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And Penny turned from the room.
“My one condition is you get a paternity test. We should know, for medical reasons, and a father’s name needs to go on the birth certificate, legally-” Colt stammered.
She turned back at the door but Lyle picked back up seamlessly from Ash and shook his head. “There’s a time when you gotta be a leader, set the direction, tell people what’s what, and there’s a time to listen, back down. This is the time to back down, Prez. We’ll do what is right for us. Penny stays, we are all a fucking foursome family now. Claimed. That’s the deal. Got it, Prez?”
Colt cleared his throat and nodded slowly. “Alright. Got it.”
“Oh God, I didn’t order the extra large! Did I? Now I’m doubting myself…” Penny trailed off as the take-out pizzas were distributed around the room.
They all sat in the family room, where a series of sofas were set at jaunty angles in front of the white wall. A projector flickered in the dark light, a film, paused, as the food had been delivered.
Rita was helping to distribute it, pulling it out of paper bags. “Four cheese, who ordered the four-”
“That’ll be mine!” Sully swooped in and grabbed the pizza box with a smile at Rita.
“Hawaiian… bleh, who puts pineapple on a pizza?” Rita called out.
“Me!” Sophie raised her hand and Phantom stood up and loped over to get it for her, wordlessly taking it with a long blink and the subtlest of nods at Rita.
“Vegetarian…Jared’s crew, which one of you has turned into a fucking herbivore ‘cause the last time I checked you were all fucking cavemen!”
“Penny, this extra large, double loaded ham and mushroom has to be yours sweetie, everyone else has got theirs…” Rita rummaged in the box. “Oh and there’s a large milkshake here, too. Who ordered the milkshake?” Rita yelled out.
It was carnage, everyone was crowded onto the sofas, noisily digging into their pizzas. April and Sophie sat on one sofa to the left, Nix, Ash and Lyle were on the right. Colt and Jared were behind, then Phantom and Rafe. Sully hovered in the back, chatting to Dane, the barman, and Jared’s guys were ribbing each other, as well, about who ordered the vegetarian pizza.
Penny felt a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It was movie night at the MC. April’s idea, she wanted them all to get together every so often and have family entertainment. Penny was excited she was invited to film night, in fact, allowed to stay. She’d been a regular at the MC for the last few weeks now. And they’d all been in Lyle’s bed. Every night. It helped with his night terrors. Generally, they had sex late and so Lyle was too tired or not in the right sleep cycle to have them. Or, she often woke up when he was beginning to get one. He’d start mumbling, he’d be burning hot to the touch, his heart racing. Either she or one of the guys would wake up, too, and try to soothe Lyle back to a calm state. So far, it had worked. She felt safe, too, knowing Ash and Nix were there. She knew Lyle would never mean to harm her, but a wayward fist of his could send her flying. He was still drinking. There was always a bottle of some liquor or other under his sink cabinet. He topped up the beer bottles he was allowed to drink with something. Ash and Nix had seen him do it now, too. But they tried to start the evening's frivolities early so Lyle wouldn’t have time to drink it all before he passed out, worn out from sex rather than from the liquor.
She’d been talking to April and Sophie happily, until the pizza had arrived. She’d asked for a medium ham and mushroom, not the monstrosity that had arrived. She was hungry all the time, she felt vaguely hungover, or motion sick, not just in the mornings, but all day long. After eating something was when she felt most normal. But she couldn’t just constantly stuff herself. Could she? The boys were good about bringing her a cup of tea in the morning, and toast, immediately, before she’d get out of bed. Then, she wanted prawn cocktail flavored chips. Nothing else would do. Ash immediately ordered a whole pallet full when she had said how much she’d liked them. Lyle had carried them all up to his bedroom so they were on hand first thing in the morning. She dreaded to think how many extra calories she was consuming, Lyle didn’t let her get away with not snacking. He told her she needed it, even though she’d looked it up and the research said you didn’t need that many extra calories until much later down the line.
“Oh but, I’m never going to be able to eat all of that…” Penny looked despairingly at the box, taking it from Rita, embarrassed.
Rita shrugged. “It’s yours. Give it a go, the boys will eat what you don’t want I’m sure. The milkshake must be yours, too.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t-”
“Penny will have it.” Lyle’s voice came from the sofa opposite. Penny looked up and over at them. Ash was perched on the edge of the sofa, grinning at Penny. There was Nix, reclining back, legs loose and spread unnecessarily wide. Then Lyle, arm over the back of the sofa, over the back of Nix almost, hand on his thigh, looking like a king on his throne. They were watching Penny and smirking. All three of them. She almost shook her head to herself. Each man was so strong, and yet so fragile. Flawed and yet perfect at the same time. All together, a fighting pack without rival. No one could best them. Ash was clever, Nix was brave and strong, Lyle was wise. Each with their own demons and their own superpowers, too. Lyle was haunted by his PTSD from his past, he doubted himself, thought so little of himself. Nix had this burning rage that couldn’t be extinguished, rage at his upbringing, rage at himself. And Ash, so confident and self assured on the surface, yet so afraid of being left alone and abandoned. And her, what did she bring, what were her demons and superpowers? Either way, it worked. They melded and meshed together, it was getting harder to see where one person ended and the other began.
They’d set her up with this pizza order, ordering far too much. She huffed and rolled her eyes. Lyle winked, Nix blew her a pouty kiss and Ash bit his lip. Oh those boys were such trouble.
Despite herself, Penny smiled. “Fine, great, I’ve already gained a few pounds, why not just let myself go completely?” she joked, setting the pizza down on her lap as she bounced onto the sofa between April and Sophie.
Her tight top rode up a little as she sat, exposing an inch or two of her midriff. She tugged it down but in doing so, she practically exposed her boobs from the neckline of her top. Oh gosh, she’d gained weight and she felt fat sitting on the sofa next to tiny flyweight Sophie and leggy, lean April.
“Right, everyone fucking quiet, can we finally watch the movie now?” Colt’s voice called them all to attention.
“Yeah, press play.”
“Wait, has anyone got any ketchup?”
“Why do you need fucking ketchup, it’s pizza?”
“For the crusts, dummy.”
“Who dips-”
“Shut it!” Rita didn’t hesitate to silence the mutterings.
Penny opened the box of her steaming, delicious giant pizza, and the film began.
