She slept when she could, or she suffered the consequences later.
As my eyes drifted closed, and I thought about how much my life had changed, I realized that my dear old dad had done something right.
He’d hired that cleaning lady all those years ago, the one with the beautiful daughter.
And in the process, he’d changed my life.
Though my daughters would never know their grandparents, I knew that they would never miss that love. They had so many aunts and uncles and cousins that they would never feel that hit.
Would never feel the pain that my parents had almost caused them.
Would never know the hatefulness of Mina’s parents.
Maybe someday they would know that my parents were both serving life sentences for their crimes, but that’s as far as it would ever get.
As for Mina’s parents? Well, they weren’t even in the picture. We didn’t care, and it was obvious that neither did they.
And to be honest, we didn’t miss them.
How could we with the amount of love that swirled through the hearts of every single member of the Dixie Wardens MC? Not to mention the protection of the Joker, who struck fear in the hearts of nearly every criminal in three states?
My kids would never know what it was like to not be loved. I’d make sure of it.
And six hours later, when my daughter woke up, screaming at the top of her lungs, to sate her hunger, I could do nothing but smile.
My smile grew when I brought her into our room to find Sienna and Mina snuggled up in my recently vacated spot.
“Is that how it’s going to be?” I asked her.
Mina smiled.
Sienna patted the bed beside her, and I took her up on the offer.
“You know,” I said as I passed the baby to her. “This would be a lot more fun if you would feed her.”
Mina started to laugh as she gently placed Gianna in her arms. “Yeah, I’m sure it would be.”
I was right. It was.
With Mina nursing our daughter and Sienna telling me what she wanted to be when she grew up, I finally felt at peace.
My heart was full.
I had the love of my life in my arms, and our kids in our bed. My club—both of them—at my back.
It was a long, painful road back to this point. I’d never take any of this for granted because life just didn’t get any better than this.
What’s Next?
For the Love of Beard
8-31-17
Chapter 1
If you pour two beers into one glass and no one sees you, then it’s just one beer.
-Pro tip
Tobias
I shouldn’t be doing this.
I really, really shouldn’t be doing this.
But I was doing it.
I was doing it, and I knew it was a really bad idea.
I laid on my back, wondering if I should go in there, and again, berated myself.
She wouldn’t want me there. Hell, she hadn’t wanted me there for the last eight months, yet I had been. I’d been that annoying man that followed her around like a goddamned puppy.
But I just couldn’t watch her sit on her ass and hide from life any longer.
I’d let my sister do that. I’d watched her as she withered and died inside, and that was exactly what I saw with Audrey Brianne Morrison. My club member’s sister.
A little over nine months ago, I’d first become acquainted with the little she-devil.
And, again, I wasn’t sure why the hell I was here when she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me.
***
9 months earlier
“Who are you?”
Audrey looked nothing like Ghost, the brother that asked me to get his sister out of a sticky situation involving his parents.
She was wearing Viking braids.
They started at the tip of each temple, and ran straight back from her ears and then disappeared into a messy bun that was situated on the top of her head.
She had dirty blonde hair that looked like it had hints of copper highlights, and her eyes…my God, there were no words to describe them.
They were the color of what I would call cognac. A rich, deep brown, the color of whiskey on the inside, and on the outside, it spread out into a lighter brown almost the color of honey.
Those eyes, though…they were shrewd. Calculating. Watchful.
I had a feeling that they didn’t miss one single thing.
“I’m Fender.”
She stared at me. “I’m not expecting a Fender.”
She tried to slam the door in my face, and I caught it with the tip of my steel toed boot.
“My club brothers call me Fender. My real name is Tobias.”
She glared down at my boot, then back up at me.
“You should’ve started with that,” she informed me. “What do you want?”
I gritted my teeth.
She was like a rabid badger.
“I’m here to bring you to Gho…uh, Mina,” I answered.
She caught the slip, but chose not to say anything.
“How much am I allowed to bring?” she asked.
I looked at the house beyond her and found nearly the entire place packed.
What my attention focused on, however, was the stacks of suitcases.
“I can probably fit all of your suitcases into my truck,” I said. “As for the rest of it? That’s going to have to wait until I can get some more help and time.”
She pinched her lips closed, and then shrugged. “We’ll see.”
She threw the door open wide and headed deeper into the house.
While her back was turned, I chose to study her body.
She was sexy, but it was clear that she didn’t want anyone close to her. Her body seemed to give off this ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibe, and I could clearly see the anger wafting off of her at being stuck with me.
She was about average height, around five foot six or so, and had the body that was perfect for what my mother liked to call ‘baby women.’ Or women that were made to have babies.
Curvy hips, large breasts that would definitely sustain a child, and shapely thighs that were made for a child to sit and cuddle on.
My mother was pediatric nurse and a doula, or a birthing coach, that had helped hundreds of women have babies over the last thirty years. She knew her stuff, and this was one of the things I’d heard her talk about constantly.
My father, brothers, and I had dealt with a lot of baby talk over the course of our lives, and now that my brother was an OB/GYN and my other brothers had children, I heard it even more. More than I wanted to.
“Are you going to help me with the bags, or are you going to watch while I get all of them?”
I looked up to find Audrey loaded down with her bags. The only thing remaining was a small backpack on the floor.
I walked forward and retrieved it. “You look like you have it.”
She huffed in annoyance.
“You’re such a typical asshole man.”
And then she walked out of the home without a backwards glance.
I started to chuckle as I followed her out.
Passing her, I walked to the truck and opened the door, tossing the backpack on the backseat before walking to the tailgate and lowering it.
The moment she reached me, I picked the bags up easily and set them down in the bed before closing the tailgate once again.
“You made that look easy,” she muttered. “I’ve got more since there’s room…”
“I’ll come with you,” I said, taking a wary glance around.
She sighed. “You do that.”