“See, as much as you like to think that Remy is on your side, he’s on mine. I gave that boy life,” Meg laughed.
“I’m only on your side in hopes that you’ll stop talking,” Remy called before he shut the door to the garage.
“Hey!” Meg protested.
“Checkmate,” Slider mumbled. “The kid has the last word.”
“Hey, no one asked the peanut gallery,” Meg said. She popped up from the couch and beelined it over to King.
“Oh hell, here we go. She’s gonna give him hell,” Cyn laughed.
Meg set her plate down, started talking with her hands, and went off on King.
Rigid stood in front of me with his arms held out. “I’ll take the boy.”
I held him close and shook my head.
“Give him up, woman.”
Cyn elbowed me. “Just give him up. I’ll come over this week without overprotective father here, and I’ll let you hold him the whole time.”
“I’m not overprotective,” Rigid protested and grabbed Micha out of my arms. “I just missed my boy.”
“Funny how you don’t miss your boy in the middle of the night when he wakes up wet, or hungry.”
“I don’t have the right equipment to feed him,” Rigid argued and winked at Cyn.
“Oh trust me, in two weeks, we’ll both have the same equipment to feed him. A bottle.”
Rigid rolled his eyes and gently rocked Micha in his arms. “We’ll see about that.”
“Oh, we certainly will.” Cyn smirked.
I grabbed the plate Cyn had brought me and munched on the chicken and salads as I listened to everyone talk around me. I couldn’t count how many times I wished I could join in the conversation, but nothing would come out. Slider’s eyes stayed on me the whole time while he ate, and he barely spoke.
“That’s it, we’re going,” Meg called from the kitchen.
I had just finished eating and stood from the couch, wondering why they were leaving already.
Rigid laid Micha in his carrier. “Us too. We need to get the little guy home for his bath.”
Cyn sighed and stood next to me. “The man may drive me crazy with his overprotectiveness, but I can say with no doubt that he is one damn good dad.”
I smiled at her and was glad she had someone like that. Raising a child with no father was a hard task I hoped Cyn never had to go through.
“I’ll leave all of the leftovers,” Meg called and started Saran-wrapping everything. “I’ll put the extra food I bought in the fridge and pantry, Fayth, but I know you’ll want to arrange things where you want them.” Meg opened the fridge and put a few containers on the top shelf.
“How many chickens were left?” Cyn asked, grabbing the baby carrier.
“Only half. I swear Marco and Remy ate a chicken a piece.” Meg shook her head and shut the fridge door. “The only good thing about him going to school in Chicago is my grocery bill will be cut in half.”
“You say that now, until he calls you every week and gives you a sob story of how he doesn’t have any food,” King laughed.
Meg shrugged. “He’s my baby.”
“He is far from a baby, Meg.” King put his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close.
“He’ll always be my baby,” she whispered. King pressed a kiss to the side of her head, and she burrowed into his side.
“All right, we’re out. We’ll get together this week, Fayth.” Cyn waved and left out the front door with Rigid following behind her.
“Later,” Rigid called.
“I’ll grab Remy and meet you out by the truck.” Meg pulled out of King’s arm. “I’ll come over with Cyn. We can catch up then.” Meg squeezed my arm, waved to Slider, and headed out to the garage.
“That woman isn’t going to know what to do with herself when Remy goes off to college,” King sighed. “It’s a miracle she’s letting him go that far.”
Slider began gathering dirty plates and dumped them into the sink. “He’ll do good. He’s got a good head on his shoulders.”
“It’s not him I’m worried about,” King laughed. “I’ll see you at the shop tomorrow.” He grabbed a couple of chips and popped them into his mouth. “Things are picking up with the nice weather coming. Lots of bikes scheduled for this week.”
Slider nodded. “I need to get mine up and running too.”
“It’s about damn time.” King clapped him on the shoulder and nodded to me. “It was good seeing you again, Fayth,” he muttered.
“I can get the dishes,” Slider said as King walked out the door.
I shook my head and grabbed the dirty bowl out of his hands. He had moved in all of my furniture, there was no need for him to clean up from dinner too. I pointed at the TV and moved to the sink. I searched for my pad of paper but remembered I had thrown it at Slider in the garage.
“I’ll go grab your paper,” Slider said, reading my mind. He disappeared into the garage, and I turned on the water to fill the sink.
“Here, Firecracker.” Slider slid the notebook across to the counter to me and turned to open the fridge.
I got the dishes. Go watch TV or whatever.
Slider grabbed a beer out of the fridge, popped the top, and I slid the notebook back down to him.
“What is considered as whatever?”
I shrugged. I had no idea what he did when he was at home, but I knew I didn’t want to get in his way.
“I really ain’t got much to do.”
Well, he needed to find something else to do besides watch me do the dishes. Go take Marco for a ride in your car.
“If I take him for a ride, he’s going to beg me to let him drive.”
Then don’t let him drive. You’re the adult, Slider.
“Some days, it don’t feel like it,” he laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. He set his beer down and grabbed a set of keys off the top of the fridge. “I guess I’ll finish my beer when we get back.”
Slider opened up the door to the garage and hollered for Marco. “Start it, don’t move it,” he ordered and tossed the keys at him.
I heard Marco shout “hell yeah” before Slider shut the door. “You need anything while we are out?”
Ice cream? I was an absolute sucker for ice cream. Specifically, chocolate ice cream.
“Chocolate? Vanilla? Strawberry?” Slider asked.
I held up one finger.
“Chocolate?”
I nodded and gave him a thumbs up.
“Good, you can come with and pick out just the right one.” Slider crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter.
What? Why?
“I told you I’m not leaving your side, Fay. I meant it. If you want me to take Marco for a ride, you need to come with.”
I motioned to the dishes. Who in the hell was going to do the dishes while we were off joyriding?
“They’ll still be here when we come back, and Marco and I will help you with them.”
Ha. That’s funny. Marco would find every excuse possible not to do the dishes.
“Scout’s honor.” Slider help up his hand. “And I was a scout. I can show you my badges later,” he said, winking at me. “One ride, we’ll grab some ice cream, and then we’ll be back in plenty of time to clean up.”
I shook my head no and turned off the water. Slider was being a bit overprotective. Big A was in jail, and there wasn’t any more danger. I’ll be fine for a half an hour by myself, I wrote.
“I’m sure you will be, Firecracker, but I’m not willing to take the risk that you might not be. The sooner you get in the car, the sooner we’ll be back.”
“Are you ready?” Marco asked excitedly and bound into the kitchen. “You didn’t say which car, so I tried both of them before I figured out it was the Corvette.”
Slider grabbed a second set of keys off the fridge and tossed them to Marco. “Start the Camaro. Your mom is coming with us and there is no way you will be able to sit in the back.”
“Oh, sweet.
” Marco returned to the garage, slamming the door behind him.
“The kid is excited, you can’t let him down.” Slider smirked.
He’s excited about the car, not me.
Slider shrugged. “But the car doesn’t leave unless you are in it with me. You stay, I stay. You leave, I leave.”
Damn it. Fine. Half an hour and you buy me the biggest chocolate sundae they have.
Slider grabbed the paper and laughed while he read it. “Deal, Firecracker.” He tossed the notepad on the counter and held his hand out for me to shake.
I reluctantly shook his hand and a smirk spread across his lips. Slider grabbed his sunglasses off of the counter and slid them over his eyes. He looked damn good with the glasses on, although he looked damn good no matter what he was wearing.
“Let’s go for a ride.”
********
Chapter 15
Slider
“Holy cow, I can’t believe she ate all of that,” Marco whispered.
Fayth licked the back of her spoon and laid her empty dish on the table at the end of the couch. After we had gotten back, Fayth made me move around the end tables and move the couch over a couple of feet before she let me touch my ice cream.
I had gotten a dish of the flavor of the day which was mint rocky road; Marco had decided on a twist cone, and Fayth had gotten a three-scoop chocolate sundae topped with hot fudge, and chopped up Kit Kats with whipped cream and a cherry on top. I was rather surprised she had finished it, also.
“I guess she likes chocolate ice cream,” I whispered back.
Marco and I were sprawled out on the couch, and Fayth was laid back in the recliner while some shitty movie she had picked out played on the TV.
“I think that is an understatement at this point,” Marco laughed. “I guess I know what I’m getting her for her birthday next month.”
“Next month?” It was already the twenty-fourth of April.
“Yeah, I think it’s the seventh.” Fayth shook her head and glared at Marco. “Eighth?” She nodded and gave him the thumbs up.
“You should really know when your mom’s birthday is,” I chuckled.
“You’re probably right.”
He’s a boy, Fayth wrote and held up the notepad to us.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Marco asked.
It means you’re going to be a man, and men never remember birthdays. Fayth was getting damn good at writing fast.
“You have a point. I guess I’m in training to be a good man then, right, Slider?”
“Hey, speak for yourself. I happen to remember all important dates.” I saw Fayth roll her eyes.
“What’s your mom’s birthday?” Marco quizzed.
“September fourteenth.”
“What’s your dad’s birthday?”
“I didn’t have one.”
Fayth turned to look at me and tilted her head.
“He died before I was born, and from what I was told about him, I was better off that way.” My mother said she never wanted to speak badly of the dead, but she made sure I became the exact opposite of the man he was. He had gotten my mother pregnant when she was only seventeen, run off with some blonde chick, and then died in a bar fight.
“Yeah, that’s the same for my dad. He died when I was only three. I don’t even remember him. Uncle Leo helped raise me.”
That would explain the great bond between them and why Marco wanted to be like Leo. I had never known what happened to Marco’s dad, because it wasn’t any of my business.
Fayth held her hand over her head and tapped her wrist.
“Aww, come on mom. It’s only ten. I’m sixteen years old,” Marco protested.
She shook her head. Bed. Now. She held up the pad of paper and pointed to his room.
“This sucks. She hates when I talk about my dad. That’s the only reason she’s making me go to bed,” Marco grumbled.
Fayth crossed her arms over her chest and gave Marco a look that only a mother could. I had seen that look many times from my own growing up.
“Head to bed, Marco. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow of unpacking all of your mom’s stuff.”
Marco nodded, kissed his mom on the cheek, and shuffled off to his room.
“He’s really a good kid, Fayth.” I used to think Marco was a spoiled brat when Fayth had first moved to Rockton. But my opinion of him had changed, mostly because the Marco I had just spent all day with was completely different from the sullen and moody teenager I first met.
She smiled and nodded.
“You don’t like when he talks about his dad?”
She shook her head no. He wasn’t a good man, she wrote.
“Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head no again and stood. Tired, she scrawled.
“I guess Marco was right when he said you didn’t like talking about him.”
It was a long time ago. Which bedroom is mine?
“Third door on the left.”
She nodded, tossed the blanket she had been using over the back of the chair, and waved goodnight.
I knew that wouldn’t be the last I saw her tonight.
She was about to find out the bed she would be sleeping in was also my bed.
“Slider!” she yelled.
I raised my arms over my head and clasped them behind my neck. The first step in my plan was set in motion. Now, it was time to see if it was going to work.
********
Chapter 16
Fayth
He had to be kidding. I looked down the hallway and counted the doors.
I was standing in the doorway of the third door on the left, and it sure looked like where Slider slept.
“Mom? Are you okay?” Marco asked after he opened his door and peeked his head out.
“Slider,” I yelled. This had to be a joke. There was no way in hell I was going to sleep in the same bed as Slider with Marco just across the hall.
Slider appeared at the end of the hallway. “Yeah?”
I motioned to the room.
“What’s wrong?”
Ah, the ass was going to play stupid. “Slider,” I said disapprovingly.
“Firecracker, it’s the only other bed I got, unless you want to sleep with Marco in his twin.”
“Oh, hell no. I am not sleeping with you, Mom. As much as I love you and appreciate you bringing me into this world, this is my bed.” Marco slammed the door, and I heard the lock flip into place.
Shit. What the hell was I going to do now?
********
Slider
My plan was lining up just how I had hoped it would. I was either going to piss Fayth off so much that she was going to speak, or I was going to end up in bed with her. I would be happy with either outcome.
She stomped her foot and shook her head.
“Is it really that bad to sleep in my bed?”
She shook her head again and pointed to Marco’s room.
“He ain’t gonna let you in there, Firecracker.”
I heard her growl, and she marched towards me.
My theory was the only way Fayth was going to speak was if she were either pissed or terrified. I assumed when she had called my name the first time, she had been having a nightmare.
Now, I was going to get her so pissed that the words were just going to explode out of her mouth.
She slugged me in the arm, walked past me, and grabbed her notepad off of the recliner. I CAN’T SLEEP WITH YOU!!!
“All we’ll be doing is sleeping.”
She shook her fist at me, then angrily wrote. MY SON IS IN THE NEXT ROOM. HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!? WHY DIDN’T THEY BRING MY BED WHEN THEY BROUGHT ALL OF THE OTHER FURNITURE?
“There wasn’t enough room. I told King to bring what could fit. Apparently, your bed didn’t make the cut.”
Go get it.
“Fayth, it’s after ten. I’m not driving into town to your storage unit. Sleep in my bed.”
She shook her head no and stomped her
foot.
“You sure do stomp your foot a lot when you’re pissed,” I laughed.
She growled again, and I knew I was getting her worked up good.
I’m not sleeping with you tonight.
“What about tomorrow?”
She growled and shook her head. Growling was a new thing. Now, we were getting somewhere.
“Are you one of those girls who I need to take to dinner, spend a little money on, and then you’ll sleep with me?”
Her face turned bright red, and I’m sure if she was able to, flames would have been shooting out of her ears.
No. I’m one of those girls who knows how to hide a body.
I threw my head back and laughed. I was going to have to be careful with her. She might have picked up a few tricks from Leo. I wasn’t into sleeping with the fishes. “Now, now, Firecracker. No need to go threatening me.”
I want my bed.
“Well, you can’t have it. It’s my bed or nothing.”
I’m not sleeping with you. Her pen flew across the paper and she held it up to me.
“Is sleeping with me really that horrible. I mean, I’ve never been kicked out of bed before, Firecracker, and I have been in my fair share of beds.”
Classy.
I shrugged. Sure not classy, but it was the truth. “Tell ya what, you sleep in my bed,” she vehemently shook her head. I held up my hand and shushed her. She wasn’t talking, but her head shake definitely spoke volumes. “And I’ll sleep on the couch. At least until you let me sleep in my bed.”
Fine. And that will be never.
“How about we just agree on tonight. I wouldn’t want you to eat your words later on.”
She growled again and tossed the pad of paper at me. She hissed, and I swear to Christ, it sounded like she had said “ass.”
“Did you call me an ass?” I asked, shocked.
She reared her head back and her eyes got huge. She nodded.
“You,” I pointed at her, “called me,” I jammed my thumb into my chest, “an ass?”
She nodded and touched her lips.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Now you can say Slider and ass. At this rate, you should be able to say a full sentence by your birthday.”
Devil’s Knights MC Box Set 2 Page 58