by Ryan Michele
4
Lo
“When Mal and I get married, you can bet your ass we are not going to do it at the clubhouse.”
I kicked my feet out in front of me and popped open a beer. “You think you’re too good to get married here?” I asked Turtle.
He shook his head and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Not that at all. I just don’t want to be the one to clean this fucking place and organize a million chairs.”
“You even ask her to marry you yet?” Turtle had been seeing Mal for four years and he had a three-year-old with her. How he had managed to snag the new lawyer in town was beyond me, but they seemed very much in love.
A huge smile spread across Turtle’s lips. “I was gonna do it Saturday night.”
“At the wedding?”
He nodded his head. “She’s been dropping hints about getting married for the past year and I’ve been acting like I don’t hear her.”
“But you do.”
Turtle nodded his head. “I hear her, but I’m going to need your guys help.”
Rigid walked into the clubhouse from the garage. “Help? How much more fucking help do we need? All the chairs are finally set up and that arch thing is in the garage. We just gotta haul it in here Friday after the rehearsal dinner.”
“No, not the wedding.” Turtle plopped down on the couch next to me. “I’m gonna ask Mal to marry me here, but I booked a room at a hotel two towns over and was hoping you and Meg would be able to watch Jonas overnight for us.”
Rigid snickered and turned on the TV. “You are the only ones that don’t have kids under the age of ten besides Slider and Fayth.”
“They’re headed out of town early Sunday morning. Something about Marco needing help with his new house.” Turtle sighed. “I really hate to ask but I’ve made Mal wait long enough for me to ask her to marry her.”
I clapped Turtle on the back. “Don’t worry about it, brother. You know Meg loves Jonas.”
Turtle sighed. “Thank you. I didn’t want to ask, but I really didn’t have another choice. I don’t plan on doing it till later on in the night.”
I nodded my head. “I’ll have to tell her to lay off the wine coolers, but she’ll be fine with it.”
Rigid chuckled. “Good luck with that.”
“Maybe I’ll be the one taking care of Jonas after you leave.” I didn’t want to have to tell Meg she couldn’t drink at her only son’s wedding. “I think we all plan on staying at the clubhouse the night of the wedding anyway so we’ll all be able to keep an eye on Jonas.”
The bedrooms at the clubhouse rarely got used for more than storage these days. Most of the guys had houses or apartments and just used their rooms to store shit for the clubhouse in them.
“Speaking of which,” Rigid cleared his throat. “Cyn and all the girls told me we better put clean sheets on the bed or none of them are going to stay here.”
“We still plan on putting all the kids in one or two rooms?” I asked. With nine kids ranging from three to eleven we had to have somewhere for them to sleep.
Rigid flipped through the channels on the TV. “Three sets of bunk beds will be here Wednesday and the mattresses for them will be here Thursday.”
“Cutting it kind of fucking close, aren’t you?” With all of us being in our mid-thirties and up you would think we would have our shit together a bit more.
“Figure as long as they get here before Saturday night we’ll be good.”
“Better fucking hope they get here before Saturday, or you’ll be the one putting them together during the ceremony.” I shook my head.
“Or have all the kids staying at your house.” Turtle snickered.
“They’ll be here,” Rigid assured us.
They better be. I was fine having to watch the kids, but I drew the line to having them share my bed with me and Meg.
That had been a no kid zone for the past ten years, and there were no signs in that ever changing.
5
Meg
“My shoes should be here today.”
Cyn slowly raised her head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean my shoes should be delivered today.” I cut off the end of the onion and started chopping it.
“Meg, the wedding is in three and a half days. You don’t have shoes?”
I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “Of course I have shoes, Cyn.” I dumped the diced onions into a bowl. “They’re being delivered today.”
Cyn blinked slowly. “Do you think procrastination this long is going to work out for you?” She slowly stirred the beans and grabbed her margarita glass.
It was Tuesday, and we had bumped our monthly Si Senor! Margaritas and Taco night to tonight because Remy and Harlyn didn’t want to have it as their rehearsal dinner. I had started the meat yesterday and now Cyn and I were working on everything else.
“The shoes will be here. I checked the tracking this morning.”
“Meg.” Cyn’s eyes connected with mine. “It’s past five o’clock. The mail has ran and the UPS guy comes around ten thirty.”
“Uh, come again?” And how the hell did Cyn know the times that UPS rolled through time.
“Your shoes are not coming today.”
“How do you know that? Also, how do you know what time UPS runs?”
She rolled her eyes. “Uh, hello. I order shit and don’t want Rigid to know because he tells me I’m spending all the money on senseless shit.”
“Are you?” I had been to Cyn’s house. She had some shit I wondered why she would even buy. “And I guess they’re going to come tomorrow then.”
“Who’s side are you on, Meg? I can’t help it that Morphe came out with a new pallet and then Too Faced came out with one right after. It’s completely out of my hands.”
“Are you talking a different language right now?”
“Makeup, Meg. I’m talking about makeup.”
I scrunched up my nose. “Girl, I get my eyeshadows and eyeliner from the Walgreens. Five ninety-nine for ten eyeshadows, you can’t go wrong.”
Cyn pointed the spoon she was stirring with at me. “Pigment, Meg. You’re lacking pigment.”
“I’m really worried about you.” I set the knife down and folded my hands together. “I think we need to have an intervention.”
“Who needs an intervention?” Lo walked in the back door with a case of beer in one hand and three plastic bags in the other.
“Cyn. She’s blowing Rigid’s retirement on makeup.” I popped a piece of pepper in my mouth and smiled at Lo.
“I’ve heard. Rigid mumbles about pigment under his breath all the time.” Lo set the bags on the table and brushed a kiss against my lips. “Guys will be here in half an hour.”
Cyn huffed and turned back to the stove. “The hellion is in the backyard with Diamond. Micha was wondering when Uncle Lo was going to get here.”
“What’s he need?” Lo asked.
Cyn shook her head. “He’s trying to rally people to take his side about getting his ear pierced.”
“And?”
Cyn glared at Lo over her shoulder. “He is eleven years old, Lo. He doesn’t need to start piercing things this early.”
“Got my ear pierced when I was ten. I think I turned out just fine.”
I brushed my fingers over Lo’s crotch. “I think you just helped Cyn’s argument that if he gets his ears pierced now, it’s just going to lead to him piercing other things.”
Cyn dropped the spoon in the beans. “Jesus, Meg! Did you really need to go there? I never in a million years ever want to think about that and Micha in the same thought.”
“You don’t want him to be like father like son?” Lo teased.
Cyn’s cheeks heated and turned red. “You’re both assholes, you know? He has no clue that Rigid has, well,” her eyes darted to Lo’s crotch, “that. And he will never know.”
“Right,” Lo drawled. He grabbed a beer and popped open the top. “I’ll go talk to him and see if I can hold
him off till he’s sixteen.”
“Or seventy,” Cyn yelled at his retreating back.
“Girl,” I laughed. “You are one big contradiction.”
“Don’t I know it,” she mumbled.
Cyn kept stirring the beans while I chopped, diced, and prepped all the toppings and sides.
“You doing my job, woman?” Rigid walked through the front door and slid his sunglasses on top of his head.
“If you would have been here, I wouldn’t have had to do it.” Cyn took the pan off the heat and turned off the burner. “Micha is in the backyard with Lo.”
“That kid is relentless.” Rigid shook his head.
“That’s all you,” Cyn muttered.
“Hey,” Rigid protested. “I’m in agreement with you on this, baby. He can wait until he’s sixteen to get his ears pierced just like I did.”
Cyn wiped her hands on the dish towel. “Well then maybe you should tell him that instead of magically disappearing every time he brings it up.”
Rigid held up his hands. “All right, all right. I’m on it. Cool your jets.” Rigid pulled out his phone. “I’ll find some pictures of infected piercings and shit. That’ll deter him.” Rigid typed on his phone and instantly cringed.
“Ears, Rigid. Nothing else.”
Rigid looked up at Cyn. “This almost made me want to take my piercings out.” He held up the phone, and I instantly ducked my head knowing he was about to show us something absolutely disgusting.
Cyn gagged and tossed the dish towel at Rigid. “You are an asshole.”
Rigid walked out the back door chuckling under his breath.
“It was a dick, wasn't it?” I didn’t want to see it, but I was curious about what it was.
“If you would call it that. The thing was green and pussy.”
I clutched my hand to neck and closed my eyes. “Sweet Jesus. I didn’t need a description.”
“I should have had a girl. I know for the rest of my life it’s just going to be Rigid and Micha grossing me out.”
I ripped open the bag of shredded lettuce and dumped it in a bowl. “I think we’re all destined to that seeing as out of nine kids running around, only two are girls.” Thank god Marley and Gwen were able to overcome the strong alpha gene and give us Luna and Greta.”
Cyn raised her margarita glass toward me. “Amen to that, sister.”
Lo
“What the hell is this?” Slide lifted a Mounds bar up. “I thought you said you had shit for s’mores.”
Meg plopped down in my lap. “That’s for island s’mores.”
“What in the hell is an island s’more, woman? I want a s’more s’more. Graham, chocolate, marshmallow, graham.” Slider motioned by stacking his hands on top of each other. “S’more.”
The adults were spread out around the fire and the kids were running around playing tag and trying to catch fireflies. I was stuffed from dinner, but apparently Slider had room for a little dessert.
“There is peanut butter cups there too,” Meg pointed out.
Slider threw down the Mounds bar and shook his head. “This is ridiculous. It’s a sad day when a guy can’t even get an OG s’more.”
“I think this falls under first world problems,” Fayth called. “There are kids starving in Africa and you’re complaining about the wrong candy for your s’more.”
Slider sat down in the chair next to her. “I don’t really remember asking you.”
Fayth flipped him off. “We’re married. My opinion is the only one that matters.”
Meg laughed and laid her head on my shoulder. “Should I tell him I have a few Hershey bars in the house?”
I pressed a finger to Meg’s lips. “Shh. It’s always good when Fayth puts him in his place.”
“Isn’t that every day?” Meg laughed.
“Yeah, but I don’t always get to see it.”
Meg cuddled into me and sighed. “How has this been our life for ten years?”
I held her close and looked around the fire pit. Kids were running around like crazy and the best friends I could ever have were surrounding me. “Guess we’re just fucking lucky, babe.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” she murmured. “You have everything ready for the wedding?”
The guys and I had been working on shit for the wedding for the past four days. It would have been only three days, but Gambler had brought the kids with him the other day and they had managed to knock over the archway for the ceremony. That was something Meg didn’t know and wouldn’t know until the day of the wedding.
“Clubhouse is fucking spotless, chairs are set up, and I pick up the tuxes on Friday.”
Meg sighed and laid her hand on my chest. “I still can’t believe Remy asked you to be one of his groomsmen.”
I had been pretty fucking shocked too. “Pretty crazy. You raised a good kid, babe.”
“I sure did. Now I just hope his dad doesn’t make a scene at the wedding.”
I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. “Well, we all know you know how to handle Hunter. A swift kick to the nuts will make him fall in line.”
“If only that were true. He’s bringing his new girlfriend and Remy told me she isn’t like the other girls he has dated in the past.”
“What’s that mean?” I had only met one of the chicks Hunter dated and I was not impressed. He had definitely downgraded from Meg.
“He actually likes her.” Meg’s voice was quiet and I could tell she wasn’t sure what to think or feel.
“Babe,” I said softly.
“I’m being dumb, Lo. I know it. Just let me be dumb for a hot second while I think Remy is going to like her more than he likes me.”
“Meg, you just said what you need to hear.” I adjusted her in my lap and turned her toward me more. “He likes her, but he loves you. You’re his mom and he’s not going to find another mom at the age of twenty-eight.”
“I know,” she huffed. “I told you I was being dumb.”
“Well, you can be dumb for the next ten minutes and then you better snap out of it.”
She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “You’re too nice to me.”
“Guess that’s why I married you.”
“So you can be nice to me every day?”
I pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Damn straight, babe.”
6
Meg
I felt Lo roll out of bed and I moved to bury my face in his pillow.
“Get your ass up, woman. It’s rehearsal day.”
I groaned and held up my middle finger to Lo. “No. You kept me up too late last night.”
“Pretty sure I tried to get you to come to bed three times last night.”
I lifted my head and rolled over onto my back. “Remy came home. With his fiancée. Can you really blame me for wanting to stay up for a bit?”
Lo lifted one eyebrow. “You came to bed at two. I’m pretty sure that’s more than staying up a little.”
“Do you have a point, Mr. Birch?”
Lo pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it in the clothes hamper. He dropped the sweatpants he had on and his dick stood at attention. He looked down at his dick and smirked. “There’s only one point here right now and I think it needs your attention.”
I licked my lips and raised up on my elbows. “Then you better come back to bed.”
“Was thinking of taking a shower.”
I shook my head. “As amazing as that sounds, I’m pretty sure Remy and Harlyn wouldn’t appreciate being woken up on the count of us having sex.”
Lo scowled. “Damn. Been so long that Remy has been in his room that I forgot that he’s right next to the shower.”
I nodded my head and bite my lip. “Yup. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun in here.”
Lo planted a knee on the bed. “Put some music on.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed my phone. “Worried?” I scrolled through my downloaded songs and picked the latest Lee Brice song.
>
“Not worried, just wanting to cover all of my bases to make sure Remy and Harlyn don’t hear us.” Lo crawled up the bed and grabbed my phone. “Never heard this song before.” He tossed me phone on the night stand and looked down at me.
I constantly had music playing around the house and office at work. This was a new song, but it wasn’t the first time I had listened to it. “You should open your ears. I’ve been playing it constantly for the past week.”
Lo covered my body with his. “I tend to be distracted when I’m around you and only pay attention to you. Music and everything else is secondary.”
I circled my arms around my neck. “You sure are a sweet talker, Lo.”
A grin spread across his lips. “Just telling you like it is. Fell in love with you ten years ago, babe, and it hasn’t changed a day since. But if you would have put on some AC/DC or Metallica I totally would have known the song.”
“So predictable,” I muttered.
He pressed a kiss to my lips and tugged the blanket down my body. “And that’s how you like it.”
“I guess that makes me predictable, too.”
He trailed kisses across my face and down my neck. “Only predictable thing about you, babe, is I know you’ll always love me. Everything else is a crapshoot with you.”
“I can’t deny that,” I whispered. Keeping Lo on his toes was a full-time job. I didn’t want him to get bored and find a younger and more fun version of me.
His hands traveled down my side and grabbed the hem of my shirt. He tugged it over my head and tossed it on the floor. “I wouldn’t let you out of this bed if you denied it.”
“Hmm, never leaving this bed sounds tempting. Were you trying to threaten me?” If I could get away with spending the rest of my life in bed with Lo I would totally do it.
“Not much of a threat when I know the idea turns you on.”
I ran my hands up and down his back. “You breathing turns me on, Lo.”
He kissed me.