By the time Sabrina has finished, every woman in the room is crying, Jamie included. You can hear a pin drop until Maze speaks.
“Well, fuck me with a twisted wreath.”
Chapter Three
Maze
I’m sitting in my room at the clubhouse, my elbows resting on my knees, my head buried in my hands, a fast difference from when I was in this position this morning. Then I had a slutty brunette in my bed, now I have a cute brunette in my bed. I twist my head around to look at her looking as snug as a bug in a rug, against the pillows. Zarah made sure that the baby couldn’t move, in knowing she’s too young to roll or anything yet.
The baby girl is only seventeen days old. I can’t keep calling her baby for fuck’s sake, she has a name. Faith Maisley. Carrie-Ann gave her my last name.
The baby gurgles but doesn’t wake up, thank fuck. I have no clue what I’m doing. Small babies are better to handle but as soon as they get big enough to start moving and talking, they freak me out. The club kids are weird at the best of times, don’t get me wrong they are great kids, and make me laugh a lot, mainly the boys who I know will cause so much shit when they are older, but I never wanted kids of my own.
But seeing Faith lying in my bed, all cute and knowing that she’s mine, and mine alone to take care of, makes me rethink a few things.
She’s a beautiful baby, dark hair, a pert little nose. She’s small but Sabrina told me she’s in good health, but I still need to take her to the hospital to get her checked out. Along with the letter and birth certificate, was a copy of Carrie-Ann’s death certificate.
A knock comes on the door and I call out for the person to come in but the way my body starts to tingle I know who’s about to step inside.
“Hey. You doing okay?” Zarah asks as she leans against the table I use as a workstation.
I shrug. “As good as can be I guess.” I take in a deep breath and look up at her. Fuck me she’s beautiful. Long, dark chocolate hair, big brown eyes and lips that are made for smiling or sucking dick.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” slips out before I can stop it. Her cheeks tint red and I smile at her, loving that blush.
“If you say so, Ash.” She grins at me and in a flash, I’m on my feet and standing in front of her, my body pressed against hers. My hands find her trim hips, her hands landing on my biceps.
“I know so, baby.” I lick my lips and move my face closer to hers. She makes the sweetest of sounds and hearing that intake of breath, the soft sound goes straight to my dick.
“What are you doing, Maze?” she asks in a breathy tone and my smile goes to a full-blown grin.
“Well, Zarah baby, it looks like I’m making my move.” My head dips to take her lips in a kiss. Our first, but it seems my daughter has other plans. A wail comes from the bed and Faith lets us know that she’s awake and needs attention.
Zarah moves quickly away from me and pulls Faith out of her comfy bubble of blankets and I see for the first time that she’s wearing a pink onesie. I stand there in awe of this woman, who has taken over and controlled the situation, even in the small amount of time that Faith has been here, Z has shown that she’s perfect mother material.
I have always known that she wanted kids someday, the way she fusses over the club kids and always offers to babysit them.
She fusses over Faith, changing her nappy before looking at me over her shoulder.
“She’s hungry. Can you go and make her a bottle or hold her so I can?” My gaze snaps up to hers, not liking either option but I opt for a third option. Stepping over to the bed, I smile at Faith in Zarah’s arms, I run my finger over her soft cheek. God baby skin is so soft and flawless and do not get me started on the cute baby smell.
“How about we all get out of the room and go down to the kitchen, that way you can show me how to make her bottles. I mean you won’t be here all the time to help me, right?” I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that they were the wrong words to say.
Fuck.
Zarah’s shoulders stiffen and her lips thin, before she speaks. “You’re right. Let’s go,” I sigh as she steps past me, pulling the door open before walking out of my room with my daughter in her arms.
“Z,” I sigh her name, but she doesn’t stop. I sigh again and drop my head to my chest, thinking of how the hell I’m going to make this up to her.
Maybe an orgasm or five. The thought pops into my head.
Maybe?
But Zarah being Zarah she’s a stubborn woman, I know that much from being around her over the years. Picking my phone up off the side table I follow her down to the kitchen, where pretty much everyone is sitting, eating food that the Old Ladies prepared.
All eyes swing to me when I walk in and I see Ana shake her head in disappointment, it’s then I notice that Lola is holding Faith and Zarah isn’t in the kitchen. I frown.
“Where is Z?” I ask the room.
“She left, she said she has some things to do,” Ace explains, with a bite to his tone. Yeah, they saw an upset Zarah and put two and two together. Fuck.
Lola hands me Faith and a readymade bottle, so I do just that, feed my daughter. There is no denying she’s mine; she has my lips and my eyes. While feeding her, everyone around me converses about the upcoming gift delivery at the hospital and the delivery of the food on Christmas Day.
Knowing that I have Faith, makes me want to see the ill children smile and see their parents smile. Even if we can help them forget for a small moment it will be worth it. That’s not the only reason though, because I think this is my chance to spend more time with Zarah while we plan this shit out.
I smile and images of Z in a sexy little elf costume like we were talking about before a huge arse bomb was dropped in my lap.
“I’ll do it,” I say loudly. Everyone stops talking and looks at me with questionable looks.
“Do what?” Suede inquires.
“I’ll play Santa. Someone will have to watch Faith when I am doing it but yeah, I’ll do it.” Smiling at Suede who nods at me, then comes over to me and takes Faith out of my arms and places her over his large bulky shoulder, tapping her back gently to burp her.
The picture looks funny as fuck, seeing this hulk of a man with a big bushy beard being so gentle with my baby girl.
Fuck, my baby girl. I have a daughter.
Someone who will depend on me and need me for the rest of her natural life. I pull in a deep breath letting the thoughts wash over me. My father was a fucking cunt when I was growing up and I’m thankful every day that Suede found me and took me under his wing.
He’s the role model men want to look up to. He kicked my arse into shape when I needed it, and he gave me a family, one that I can count on no matter what shit I had got myself into.
“You got it. There is plenty of family here to watch over my little turtle dove, while you play the big guy. Now you need to straighten your head out and make it up to Z. I don’t know what you did or said but you upset her. When she left, we could all see that on her face and it’s a face that we do not like seeing on our women, Maze. Fix it.” I nod because it’s all I can do.
“She deserves to be happy, Maze. My sister means the world to me and I want her to have her happy ever after, like I did. If you can’t give her that, because let’s face it, your past isn’t exactly all sunshine and flowers now is it. It’s faceless women and dirty sheets. You need to let her be if you’re not looking for more.” Oh, feisty Ana is out to play.
“I never thought I wanted more than a quick shag, ya know. Seeing all you fuckers having more, made me want it a bit more, but not enough to stop with the hook-ups. Now that Faith has been put in my life, I know that I need to grow up and stop with the useless fucks and find someone that will be good for not only me but for her,” I say pointing to my daughter.
“She has a date tonight. Just saying.” Jamie pipes in, smirking at me.
I grin back and stand up, rubbing Faith’s back, while Suede’s still holding her.<
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“We’ll see about that. You got her?” I ask Suede and he nods with a smile on his face. “Good.”
With that I walk back to my room and grab the keys to my bike before heading out to find the woman that could possibly be the one to end my wayward ways with the random women.
Chapter Four
Zarah
Dropping my bag on the table next to my front door, my keys dropping next to it, I walk over to my cream sofa and remove my thigh-high boots. They kill my feet but damn they make my legs and arse look amazing.
Jock comes purring over to me and rubs himself over my legs before jumping up and settling in my lap. His fur is super soft, and white, he’s a Scottish Fold and he’s my baby, since I got him a year ago.
Tucking my feet under my bum, I pull my phone out of my pocket and send a text, cancelling my date for tonight, giving the excuse that I wasn’t feeling very well, then settle Jock on my lap more, before switching the TV on and flicking to a cheesy Christmas movie. I mean who doesn’t love a cheesy Christmas movie. My favourite Christmas films are Gremlins and Love Actually.
My TV is set next to my beautiful log fireplace, with a large wooden mantle, that’s covered with a beautiful stretched green garland mixed with fairy lights. I have a large round wreath again with fairy lights and some little plastic berries hanging on the wall above the fireplace. My six-foot tree is between the fireplace and the bay window, so you can see the tree from outside. I only add lights and ornaments on my tree, I never add tinsel and always red, white with a touch of silver colour scheme.
I have a stunning Christmas rug on the floor that I bought while on a trip to New York last Christmas, which was a gift from Ana, Ace, and Blair. While I was there, I bought a lush fleece blanket there too.
My phone beeps from the arm of the couch and I see my sister’s name.
Ana: Are you okay?
Always looking after me, hell I have done the same for her, but I backed off when she got serious with Ace, I knew that he would be there for her no matter what.
Me: I’m good.
Ana: Lovely. Are you still going on your date?
Me: No, I called it off. Not feeling very sociable tonight.
Ana: So, what are the plans?
Me: I’m having a cheesy Christmas night with junk food.
Ana: Perfect. Love you.
Me: Love you too.
I bet she’s going to make Ace have a cheesy Christmas night when they get home and Blair is in bed. This is something that we started doing years ago when she got away from her ex-husband.
Thinking of Ace makes me think of Maze. Bloody Ash ‘Maze’ Maisley. That man does things to me that no other man has, and he has hardly touched me.
What he said back at the clubhouse about me not always being around stung a bit. I know we aren’t anything, but he knows I’m around the clubhouse and I help out all the time with the children or whatever event they have going on. I may not be an Old Lady, but they still see me as family.
Knowing that Maze is back at the clubhouse with everyone, fussing over his new arrival, makes my heart ache a little. I thought I would be there tonight to see him bond with Faith, to see him in a dad role, but here I am alone again.
I push thoughts of Maze out of my head and focus on the Christmas film, smiling at how the girl is with the guy, how he goes out of his way to be goofy to make her happy. Maybe, just maybe one day I will get a man that will do whatever he could to make me smile.
Pressing pause on the film I put Jock down and rush upstairs to my bedroom and change into my Christmas plaid sleep shirt, and fluffy socks, before going back downstairs to make myself a cup of hot chocolate and get my cookies out of the cupboard. One good thing about working in a café, is that I always make extra treats to bring home with me, for occasions just like this.
These are the chocolate chip cookies that I’m making for the hospital, nut, and gluten free. Yum.
Once I have everything I need I go back into my lounge and hit play on the film. I am taking a sip of the deep, rich hot chocolate when my doorbell rings. I frown and place my mug down on the coffee table and go to see who’s here.
I pull the door open and suck in a breath when I see Maze standing there in a leather jacket zipped all the way up, a black beanie on his head, making the ends of his hair curl. His cheeks and nose are a rosy red from the cold, but he looks handsome as hell.
The cold hits my bare legs and I shiver, folding my arms across my chest. His hands are tucked in the pockets of his jeans and he has an almost sheepish look on his face, which is not the Maze I know at all.
“What are you doing here? Where is Faith?” at the sound of his new baby daughter’s name his smile widens and brightens up his face.
“She’s at the clubhouse, Pres and Lola are watching her for me, while I came here to talk to you.” He explains.
“Why?” I shiver again and he shakes his head slightly and pulls his hands out of his jeans and steps forward. With his hands on my stomach he pushes me back and into my house while he closes the door behind him.
“Come and sit.” His voice has a demanding tone.
“Bossy,” I mutter and take a seat in my spot on the couch.
He chuckles. “Baby, you have no idea.” He removes his jacket and beanie, then sits next to me, twisting his body so he’s facing me, his knee resting along my thigh and puts his arm over the back of the couch.
He stares at me for a few seconds, not saying anything, just looking at me, my body heats from his stare. His gaze drops down my body, taking in my bare legs, that has him licking his lips. The silence is nerve-racking, so I need to end it. I click my fingers in front of his handsome face and he grins at me, bringing his gaze back to meet mine.
“Sorry, but, babe, you have legs that go on for-fucking-ever.”
I huff and pull my legs up so the material of my sleep shirt covers my legs.
“You didn’t come here to ogle me, Maze,” I state. He sighs and once again his gaze penetrates mine, capturing me in a trance that hasn’t happened before. This has happened with Maze but no other men, he always seems to be able to hold me in a lustful gaze.
“First of all, I want to say thank you for all the help with Faith, when she first arrived today. To say I was shocked is a fucking understatement. It was like a swift kick to the nuts if I’m honest, babe. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be a dad, especially after the crappy role model I had before Suede.” He runs his hands through his hair, and I swear I swoon, and I’m thankful that I’m sitting down, because I think my knees would have given out at the sight.
“What I said to you at the club was a shit thing to say. I know you will be around the clubhouse to help, you’re family, babe. May not be an Old Lady, yet, but family just the same.”
I don’t miss the word ‘yet’, but I don’t say anything about it.
“I would love for you to be a part of Faith’s life, I mean she needs some kick arse women in her life, right. Plus, Daddy needs some attention too.”
“True, but please do not refer to yourself as ‘Daddy’ to me. That’s just a no go, mate.” I can’t help but smile at him. He pulls out his phone and sends a text, asking how Faith is doing. Suede replies which pleases him by the wide smile he’s wearing, then he places his phone on the coffee table.
“So, back to what I was saying about the naughty elf costume before what’s her face came through the door and dropped life’s biggest bomb on me.” My heart rate picks up and I swallow.
Can a woman’s body buzz from a thought of a man telling her what to wear? Bugger him.
“What about it?” The grin he wears makes my body tingle in all the right places, but it’s short lived when I see his phone light up with a new text, then another and another all from three different girls. It’s like a bucket of cold water has been dropped on me and I remember what a slut Maze is, and he will never settle down.
All of a sudden, I get the feeling I know what he’s here for. He�
��s here to see if I will help with Faith, not because he actually has feelings for me. The way I have caught him looking at me over the years says he’s interested, even his responses when I go on a date, but he never made a move.
Maybe I’m just not good or slutty enough for him.
I stand from my seat and walk toward the front door without looking at him.
“I think you should go and spend time with your daughter. Don’t worry about my costume I will arrange something.” I tell him and watch as he shakes his head, before looking up at me from his phone.
He sighs and walks over to me pulling on his jacket, and tucking his beanie in the pocket, as I open the door. He stops in the entrance, looking at me but I look anywhere but at him, but he doesn’t allow that. He places his finger under my chin and forces me to look him in the eyes. A piece of hair has fallen forward, and I have to clench my fists, so I don’t reach out and slide it back.
Why does he have to be so damned good-looking?
“They mean nothing to me, Z.”
“None of my business, Maze,” I state, but my stomach churns even more so now at thoughts of him with other women which is silly. I have no right to feel that way.
“Having Faith dropped on me, made me look at things differently. And yes, in such a short time, having a kid will do that to you. I always saw what was in front of me but never reached for it, now I am. Think about that, babe.” He leans in and kisses my cheek, letting his warm lips linger a second longer than a friendly peck, then he’s gone.
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