by L. A. Casey
“Hey, baby,” he greeted me before glancing at the man next to me. “What’s up?”
Peter glanced at me. “Baby?”
I nodded. “He’s me boyfriend.”
“Oh.” He nodded, his shoulders slumping slightly. “It looks like you don’t need me help after all, Alannah.”
I had told him that multiple times, but who was counting?
“No, man,” Damien said as looked at my engine. “I’ve got her.”
Peter cleared his throat, then bid us a farewell before he jogged back to his car. I waved at him as he drove by and merged with the motorway traffic, disappearing amongst the cars. When I turned back to Damien, he was already at work, so I moved to his side.
“You made a new friend, I see.”
I scowled. “He just stopped to help me.”
“He was looking at your ass.”
“He was most likely lookin’ at the car, Damien.”
“He was looking at your ass,” he repeated. “I saw him.”
“Well, if he was, what was I supposed to do about it? I told ‘im I didn’t need help, and that I called roadside rescue. He was just bein’ nice.”
Damien snorted. “He nicely wanted a piece of ass.”
I grunted. “Stop talkin’ about my arse, and arses in general, okay? Great, thank you.”
“But I love your ass in general.”
“Yeah, well, love it from afar. You won’t be seein’ or touchin’ it for a while.”
“Not while you have this stick up it.”
“You’re such a dickhead,” I quipped. “Go away. Make Ryder or one of the other lads come back and help me.”
Damien rolled his head on his shoulders before he lifted his arm and rested it against the open bonnet. My eyes lingered on the bulge of his bicep for a moment too long, and when I flicked my gaze to Damien, I found a roguish grin on his too handsome face. I schooled my features, trying not to be embarrassed that he caught me checking him out.
“When one of the guys’ girls call in a problem, they deal with it personally. You’re my girl, so I deal with you. That’s just the way it is in the shop.”
“That may be the way it is in the shop, but do I look like I give a shite? Make Ryder or Gavin come and help me. I can’t tolerate ye’ when you’re bein’ like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like this,” I snapped. “Pissed off because ye’ didn’t get your way so you throw a tantrum.”
Damien laughed, shook his head, then laughed some more before he turned back to my car, closed the bonnet, then moved back to his truck.
“It’s broken,” I said, keeping my arms crossed. “Smoke came from somewhere in there, and it made horrible noises.”
“I’ll bring it back to the shop and have JJ look at it with me. Go hop in the truck while I get it hooked up.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Nothin’.”
Damien stared down at me, and when I rolled my eyes, I could have sworn I saw his lips twitch.
“I was on me way to IKEA,” I explained. “I got an email about new art supplies. They’re sellin’ canvasses, ten different sizes, for half the price when you buy them in bundles. They even have pre-stretched ones back in stock, so I don’t have to stretch them meself anymore. And me oil and acrylic paints are thirty percent off. They restocked me pencils and have this new brush I wanna try out so bloody bad. Now I can’t go ‘cause this stupid car is bein’ extra stupid today.”
Damien raised a brow.
“What?” I furrowed my brows. “You asked.”
“Can you order them online?”
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “But I like gettin’ them in person.”
“Until your car is fixed, you don’t have a choice.”
I grunted, then without a word, I walked towards the passenger side of the truck. I reached up to open the door, but before I could touch it, Damien reached over me and opened the door for me. He put his hands on my hips and lifted me up until my foot touched the third step. He closed the door behind me, so I buckled myself in and waited a few minutes while he hooked up my car and reeled it on the bed of the truck. I fanned myself with my hand, and by the time Damien got into the truck and started the engine, I was dying for some air conditioning.
“You look pretty,” he commented as he merged into the traffic of the motorway.
I folded my arms under my chest.
“Thank you.”
Silence.
I glanced at Damien’s hands on the steering wheel and noticed how tight his grip was.
“Has Alec phoned anyone with an update?”
“Not yet,” he answered coolly.
I looked out the window and set my jaw.
“Does your attitude mean I’m on the couch tonight again?”
“You bet your arse it does.”
Damien grumbled to himself but said nothing further to me. We got caught in traffic, and it didn’t help either of our moods. I couldn’t believe when my stomach grumbled thirty minutes into the traffic jam.
“I can’t believe I’m hungry,” I said out loud. “I ate me weight durin’ breakfast.”
“I’m hungry too,” Damien grunted. “It’s times like this when I miss Wendy’s.”
I jerked my attention to Damien. “Who the fuck is Wendy?”
It took promptly zero seconds for Damien to erupt with laughter.
“It’s a … fast food place,” he said while gasping from his laughter. “Not a woman.”
I scowled at him but couldn’t help but feel a huge amount of relief.
“I love it when you’re jealous.”
I looked out the window. “Shut up.”
“You know you have no need to be, though,” Damien continued. “This dick and heart are entirely yours.”
“Ye’ spend too much time with Alec,” I said, my lips twitching. “Ye’ sound more like ‘im every single day.”
“That’s not a bad thing.”
“We’ll see.”
Twenty more minutes in the gridlock nightmare, and I was irritated by everything.
“Damien!” I growled, feeling his eyes on me once again. “Stop lookin’ at me.”
“Can’t help it. I visually enjoy you. I love you.”
I knew he loved me, and I knew how much he wanted to spend his life with me. As I stared at Damien’s side profile, I thought back to my conversation with Bronagh from two days ago, and one thing repeated in my mind. I wanted a marriage and children with Damien, so once again, I had to ask myself … what the hell am I waiting for?
A bouncing baby boy.
After just three and a half hours of active labour, Alec and Keela were the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy who weighed seven pounds even and was twenty inches long. That was as much information as Branna had given me, Damien, and Ryder as we crowded around my phone to listen to the news in the garage. I screamed and jumped up and down with delight; Ryder and Damien hugged and patted the hell out of each other’s back. Ryder gave me a squeeze, then Damien got his hands on me and held me so tight I felt his happiness deep in my bones.
“You’re an uncle,” I beamed. “Again.”
“And you’re an aunt again.”
“Auntie,” I jokingly corrected. “Oh, I want to see ‘im so bad.”
“Me too,” he said and checked the clock on the wall. “It’s only four ten … How long do we have to wait for visiting hours?”
“Six, I think.” I groaned. “That’s gonna take forever.”
I looked down at my phone when it pinged, and I screamed when I saw the first picture of Alec, Keela, and their stunning son.
“He’s a redhead!” I gushed. “Look at all his hair! Slater babies do not come out of the womb bald!”
Ryder and Damien stared at the picture.
“Look at how happy he is,” Ryder commented softly. “I never thought I’d see him so complete.”
My heart warmed. “He has his family.”
Damien
gave me a squeeze, and I knew he wanted what Alec had, what Ryder had, and what his other brothers had. A family. Children. A marriage. I wanted that too, and the longer this day carried on, Damien’s and my relationship being rushed didn’t seem as big of a problem as it did two days ago.
“He’s gorgeous,” I said, staring at the baby. “He looks so much like both of them … but that hair. It’s just like Keela’s.”
“Red hair is a colour we don’t have in our family,” Damien commented. “Mine and the twin’s hair are the only different ones out of all of us. Everyone else has dark brown hair.”
“Things are changing, little brother.” Ryder chuckled. “You aren’t the odd one out anymore.”
Damien snorted as he gazed at the picture of his nephew. “He looks like Jax.”
“He does,” I agreed. “And that means he looks like Locke because those two are the double of Kane, and Nixon and Jules look just like you, Ry. There are so many mini Slater lads.”
“Then there is Georgie who is a Murphy girl to the core.” Damien chuckled.
“She has Nico’s dimples, so she’s not entirely a Murphy. She has some Slater genes in ‘er. Don’t worry about that.”
After two more hours of waiting, the lads were finally ready to leave work, and we headed straight to the hospital. I practically sprinted ahead of them once I knew what floor and ward Keela and the baby were on.
“Are you crying’?” I called out to Alec, whose smile stretched from ear to ear as he came to greet us.
“No,” he called back, wiping under his eyes. “It’s liquid pride.”
I had to get a running start, but I surprised myself and possibly everyone else when I quite literally jumped into Alec’s arms. He laughed as I wrapped my legs around his waist and encircled my arms tightly around his neck. He returned my hug just as tight, and he vibrated with joyous laughter.
“You’re a daddy!” I squealed and pulled back to look at him.
I had said that exact thing to Ryder when the twins were born, and his smile was identical to Alec’s.
“I’m a daddy.” He smiled, and when I kissed his cheek and hugged him again, he laughed harder.
“How badly do you want to punch me, little brother?”
“Because your kid was just born, I’m going to go easy on you and stick with a solid six.”
“That’s a weak score, considering your girl is wrapped around me.”
“If you move your hands from her thighs to her ass,” Damien growled, “then you’ll die right here.”
“You mean if I move them to where I can feel everything … I’m joking!”
Alec quickly set me down to appease Damien, and he looked so happy that his smile was infectious.
“I think my baby brother is possessive of you, Lana.”
When an arm was slung over my shoulder, and I was tugged against a hard body, I snorted.
“That’s not news to me, daddy-o.”
“Okay,” Damien grunted. “That’s enough of you calling him that.”
“What?” I questioned as I looked up at him. “Daddy?”
“Yeah,” Damien replied. “The only person you call daddy is me.”
I felt my face flame, and when Damien laughed, so did his brothers.
“I don’t call ‘im that,” I said, glancing around. “I don’t.”
“You have called me it plenty—”
“You need to shut your bloody mouth,” I cut Damien off with a squeak.
He had a shit-eating grin on his face but did as asked.
“What did ye’ call the baby?”
Alec dimpled. “Go ask Keela.”
“I’ll do just that,” I chirped. “This kid is the sixth cousin, and the seventh is comin’ along soon if Bronagh has anythin’ to say about it. You baby-makin’ machines are goin’ to have me broke with birthdays and Christmas!”
I chose that moment to dart down the corridor, leaving the brothers chuckling behind me.
“Oh, Keela,” I whispered as I saw my first visual of her sitting in her hospital bed with a tiny bundle in her arms.
She looked up at me, and though she was clearly exhausted, I had never seen her look more beautiful.
“Come meet Enzo Brandon Slater.”
I squealed as I covered my mouth with my hands and inched closer. Enzo’s mop of bright red hair was the first thing to gain my full attention.
“He has so much hair like the twins when they were born,” I whispered. “I love ‘im already.”
When Keela carefully handed him to me, I sat down on the large chair next to her bed, and I stared down at Enzo in complete awe.
“Where did ye’ get his first name from?”
“Vampire Diaries,” Keela answered with a snort. “I loved the name when I heard it years ago; I’m still surprised Alec liked it. Brandon is after me uncle, of course. He’s pulled his fair share of shite when it came to me and Alec, but he’s always been there for me, no matter what. He’s been really good to Alec too since we’ve put the past behind us.”
I traced my fingertip over Enzo’s button nose. The action disturbed him, and he silently opened his eyes and stared up at me. I knew I was most likely a blurry picture to him, but I felt like he could see me.
“Hi, Enzo.” I smiled. “I’m your Auntie Alannah.”
He made a little coo sound, then yawned. The action was so small, so insignificant, yet I felt it all the way down to my soul. I wanted this. I wanted a baby. Damien’s baby.
“Oh God,” I whispered.
“What?” Alec asked.
I hadn’t realised he had entered the room.
“I think I’m feelin’ broody.”
Silence, then Alec snickered. “Fifty euros she’s pregnant by next week.”
Chuckles sounded, and when I looked up, my eyes instantly locked on Damien’s. He was smiling and staring at me with so much love and admiration that it caused my heart to pound hard against my chest.
“I want one.”
His smile vanished, and his lips parted ever so slightly.
“This one?” he eventually asked. “I don’t think my brother would agree to that.”
Alec snorted as he came to Keela’s side and sat on her bed with her, putting his arm around her shoulder.
“I’ll settle for one who looks like ‘im,” I mused. “Slater genes are strong. I think ye’ll give me a handsome little man like this … minus the red hair.”
Damien stared at me. “Are you teasing?”
“No,” I answered. “I want a baby.”
Kane looked at Damien, then at me and said, “I think he is in shock, Alannah.”
“I think you’re right, Kane. I don’t think he believes me,” I mused. “I think I’ll have to show ‘im how serious I am.”
Keela sat up. “You can’t have sex in a maternity hospital, Alannah. Vaginas are meant to be sore ‘ere, not throbbin’ for sex.”
When I chuckled, it disturbed Enzo, who was still looking up at me.
“He is really staring at you,” Alec commented when he leaned a little closer. “I think you’re his first crush, Lana.”
I snorted, then playfully rolled my eyes when the rest of the lads wholeheartedly agreed.
“Do ye’ think his eyes will change colour or stay dark blue like this?”
“I think they’ll be grey like Alec’s,” Keela commented. “All the boys had dark blue eyes when they were born, but they’re all grey now. Georgie is the only one who has green eyes, but that’s because she’s a carbon copy of Bronagh.”
I agreed.
I looked at my friend. “How sore was it?”
“Sore,” Keela grunted. “Jesus, I thought I was goin’ to die, then when he was born, it all went away. It’s weird, but I can’t even remember what it felt like, and I only had ‘im a little while ago.”
I looked down at Enzo.
“I figured if Bronagh can do it, so can I.”
Keela laughed, then winced. Alec was practically in her face ask
ing what was wrong.
“Nothin’,” she assured him. “I’m sore and laughin’ hurt a little. It’s no biggie.”
Alec looked at me. “Don’t make her laugh again.”
Keela laughed at how serious he was, then winced once more. Alec cringed and appeared angry with himself for making her laugh. I looked back down at Enzo, who had finally drifted back into a comfortable sleep. I handed him over to Ryder when he moved forward.
“This is weird,” he commented. “I think that my twins are small, but holding this little man just shows how big they’ve gotten.”
“Your lads are one in six months,” I reminded him.
“Don’t talk about that,” he groaned. “It freaks me out.”
I chuckled as I got to my feet and walked towards Damien whose attention was solely on me.
“What’s that look for?”
“Were you serious?” he asked. “About wanting a baby?”
“As serious as a heart attack.”
Damien frowned. “Alannah, this is what we’ve been arguin’ about. You said you wanted to wait until you were ready for marriage and a baby.”
That was two days ago.
“I spoke to Bronagh about it, and I realised somethin’.”
“What?”
“That there is never goin’ to be a perfect time to have a baby and get married. I’m always goin’ to be busy with work, God willin’, and you’re goin’ to be flat out over the next few years with your apprenticeship. I’m not goin’ to pretend that I’m not scared at how fast things are movin’ for us, but I’m goin’ to learn to take things one day at the time with you. Things are simpler that way.”
Damien licked his lower lip. “Does that mean you want to marry me?”
“Yeah, it does, so when you want to propose to me again, be prepared for that answer.”
Damien hadn’t proposed to me … yet.
It confused me but didn’t upset me because I knew men had a lot of mental preparation to go through when they were popping the question … especially when the last three times Damien asked, the answer was no. The day after Keela gave birth to Enzo, she came home, and we all showed up at her and Alec’s house to fawn over the baby and congratulate our friends.
Bronagh managed five minutes before she started crying, but she had no idea why, and the woman was tearing Nico up from how distraught he appeared to be. She asked me to go to the supermarket with her, so she could walk around and hopefully put herself into labour. Nico was visibly terrified, but I assured him that I would take care of her.