Page 16 of Forever Zara

“Rider, I’m fine. It’s only a little sniffle, nothing to keep me in bed.”

The fever and hacking cough told him differently.

“There’s too much to do for me to waste time in bed.”

“You’ll keep your butt there.”

“And you have to go into the club.”

Leaning over the bed, he pressed his lips to her forehead, and she sighed into him. “If you’re a good girl, I’ll bring up something sweet soon.”

On cue, one of the boys started wailing, which kicked off the other one. Any second now, Harper would let herself out of her room and run to theirs, demanding cartoons, and toaster waffles.

“Already gave me something sweet last night,” she grinned.

“Don’t be giving me dick jokes, woman.” He smirked dirty, proud of her, slipping into a pair of denim jeans and a gray t-shirt. “Lie back and get some rest.”

“Okay,” he knew she was sick when she gave in so quickly. She was tucked in and almost asleep before he carted both boys downstairs with Harper hanging onto his leg.

Leaving them in highchairs, Rider ran back up to feed Zara the meds, then let her fall back to sleep. Then gave his mom a call about babysitting. Afterward, he got food into his rambunctious kids. He wasn’t a novice dad. Rider did his share, Zara did the bulk of it, but he never shirked from diapers or snot noses. He’d witnessed Harper in more than one meltdown over something damn stupid. She was smart, was his girl. So when he watched her poking at the waffles on her plate, he smiled to himself. “Eat it, doodle-bug, don’t play with it.”

“Mama does yello.”

“What jello do you want?”

“Gwape.”

“Grape what?”

She smiled so big with the few teeth she had. “Gwape, please, Papa.”

Spreading the waffle with the jello of choice, he made sure Knox was eating his food and not smearing it on his face before he parked his ass down with Zane on his lap and popped a bottle of breast milk into Zane’s mouth. The kid had an appetite like Rider, and it was empty in moments. His second son burped like him and was napping with a fresh diaper before Annie turned up.

When it was Rider’s turn to shower, after getting Harper ready for the day, he leaned over the bed to check on a sleeping Zara. She came awake when his lips brushed hers, and she wound her arms around his neck. “Hm. Why don’t you climb back in?” She was like a snake wiggling against him, and it stirred his body.Naturally.

“Being sick gets you horny.” He chuckled, getting more meds into her. She was worse than Harper who hated taking medicine. He almost had to pinch her nose.

“I’ll show you how much if you pull down your pants.”

Rider barked out a laugh and kissed her softly again, drawing up the comforter to the chin. “Get some rest, and we’ll see how horny you are tonight.”

Her sleepy eyes were already closing. “Yeah, honey. Love you.”

“Love you too, stay in this bed, you hear? Mom is taking Harper and Zane home. Knox is coming with me. If you want anything, just call me.”

He was a bad man because he was dying to climb back into bed with her and screw the sickness away. He gave her another kiss and let his woman sleep, then ambled down the stairs, got the kids’ stuff ready, and helped them into his mom’s car. Leaving him and Knox alone.

“Never too early to learn how to be a Prez, huh, Son?” His son babbled, chewing on his toy. Rider smiled, kissing his head. “Let’s get to the club.” He took his son’s gibbering for agreement.

* * *

“No fucking way.”

Another brother chimed in. “Maybe Zara was mistaken, Prez.”

“Maybe so, but I ain’t gonna let my old lady be scared out of her fuckin’ mind. She saw what she saw, and now I need to know if some fucker has reincarnated the assholes.” Rider thought someone must have shoved a firecracker into his ribs for all the heat, temper, and anger he was feeling. It wasn’t as though his boys disbelieved her word, but he wouldn’t trust them as he did if they didn’t question every angle first.

He still wasn’t sure if Zara saw what she did, but now he needed to be sure that she didn’t.

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