot and have it at my side, pointed at the floor, waiting to see how Rock wants to handle this. We may be standing in Sway’s clubhouse, but I’ll still take my directions from my president.
Z quietly slips in the front door while Smoke’s busy ranting a bunch of nonsense. While’s Smoke’s distracted, Z wraps one thick arm around the old guy’s neck, keeping him in a chokehold until two of Sway’s crew disarm the wild biker.
“Take him downstairs!” Sway shouts.
Sway slaps my arm. “Always something exciting down here, right? I need to take care of this, you two hang out.”
“Show’s over, people. Party on!” Sway shouts as he moves through the room.
Rock meets my stare. “You all right?”
“I’m fine.” Reaching behind me, I pull Charlotte forward.
“Well, that was exciting,” she says.
“Wrath has the girls in one of our rooms,” Rock explains. “I need to go find them.”
“Yeah, go ahead.” I nod at Charlotte. “I think we’re done for the night.”
While she put on a brave face for Rock, Charlotte’s trembling body says she’s not okay. “Let’s go to our room, Sunshine.”
“Boy, Trinity wasn’t kidding about your club being unique,” she mumbles.
“Sorry about that,” Tawny says, joining us.
Inwardly I groan. I’m ready for this night to be over and not in the mood to force polite conversation with the Queen B of our downstate charter. She rakes her nails through my hair, which is creepy as fuck with Charlotte holding my hand and Tawny old enough to be my mother.
Instead of being annoyed by the older woman’s fake-as-fuck display of affection, Charlotte looks like she’s trying not to laugh.
“It’s certainly lively down here,” she says to Tawny.
“We do our best.” She finally stops touching me, but she opens her mouth which is almost worse. “You’ve grown into such a handsome young man, Teller.”
For the love of fuck. Why?
“I’ve known him since he was a teenager,” Tawny says to Charlotte.
“I’m sure he was a handful.” Charlotte nods.
“Well,” Tawny taps her finger over my lips and I barely fight the urge to shake her off. “This mouth of his almost got him in trouble more times than I can count.”
“Oh, it still does on occasion,” Charlotte says.
I narrow my eyes and raise an eyebrow at her.
Tawny laughs and pats my shoulder. “I like her,” she whispers in my ear. As if she thinks I’d been waiting for her approval.
“Me too.”
Satisfied that she’s done her ol’ lady duties, Tawny saunters into the rest of the crowd. When I glance down at Charlotte, she’s shaking.
With laughter. Not fear.
“Are you laughing at me?” I ask in a low voice.
“A little.” Her gaze strays to Tawny. “She’s so predatory.”
That’s a good word to describe Tawny.
“Did you two ever…?” her voice trails off without finishing the question, but I don’t need her to complete the thought. Let alone say it out loud.
“Fuck no.” Internally, I shudder at the idea. Slipping my arm around her shoulders, I steer her toward the hallway. “I think that’s enough fun for the night.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Come on! We’re going to be late,” I yell to Carter.
I haven’t spent a whole lot of time at my apartment in the few weeks since we returned from our trip downstate. But I wanted to make sure Carter came with me today, so I spent the night here.
“Are you sure you want me at this party?” he asks for the millionth time. “I feel weird.”
“It’s a family party. They invited non-MC people too.”
“Well, I didn’t receive an invitation.”
“Carter, I stood right there and heard Heidi personally invite you. Next excuse?”
“She was just being polite. I’ve never even met her kid.”
“Well, today you’ll be able to finally m
eet her,” I say with exaggerated patience. I feel like we’ve been having this conversation all morning long.
Oh, wait, we have.
Since Chuck’s attack, Carter’s been down on MCs in general and my boyfriend in particular. He doesn’t seem to care that the attack was about my uncle and not about the Lost Kings.
He blames Marcel.
Giving Carter a complete picture means I’ll have to disclose what happened to me too, and Marcel knows how much I don’t want to burden my brother with that, so he hasn’t bothered to correct him. Honestly, I don’t think it would help at this point.
“You’re sure you want me there?”
“Yes! Oh my God, stop dragging your feet. We’re going to be late.”
When I emerge from my bedroom, he’s waiting by the front door with a big box covered in white paper with rainbow unicorns scattered all over it, topped off with a big pink bow.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a birthday party. Aren’t we supposed to bring presents?”
“Well, yes. But I already bought something from both of us.”
“And I’m bringing this from me.”
“What is it?”
“It’s this unicorn. She plays different songs and melodies. I don’t know. It lights up and does some other stuff.” He shrugs. “Teller said his sister’s into cognitive development toys and this is supposed to be good for that.”
I’m not sure what to say. Instead of responding in some meaningful way, I stand there with my mouth open.
“What’s with the face?” He opens the door. “Come on, now you’re the one making us late.”
Even though I plan to stay over, we take my car. It makes sense. Carter’s been using it more than I have lately.
A prospect lets us in the front gate after I wave to him.
Carter whistles as we climb the driveway. “Well, I feel better now. I think you’re pretty safe out here.”
“Have you been worried about me?”
“Yes, I worry about you, Charlotte.”
I reach over and pat his leg. “I worry about you too.”
Teller meets us in the driveway and points out where we should park. He opens my door and pulls me into a hug. “Hey, Sunshine. Missed you.”
“Missed you too.”
“Jesus. You saw each other yesterday,” Carter grumbles.
“What’s up, Carter? I see you’re full of cheer this afternoon.”
Carter flashes a fake smile and pulls the present he brought out of the back seat.
Teller raises an eyebrow. “I thought you—”
“That’s from Carter.”
“This is quite a place, Teller. Seems too classy for a bunch of bikers.”
“We like it out here.”
Teller introduces Carter around. Thankfully my brother seems too uncomfortable to say anything too obnoxious.
“Happy birthday to you.” The club, the whole club, and everyone else in attendance, finishes belting out the last verse of Happy Birthday to baby Alexa.
Marcel leans in to help her blow out her birthday candles, and I slip my phone out to capture a picture. This is a side of him few people probably know, and I’m happy Carter’s here to witness it. Maybe it will put his mind at ease.
Once the candle’s out, Alexa promptly plants her face in the cake.
Trinity has her professional camera out to capture every bit of pink frosting that gets in Alexa’s hair.
“Oh my God. Look at you.” Heidi giggles as she attempts to clean her daughter’s face. “Did that taste good?”
Alexa chortles and plunges her little fists into the cake next.
Trinity leans over and whispers in my ear. “Good thing I made two cakes. The other one’s tucked away in the kitchen.”
“Thank God, I’ve been drooling over it since we got here.”
Marcel’s absolutely enamored with his niece. Every time I see them together, thoughts I never, ever expected I’d have, start running through my head.
Murphy cuts the side of the cake that escaped Alexa’s grabby hands and Hope passes it out. While Marcel’s busy feeding Alexa cake, Murphy comes over and gives me a one-armed hug. “Can you check on Heidi? She went inside.”
“Sure. Is everything okay?”
Although he nods, he seems unsure, so I leave to check on her.
I find Heidi in the kitchen standing at the sink with the water running. After a few seconds, I realize the water masks the sounds of her crying. “Heidi, what’s wrong?”
“Oh!” She leans over the sink and splashes water on her face before facing me. “Nothing.”
I take measured steps and gently touch her shoulder. “The party’s lovely. Alexa seems so happy. What’s wrong?”
“Who am I talking to? Charlotte my friend? Or Charlotte my brother’s girlfriend?”
“Whoever you need.”
She takes a deep breath. “It’s nothing. I just feel bad Axel’s not here for Alexa, you know? Even if we weren’t together…I don’t know…I’m not…Murphy’s so good to her. To me. I can’t help feeling bad, though.”
Her admission stuns me a little. I’m used to seeing the worst sides of broken families. Women who wish their exes were dead. Men who’d rather spend their day with the new girlfriend than at a one-year-old’s birthday party.
Even though she won’t turn twenty for a few more weeks, she has more depth and compassion than so many people I’ve encountered in my life.
I choose my words carefully. “That’s understandable. That’s what makes you a good mom, Heidi.”
“Yeah, but it makes me a shitty fiancée.”
Remembering the concerned way Murphy asked me to check on Heidi, I say, “I think Murphy understands.”
She hiccups. “He does. We talked about it this morning. That’s why I don’t want him to know it was still bothering me. I was fine until she blew out her candle.” Her mouth pulls into a half-smirk. “Or rather, my brother blew out the candle and she face-planted in the cake.”
“Trinity got a great photo of that.”
Heidi chuckles. “I saw.”
“Have you tried reaching out to Axel’s parents?”
“God, no.”
“Maybe it will help you feel better if Alexa connects with Axel’s family.”
She shakes her head. “They’ve never wanted anything to do with her.”
“Well, maybe now that some time has gone by…”
“I don’t think I can stand—”
“To have them reject you?”
She snorts and waves her hand in the air. “Please. I’ve been rejected my whole life, Charlotte. I couldn’t care less if they like me, but I won’t have my daughter treated like she’s not good enough for them. Absolutely not.”
The little girl in me whose mother never showed up for a single parent-conference night, school play, or graduation weeps with her. The attorney who’s seen a lot of parents lacking the strength to stand up for their children, cheers for her.
“Well, she’s one lucky little girl. She has an entire club full of overprotective men happily attending a unicorn-themed birthday party.”
That finally puts a smile on her face. “We’re so lucky. I love our family.”
The door that leads into the dining room swings open, halting our talk. “Everything all right?” Hope calls out.
Heidi sniffs once then forces a bright smile. “I’m okay, Aunt Hope.”
Now it makes sense why Heidi’s so tight with Hope and practically worships her.
“Oh, Heidi.” Hope sweeps her up in a hug and flashes a quick smile. “Teller’s looking for you,” she says to me.
“I’ll find him in a minute.”
Heidi snorts and turns sideways, still keeping her arms around Hope. “That’s right. Make my brother wait for it.”
“Well…”
“Actually,” Heidi says, her lips curving into a wicked grin. “I wouldn’t mind a niece or nephew. Then Murphy can stop worrying about Alexa not havi
ng any siblings.”
“Oh my God.” I burst out laughing. “Yeah, we’re definitely not there yet.” I sneak a sideways glance at Hope. “Besides, I think it’s the duty of the First Lady to start making some baby Lost Kings.”
Hope snort-giggles but surprisingly doesn’t disagree.
Instead, she pulls me into her other side, hugging me tightly, making me feel like I finally have a place.
With this family.
“No good can come from that, bro,” Murphy says, backing away from the kitchen door. He shakes his head, but there’s a grin forming at the corners of his mouth.
I step up and take a peek at whatever it is he thinks is so funny.
“Fuck me,” I mutter.
Hope has one arm wrapped around Heidi and one around Charlotte. The three of them look like they’re plotting world domination.
Murphy jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Your brother-in-law-to-be is out there unchaperoned.”
“He’ll be okay.”
“How have you not kicked his ass yet?”
I lift one shoulder. “The same way I stop myself from kicking your ass every day, I guess.”
“Har, har.”
“What are you two creeps doing?” Wrath’s big voice echoes through the room.
“Shh.” Murphy tilts his head toward the door.
Wrath, using one massive arm to brush Murphy out of his way, takes a look and comes away laughing. “You two are fucked for sure.”
Murphy glances in the window again and loses the smile. “Heidi had a rough morning. I’m glad she’s talking to Hope.”
“About what?” I ask.
Murphy shrugs off my question. Whether it’s because he doesn’t want to talk about it in front of Wrath or it’s his way of reminding me to butt out, I’m not sure. Either way, I leave it alone. If they want me to know, one of them will tell me.
“At least the only advice Hope gives my wife is what kind of sexwear to buy for me,” Wrath says.
“What?”
“Gross.” Murphy shakes his head. “I don’t want to hear Hope and sexwear in the same sentence ever again. I’m already subjected to enough living with them.”