“You knew, didn’t you?” I accused Cyn.
Cyn nodded her head. “Did I know she worked here? No. Did I see her before she saw you? Hell, yes. I haven’t run that fast in years.” Cyn gripped the handle on the cart. “I had my eyes on you two the whole time though. I was ready to pounce if you needed me.”
Ready to pounce my ass. Cyn didn’t wanna talk to Cherry any more than I did.
“Maybe we should find another place to buy decorations for the party?” Marley suggested.
I shook my head. “They have the best decorations here, and from the brief conversation Cherry and I just had, I don’t think she is going to be a problem.” I glanced down the aisle toward the cash register. “Though I still don’t trust Cher any further than I can throw her.”
“Cher?” Cyn snickered.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. She made sure to correct me right away that she goes by Cher now instead of Cherry.”
Fayth wrinkled her nose. “Is that supposed to be an improvement?”
Marley snickered. “There is only one Cher in this world as far as I’m concerned.” She brushed her hair to the side and licked her lips. “Do you believe in-.”
Paige held up her hand. “No, please. Not another horrible Cher impersonation.”
Marley flipped her off. “Screw you, I’m great at Cher.”
I waved my hands in the air. “Focus, ladies. Now that Cher is at the counter I just want to get the hell out of here. Anything with those adorable puppies on them, grab it and meet at the register. Cyn and I will take this half of the store, you three take that half.”
We once again separated with our goal in sight.
Cyn and I grabbed plates, napkins, cups, tablecloths, and a shit on of confetti. “You think this is enough?”
I looked down at the half full cart. “I’m gonna say yes, but I hope Fayth and them were able to find some more decorations.”
“Done!” Paige shouted from the other end of the store.
“Welp, let's find out,” Cyn laughed.
We met at the register where Cherry was waiting for us.
“Don’t leave me,” Cyn whispered.
I glared over my shoulder at her. “Oh, you mean kind of like how you left me earlier?”
“My fight-or-flight instinct kicked in. Flight won,” she mumbled.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s a good thing you’re my best friend.”
Fayth had her car loaded down with balloons, candy, little toy party favors, and stuffed animals of all the characters.
“They had t-shirts, but I didn’t know if you really meant grab everything that had Paw Patrol on it.
I shook my head and grabbed the white stuffed dog. “This is perfect. Jonas is going to freak when he sees the clubhouse next weekend.”
“I think Lo and the rest of the guys are going to freak out too,” Cyn laughed. “First, we take over the clubhouse with weddings and now we’re going to have a four-year-old’s birthday party there.”
“It works out perfectly for the guys because once the cake is eaten they can go hangout in the garage or something while the kids run around hopped up on cake and soda.” Marley grabbed a pack of balloons. “We’re gonna need a helium tank for these.”
“I can get you one.”
We all spun around. I had forgotten that Cherry was literally a few feet away from us.
“Uh, well, thanks,” I stuttered.
“We need to get out of here before Cherry realizes that she hates us,” Cyn whispered.
I nodded my head. “Totally.”
We unloaded both carts onto the counter while Cherry ran to get a helium tank.
“You suppose she went to the back to get her machete?” Fayth asked.
“Machete?” Marley laughed. “Is she from the jungle or something?”
Fayth waved her hand. “Marco was over last night and we watched Jumanji. I have visions of The Rock in my head. Sorry.”
Cyn waved her hand. “Girl, you never have to apologize for having The Rock on your mind.”
“Amen to that,” I mumbled.
“Here we go.” Cherry came back with a box in her arms. “I figured one tank would be enough. Am I right?”
I glanced at Cyn. “Uh, sure? We just have a couple packs of balloons to blow up.”
Cherry made small talk about her son loving Paw Patrol too while she rang up everything.
All I could do was mumbled my agreement because I was still shocked as shit that Cherry Kratter was talking to us like we were her friends.
She handed me back my change with a huge smile on her face. “Have a great day.”
“Was that the twilight zone?” Cyn asked once we were to the car. “That had to have been the twilight zone.” She glanced back at the store. “I’m kind of waiting for her to come tearing out of the store yelling at us.”
“Definitely seems more fitting than what just happened.” I grabbed two bags from the cart and popped the trunk. “Maybe she found god or something.”
“Troy just messaged me wondering when we’re going to be back to the clubhouse,” Marley laughed.
“Are the kids too much for them?” Paige asked.
“I think seven kids it too much for anyone.” Fayth helped me load the rest of the bags while Cyn returned both carts to the store.
She came running out of the store with a huge smile on her face. “Get in the car!” she shouted. “We were totally right about Cherry!”
We all got into the car and Fayth started the engine.
“What in the hell are you going on about?” Marley asked.
Cyn was winded from her sprint across the parking lot and held her hand up. “Give me a minute,” she panted. She twirled her finger in the air. “Drive,” she ordered Fayth.
Paige and I glanced at each other as Fayth pulled out of the parking lot.
“You got about ten more seconds to catch your breath and then you better start talking, woman.”
Cyn took two deep breaths. “She hates you.” She smiled widely. “She absolutely loathes me.”
“What?” Fayth asked. “How in the hell do you know that?”
“Because when I took the carts back in she was at the front register on the phone just going off about us.” Cyn cackled. “I don’t know who she was talking to, but it was funny as hell. The only reason she was nice to us was because she needs her job.”
I shook my head. “I thought she was pretty sincere when she was talking to us.” That’s what I got for thinking the evil witch could change her ways.
Cyn held up her hand to quiet us. “She said she had all of our men and settled with her sloppy seconds.”
“Well, that is some bullshit,” Marley laughed. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “If Troy or any of the guys were into her before they met us then I have to say that each one of the guys did one hell of an upgrade.”
“Amen to that,” Paige called.
“Only we could go shopping for decorations for a four-year-old’s birthday party and ran into a chick who slept with our husbands,” I laughed.
“Never a dull moment, right?” Cyn elbowed me in the side.
Now that was the damn truth.
*
Lo
“That thing… with your… tongue,” Meg panted. “Please tell me you never did that with Cherry.”
I rolled over on my back and tried to catch my breath. “Just had my dick buried deep inside you and the first thing you ask is about Cherry. Thought I was done with that bitch over ten years ago.”
“Me too, until she checked me out at the party store today.”
“Well, get that dumb chick out of your head.”
Meg rolled over onto her side and rested her hand on my chest. “Maybe you need to try one more time to help me forget about her?” she wiggled h
er eyebrows and her hand slid down my chest.
“The last two times didn’t do the trick?”
She shook her head. “One more time and I’m pretty sure I’ll never speak her name again.”
“Then hold on, babe. It’s time to go for another ride.”
Meg hummed and wrapped her fingers around my dick. “I like the sound of that.”
*
Chapter Twenty
Meg
“We should have gotten another pack of balloons.”
Cyn grabbed the last balloon and hooked it to the helium tank. “You gonna run back to Party Supply and get them? I’m sure Cherry would be more than happy to help you.”
“Uh, you know what? I think we have just enough.” Cyn tied the balloon and handed it to me.
“Thought you might see it that way.” Cyn fell back into the couch and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. “Have any of the guys seen this yet?” she asked.
I shook my head and tied the last piece of ribbon to the end of the balloon. “Nope. Lo and the guys took the kids to the park as soon as we got here, and they have strict orders to not come back until four.”
Gwen plopped down on the couch next to Cyn. “Are you sure you’re not the president of the Devil’s Knights?”
“I guess sharing a bed with him has its perks.” I winked at Gwen and grabbed a bunch of balloons Cyn and I blew up. “Help me spread these around and then I think we are good to go.”
“You think King will let us have the twins birthday party here too? I’d much rather mess up the clubhouse than our house.” Paige carried two bowls of chips out of the kitchen and set them on the bar. “Plus, there is an abundance of booze here.”
“The bar is closed until seven. I don’t need everyone stumbling around at a four-year-old’s birthday party. I don’t need CPS on my butt before it’s official official that Jonas is ours.” I set a bunch of balloons on the end table by the couch and looked around the clubhouse. Paw Patrol had thrown up all over and I knew Jonas was going to freak out when he saw it.
“Aw, it’s like she’s a new parent trying to be perfect,” Cyn laughed. “I remember when I was like that with Micha. It lasted for about two years and then I said fuck it.”
“Here, here,” Fayth laughed. “With Marco I don’t even think I lasted a year trying to be the perfect mom.” Fayth plopped down on the couch. “It didn’t help that I had zero mom friends because you know, the whole my brother being a Banachi.”
“How is Leo doing?” Paige asked.
Fayth shrugged. “As good as can be expected. I wish he would settle down, but he’s too focused on building his empire. Thankfully he has Apollo and Greer to be his little family since I’m not there.”
“You want me to start bringing the food out?” Ethel called.
I dropped the last bunch of balloons on the bar. “Yes, but don’t even think about picking up that roaster, Ethel. I’ll be there to get it.”
Ten seconds later Ethel walked out of the kitchen carrying the exact roaster I had just told her not to touch. “Nonsense. This isn’t that heavy.”
I met her halfway and followed her carefully to make sure she could handle carrying it. “For goodness’ sake, Ethel. If Lo would have seen you carry that he would have had my butt in a sling.”
Ethel set the roaster full of hot ham and turkey slices on the bar. “I’m old, not dead,” she tsked. “Sixty-eight and I still feel like a twenty-year-old.”
Thank god for that. With the health scares Ethel had, it was a miracle she still felt young. Hell, the two cancer scares had aged Lo and I.
I plugged in the roaster and chased Ethel over to the couch. “Well, sit down and let us get the rest of the food. You were nice enough to cook everything so the least we can do is set everything out.”
Ethel flopped down on the couch. “I was surprised as hell that you let me cook everything.” She laughed and shook her head. “Although you did sent me a pretty detailed list of food and recipes, you wanted me to use.”
I grabbed the platter of buns and set them next to the roaster. “Most of those specifics were from Jonas. He was dead set on mac and cheese and cheese puffs.”
“I figured those were from him, but I kind of figured the rest was you.”
I shrugged and headed back into the kitchen. “Hey, as delicious as mac and cheese and cheese puffs are, I figured we needed more than that to eat.”
Fayth and Paige helped me grab the rest of the food and by the time it was all out, the bar was covered and I still had to bring the cake out.
That was the one thing I kept to myself. Though I did have Ethel make a cherry and apple pie for dessert backup if anyone wasn’t feeling cake.
“Holy hell, Meg. How long did it take you to make that?” Cyn whistled low. “I always forget how amazing you are when it comes to cake.”
“I’m only amazing with cake?” I laughed.
Cyn rolled her eyes and helped me lay the cake down on the card table at the end of the bar. “You know what I meant, woman.”
I stepped back and looked at the cake. “I really did kick ass with this, didn’t I?”
Three tiers that were Jonas’s three favorite characters.
Chase. Rubble. Everest.
Who would have ever thought that I would once again know character names for kids shows? I figured those days were long behind me.
“You do know Greta is going to want you to make this cake for her for her birthday but with her favorite characters, right?” Gwen laughed. “Marshall, Skye, and Everest.”
I nodded my head. “Her birthday isn’t for another four months. That’ll give me plenty of time to recoup from this one.”
“Troy just called. He said they are on the way home from the park,” Marley called.
“Woo,” Cyn yelled. “It’s almost party time!”
We all ran around making sure everything was ready from the cake, to the food, to making sure there was toilet paper in each bathroom. Never mind me rearranging the balloons ten times until the front door open and Jonas came barreling in.
He skidded to a stop in the middle of the clubhouse and beamed brightly. “Holy cow,” he gasped.
“God damn,” Lo said under his breath. He was two steps behind Jonas and his jaw dropped to the floor too.
“So, what do you think?” I asked with my arms stretched wide as I turned a slow circle.
“This is amazing,” Jonas gasped. His feet came unstuck from the floor, and he ran around stopping to look at something new every five seconds. The rest of the kids piled into the clubhouse and the guys followed behind.
“Sweet Jesus.” Demon shook his head. “You guys can’t do shit like this because then the rest of the kids start getting ideas that all the parties are going to be like this.”
Even Demon knew this was freaking amazing.
Balloons, streamers, and banners were all over while confetti littered the tables and in the corner was a game where you had to put Chase’s fire hat on him.
The kids ran around like crazy, grabbing stuffed animals and collapsed on the floor to play. The older kids even seemed to take it all in and think it was pretty cool.
Lo put his arm over my shoulders and pulled me close. “You did good, babe.”
I tipped my head back and smiled up at him. “You think?”
He nodded his head. “I know so.”
“Then I guess it was worth it to have to deal with Cherry if it meant Jonas was going to have the best birthday party.”
Lo chuckled and nodded to the table by the cake. “What the hell are those?” he asked.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him across the room. I grabbed a red hat and plopped it on his head. “That is Chase’s fire hat. Everyone gets on.”
Lo took it off and looked it over. “This shit is crazy, babe.” He put the hat back on his he
ad and looked around. “He’s absolutely going to love it.”
I crossed my fingers and held them up. “Finger crossed that he does, because if he doesn’t, I’ve got a couple of costumes you and the guys can put on to spice things up.”
Lo shook his head. “There will be no spicing things up for this guy.”
I bumped him with my shoulder. “That’s what you like to think. If Jonas wants you to play with him, you know damn well that you aren’t going to say no.”
She was right, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. I leaned close and pressed a kiss to her neck. “I get to be Rubble.”
She tossed her head back and laughed hysterically. She put her arms around my neck and pressed a kiss to my lips. “You got it, honey.”
*
Chapter Twenty-One
Lo
“We gotta go, babe.”
“Uh, I’m coming. Just give me one minute.” Meg sniffled through the door.
“Pull it together, mama.”
“Are we gonna be late, Papa Lo?” Jonas stood behind me with his backpack on and his snack bag in his hand.
I crouched down in front of him and smiled. “We’ll be right on time, little dude. I know Mama Meg well, and knew I was going to have to give her a little more time than normal on your first day.”
“She doesn’t want me to go?”
I shook my head. “She wants you to go, but she’s just a little sad that she doesn’t spend the whole day with you.”
“Then I’ll stay home.”
“No,” Meg called from the bathroom. “I’m fine Jonas. I’m just… I’m just a blubbering mess.”
That was the damn truth. Meg had warned me last week that when Remy had started school she cried for two weeks. I was hoping she would be able to pull it together better with Jonas.
The first day was proving she was fully going to be a hot mess.
The door swung open and Meg stood there with a cheesy smile plastered on her face. “Let’s go to PreK.” she sang.
Yup, this was definitely going to be interesting.
*
Forever Lo (Devil's Knights Book 9) Page 8