by V. Theia
Yeah. She would.
They kissed.
They loved.
They lay happily together until the last second.
THIRTY-SEVEN
“Prince Dad.” - Tag
It was considered a good day for Tag if he got a good sparring session in without breaking no one else’s bones… shit happens.
If he had his hands dirty in an engine and then relaxed at the club with a few beers.
Maybe breaking a few laws along the way. Depending on the day and what deals the Souls had going in that month. Because all their businesses ran like clockwork, breaking laws were pretty low on the scale these days.
Swindling an old goat out of his last coppers, Rider had that shit in hand with Rex.
Tag’s days had looked different for the past few weeks.
He’d only ever been around his club brother’s kids, and usually it was from a distance.
He liked kids but didn’t think he wanted his own.
And then Marianna’s twins took him down.
No fucking lie.
He was gone for those kids as fast as he’d fallen for their mom.
At first, he wanted to try for Marianna’s sake.
But after their first meeting, everything became easier, no effort required.
They were sweet kids. Pasha, the quieter of the two, started following Tag like a tiny shadow. They went for walks when it snowed. It was Pasha who clambered up to Tag’s leg, holding his jeans until Tag dropped his hand for the little boy to grab onto his fingers. He’d noted he hardly, if ever, spoke to Marianna.
She explained how he was still upset with her. It hurt his woman a lot.
In a restaurant one day, he took Pasha over to the ice cream station and lifted him up so the kid could see the display counter. “Do you want to choose some ice cream for mama? I know she’d love it if you did.” He stared at Tag with his expressive eyes and then nodded. He let him carry the overfilled container back to the table. It was touch and go whether the kid face planted with it, but he did fine, and Tag saw the joy on Marianna’s face when Pasha presented it, “for me, baby?”
“Yes, Mama.”
It took time. Days and days, but it wasn’t long before the boy was jumping all over Marianna as much as Lily was.
He’d like to think he had a hand in it, but really, no one could resist Marianna. Tag and the kids gravitated toward her like she was their solar system.
“Tag!” Lily yelled from the other room. Hoisting himself from the floor, making sure not to break a leg standing on the million Lego bricks scattered everywhere, he trekked through to the other room. Lily was standing on a stool in his kitchen, Galina helping her stir something. She spoke in fast Russian at first, cute as a button. “Now in English for Tag, tiny star.” Galina reminded her.
“Oh, yes. Sowee. Tag. Taste!” he didn’t have much choice when she splattered the floor with something pink dripping off the end of a spatula. He saw Galina’s endearing smile when he dipped down and tasted the mixture. It was teeth breaking kind of sweet. “Mmm, nice, sweetheart. What are you making?”
Lily looked to Galina for help with her words, then she proudly turned to him and said, “cake for mama.”
Kids had a routine, and Tag learned to fit in around their stuff. Marianna got them into a day-care to give Galina a break, while she was working at the gym. They went on playdates with the old ladies and their kids.
And Tag loved it all.
He loved going home to have dinner with the family.
And taking them places and reading to them.
Not so much cleaning up their messes. Damn, two tiny humans could wreck a house in the blink of an eye. Most nights, when they were dumped into bed, he and Marianna collapsed exhausted onto the couch.
One night she was curled on his lap, playing with his hair, watching one of her kissing movies, and she asked. “Are you sure this is the life you want, Luke?”
“What do you mean, darlin’?”
“Me and the kids. I know it’s not the party life you’re used to. Dinner and bedtime stories aren’t exactly something you’d expect a biker to enjoy doing.”
Nervously biting her lower lip, she looked as though she expected him to grab his coat and head for the door.
Instead, he flipped her over on his lap and spanked her a few times for even daring to suggest this wasn’t something he wanted.
He’d fight feral fucking dogs to keep them.
He already considered everyone under that roof his family.
Don’t ask him why. He didn’t have answers.
The moment he set eyes on them, it was as if the connections started to tie Tag and those kids together.
“Don’t want to hear another word on that, got it?” He said afterward, rubbing her sore peach-shaped butt. She purred and pushed her face into his neck. Guessing she was about to start something up now he’d made her soaking wet. “Yes, Luke.”
Being a stepdad wasn’t a job he thought he’d want.
But he thrived in the role.
Even when they were little turds, screaming and throwing themselves down in the middle aisle of the grocery store. Holy shit, that was an experience. While Marianna tried to cajole Lily up from the floor, Tag, with Pasha attached to his leg, grabbed her up by her coat and tossed her over his shoulder. She cried only for a minute while she bounced up there, Pasha giggling and yelling to his twin in Russian.
Sure, they got looks while he tossed food into the cart. People could fuck off. This was his family. And they were perfect.
Today was the first day he’d looked after the kids on his own. He encouraged Marianna to take Galina shopping for her birthday. As he was learning, kids got bored… so damn easily. So he got them into snow coats and walked their little butts down to the local park to tire them out.
While he was there, he took a call from Rider. “What’s happening, Prez? Don’t tell me, you got cold feet for your upcoming nuptials and you want me to help sneak you across the Mexican border?” He joked.
“Sure, if you want Zara to cut your dick off.”
He heard the queen of his club protesting in the background.
They talked club shit for a few minutes, his eyes never leaving the kids playing a few feet away.
Every hackle he had rose to the surface not long later. “Prez, I gotta go. Some fucking clown put his hand on my kid.”
Striding across the snowy park, Pasha was picking himself up from the floor.
His temper was barely containable. “You touch my boy again, we’re gonna have problems, pal.” Warned Tag as Pasha clung to his leg, hiding his face. He rested a hand on the mop of his hair to let the boy know he had his back.
“He pushed my kid.”
“He’s a goddamn baby, and they’re just kids playing. You put your fucking hand on him.”
The guy looked like a boring investment banker, grabbed his kid by the hood of her coat and pulled her away. Stinking of fear. Good. He should fear Tag. “Then keep your biker kid away from mine.”
Biker. Kid.
So the guy had taken notice of the insignia on the back of Tag’s jacket.
Little shithouse.
Tag grinned dangerously. He only had to take one step forward as a warning to get the guy scurrying out of the park.
“Let’s head home, gang. Who wants pizza for lunch?” His question was answered with screams of joy.
He loved these kids already. And he would let no one hurt or judge them.
The biker kids were the next generation of his club.
He didn’t know how Marianna felt yet, but he’d love to teach them both to ride a motorcycle when they were older. Would love to see them happy in the club life too.
Life went on with that routine for a few weeks. And Tag loved every second.
He was a teen again, sneaking into a girl’s bedroom a few nights later.
He’d gotten good letting himself into Marianna’s after everyone was in bed, they’d exchanged keys a fe
w weeks back.
Prowling through the apartment, he checked on the kids. A night light was shining on the ceiling when he stuck his head around the door. Finding them asleep, he padded to Marianna’s room. He dropped his clothes and climbed into bed behind her.
“You always look in on my babies.” She said in the dark, curling her butt into his lap, Tag grunted when he had her in place.
“Yeah, baby. Like to know they’re okay before I lock the house down.”
If he could hear happiness in a sigh, then Marianna made it.
A little bump.
A tiny grind.
She got Tag raging hard in seconds.
“Darlin’, you’re killing me. Can’t fuck you how I want to.”
“How is that?”
“Really hard until you scream and bloody my back with your nails.”
He locked his teeth around her lobe, just shy of causing her actual pain. As rough as his girl liked it, he’d never deliberately hurt her. She rewarded him with a filthy, needy sex gasp. At least she was hard up for it too. Sexual misery loved company.
“You could fuck me really soft and make me cry into the pillow, Luke.” She suggested so quiet and sweet, but oh, his cock heard.
His damn cock all but sat up and praised his queen for her excellent idea.
“You need your man to play with you? Get my old lady nice and dripping so when I push in I hit bottom the first try? I’ll play so goddamn long, Anna, you’ll black out.”
She always got him twisted up.
Every day he bounced between being the loving protector and filthy sex slave for her needs.
Ah, who the fuck was he kidding?
He was a dirty deviant and would be on Anna night and day if he could wrangle it that way.
His hand slid across her stomach, down into her sleep shorts where he found her already creamy for him. “Were you having bad girl thoughts before I got here, darlin’?”
“Mmm. Perhaps a few.” She turned slightly in his arms and hooked a leg over his thigh, opening herself up for his touch.
Damn, he loved this woman.
Tag would not dive on her like a starving man, though every part of him dictated he did that. Nah, he’d be a smooth motherfucker tonight, cater to what his woman needed from him. Tomorrow, when he had her at his house for their date night, that’s when he’d let loose. Grinning against her neck, he nipped and nibbled her.
“I can hear your bad thoughts, baby boy.” She said, bumping his hand with her sweet sex. He stroked her into moaning.
“Always got bad thoughts for you.” He replied.
He also wanted to talk to her about moving the family over to his place soon. There would be more space for the kids to play and have bedrooms of their own if they wanted to. And best of all, he’d have Marianna in his bed, far enough away from the other bedrooms so he’d be able to gorge himself on her.
He wasn’t above bribing her with an at-home library either.
“Where is my kiss?” She asked him.
He fell on her mouth like a wolf scenting its mate in heat.
Hot. Clumsy. Wet. Perfect kisses.
“Luke. My Luke.” She moaned, all but yanking his hair out by the roots. She was an octopus trying to get him in place between her legs. He laughed into her mouth and notched the crown of his leaking cock to her entrance.
Using the barest of movements, he rolled his hips, burying into his own personal heaven. Finding the spot his Marianna went feral for, he gave it a little back-and-forth rub. Already pressure was building for them both as she arched until he pinned her hips down with his hands. “Take it how I give it, Anna.” He said into her lips, letting her suck and bite on him as much as she wanted.
Wild woman drove him mad.
Somewhere along the way, Tag’s rhythm went from soft to jagged. Marianna bit his shoulder trying to muffle her sounds and he shoved his way into her. On her come down, he found her watching his face, mapping his features with a small smile on her lips.
“You are everything that is good.” She shared, and got him to the finish line with a last drive of his pelvis until he collapsed, shuddering. Her arms came around him, so did her legs, trapping Tag in paradise.
He could die here and be happy about his demise.
“Prince Charming, you are everything to me.”
Tag wasn’t an emotional man, not like Snake who always got in his manly feelings. But hearing a declaration so close to love from Marianna washed emotions through his trembling body.
What could he do but attack her again?
And again in the shower later.
And then quieter, with her crying into his hand over her mouth while she rode him hard.
He was getting good at this parent thing.
Because screwing under the radar of the noisemakers was sexy as hell.
THIRTY-EIGHT
“Even a piece of shit can take care of his brother.” – Arson
“We should all live at your house.”
Her statement caught Tag off guard.
Completely poleaxed him.
“What brought this on?” Then followed it with, “abso-fucking-lutely. Wanna get you moved in today.” Her eyes widened and her lips became slack. He kissed her because he could, because she was his woman. “Tell me.”
“I was speaking with Hawk.”
Excuse him, what? “Wait, darlin’, you talked to Hawk?”
“Yes. Was I not supposed to?”
“No, it’s good. The VP is usually more of a grunter than a talker.”
“Oh,” she grinned. “Well, full disclosure. It was more talking on my side while I fixed sandwiches in the kitchen back there. I think he was being polite.”
Hawk did nothing politely.
“What did he say?”
“I was nervous, so I think I said many words, and I said how we were going to cook dinner at your house tonight. And then Hawk asked why I wasn’t living with you.”
He fucking loved the VP. Was gonna buy him a big-ass bottle of Evan Williams bourbon. He’d been tiptoeing around about asking her to move in, figuring she wasn’t at the same place he was yet.
“You can’t back out now, you said it, yeah?”
“I don’t want to back out,” she smiled, “but.”
“No buts, Anna. It’s a done deal now. You made a verbal agreement with a biker. We’ll start packing the apartment up tonight.”
He didn’t expect her to burst out laughing. But laughing was good. Laughing meant she wasn’t backing out.
He breathed into her mouth and had to taste her. She pulled on his hair, smiling.
“You are very impetuous, baby boy. Give a woman a chance to finish her sentence.” She kissed him, sweet as could be. “I was going to ask, what about Galina? I can’t leave her behind, not after everything she’s done for me. She’s my family.”
Was that all? His girl was dramatic. “Baby, she’s your mom in everything but name, of course she’s coming too. We got room for everyone.”
Her joy lit him up.
She was sitting with Krusher while they played dominoes and drank—he hoped to god it wasn’t Krusher’s homemade Moonshine or he’d have to carry Galina home.
He cut his gaze over to the twins and found them playing with Sebastian.
Never did he think he’d have this kind of peace inside of him to know his family were happy in his club. He kissed Marianna’s shoulder, already picturing her in a custom Property of Tag cut he was gonna have made. Fuck, that made his barbarian dick harder than stone. He’d wear all the ink she wanted him to get, but she was gonna wear his cut.
A scratching hand in his hair brought his thoughts back. “Is it okay I’m on your lap here?”
A smile twitched. “Baby, you’re the sweetest woman I know.”
His old lady was brazen in bed but shy as a turtle out of its shell when around people. She didn’t know how she was supposed to act, or if she could be affectionate with him. He pressed a kiss to the curve of her neck
where her pulse was giving her life.
“Remember what I said to you the other night in bed?”
“Which time? You are bossy and vocal in bed.”
He pumped out a growl, and she giggled. “Was it when you told me to get on my hands and knees? Or to use my mouth for something other than, how do you say again, doing the nagging?”
“You nagged I wasn’t fucking you quick enough.”
Her nose went in the air. “I was correct. Now, what did you say to me? Remind me, pazhalsta.” Please. He understood that word since she moaned it a lot when he took her.
“I told you I am yours to do as you damn well pleased.” Her delight was infectious. Though this was a family day, getting to know his club family. He had devious ideas of sneaking her off to a back room to make her say please repeatedly. “That means, my Anna, you sit on me any time you like. And if you wanna switch it up from lap to face,” he smirked to watch her blush, “your old man is more than good with that.”
She slapped his shoulder, curling deeper into him. “You’re an incorrigible and outrageous Prince.”
“But I’m yours, right?”
“Someone has to supervise your sins.” Her lips came to his ear, as if afraid of who might overhear. Well now, he and his dick couldn’t wait. Tag squeezed her hips and caught her moaning before she said, “and I am the woman for this job, Luke.”
Some things deserved slowness, to savor every bite and morsel. His old lady needed to be worshipped more than any other woman needed it.
He’d sip, taste and drink from the fountain that was his Marianna for the rest of his life.
She’d come a long way from the woman who tried to avoid getting attached to him. Her growing confidence was one of the many things he was attracted to.
He realized she had no need for him to slay her past, she’d been her own warrior and his chest bloomed with pride. She was stronger than she gave herself credit for.
By living through her trauma, she’d come out the other side through the fucking flames like his own goddess.
Lucky bastard that he was, got to live this life with her.
A ping interrupted their kiss.