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Noah and Ryder jump to help him with his load, stealing peeks into the bags as they place them down on the counter.
“Scar invited us for dinner,” Charlene explains.
Scar pointedly stares at the bags. “I do know how to cook, you know?”
“Of course, dear.” Charlene waves her off. “But I know how busy you are.” She gestures to the laptop and papers strewed all over the table as if to make her point. “Now you don’t have to.” She finishes with a bright smile. One she knows none of us are capable of arguing against.
“Thank you, Charlene,” Declan says before moving toward Scar and stealing Roe from her arms. New giggles erupt from her as he kisses her head. “Hi, sweet girl. Come help Daddy do some introductions, yeah?”
“Okay, Daddy,” she beams up at him, thrilled to be of help. I can't help but smile while watching her. Even if I’m less than thrilled about who else is in the kitchen right now.
“Charlene, Roe baby, this is our friend Charles. He’s helping Mommy with some work.” Declan makes the introductions. At some point Charles got on his feet, but I must have missed it. He extends his hand out to Charlene first.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” he says genuinely. I kind of hate that he seems like an okay guy. I definitely hate when Charlene pushes his hand away and gives him a hug, easily accepting him. And I fucking loathe when my baby girl mimics the handshake and sticks her hand out to his.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she copies, a proud smile on her face. She’s so goddamn adorable. He doesn’t deserve all that cuteness directed at him. I watch as he studies her appraisingly, shaking her tiny hand in his much larger one.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Roe. I love your name,” he compliments.
Her smile grows even wider, and even Scar is smiling as she watches them. “Thank you.”
I walk up to them and pull Roe out of Declan’s arms. “You gonna say hi to the rest of us, sweet girl?” She giggles as I carry her away, turning my back on Charles and heading straight to stand at Kade’s side. Noah tries, and fails, to suppress a grin and Ry doesn't even try.
I don’t care if I’m acting like a child. He said hi, that’s more than enough.
Noah pulls Roe out of my arms to give his own kisses and as he passes her off to Kade, my eyes harden on the way he’s still smiling. “That paperwork filed yet?”
He chuckles and I consider punching him. “I knew you loved D,” he taunts. I shake my head and push him away. He just laughs harder. I should have punched him. “Yes, I’ve gotten it all taken care of,” he finally answers.
“Good.”
Charlene clears her throat and draws our attention back to the kitchen counter where she’s unloading the bags. “Roe baby, go get cleaned up for dinner while your daddies help your momma get this mess sorted so we can eat dinner together.”
“Okay, Grandma,” my little girl chirps happily as Kade sets her on the floor. There’s something in Charlene’s tone that says there’s something she needs to say away from little ears. My spine snaps straight and I click my tongue ring against my teeth in agitation.
The front door opens and Roe halts in her tracks, her gaze swinging back to her grandma. I raise my brow at Letty but she shrugs. Charlene claps and Joe rolls his eyes. “Perfect timing. Roe, go grab those boys and send the adults in here please.”
“Yes, Grandma,” she agrees as her excited feet carry her out of the room, the house already four times as loud. At least we know who our unexpected guests are.
Charles looks at Scar. “I can go help?” he offers sheepishly. “Keep them distracted so you have a chance for,” he hesitates gesturing to Charlene’s bags, “whatever this is.”
I open my mouth to tell him to fuck off but Charlene is already clapping her hands together in delight. “That would be lovely, Charles. I need to talk to all the parents.” He rushes out of the room, following the tiny voices, before I even have a chance to argue. Not that any of us can really rise against Charlene. I cross my arms over my chest and lean against the counter.
It’s not sulking if you could kill a grown man with your bare hands.
Holden, Ian, and Jade all walk into the room with matching bewildered expressions on their faces. “Roe is really starting to take after her momma,” Holden says wryly in greeting.
Jade snorts. “What he means is the girl is getting bossy as fuck.”
“Sounds like Scar,” Ryder laughs, earning a smack to the chest.
Charlene waves away their banter, pausing in her dinner preparation to pull out stacks of paperwork. “Hush up now,” she scolds. “We only have a few minutes before poor Charles loses control of those little hellions.” I scoff at describing Charles as poor but the warning look Joe gives me is enough to keep my mouth shut.
Letty enjoys the silent smackdown as she smirks at me from across the counter and I narrow my eyes at her, promising retribution at some point in the near future. I can think of a few ways to get back at her.
“I’ve left this for as long as I possibly could, but you all really need to be making a decision now. We’re almost out of time.” She sets about organizing the stacks of her papers into smaller stacks and putting them in front of different people. “Lucky for you lot, I covered all of our bases so all you need to do is make a decision. But I still need to prepare different things based on your choice. So chop, chop.”
Letty’s eyes widen as she stares down at the paperwork put in front of her and red rises on Jade’s cheeks while she looks at hers.
