by V. Theia
When Harper squirmed—hug time over, he set his toddler on her feet so she could get back to playing for a few minutes more before he carried her up to bed.
Next he picked up Knox once his squirt gun little dick was covered up.
The little punk loved pissing all over the place, his own father included.
He sat in the black recliner and looked across at Zara. “Come here, Icy.”
In his lap, he held his girl and his son and relished both.
This slice of good meant he would always wade through the shit.
For them he had no ceiling on what he wouldn’t do.
“Did my folks come back over today?”
Zara chuckled and played her fingers over his beard. She did that a lot back in the days of her healing and he wondered sometimes if she was back in that same head space when she did it now.
“You know they won’t miss a day. I told your mom it was far too cold for her to come out, and she made Ajax drive her over. Your dad played with Harper and your mom baked cookies.”
Lips trailed over her bare shoulder, Rider soaked in the bliss his old lady gave him, whether she knew it or not. Today’s PJ’s were Disney villain themed. She had a whole dresser full of Disney shit. It was what his Zara liked so he might have bought her a few sets too to make her happy, she was ridiculously easy to make happy and he never stopped trying.
His Icy was more than just his old lady, she was his queen.
No one should ever underestimate her just because she’s short, adorable and about as sweet as they come. She’d gone at Texas’ girl like a rabid dog, and though she’d felt guilty for her outburst on the way home, he’d been pathetically proud and couldn’t stop laughing on that drive.
No one fucks with her boys, she’d said.
His men adored her, they’d gathered at the house and praised her until she turned maroon in color and buried in his chest but loving it too.
He loved every inch of his Icy, his perfect MC queen.
It’s not always the wolf you have to be wary of. The lamb was just as dangerous given the right provocation.
“And what did you do?”
“Me and the tank here had a gorgeous nap,” she looked down at a quiet Knox.
Whereas Harper went hundred miles an hour, Knox was quiet, even when he woke up he never screamed, just laid in his crib until someone went to get him.
Rider reckoned one day—if he decided to go into the MC business, his boy would be a level headed Prez.
Just imaging passing the gavel to the next generation warmed his chest.
It was a hard life but a great legacy.
All the shit he’d done in the past and the shit he continued to wade through today was all for his kids, to give them a better, easier life.
He wouldn’t tell Zara he got shot at twice tonight.
She’d worry herself sick and though from the moment she came back to him they vowed to never have secrets from one another … she knew it all, the good, the bad and the downright ugliness of his club life.
This he would keep to himself.
That showdown didn’t end at Otis’ door.
The fool Russian goons thought it would be fun to lay in wait for him and his boys.
Now those idiots were dead in the pig pen up in the mountains and Grigori had one more black mark against his name.
They were getting ever closer to getting rid of that man, and not just taking his lunch money from him. Though, Lawless loved doing that. It was getting close to 20 million in hidden money in an account only Lawless, Hawk and Rider knew about.
The Souls weren’t hurting for money, but for the fact they were siphoning off every last cent of profit the Russian’s were making in his state made Rider a happy fucking man.
After his important phone call tonight, he was ready to put a bullet in him.
“Good day, biker-man?”
Half of his mouth lifted up when she played with the back of his neck, sitting her little butt on his lap, she squirmed to cuddle in. He took a hand from Knox who was happily gazing up at his parents, and he rubbed her belly.
“It is now. How about we toss these hooligans into bed and have us a night?”
Her pale blue eyes twinkled and swear to fucking Christ, he loved putting that look in her eyes.
He’d walk through fire if it made happiness soak through her features like that.
Dropping a new kiss to the side of her neck, he lifted up easily and deposited Zara on the armchair, taking Knox from her. “Stay right here, I’ll be back, don’t move that tiny butt, Zara.” He warned, knowing his girl, she didn’t rest for a second, she’d be cleaning in the kitchen if he let her.
“Not so tiny anymore,” she grumbled and he sex groaned.
He fucking loved her ass, loved holding it and watching it bump into his stomach when he was doing her from behind.
From behind…fuck yeah, that’s what he needed tonight. Taking her from behind and his fingers on her clit, thumb in her mouth, making his woman fall apart, to bathe in her pleasure until this whole fucking day washed away.
He carted the kids upstairs, did a fast bedtime for Harper until she fell asleep with her feet on her pillow and clutching her action figures.
Rider found Zara right where he left her, with her head back, eyes closed.
“Bedtime already?” She asked when she was in his arms, taking his tiny woman upstairs after he locked the house down.
“Yeah, Icy.”
The baby kicked his belly and he got a sense of satisfaction to know they made another…and probably final baby between them. It was the first baby they’d found out the sex beforehand just a few months ago at one of those ultrasound appointments. Zara cried in the room making Rider crazy to fix her tears. She cried when she was fucking happy, so basically he was crazy all the time. But very soon his second son, Zane, would be here.
“You shouldn’t carry me, you’ll put your back out.” She didn’t appear worried about his bones as she nestled into Rider’s neck, with her arms looped around him.
He just smiled into her hair and walked along the hallway to their bedroom.
Their lips sealed when he placed her gently on top of their bed, she didn’t let him go so he could tuck her in or grab a fast shower.
So he kissed his Icy how she needed until she sighed dreamily into his mouth.
“Are we having sex? It’s been two whole days, Ambrosio.” She accused, like it was his fault his mother stayed over last night and Zara wouldn’t let him do her nastily as he wanted.
Laughing, he pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor. She’d bust his balls about it tomorrow, but right now she was checking him out as she scooted up against the high headboard.
“Two whole days, my sex maniac old lady.”
“Yeah, so you better put out, I’m not made to be celibate when a body like yours lies in bed next to me.” Her tongue went into the side of her cheek as she grinned.
He would die fucking this woman.
This right here was the best part of his day, getting to crawl into bed with her, listen to her day and tell her about his, no matter how shit it had been.
No biker worth a cent would tell you his old lady isn’t his everything.
Those who are lucky enough to get an old lady like Zara, know to hold on tight and not fuck that shit up by taking his dick all around town.
He couldn’t speak for his brothers or his other MC brethren, but Rider was loyal to his old lady, he saw no one but her, she was his oasis.
The way her eyes gulped him down, she was in for a long night, even with her yawning.
He had an old lady to satisfy and his Zara had big appetites.
“Get naked, Rider, and get into this bed. Then you can tell me what’s bothering you.”
She always knew, he smiled to himself.
Another reason she’s the Souls queen.
He got her laid into his side, her hand toying with his beard.
She got e
ither hyper or tired as fuck after he fucked her, he didn’t wanna tell her it was snowing again because he knew she’d have him out there at 3 am just to watch it.
And idiot that he was, he’d bundle her up and do just that.
Before all that, he told her his concerns about Texas and what all the boys had seen tonight.
He’d done the right thing at the time cutting his treasurer loose.
He just didn’t realize at that time it might be a mistake, that another punishment might have been more fitting.
Especially if he’d cut Texas loose, only for the guy to get entangled in shit he wouldn’t walk away alive from.
He talked about the shit with his old lady.
Then he fucked her to sleep.
The next morning he had to take her out in the fucking snow.
And Rider didn’t say shit about it.
TWENTY-SEVEN
“Brushing shoulders with evil.” – Poppy
It took only several weeks or so for Poppy to realize the town of Armado Springs was a close-knit community despite its city feel.
The people were inquisitive.
And they demonstrated wariness for anyone new.
They also looked out for one another.
She was used to being asked now if she was Texas’ girl.
It happened in the pharmacy, the grocery store and a quaint little bookstore she stopped inside just to browse.
And when she told them that yes, she was Texas’ girl, they got this look on their face.
Either one of awe, this was usually from women. She couldn’t blame them, because Tait was the hottest man alive. The other look was suspicion. This one she took offense to and didn’t engage with those people.
She avoided seeing Paige that day when she was coming out of the library with another woman. They were laughing together and the sight of her ex-boss made Poppy hide behind a wall until they passed by.
And because she was having a cringe-worthy morning already, she decided to go for the full package and she called her mom.
Yeah, that reception was lukewarm, at best and her heart jolted inside her chest. Even though she knew her parents and wasn’t wholly surprised.
“I need you to tell dad to have my account unfrozen. What he’s done is unfair.”
“You brought it on yourself, Penelope.” Her mom’s toneless voice said as though she were already bored of the conversation and that hurt bad.
This was usually the part where Poppy would back down.
She always did.
She didn’t want to do pageantry for eight years, her mom said it was good for her, so she did it. She didn’t want to spend summers in Boulogne at an all-girls finishing school, her mom insisted and Poppy gave in.
“How did I do that, mom? By not wanting to marry a man who I didn’t love?”
“It’s whom, dear.”
Oh, my God. Poppy looked to the sky and prayed for patience and understanding. Her mom was a different generation, she did have an arranged marriage, if you can believe that. She always thought her parents loved one another, now she wasn’t so sure of that anymore.
“I need money, mom. Dad had no right to lock my account. That money was from nana, it has nothing to do with him.”
She had money now, thankfully, but her mom didn’t need to know that.
Several days ago Tait found her looking at the wedding gown hung up in his bedroom, she’d unzipped the bag and let the lace fall out. It truly was a beautiful dress. His hand touched her waist from behind and he said, “bet you looked gorgeous in that, little girl.” She’d blushed. “You wanna put it on?” She’d balked at the suggestion, unsure why at first. “No, I don’t want you to see me in a wedding gown,” what she meant was, she didn’t want him to see her in another man’s wedding gown. She wanted to wear a wedding dress meant for him, meant to walk down the aisle to him. He palmed her bottom, told her he still thought she’d look sexy and then told her to do what she wanted with the dress.
That day she put the dress on Craigslist for 10 grand, less than 9 thousand that was paid for it. Within the hour, it was sold and picked up.
Now she had money, but this was the principle of the thing.
She needed to pay Tait back.
“It has everything to do with him when you humiliate us and our name.” Evelyn Astor imparted.
“Is that really all you’re bothered about? You don’t ask how I am, how I’m even living with no money. Just so long as I don’t blacken the family name…”
“Penelope, I don’t care for your tone, it’s so unbecoming, dear. Your father is only looking out for you and he said when you’ve gotten over your silly tantrum, you can come home and we can fix this.”
Poppy’s eyebrows shot up into her hair. “Fix it how?”
“We’ll have a sit down chat with Ronnie and his family.”
“Oh, my God, mom. Seriously? I don’t want to marry Ronnie Pitstop! He doesn’t even want to marry me.”
“You embarrassed him, dear, he’s bound to be licking his wounds.”
Yeah, right. Ronnie was probably getting his dick sucked by one of the server girls at the country club.
“Can you just for once see things from my point of view? I don’t want to marry him, I tried telling you for months and no one listened to me.”
“Oh, dear, it’s just nerves. Do you think I didn’t have them?”
“Probably not.”
“Well, I did. But you see how happy your father and I are. We only want the best for you.”
“I don’t think you do.” She whispered into the phone crushed in her hand. “I’m your daughter and you’ve discarded me like I don’t even matter. That hurts, mom.”
It was only then, a split second that she heard her mom inhale and her voice broke. “Penny, that’s not…”
“You sent every piece of everything I own, that tells me clearly you want rid of me from your life, scraping me off.”
“I didn’t… I thought.”
Poppy shook her head and the impending tears stinging the back of her eyelids. “Just tell dad to have my assets unlocked, or I’ll be seeking legal advice and God forbid the Astor’s be embroiled in a scandal.”
“Penelope, really…” her mom huffed. “You’re going to eat your words one of these days when you’re alone.” She was probably clutching a lace embroidered handkerchief to her nose with aghast that her daughter would even dare step out of line.
“Love you mom, bye.”
She hung up and tried really hard not to cry her eyes out on main street.
Within the hour she checked her banking app and her account was valid again.
She exhaled a huge sigh of relief, because she’d completely been fibbing, but she’d known the threat of public humiliation would motivate her mom.
She might have gone a little shopping wild in the next few hours.
Her arms aching from overloaded bags hooked on her fingers, she trudged back to Tait’s apartment, happy and eager to see him, with plans to cook him a massive dinner tonight and seduce him.
Struggling with the bags and fighting to find the key somewhere in her pockets, Poppy was ready to dump everything into the piles of snow by the door that Tait dug out only last night when she heard a manly chuckle behind her.
It was a set of manly hands too that reached out and steadied Poppy by holding her forearms before she planted her ass on the icy sidewalk.
The man in front of her gave her heart palpitations and a dry mouth.
“Please, allow me to help you, someone so pretty should not struggle, da?” It was the smartly dressed Russian—the man in the mafia more to the point, who smiled at her. She noticed now the long black Mercedes parked at the curb.
“I’m…I’m fine, thank you.”
All of a sudden her heart sprinted into a pitter-patter sequence that just wouldn’t quit its hammering.
The Russian mafia man was at Tait’s house.
Was he coming or leaving?
W
as it a coincidence he was just driving by?
She didn’t care, she just wanted to get inside and started rooting around frantically in her pocket in hopes of finding the darn key.
“I would welcome you inside my vehicle to keep warm if you are unable to get inside,” again his smile was gracious but didn’t leave her feeling safe in his presence.
When she inhaled a big breath, the cold air stung her nose but fortunately her fingers clasped around the key.
“I’m good.”
He smiled and inclined his head.
He was dressed in a dark gray wool overcoat, a silver watch at his wrist and a ring on his pinky finger. With his hair scraped back in a neat cut, the man dripped money.
Poppy should know, she was always—until recently, around people who dripped money on their bodies. Now she was living a simpler life, she was even ashamed of her extravagance she’d been taught to live.
The money she’d wasted just to fit in with her crowd.
The same crowd who didn’t care where she was.
So yeah, they weren’t a crowd worth knowing.
The night Tait took her to a grocery store and let her push the cart, he got a kick out of her excitement for choosing things. He even teased her that it must be the first place she’d stepped inside where things didn’t cost the earth.
He’d been right, but she’d loved every second of it.
She needed money to live, but she wasn’t living for money anymore.
Not when she’d been happy for weeks without it.
This guy in front of her was from money. Whether he was born to it or he earned it and she didn’t want him at Tait’s door.
“I see that you are, Miss. Astor. We should have dinner some time.”
Oh. My. God. Was he hitting on her? Ew.
“I have a boyfriend.”
Well, maybe. Hopefully. But Russian man didn’t need to know the particulars of her and Tait’s maybe relationship.
“Da.” He grinned. “I meant you and Texas to join me.”
Yeah, right, buddy.
With the front door pushed open, she dropped all the bags inside and turned back to him. He was standing casually with both hands in his pockets like he was any person who dropped by for coffee, but now Poppy knew different.