Page 81 of Colt

Layla let out a huff.

Sophie raised her hand to cover a laugh.

I swallowed down my giggle.

An arm slid around my shoulder. I looked up to see Abe shaking his head at everybody. “It’s like a goddamned madhouse, Freya. Good to see ya back, girly. We’ve missed ya.”

Dad walked over, his eyes never leaving my face. His thick fingers curled around my nape and he tugged me into his massive, hard chest. The scent of motor oil and spicy cologne swirled all around me. I loved that smell. It hadn’t changed for as long as I could remember.

“Good to see ya, sweetheart,” Dad muttered in his deep, gravelly voice.

I smiled into his tee. “Hey, Pop.”

He pulled back slightly, a hand gripping each arm. “My daughter, the doctor,” Dad said proudly.

My heart bloomed. “Not yet, but I’m on my way.”

Pop glanced around the room. “Party tonight!” he bellowed. “My daughter’s home from med school! It’s time for a celebration.”

I looked up to study my dad’s face, smiling at the proud look he wore.

John Stone was stubborn and immovable. If he said jump, he expected you to ask how high. The club was a fun place to be until he went on the warpath. Our relationship was fraught because I had a lot of that in me too. We clashed, and when it happened, it wasn’t pretty.

He was also more intelligent than he let on; he was streetwise and could read a man like a book. His family meant everything to him, and that extended to his club brothers too. He’d give a stranger his last dollar if they needed it more, and he’d do it gladly.

Smiling, I glanced around at all my friends and family, and warmth filled my chest.

It was good to be home.

‘Modern Love’ by David Bowie blasted from the speakers in the bar. The party was in full swing. Iris and Abe were jiving up a storm while Kady and Sunshine danced around them with Jolly Batman prancing around their legs. Sunny held a pretend saxophone to her mouth, bending up and down; her fingers played imaginary notes. Kadence played an imaginary piano, moving her hands from side to side, fingers flickering on pretend keys.

My heart swelled, a huge grin spreading across my face at the cuteness overload. The way they goofed off and enjoyed themselves with no inhibitions or embarrassment was a joy to watch.

Abe laughed, bending down and egging Sunny on to bust some more moves with her sax.

Movement caught my eye a few yards away. Mason was teaching Kai how to body pop. Suddenly, he dropped to his ass and started spinning on his hips and shoulders.

Sunny shrieked, dropped to her ass, and tried to copy; her saxophone quickly forgotten.

“Can’t imagine Wilder being like that,” Cara said from beside me with her son slung over her shoulder as she burped him.

I busted out laughing. “If my nephew’s anything like his father, he’ll be a handful.”

Cara’s eyes bugged out. “Let’s call it like it is. He’ll be Beelzebub reincarnated. It’s fucking typical that Layla ends up with Pollyanna over there while I’m frantically searching for three sixes somewhere on my kid’s body.”

“Is he still not sleeping?” I asked.

Cara replied with a grimace.

“Oh dear,” I breathed. “Have you had him checked out?”

“The pediatrician says he’s perfectly normal,” Cara replied with an eye roll. “Which automatically makes me think she doesn’t know her ass from her elbow. I mean, it’s the son of Xander Stone we’re talking about here. Normal doesn’t factor.”

I glanced over at my eldest brother, who sat at the bar with Gage, Kit, Dad, and Atlas. “True. He does break the mold. Though I wouldn’t call Kit or Gage exactly run-of-the-mill, either.”

“Kit definitely isn’t run-of-the-mill,” Kennedy piped up from somewhere behind me. “But his monster’s hot, and it’s all mine.”

I craned my neck to see the beautiful blonde woman who had joined us alongside Sophie, Atlas’s gorgeous little brunette wife. Kennedy helped a pregnant Sophie into a chair before sinking down into the seat beside her. “Now, what’s all this I hear about you and a certain computer whiz kid?”

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