It Wasn't Me

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  I sighed and dropped one more kiss onto her lips before touching her nose with the tip of one finger.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  And by ‘okay’ I meant was she throwing up non-stop since she’d woken up.

  She understood immediately what I was asking, and shook her head. “I’m fine. I actually managed to eat something before I left today.”

  That was good news.

  “Good,” I sighed when an ear-piercing ‘Dadddddddyyyyyyyyy’ rent the air.

  “Shit,” I laughed. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  After getting one last kiss, I headed inside and was unsurprised to find three pairs of small arms tackling my lower legs.

  “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” my youngest by three whole minutes, Blakesley, cried out, attaching herself to my left leg. “I wissed you!”

  I grinned and jerked my chin up at my father-in-law.

  “Pick me up, pick me up!” Cayley, my middle, pleaded.

  “Daddy,” Halsey, crowed. “You’re wate!”

  I was late. By two minutes.

  Their gymnastics hadn’t even started yet.

  “Bad shift?” Hoax asked.

  I grumbled a ‘fuck yeah’ under my breath and dropped down, picking up my three triplets in both arms, and hugged them closely to my chest.

  And I really had a bad day.

  Each and every person I’d pulled over today gave me shit. And I’d worked two accidents, both of which had taken both my lunch break and my rescheduled lunch break.

  I hadn’t eaten since Piper had brought me donuts this morning on the way home from her shift.

  “Love you, Daddy,” Halsey whispered.

  I pressed a kiss to her forehead and gave each of the other girls kisses, too.

  “Ready to go, ladies?” I asked when the instructor called their class to order.

  “Yes!” all three cried at once.

  Placing them gently on the ground, I watched as each tore out of the waiting area and practically sprinted toward their instructor.

  And, like always, the young man that was teaching the class grinned and dropped to one knee.

  “Swear to God,” Sam said. “I don’t think those girls have met a stranger.”

  No joke.

  I wasn’t sure how they got to be the way they were, but meeting a stranger definitely wasn’t something they experienced very often.

  “Not to mention they can make each and every person they encounter fall in love with them,” Cheyenne interjected her two cents.

  I snorted. “Those girls are only bad for us.”

  From the very beginning, they’d been angels when it came to anybody watching them but Piper or me. But the moment they were with us, it was as if they felt comfortable enough to be themselves. Their really bad selves.

  Though I had to admit, we’d lucked out with our three girls.

  From the moment they were born they were pretty good babies. They slept through the night by six weeks. They went at least four hours in between feedings. They took naps. They were quiet in the car.

  Which likely meant that our next baby was going to be an absolute horror.

  “Y’all deserve it,” Sam muttered as he watched the girls do their stretching routine.

  I snorted. “Whatever.”

  Sam grinned at me. “You got the whole world, you know that, right?”

  I looked at my girls.

  “Yeah, I know,” I said. “I had no clue, before Piper, what I was missing. I just knew that something was. Something vital that stuck with me, day in and day out. Then she came along, and for the longest time, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. Then, when she had the girls? I realized rather quickly what it was. It was that feeling. That feeling that whatever I was missing was gone, and she’d taken it away.”

  I remembered back to the day that she gave me my three girls. That night, as we sat in the hospital after delivering each one vaginally, I’d thought she was a superhero. Most women only have to go through that once, and if they go through it multiple times, years separate them. But my woman? She went through it three times. All three times without any medications to end her suffering.

  And I’d made a promise right then and there that I would go through heaven and hell combined to make sure that I made her as happy as she’d made me.

  I was convinced that one day, at the end of our lives together, I’d finally be even in the love department. That I’d even up the score.

  I’d give her every last bit of love that she deserved and keep on giving it until I had nothing left to give.

  “Daddy, watch this!”

  I returned my gaze to my daughters, loving their bouncy curls and beautiful smiles that reminded me so much of their mother.

  ***

  Piper

  “Sweet!” I cried out and clapped. “That makes me so happy!”

  My boss rolled her eyes. “Sorry that I overbooked y’all but enjoy your night off.”

  I would. I so would.

  Practically skipping out of the hospital, I headed straight to the gym to watch my girls’ practice.

  I’d just walked in the door when I spotted my man in the front row, watching every single thing that was happening with his girls.

  Jonah had always been intense. But with his girls, it was like he was hyper-focused.

  Where other parents were talking to their spouses, playing on their phones, or speaking to the people beside them, my Jonah was staring straightforward, eyes on his girls, watching their every move.

  He’d always been like that, though.

  Even with me.

  If you had Jonah’s attention, you had all of his attention.

  “God, those pants,” I heard said. “He is to die for.”

  I knew without a doubt that the two women in the back row were talking about my man.

  I mean, there was likely not another man in the room that was the focus of almost every female’s attention.

  “He really is. And that beard, and looking at those girls. He’s so good with them,” the one whispered. “His wife is so lucky.”

  I was. I really, really was.

  Speaking of, my eyes went to the front of the room when one of the girls yelled, “Mommy!”

  I grinned when I saw her attention on me, and my breath left me when Jonah’s eyes went from his girls to me.

  The sheer heat in them, even after four years of marriage, was enough to make my nipples bead and my breath come out in pants.

  “Oh shit, do you think she heard us?” the woman whispered quietly.

  Not quietly enough, seeing as I heard every word.

  I smiled and headed in my husband’s direction, ignoring my parents and sister on the back row.

  The girls went back to their gymnastics since it was much more fun than looking at their parents, which was a good thing because Jonah’s focus momentarily switched from his girls to me, which would’ve caught their attention.

  I slid past a few mothers to get to the middle of the row, and since there were no open spots, I chose the best seat in the house—my husband’s lap.

  His hands went out before I’d even made it to him and he tugged me toward his body, causing me to laugh.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  I wrapped an arm around his neck and dropped a kiss onto his waiting lips.

  “They had two charge nurses, and I was given the choice to go home or stay. I chose to go home,” I answered. “How’s it going?”

  “Halsey got to work on a back walkover and she totally mastered it. The other two, not so much.” He laughed. “But they’ll get there.”

  They would. Halsey was just better at the agility thing. The other two were more like me, whereas Halsey was all Jonah.

  “Mommy, watch!”

  I turned my attention to Blakesley, who was trying to do a cartwheel.

  I grinned at her and gave her a thumb’
s up.

  “Kid’s goin’ somewhere,” I teased.

  Jonah pinched my ass, then brought his hand up and rolled it over my small baby bump.

  I was four months along and just now getting to the point of showing.

  “So what’s this mean for tonight?” he whispered.

  I looked back at my mother who was watching my girls, too.

  “I’m gonna see if she’ll take them tonight instead of tomorrow,” I whispered.

  Jonah patted my ass. “Go arrange that so I can watch my girls.”

  I tugged lightly on his beard and got up, heading straight for my mother.

  I didn’t miss the envious looks, either.

  Smiling at a bold woman that gave me an ‘I wish I was you’ stare, I made my way to my parents.

  “Would y’all take them tonight?” I asked. “That way I can spend some time with Jonah.”

  “But if I take them tonight,” my father said, “I won’t be able to do your…”

  “Don’t finish that sentence!” I cried, covering my ears.

  Pru made a gagging sound from beside me.

  I gave her a commiserating look.

  “Y’all want to go eat?” I asked.

  My dad grumbled some more.

  It’d taken time for him to heal, but my father had most assuredly gotten better. He’d also gotten his sweet tooth under somewhat of control, even though he still did what he wanted when he wanted when it came to the beer.

  “Umm,” Hoax said. “I don’t mind getting food and taking it to the house, but it’d have to be yours. And I’m not going out because three area schools are having their senior shit tonight. I heard that three of the rooms at each of the most popular places in town are already booked. It’d have to be your house.”

  After making plans, I stayed by my mom and watched the rest of the girls’ practice, and after they were done, I gave each of them a big kiss on the cheek, then went home with their daddy.

  After dinner, when all of us were stuffed to our gills with pizza, I suggested a walk.

  “I have a field of bluebonnets,” I whispered excitedly. “Do you want to go see them? I want to take pictures of the girls and yours and Phoebe’s kids in them. Like Mom used to do. They’re not all the way bloomed yet, but in a few days they’ll be perfect.”

  “It’s almost dark,” Jonah tried.

  I shot him a glare. “It’s happening.”

  Hoax grumbled, but Pru stood up and clapped her hands. “Let’s go.”

  So we did, flashlights in hand in case the darkness got too deep before we made our ways back.

  It was as I was passing over a fallen tree, one that must’ve fallen recently since it hadn’t been there the last time I’d taken this path, when I saw it.

  “Jonah?” I called out.

  Jonah was at my side seconds after, hopping over the log like it was a branch instead of a seven-foot round tree.

  “What?” he asked, reaching for my hand.

  I pointed at the small brown door that looked like it was heading into a dirt hill.

  “What’s that?” I pointed.

  Jonah looked up and froze.

  “Ummm,” he paused. “I have no idea. I’ve never seen it before.”

  “This tree must’ve been blocking it,” I said as I pointed to the earth where the tree had been uprooted straight from the ground. Hell, there was still grass attached to the tree’s roots that were six feet high in the air.

  Jonah walked over to it and touched the door.

  It groaned.

  Hoax walked up next to him and pulled on the lever, but it broke off in his hand.

  “Hope you weren’t wanting to salvage this,” Hoax laughed.

  Jonah held his hand out for the flashlight and said, “Let me see that so I can get a look inside.”

  I handed it to him and waited for him to tell me what it was, but when he stood back up, he had a very weird expression on his face.

  “Umm,” he licked his lips. “I think I found the treasure that crazy lady was talking about.”

  Hoax bent down to look into the gap that the broken off handle had created in the door, then whistled under his breath.

  “Let’s get this door off,” Jonah said as he gave the door a good tug.

  The wooden slat he was holding onto broke apart like kindling into his hand.

  And that was how the next four minutes went as both men pulled the wooden slats off the door until it was as open as it was ever going to get.

  Jonah held his hand out for the flashlight one more time and shined it into the open, dark space.

  At first, it took me a few minutes to comprehend what I was seeing, but then all the gold started to make sense.

  “Holy shit,” I breathed.

  “Holy shit, indeed,” Jonah rumbled.

  “Is that real?” Pru whispered.

  “Real fuckin’ gold.” Hoax picked up a handful of coins that were on the ground in wooden barrels. “Jesus Christ.”

  Jonah’s eyes met mine, and suddenly, my big man smiled. “Fancy buying a boat?”

  I burst out laughing.

  In the end, we did buy our boat.

  But mostly, I was just happy to have the final piece of the puzzle solved.

  I was also happy to know that there was no ‘baby fetus’ involved. I had my limits, after all.

  “Are you going to kiss me?”

  I looked over at Jonah to see him staring down into my face.

  And without a second thought, I kissed him.

  What’s Next?

  I’d Rather Not

  Book 3 in The KPD Motorcycle Patrol Series

  8-6-19

  Prologue

  Don’t be sad. Because sad backwards is das, and das not good.

  -Coffee Cup

  Pace

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said to Ford, leaning into the Humvee’s window. “That girl sends you more care packages than my mother.”

  “You don’t have a mother,” Cherry Bomb, the resident explosives expert for our unit, said from his shotgun seat. “And I think it’s kind of cute.”

  We all looked at the package that Ford’s sister sent him.

  Ford, better known as Elder to our unit, blushed like a school girl every time he got a package from her. It was actually pretty sweet.

  And even though we’d never seen each other in our civilian lives, we’d grown up in small towns not so far apart. Hell, his father had even arrested my father. Though, we hadn’t realized that until we’d compared stories when we got to this particular hell hole.

  “You’re just jealous that my sister actually likes me, Pascha.”

  I gave Ford a quelling look, then trained it on all the other men that were in the Humvee.

  I really hated my name. I hated it more mostly because my mother had given me my name, and my mother was just as much not a part of my life as my sister.

  Sadly, Ford was also right. I was sort of jealous. Whereas his sister actually cared that he was over here, mine had no clue that I’d even left the states. And if she had known, I highly doubted that the woman would even care.

  “What have I told you about using my real name?” I growled.

  “You told me to never call you Pascha,” Ford repeated.

  Cherry Bomb, also known as Taylor Downs, snorted and continued to stroke his hand over his gun. He did that sometimes, and for the most part, we let him do what he had to do. This place was definitely not comforting, so if he had to always be touching his weapon, we were going to let him be.

  “What all is in it?” I asked, touching the box that was in Ford’s hand with my gloved finger.

  “Random shit, like always,” Ford explained as he started pulling shit out of the box.

  Ford’s sister, Oakley, was actually adorably cute. I’d only ever seen a couple of photos of her—photos mainly consisting of Ford and Oakley when they were children�
�seeing as Oakley liked to cut them out and make weird, random ass ornaments out of them and send them to Ford because she liked to embarrass him. But the pictures that I did see? Well, those took my breath away.

  Oakley was a gorgeous girl.

  She also had two different colored eyes, just like Ford did.

  Ford’s were a light green and a dark blue.

  Oakley’s were a dark, almost emerald green, and a dark blue, almost blue jean in color. At first glance, you couldn’t even tell that they were different colors, not like you could with Ford’s.

  Ford had told me that when they were younger, their eyes had been the same color. But when they were around ten, they’d begun to change. Though Ford’s much more dramatically than Oakley’s.

  Ford and Oakley had inherited their unique eyes from their parents.

  All that I’d inherited from my parents was poor time management skills, and an almost police record.

  “Look at this,” Ford held up a small stuffed bunny the size of my index finger. “Here, you can have it.”

  I grabbed it out of mid-air as he threw it out the Humvee window and glared at it.

  My name, Pascha, was derived from the Greek meaning of ‘Easter.’

  I’d explained it over a drunken night right after boot camp to Ford, and he’d been giving me hell ever since.

  I stared at the white bunny, which also had two different colored eyes, and wondered if I’d ever find a girl that sent me care packages. Even if she sent me bunnies.

  “Look, she sent your favorite again.” Ford tossed me a rope of licorice, again out the window.

  That was when the world exploded around us.