It felt damn good to have Fayth and Marco under my roof. What I always said I never wanted to do was happening to me, and I didn’t even want to stop it.
Fayth was with me, and I never wanted her to leave.
********
Chapter 14
Fayth
“I brought five rotisserie chickens, two pounds of potato salad, two pounds of some noodle salad Lo likes, and about five different kinds of chips. I also grabbed some extras to throw into the fridge.”
“I still think we should have gotten one more chicken.”
“There are ten of us. I don’t think half a chicken a person is enough.”
I groggily opened my eyes and looked around the kitchen. My eyes fell on Cyn and Meg, who were arguing about chicken while they unloaded bags of groceries. When I had fallen asleep, I had thought only a couple of guys were going to drop off my furniture. Now, there were ten people here and a feast of rotisserie chicken was going to happen.
“Yeah, well, two of those people are growing teenagers who could probably eat a chicken a piece.” Cyn balled up all of the plastic bags and shoved them into the garbage. “Not to mention the four grown men out there who can keep up with the teenagers when it comes to eating.”
“Shit, you’re right. Maybe we can have Turtle run and get two more chickens.” Meg began popping open the containers of salads and then started searching in the cabinets. “Jesus, you can totally tell a bachelor lives here. I don’t think he has anything that isn’t plastic or paper for utensils.”
“Maybe Fayth has something in all of those boxes that the guys are unloading,” Cyn suggested.
“Slider told them to leave all of the boxes in the garage until Fayth and Marco go through them. I think they’re only bringing in the furniture.”
“Thank God for that. Hopefully, there is a kitchen table in there. I honestly don’t know how Slider has lived here this long with nothing more than a recliner and a couple of beds.” Cyn leaned against the counter and looked down by her feet. “I can’t believe Micha is still sleeping. Do you think that I should wake him and make sure he is okay?”
Meg waved her arms and shook her head. “Hell to the no, girl. As long as that baby is sleeping, let him be.”
Baby? Oh hell, Cyn had the baby while I was knocked out and then shipped off to Chicago. I tossed the blanket on the floor and sprung from the chair.
“Oh, you’re awake,” Meg cried as I bound into the kitchen.
I rounded the counter and saw Cyn rocking a dark blue baby carrier on the floor with her foot. “And she’s as mesmerized with Micha as much as you are,” Cyn laughed as I kneeled next to the carrier.
“Can you really blame her? He’s damn cute.”
Micha was sleeping peacefully, a light blue blanket tucked round him, and I had to fight the urge to unbuckle him and cradle him in my arms. It had been years since I had held a baby.
“Oh, I know that look. Just like I told Cyn, do not unbuckle that baby,” Meg tsked. “Now that you’re awake, you can run out to the garage and find some pots, pans, and plates. All Slider had was paper plates and a mountain of plastic forks.”
I looked around for my pad of paper and spied it on the counter. I stood, holding up a finger to let Meg and Cyn know to hold on. Hi, I wrote in big, bold letters.
“Hi,” Meg and Cyn chirped at the same time. They both looked at me expectantly.
How long have you been here?
“We got here a little bit ago. We were trying to help guide the boys on where to set stuff, but they sent us away when they couldn’t handle us anymore,” Meg laughed.
“Remy and Marco were listening to us, but it was the guys who were giving us a hard time. We started unpacking the boxes, but Slider insisted that you needed to unpack them.”
That was nonsense. It wasn’t like I had anything private in them. Opening a couple boxes of plates and cups that were mine wasn’t exactly invading my privacy. I’ll look for some plates.
“Perfect. I think the guys were about to start bringing in the furniture. They were trying to figure out which door to go through. That couch you have is enormous.”
My sectional really was huge. When I had seen it in the local furniture store, I knew I had to have it. It had barely fit in the old living room, but I knew it was going to be perfect in Slider’s living room.
“I heard Rigid threaten to saw it in half to make it in the door,” Cyn said, with a giggle.
Oh, hell no. There is no way anyone was going to take a saw to that couch. What?!?! I scrawled out.
“Oh, don’t worry. Slider told him there wasn’t a chance in hell that they were going to do that. He said he used to sleep on it in your old house,” Meg said reassuringly.
I headed out to the garage with Meg and Cyn following closely behind. “Leave the door open so I can hear Micha cry,” Cyn called to Meg.
Slider, King, Rigid, Marco, and Remy were gathered around my couch, each of them eyeing it up.
“All in favor of the saw,” Rigid called.
“Slider,” I yelled as I walked down the stairs, flailing my arms.
“Fayth, what are you doing?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. Like I could tell him what I was doing. I motioned to the couch and shook my head.
“Is this like charades?” Remy asked.
“Yeah, dude. She already said the only word she can. After that, it’s either crazy hand gestures, or she has a pad of paper that she writes everything on,” Marco explained. “If you really piss her off, she’ll flip you off.”
King, Rigid, and Slider busted out laughing while Cyn and Meg giggled behind me. I stomped my foot and pointed at Marco.
“So, what does it mean when she stomps and points?” Remy asked.
Marco stroked his chin and tilted his head. “I’m assuming it’s the same as flipping me off, but she can’t do that because I’m her kid.”
King and Rigid laughed even harder, and Slider tried to smother his laugh with the back of his hand.
I moved towards Marco, and he took off running.
“Abort, abort,” he shouted to Remy as they both ran out of the garage.
“Did anyone else feel like they were listening to commentary for a wildlife video?” King asked, still laughing.
Rigid bent over, bracing his arms on his knees, and wheezed uncontrollably. “Yes,” he gasped.
I tossed my hands up in the air and stomped back into the house. There was no way I was going to get my point across to those buffoons right now. I grabbed my pad of paper off the kitchen island. Cut it, and I cut you, I scrawled.
I stomped back to the garage and tossed the pad of paper at Slider. Marco and Remy were standing to the side of the garage door and peeking in. I shook my fist at Marco, and they took off running again.
Slider picked up the pad of paper that had bounced off of his chest, read it, and then showed it to King and Rigid. “I’m going to have to veto the saw,” Slider decided.
I crossed my arms over my chest and huffed. The threat of bloodshed seemed to be the only thing that got through to these guys.
“We’ll figure out a way to get it in without cutting it, Fayth,” King said reassuringly.
I nodded, satisfied with the fact I could trust King’s word.
“Dinner in half an hour,” Meg announced. “So, figure out how to get that couch in there so we have somewhere to sit beside monkey-piling into the recliner.”
“Speaking of dinner,” Cyn nodded over her shoulder, and we all glanced in the kitchen. Micha’s little feet were kicking the blanket off of him, and I could hear him making little baby noises. “Little monster is going to be hungry in about five minutes.”
I eagerly raised my hand to volunteer to feed Micha.
“Put your hand down, woman. You can only feed him if you have Cyn’s boobs,” Rigid called.
Cyn rolled her eyes. “Jesus, as nicely as Rigid put it, I’m breastfeeding. But as soon as the monster is done eating, he’s all yours.”
“I’ll get dinner set out. You two go chat in the living room.” Meg shooed us in the door.
“Put down the saw,” Cyn called as Meg shut the door.
I worriedly looked over my shoulder, and Meg rolled her eyes. “I promise they won’t cut up your couch. I’d like to think that Rigid was only joking, but you can never be too sure. King won’t let anything happen to it.”
I leaned against the island and watched Cyn grab little Micha out of his carrier. “Can you grab his diaper bag for me, Fayth? It’s by the door.”
I picked up the bag and followed Cyn into the living room. “Thanks,” she said, smiling. She rummaged through it and pulled out a blanket. “It’s so strange that you can’t talk back to me,” she mumbled.
I shrugged and couldn’t help but agree. It was freaking weird, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to be an ass. Hell, with Meg, half of the time I don’t even say anything, and she does quite well holding up both sides of the conversation.”
“I heard that,” Meg called from the kitchen. “Just for that, you don’t get your half of a chicken.”
“Hey,” Cyn called. “I’m nurturing your godson’s life. I need to eat so he can eat.”
“Then, maybe my godson’s mother needs to learn when to keep her mouth shut.”
Cyn rolled her eyes and positioned a blanket over her chest. “Your auntie is crazy,” Cyn cooed to Micha.
“Again, I heard that,” Meg yelled.
Cyn worked her shirt down, positioned Micha under the blanket, and reclined back in the chair.
I laid down on the floor and stared up at the ceiling.
“This still feels extremely weird to me. I think I’m going to be one of those mom’s that stops breastfeeding early,” Cyn confessed. “Rigid about hit the wall when I told him that.”
“Hey,” Meg hollered. “I never breastfed Remy, and he turned out pretty damn well. I even had that damn nurse at the hospital who told me I needed to breastfeed and then made me cry because my damn boobs didn’t work, still didn’t convince me to do what you are doing.”
“I know, you’ve told me that story ten times already, Meg,” Cyn laughed. “Did you breastfeed?” Cyn asked me.
I shook my head no. I had tried to also, but my milk never came in. I had been crushed when I had to feed Marco formula, but I had quickly gotten over it after I had visited one of my friends back then who was being run ragged by breastfeeding her son all of the time. I’m sure that wasn’t the norm, but bottle-feeding is what worked best for Marco and me at the time.
“I’m telling ya, two more weeks and I’m done. Rigid is just going to have to deal with it. They’re my boobs,” she laughed.
The front door banged open, and I shot up to see what the hell was going on. Cyn stood, Micha pressed to her chest and the blanket fell down.
“Fayth, can you—” Slider’s mouth dropped open, and he slapped his hand over his eyes. “Holy fuck!” He blindly tried to walk back out the door and slammed right into the door frame. “Help! Someone take my hand, get me the fuck out of here!” He blindly reached out his arm, and Rigid grabbed it and pulled him out the door.
Rigid peeked in and shook his head. “You saw my woman’s tits, didn’t you?” he yelled.
“I swear to Christ, I didn’t!” Slider tried to walk back in the door but slammed into the door frame again because he still had his hand over his eyes. “All I saw was her shoulder and the back of the kid’s head. I took Marco’s advice and aborted before I saw any more.”
“Cyn, put the blanket back over you and sit down,” Rigid ordered.
Cyn rolled her eyes. “Another reason to give up on breastfeeding. You men are weirdos.” She gently tossed the blanket back over Micha and sat back down.
I couldn’t help but snicker as Slider blindly felt around, trying to walk.
“You can take your damn hand off of your eyes,” Rigid laughed as Slider managed to make it in the door but turned left and slammed right into the hall closet.
“You couldn’t have told me that ten seconds sooner?” Slider grumbled. He turned around, his hand still over his eye but peeked out between his fingers. “Are you sure I can look?”
I silently laughed and laid back down.
“Yes, asshole. You really think I would tell you to look if Cyn’s tits were hanging out?” Rigid growled.
“Hey!” King called. “You think we could talk about Cyn’s tits after we get the couch moved in? This thing isn’t fucking light.”
“How about we never talk about Cyn’s tits again,” Slider mumbled.
“That’s the most intelligent thing you’ve said all day, Slider,” Rigid replied and hit him upside the head. “And I never want any of you fuckers to say Cyn and the word ‘tits’ in the same sentence again,” Rigid barked.
Rigid and Slider walked back out the door, and I turned over on my side to watch them maneuver the couch into the house. They had figured out how to get it in through the door, and in no time, the three-piece sectional was put together, and Marco and Remy were sprawled out on it.
“That fits perfectly in here,” Meg called. “Definitely more room to sit down now.”
“We still need to grab the kitchen table and chairs. Come on, guys.” King knocked Remy’s feet off of the couch. “You two can lay around after we get everything moved in.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Remy grumbled. He sat up and followed King out the door with Marco behind him.
I stood and moved over to the couch. I fluffed the cushions, straightening them and then sat down.
“Are they gone?” Cyn asked. She looked over at me, and I gave her a thumbs up. “Oh hell. I’m sorry. I’m an ass for assuming you can talk. I keep forgetting.” Cyn stood, tucked her boob back in her shirt, and put Micha over her shoulder.
I shrugged. I couldn’t be mad at her. Hell, half of the time I forgot that no words came out of my mouth. It wasn’t a normal occurrence for someone who used to be able to talk to suddenly stop.
I held out my arms and wiggled my fingers, silently begging for Cyn to let me hold Micha.
“He’s all yours,” she laughed and laid him in my arms. “I’m gonna go grab a plate of food before the guys descend on it and devour it all. Do you want me to bring you a plate?” She walked over to the island where Meg was laying out all of the food.
I waited for her to look at me and nodded.
“I really need to remember you can’t talk.”
“It was nice to see you make an ass of yourself and not me for once,” Meg said and pulled a couple of bowls out of the fridge.
“Hey, I was just feeding my kid. Slider was the one who made an ass of himself.” Cyn grabbed two plates and piled them up with food. “Besides, you’ll never live down the coffeepot with Marley.”
“Pfft, please. I think you and I wrecking a bed is at the top for most embarrassing shit we’ve done,” Meg replied and scoffed.
“True, true,” Cyn agreed. “Although, that ended with you getting that huge-ass bed for cheap.”
King walked in the front door with an end table “Cheap? That thing was far from cheap. Over a grand for a bed that I had to fucking fix is not cheap.” King set the end table next to the recliner, and I knew as soon as everyone left, I was going to have to rearrange everything.
Meg rolled her eyes. “Please, you told me last night that bed was best money you’ve ever spent.”
King looked over his shoulder and saw Marco and Remy walk in. “You know damn well why I said that last night. If you can’t remember why, I’ll remind you again tonight.” King winked at Meg and headed back out the door.
“Jesus, I can’t wait ‘til I go to college and I don’t have to go to bed with my headphones on,” Remy mumbled to Marco.
I looked at Meg to see if she had heard Remy, but she was talking to Cyn about chicken. I silently laughed, and I couldn’t help but think that Remy going to bed with headphones on was hilarious but al
so slightly embarrassing. I guess one of the good things about living with Leo was the house was so big that we never ran into those problems.
The guys came in with the rest of the furniture and quickly had it all set up.
“Here ya go,” Cyn sang and sat down next to me.
Micha had fallen back asleep snuggled into my arms. I beamed at her, hoping she would figure out what I was trying to tell her. Her little guy was so adorable that I could hold him all day if she let me.
“You want me to take him so you can eat?” Rigid offered.
I shook my head no and held Micha closer to me. I wasn’t going to give this baby up without a fight.
“Uh oh. I know that look. You’re getting a fever, Fayth,” Meg joked and sat down next to Cyn.
“Fever?” Slider asked, concerned.
“Yup, baby fever,” Meg laughed.
“Don’t worry, Meg had that too, but as soon as the little monster starts crying or needs his diaper changed, she’s eager to give him back,” Cyn laughed.
“Hey, that’s because I’m the fun aunt. I’m here to do cool shit with, like go-carting and possibly playing mailbox baseball.” Meg took a bite of chicken and pointed her chicken leg at King. “Speaking of that, we need to see where Remy’s bat is.”
“Meg,” King said and shook his head. “No mailbox baseball. Can’t you be the aunt to teach him how to bake, not destroy stuff?”
“Hell no. What fun is that?” Meg scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Amateurs. I’ve done this aunt gig three fucking times before with my sister. Trust me when I say I got this shit locked down.”
“You do realize how many times you swore in that sentence, right? But you give the guys hell if they even say damn.” King pointed his finger at Meg. “Get that shit locked down.”
“Don’t say shit,” Meg scolded.
King tossed his hands up in the air. “I seriously don’t know what to do with your mom,” he said to Remy.
“Just agree with her. It’s for the best.” Remy patted King on the shoulder, grabbed his plate piled high with food, and followed Marco out to the garage. Apparently, hanging out with the adults wasn’t cool.
Devil’s Knights MC Box Set 2 Page 57