I forced back a chuckle and slid back under the covers, pressing a warm washcloth between her legs. “Come here.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and burrowed against me, kissing my throat. “I hate these fucking hormones, Doom. Seriously. I’ve cried more in the past few weeks than I have my entire life.”
I lifted her chin and kissed her wet cheek. “Maybe this is Mother Nature’s way of telling you it’s time to let it all out.”
“Are you ready for your woman to be a sobby, stabby mess for the next six years?”
“Six years?”
“You said you want multiple kids, so…”
I chuckled. “Yeah, baby, if you’re willin’ to give me multiple kids, I’ll take you sobby and stabby.”
She smacked my chest. “Wrong answer.”
“What’s the right answer?”
“That you’ll take me sobby and stabby, even if I wasn’t willing to give you multiple kids.”
I raised an eyebrow. “But that would be a lie.”
Her mouth popped open in a gasp and I laughed.
“I’m kidding,” I assured her. “Except for stabby. Sobby I can handle, stabby not so much.”
“You’re so lucky your dick’s big.”
I laughed. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She smiled, finally, then yawned as she snuggled closer again.
“Sleep, baby. You’ve got a big day with Skyler tomorrow.”
“’K.”
“I love you, beautiful.”
“I love you, too.”
I held her until I heard her even breathing, then I let myself sleep as well.
* * *
Lyric
“I think this is it,” I said, and Doom guided the rental into Hatch and Maisie’s driveway. I’d spent the day with Harmony and Skyler getting mani-pedis and heaping attention on my niece who further wrapped her way around my heart. It was going to be even harder to leave in two days, but I was yearning for home, as was Doom.
Tonight, however, Doom had promised Maisie he’d join them for dinner and the invitation had been extended to me, which of course, I had no intention of turning down.
Lord, the chance to spend a few hours with two of the best looking men on the planet? Huh-uh, nope, not letting that opportunity pass me by.
“Well, this was not at all what I was expecting,” I admitted as Doom parked the car.
Hatch’s home was firmly ensconced in the suburbs, complete with neat lawn and a neighborhood that probably adhered to strict CC&Rs.
Doom chuckled and climbed out of the car, walking to my side and helping me out. He kissed me gently before grabbing the wine we’d bought, and then we made our way to the front door.
The door opened before we could knock and a flurry of blonde threw herself into Doom’s arms. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re here.”
Doom chuckled, handing the wine to me and hugging her back. “Hey, Poppy.”
She pulled back and smiled up at him. “You look happy. Are you happy?”
“I’m happy, sweetheart.”
She moved from him to me, pulling me in for a hug. “Thank you for making him happy.”
I grinned. “You’re welcome.”
Hatch walked our way, grinning. “Maisie’s in the kitchen,” Hatch explained. “Come on back.”
We followed him back and greeted their two boys, Jamie and Flash, who were on their way out. I’d met them last Christmas, and they didn’t fall far from the tree of their father and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt they were going to break hearts, if they weren’t already.
Maisie handed Hatch a plate of the biggest steaks I’d ever seen, then hugged us both before guiding us to the large kitchen island. “Sit down and relax.”
“Can I help?” I asked.
“No.”
“Are you sure?” I pressed.
“Don’t try,” Poppy warned. “You’ll get nowhere. Can I get you some wine?”
“Ah, no, thank you,” I said. “Water’s great.”
Maisie gave me a secret smile, and I appreciated she hadn’t spilled the beans, so to speak.
“I’m gonna help Hatch with the meat,” Doom said, and I raised an eyebrow.
“Do you think Hatch needs help with his meat?”
“He has a lot of meat, love,” Maisie said. “He often needs help.”
“Oh, really?”
“So much meat,” Maisie said. “It’s thick and he may need assistance getting it—”
“Mum!” Poppy snapped. “Enough talk about Dad’s meat. I mean, really!”
Doom laughed out loud and headed out the back slider.
* * *
Doom
“Heard you needed some help with your meat,” I said, closing the door behind me.
Hatch smirked, setting the empty platter on the table beside the grill. “My woman’s tellin’ stories again, huh?”
“Somethin’ like that.”
Hatch handed me a beer and I twisted the top and we clinked bottles.
“Congrats on VP,” he said.
“Thanks, brother.”
“You prepped on the Spider shit?”
“As much as I can be,” I admitted. “Anything new?”
“No,” Hatch said. “They’re layin’ low, which doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve got feelers out, but you need to stay alert. They’re plannin’ something big, and I don’t think Savannah’s immune.”
“Got it,” I said. “Let ’em come. Fuckers need a lesson in manners.”
Hatch raised an eyebrow. “Don’t get cocky, Doom. That’s when you’re most vulnerable.”
I sighed with a nod. He was probably right.
“How do you like yours?” he asked, pointing the tongs toward the steaks.
“Medium rare for me, medium for Lyric.”
We put club business aside for lighter subjects and spent the rest of the evening getting to know the Wallace family. By the time I took Lyric home, we both felt we’d made life-long friends and neither of us could wait to come back to Portland.
Lyric
WE’D BEEN HOME for three days and I was settling in pretty easily. Garrett had, in fact, been granted bail, so Doom was on higher alert than before. Luckily, his trial was set for three weeks from now, so this whole issue would be resolved relatively quickly.
I’d moved a few things from my house into the compound yesterday, hard to do when your home was over six-thousand square feet and your man’s space was less than a thousand.
Doc had insisted on clearing out one of the storage rooms so I could use it as an office and I’d initially thought it was a sweet gesture. Until I’d arrived downstairs that morning.
“There you are,” I said to Doom, wrapping my arms around him and giving him a squeeze. He was currently making coffee, shirtless and in a pair of nicely fitting joggers. I had a feeling he was doing something physical because he wore a beanie, which he often did even when it was warm to keep his hair out of his face, and was a little sweaty. Delish. “I don’t like waking up to an empty bed.”
“Needed to finish something.”
I met his eyes. “Everything okay?”
He smiled. “Yeah. I grabbed a couple more things from your place. I put them in your office.”
“What was missing?”
He gave my butt a gentle smack. “Why don’t you go look?”
I headed down the hall and pushed open the door, my hands going to my mouth to stop the girly squeal as I took in everything I was seeing.
Doom had basically replicated my home office. Although, because the space was twice that of the one at my house, he’d added a little lounge area with a television, my oversized snuggle chair and sofa, and a giant-ass cat tree for Booger… who was currently sitting in the cubby portion, staring at us like he was plotting our demise.
“Lincoln,” I whispered, tears burning in the back of my throat as I turned and buried my face in his chest.
“I did good, huh?”
“Oh m
y god, you did so good. I can’t believe you did all this.”
“Doc and Alamo helped.”
Doc’s gesture so far surpassed ‘kind.’
I wrapped my arms around Doom. “I can’t believe Doc and Alamo and the rest of the guys worked like fiends to clear all this out just to make me feel comfortable.”
“You’re ours now, Angel.” He smiled, stroking my cheek. “We protect what’s ours, which means, we make them feel safe. This’ll be your home away from home and we all want you to feel just as comfortable here as you do at your place.”
I leaned up and kissed him. “I love you so hard.”
He lifted me so I could wrap my legs around his waist, kicking the door shut and carrying me to my snuggle chair. He sat down and I shifted so I stayed straddling him, letting him slip my T-shirt over my head.
Kissing me again, he removed my bra and cupped my breasts, rolling my nipples into tight peaks, and I tugged his beanie off, freeing his hair and sliding my hands into it.
“Up, Angel,” he directed, and I climbed off him, so he could stand.
We made quick work of removing the rest of our clothes and then he guided me back onto the chair, and onto his dick.
“Jesus,” he hissed. “So fuckin’ beautiful.”
I smiled, leaning down to kiss him. “Thank you, Lincoln. For everything.” I lifted, then lowered myself again. “Thank you for making me feel loved.” I lifted. “Thank you for making me feel safe.” Then lowered. “Thank you for working your ass off to make my life easier.” Up again, then down. “But most of all, thank you for being you. You are as close to perfect as a human can get, honey, and I won’t ever take you for granted.”
I gripped the back of the chair and rocked gently, taking him deep and relishing the feeling of him inside of me, then I rode him. Hard.
Doom thrust up as I moved, driving himself even deeper and the sound of skin against skin drove me even more crazy as a climax began to build. He slid a hand between us and fingered my clit and I lost all control, my walls contracting around his cock as he cupped my breasts and buried his face between them.
“I need you to do somethin’ for me,” he said.
I stroked his beard. “Anything.”
“You need to figure out a wedding.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re gettin’ married before this baby comes. I’m fine with a quickie on the courthouse steps, but if you want a weddin’, you need to plan it ASAP.”
I climbed off him and snagged my panties off the floor, shimmying them on. “First, you haven’t asked. Second, getting married isn’t going to change anything.”
“Are you saying you’re not going to marry me?”
“Refer to first point,” I said.
He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t verbally spar with me, Lyric.”
I sighed. “I have never entertained the thought of marriage.”
“Entertain it.”
“Doom—”
“Lyric, you’re havin’ my child.”
“Stop interrupting me!” I snapped.
He pushed his hair back and secured it with a band, then the beanie again. “I will propose to you if that’s what you want, but if you want a big wedding you need to start planning now.”
I felt tears of frustration form. God, these pregnancy hormones were starting to piss me off. I was typically as even-keeled as they came and I rarely cried.
“Why do we have to get married?”
“Jesus! Because you’re having my kid!” he growled.
“People who are unmarried have kids all the time,” I countered.
“Ly—” Before he could release the rage I was sure he was fixin’ to, his phone buzzed and he let out a curse as he answered it. “Hey, Pop, now’s kind of a bad time. What? When? Shit. Yeah, I’ll be right there.” He slid his phone into his pocket. “My dad’s had an accident.”
“Oh my god, is he okay?”
“I think so. He needs me to run by his place.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
Doom sighed, sliding his hand to my neck and pulling me against him. “I love you, Angel, and I don’t know what’s got you spooked, but we’re gonna figure it out, because this baby’s comin’ into this world with his mother and father hitched.”
I bit my lip, but didn’t respond.
He kissed me quickly. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
* * *
Doom
I pulled up to my dad’s place, which was also my childhood home, and headed inside. “Pop?”
“Kitchen!” he called.
He was sitting at the table, a dish towel wrapped around his hand, a pair of wire cutters and pliers sitting next to him, and his face was as pale as a sheet. “What the fuck did you do?” He unwrapped the towel and I hissed out, “Shit.”
“I can’t get the ring off.”
“Why the hell didn’t you go to emergency?” I admonished.
“Not wastin’ my money. I just need you to cut it off for me. But be careful. I gotta try and save it.”
“Jesus, Dad, you’re insane.” I washed my hands and studied the wound. “What happened?”
“I was changing a fuse and missed the live wire next to it. The damn thing sent an arc and fused the ring to my finger.”
“I coulda had Doc bring his shit,” I said as I slid the wire cutters under the band as gently as I could.
“Don’t wanna waste his time.” He grimaced as I snipped the gold and set the cutters down. “Sorry I pulled you away.”
“It’s okay, Pop. This was more important.” I used the pliers to pull the ring away from the skin and once it was free, I loaded his hand up with triple antibiotic ointment, then bandaged it.
“Thanks,” Dad said.
“Did you get the fuse changed?” I asked, throwing the bandage remnants away.
“No.”
“Basement?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’ll take care of it,” I said. “Take some ibuprofen or Tylenol while I do that.”
“Thanks, Bud.”
I headed down to the basement and saw the exposed wire he was talking about, so I capped it, then changed the fuse that was blown before checking the others. After clearing away the mess and putting away the tools my dad had left laying around, I headed back upstairs to find him with a beer in one hand and an open one waiting for me.
He waved to the seat across from him. “Did you work it out with your woman?”
“Yeah.” I flopped into the seat and took a long pull from the bottle. “She’s home. At the compound for the moment.” I studied the table. “She’s pregnant.”
“Wow,” he said quietly. “You okay?”
“She’s refusin’ to marry me.”
“No kiddin’?”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “You interrupted that argument when you called.”
He chuckled. “My timing’s always been perfect.”
I smiled. “Maybe so.”
“Where are you at with Jennifer and Ezra?”
I waited for pain to slice through my chest, but what came was just bittersweet memories instead. “It’s better, Pop. Lyric’s changed everything.”
He smiled, reaching over to squeeze my arm. “I’m real proud of you, son.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I rasped, and took another sip of my beer. “Why don’t you come by the club tonight and eat with us? Doc can look at your hand and you can meet Lyric.”
“I can do that.”
I stood and dumped the rest of my beer, then threw the bottle in the recycling bin. Dad followed me out to my bike and hugged me.
“Six,” I said, and he nodded, before I climbed on and took off.
Arriving back at the compound, I walked in and found Willow and Jasmine in the kitchen cooking, and opened the fridge for a beer. “Either of you seen Lyric?”
“I think she’s in her office,” Willow said.
“Thanks.”
“Hey,” she called, as I started to leave. I faced
her and she smiled. “I’m really glad you pulled your head out of your butt.”
I dropped my head back and laughed. “Me too, sweetheart.” I rushed her, pulling her in for a bear hug.
“Doom! I’ve got flour all over my hands.”
“Don’t give a fuck.”
She wiped her hands on my back and giggled. “You asked for it.”
I kissed her cheek and headed off to find my woman, flour covered and all. I pushed open the office door and found her curled up in her snuggle chair, sound asleep. Her laptop was still on her lap, but it was closed, so I lifted it from her and set it on the coffee table.
She started slightly, reaching for it.
“It’s just me, baby. I got it,” I said.
“Is your dad okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll spare you the gory details, but he’s good.” I knelt in front of her. “Tell me why you’re freaked about marrying me.”
“It’s not you.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
She let out a frustrated groan and dragged her hands down her face.
“Angel, just spit it out. Don’t filter it.”
“You’re going to need to sign a prenup.”
“Okay.”
“Wait,” she said. “Really?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But just so you know. I’m not going to ask you to sign one in return.”
She glanced around the room and it hit me.
And that was when I realized she really hadn’t read the file her man had gotten on me.
“Jesus,” I said, and laughed.
“What?”
I walked to her desk and retrieved the manila envelope from under some of her random papers handing it to her. “I give you permission to read everything in this. In fact, I’d rather you did before you spend one more second freaking out over shit you don’t need to freak out over.”
I leaned down and kissed her gently.
“I’m gonna go take a shower while you do that.”
* * *
Lyric
Twenty minutes later…
The sneaky, son of a bitch!
I dropped the paperwork on the coffee table and stalked upstairs to our room, letting myself in and finding Doom walking out of the bathroom. “You’re fucking loaded?” I snapped.
He chuckled. “Yep.”
Quieting the Biker's Rage Page 12