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“Fuck that. She picked me. I’d have still been on my knees begging for another shot if she hadn’t taken mercy on me.”
He looks at me for a minute and grins. He understands. He would have done the same with Beth.
“I better go make sure Torch doesn’t get into any trouble. Did you see that fucking shirt he wore today?” he grumbles shaking his head.
“Don’t remind me. That bastard is twisted. My boys have one time to ask me about it and I’m going to rip Torch’s head off his damn shoulders,” I grumble.
Torch is wearing a t-shirt that as a picture of Santa lying on his stomach, his pants are pulled down with his butt sticking up in the air. There’s an alien standing over him with a bright green dildo in his hand and the caption above reads, “Santa’s Coming.”
I don’t even know where he finds this shit and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to.
Hayden giggles, the sound muffled because her head is buried against my chest. I look down at her, trying to hide my smile and not doing a good job of it.
“You think this is funny?” I mutter.
“Kind of,” she shrugs.
“You won’t think it’s funny when Connor or Ryker come over and ask you why Santa is mooning the alien, will you?”
She rubs her lips together, trying to hide her smile. She does a bad job of it, just like I did.
Skull slaps me on the back, kisses the top of Hayden’s head and walks off, leaving us alone. I pull her away from my body so that we’re facing each other. Then, I let my fingers drift over the side of Hayden’s face, before letting them sift through her soft hair.
“Everything okay?” I question her softly.
“It’s perfect,” she says, smiling at me.
“Skull didn’t give you a hard time?” I prod gently.
“He welcomed me to the family,” she says and my heart squeezes inside my chest. I like that. I like that a lot. I like it a fuck of a lot. “You’re happy,” she adds, totally reading me like only she can.
“Yeah, Beauty. I am.”
“Has Skull talked to you yet?”
“No… I’m actually kind of glad he hasn’t. I’m not sure what I’m going to say to him.”
“You know you have my support—no matter what, right?”
“I know, sweetheart. I know.”
“Good,” she whispers and she goes up on her tiptoes, bringing her lips to mine and I lean down and take the kiss, knowing that whatever happens, I’m holding the world in my fucking hands.
Hayden
“Who is that?” I ask Beth, but I know. I can tell by the way she keeps staring longingly at my man. Michael is talking with Connor, Ryker, and B.B. at a table. They’re eating and B.B. is explaining something to Michael that, from the look on his face, must be hilarious. Michael throws his head back and laughs so hard, my heart fills with happiness.
“That’s Lucy. I think the guy is her new boyfriend. She uh…”
“I know who she is,” I tell Beth when she breaks off, as if unsure what to say.
“Beast told you?”
“We discussed it when I finally convinced him to stop wearing his beard and hair so long. He was using them to hide behind and I got tired of it.”
“He doesn’t look like it bothers him to expose his scars now.”
“It took a bit of convincing, but yeah, he’s good now.”
“Beast is so lucky that you came into his life.”
I smile, looking at Beth as I think back on the past and how Michael and I got together. So many memories flash through my mind, from the night in the rain where I thought Michael was a deranged killer, to the day he bought Connor’s furniture and fixed his room for me… but maybe my favorite memory was the night we first made love and he claimed Connor as his forever.
God, I freaking love my man.
“Honestly, I thank God every day that Michael came into my life. Trust me when I tell you, Beth, that I’m the lucky one.”
“Maybe the truth is that you’re both very lucky,” she says with a smile.
“That I can agree with. I guess I should even thank Lucy. I get the feeling that Michael had a soft spot for her, before she pulled her crap.”
“A few of us thought so, although nothing would have come from it. Some women are adult at Lucy’s age. God knows I had to be, but Lucy… she has a lot to learn about life,” Beth murmurs.
“She doesn’t look too happy with her present boyfriend,” I observe. They’re obviously arguing, and unless I miss my guess, it’s because Lucy keeps looking over at Michael and her boy toy doesn’t like it much.
“That would be Spencer.”
“Spencer?”
“Yeah, I don’t know why Lucy is revolting from her brother’s world so much, but Spencer is a man about as far as you can get away from our guys. Spencer is Ivy League, starts law school in the fall and he’s a real grade-A ass. I’m actually surprised he’s with her here today. Last time we had a get together, he told her that he was not about to interact with a bunch of felons and proletariats.”
