Page 37 of Devil's Work: Dark

“Everything okay?” she asks as her answer. She would. It’s not like we’re fucking girlfriends and gab every day.

“Yeah, yeah… I just have a favor to ask.”

“Sure, what do you need?” And that’s a quintessential Nic response right there.

“I want to introduce Rae to the other old ladies.”

“Otherold ladies?” she asks, snickering.

“Listen, are you gonna let me bring her and the kids up, or are you going to give me shit?”

“Kids?” She starts choking on a cough.

“Fuck it, never mind. Forget I asked.”

“No!Come tonight. 4:30 or five. We’ll have a cookout. Have them bring their suits. We just had the pool put in. I’ll call Greer and have her waddle herself over with Sarge. I’ll even call Dusty. Rae knows Dusty.”

“If you call Dusty, you better call Reap.”

“Please, do you think if Dusty comes to my house, Reaper won’t be there? The man needs to just claim her already.”

I chuckle. She’s not wrong. And what am I even thinking? Before I met Rae, I thought Vlad and Sarge were pussies for claiming women and I’ve done everything I can do to dissuade my best friend from going down that road, too.

“We’ll be there.”

“Great,” she replies, and the thing with Nic is she means it. We couldn’t have asked for a better old lady for our president.

Before I hang up, I clear my throat. Damn, what’s with all the shit getting stuck in my throat today? And I let out a breath. This shit’s not easy for me. “Oh, Nic…”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.” But because this whole conversation got too real for me, I disconnect before she responds.

Rae’s wiping Baby Girl’s face with a napkin when I walk back into the dining room. Ty’s stuffing pizza in his mouth, kicking his legs under the table. God, Rae takes my fucking breath away. I’m a fucking biker. How’d this happen to me?

There’s a sad set to her face, but every time Ty lifts his head to look at her, to talk with her, she forces a smile. I stomp over to the table. She gasps when I grab her chin in my hand to tilt her head up, then I take those lips. I own them. I dominate them. When I pull back, the vulnerability staring at me through her eyes is like a spear through my heart.

I shift my head to whisper in her ear. “Baby, when we get home, gonna fuck you again.”

She nods.

“We’ll get the kids down for a nap. I spoke to Nic, Vlad’s old lady. She’s having a cookout. They just got a pool put in. She wants us there around five.”

“A cookout?” she asks, confused.

“Yeah…” I nip at her earlobe. “Just for the men with old ladies. Dusty will be there, too.”

“Dustyis a Horde old lady?” she asks. By the way her voice goes up at the end, she didn’t expect that.

“Not officially, but my guess is soon.”

“The tall man, Reaper, right?” she asks.

I laugh. “Yeah. Once Reap pulls his head out of his ass and mans up. Don’t know his exact hang-ups, but I’ll be talking with him.”

“And you want to introduceus?”

“Yeah, baby. I claimed you. You’re my old lady now. You need to meet the family you’re getting along with me.”

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