CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Come on! We’re going to be late,” I yell to Carter.
I haven’t spent a whole lot of time at my apartment in the few weeks since we returned from our trip downstate. But I wanted to make sure Carter came with me today, so I spent the night here.
“Are you sure you want me at this party?” he asks for the millionth time. “I feel weird.”
“It’s a family party. They invited non-MC people too.”
“Well, I didn’t receive an invitation.”
“Carter, I stood right there and heard Heidi personally invite you. Next excuse?”
“She was just being polite. I’ve never even met her kid.”
“Well, today you’ll be able to finally meet her,” I say with exaggerated patience. I feel like we’ve been having this conversation all morning long.
Oh, wait, we have.
Since Chuck’s attack, Carter’s been down on MCs in general and my boyfriend in particular. He doesn’t seem to care that the attack was about my uncle and not about the Lost Kings.
He blames Marcel.
Giving Carter a complete picture means I’ll have to disclose what happened to me too, and Marcel knows how much I don’t want to burden my brother with that, so he hasn’t bothered to correct him. Honestly, I don’t think it would help at this point.
“You’re sure you want me there?”
“Yes! Oh my God, stop dragging your feet. We’re going to be late.”
When I emerge from my bedroom, he’s waiting by the front door with a big box covered in white paper with rainbow unicorns scattered all over it, topped off with a big pink bow.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a birthday party. Aren’t we supposed to bring presents?”
“Well, yes. But I already bought something from both of us.”
“And I’m bringing this from me.”
“What is it?”
“It’s this unicorn. She plays different songs and melodies. I don’t know. It lights up and does some other stuff.” He shrugs. “Teller said his sister’s into cognitive development toys and this is supposed to be good for that.”
I’m not sure what to say. Instead of responding in some meaningful way, I stand there with my mouth open.
“What’s with the face?” He opens the door. “Come on, now you’re the one making us late.”
Even though I plan to stay over, we take my car. It makes sense. Carter’s been using it more than I have lately.
A prospect lets us in the front gate after I wave to him.
Carter whistles as we climb the driveway. “Well, I feel better now. I think you’re pretty safe out here.”
“Have you been worried about me?”
“Yes, I worry about you, Charlotte.”
I reach over and pat his leg. “I worry about you too.”
Teller meets us in the driveway and points out where we should park. He opens my door and pulls me into a hug. “Hey, Sunshine. Missed you.”
“Missed you too.”
“Jesus. You saw each other yesterday,” Carter grumbles.
“What’s up, Carter? I see you’re full of cheer this afternoon.”
Carter flashes a fake smile and pulls the present he brought out of the back seat.
Teller raises an eyebrow. “I thought you—”
“That’s from Carter.”
“This is quite a place, Teller. Seems too classy for a bunch of bikers.”
“We like it out here.”
Teller introduces Carter around. Thankfully my brother seems too uncomfortable to say anything too obnoxious.
“Happy birthday to you.” The club, the whole club, and everyone else in attendance, finishes belting out the last verse of Happy Birthday to baby Alexa.
Marcel leans in to help her blow out her birthday candles, and I slip my phone out to capture a picture. This is a side of him few people probably know, and I’m happy Carter’s here to witness it. Maybe it will put his mind at ease.
Once the candle’s out, Alexa promptly plants her face in the cake.
Trinity has her professional camera out to capture every bit of pink frosting that gets in Alexa’s hair.
“Oh my God. Look at you.” Heidi giggles as she attempts to clean her daughter’s face. “Did that taste good?”
Alexa chortles and plunges her little fists into the cake next.
Trinity leans over and whispers in my ear. “Good thing I made two cakes. The other one’s tucked away in the kitchen.”
“Thank God, I’ve been drooling over it since we got here.”
Marcel’s absolutely enamored with his niece. Every time I see them together, thoughts I never, ever expected I’d have, start running through my head.
Murphy cuts the side of the cake that escaped Alexa’s grabby hands and Hope passes it out. While Marcel’s busy feeding Alexa cake, Murphy comes over and gives me a one-armed hug. “Can you check on Heidi? She went inside.”
“Sure. Is everything okay?”
Although he nods, he seems unsure, so I leave to check on her.
I find Heidi in the kitchen standing at the sink with the water running. After a few seconds, I realize the water masks the sounds of her crying. “Heidi, what’s wrong?”
“Oh!” She leans over the sink and splashes water on her face before facing me. “Nothing.”
I take measured steps and gently touch her shoulder. “The party’s lovely. Alexa seems so happy. What’s wrong?”
“Who am I talking to? Charlotte my friend? Or Charlotte my brother’s girlfriend?”
“Whoever you need.”
She takes a deep breath. “It’s nothing. I just feel bad Axel’s not here for Alexa, you know? Even if we weren’t together…I don’t know…I’m not…Murphy’s so good to her. To me. I can’t help feeling bad, though.”
Her admission stuns me a little. I’m used to seeing the worst sides of broken families. Women who wish their exes were dead. Men who’d rather spend their day with the new girlfriend than at a one-year-old’s birthday party.
Even though she won’t turn twenty for a few more weeks, she has more depth and compassion than so many people I’ve encountered in my life.
I choose my words carefully. “That’s understandable. That’s what makes you a good mom, Heidi.”
“Yeah, but it makes me a shitty fiancée.”
Remembering the concerned way Murphy asked me to check on Heidi, I say, “I think Murphy understands.”
She hiccups. “He does. We talked about it this morning. That’s why I don’t want him to know it was still bothering me. I was fine until she blew out her candle.” Her mouth pulls into a half-smirk. “Or rather, my brother blew out the candle and she face-planted in the cake.”
“Trinity got a great photo of that.”
Heidi chuckles. “I saw.”
“Have you tried reaching out to Axel’s parents?”
“God, no.”
“Maybe it will help you feel better if Alexa connects with Axel’s family.”
She shakes her head. “They’ve never wanted anything to do with her.”
“Well, maybe now that some time has gone by…”
“I don’t think I can stand—”
“To have them reject you?”
She snorts and waves her hand in the air. “Please. I’ve been rejected my whole life, Charlotte. I couldn’t care less if they like me, but I won’t have my daughter treated like she’s not good enough for them. Absolutely not.”
The little girl in me whose mother never showed up for a single parent-conference night, school play, or graduation weeps with her. The attorney who’s seen a lot of parents lacking the strength to stand up for their children, cheers for her.
“Well, she’s one lucky little girl. She has an entire club full of overprotective men happily attending a unicorn-themed birthday party.”
That finally puts a smile on her face. “We’re so lucky. I love our family.”
The door that leads into the dining room swings open, halting our talk. “Everything all right?” Hope calls out.
Heidi sniffs once then forces a bright smile. “I’m okay, Aunt Hope.”
Now it makes sense why Heidi’s so tight with Hope and practically worships her.
“Oh, Heidi.” Hope sweeps her up in a hug and flashes a quick smile. “Teller’s looking for you,” she says to me.
“I’ll find him in a minute.”
Heidi snorts and turns sideways, still keeping her arms around Hope. “That’s right. Make my brother wait for it.”
“Well…”
“Actually,” Heidi says, her lips curving into a wicked grin. “I wouldn’t mind a niece or nephew. Then Murphy can stop worrying about Alexa not having any siblings.”
“Oh my God.” I burst out laughing. “Yeah, we’re definitely not there yet.” I sneak a sideways glance at Hope. “Besides, I think it’s the duty of the First Lady to start making some baby Lost Kings.”
Hope snort-giggles but surprisingly doesn’t disagree.
Instead, she pulls me into her other side, hugging me tightly, making me feel like I finally have a place.
With this family.
“No good can come from that, bro,” Murphy says, backing away from the kitchen door. He shakes his head, but there’s a grin forming at the corners of his mouth.
I step up and take a peek at whatever it is he thinks is so funny.
“Fuck me,” I mutter.
Hope has one arm wrapped around Heidi and one around Charlotte. The three of them look like they’re plotting world domination.
Murphy jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Your brother-in-law-to-be is out there unchaperoned.”
“He’ll be okay.”
“How have you not kicked his ass yet?”
I lift one shoulder. “The same way I stop myself from kicking your ass every day, I guess.”
“Har, har.”
“What are you two creeps doing?” Wrath’s big voice echoes through the room.
“Shh.” Murphy tilts his head toward the door.
Wrath, using one massive arm to brush Murphy out of his way, takes a look and comes away laughing. “You two are fucked for sure.”
Murphy glances in the window again and loses the smile. “Heidi had a rough morning. I’m glad she’s talking to Hope.”
“About what?” I ask.
Murphy shrugs off my question. Whether it’s because he doesn’t want to talk about it in front of Wrath or it’s his way of reminding me to butt out, I’m not sure. Either way, I leave it alone. If they want me to know, one of them will tell me.
“At least the only advice Hope gives my wife is what kind of sexwear to buy for me,” Wrath says.
“What?”
“Gross.” Murphy shakes his head. “I don’t want to hear Hope and sexwear in the same sentence ever again. I’m already subjected to enough living with them.”
Wrath laughs so hard there’s no way the girls can’t hear us out here.
“What are you three knuckleheads doing?” Z calls out, striding into the dining room carrying Alexa in his arms. He lifts his chin at Murphy. “Where’s your woman? Our little princess here, has frosting in her ears, up her nose, in her hair, and hell knows where else.”
Murphy snorts and holds out his hands. “Give her to me.”
“Aw, such a modern dad,” Z snarks.
Murphy flips him a discrete middle finger behind Alexa’s back, then nods at the door. “Guess I’m going in.”
After he’s gone, Wrath claps me on the back. “You gonna rescue your girl?”
“From Hope?” No fucking way. The two of them have been spending more and more time together since our trip downstate, which was exactly what I’d hoped for. I want Hope on Charlotte’s side, especially now.
“You want her teaching your girl the art of withholding sex?”
Z lets out a sharp bark of laughter. “I don’t think Hope’s familiar with that one.”
Wrath’s eyes widen and he lets out a dramatic gasp. “Are you calling our First Lady slutty?”
“No, I’m calling her dick-whipped.”
I place a hand on my stomach. “I’m going to throw up.”
Z pats my head, similar to how he pets the dogs. “Sorry, little brother.” He turns to Wrath. “He still hasn’t recovered from catching Mom and Dad doing it on the war room table.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Wrath says. “They have their own damn house.”
“Why are you all in here?” Rock says as he pushes through the dining room doors and throws his hands in the air. “The party’s outside.”
“These two were spying on the girls,” Z explains.
“I wasn’t,” Wrath says. “Teller and his ginger wonder twin were.”
Rock heaves out a deep breath, searching for patience to deal with us, I’m sure.
“Tell me, Prez,” Wrath says, stroking his hand over his beard. “Did you and your ol’ lady desecrate our war room table?”
“Asshole,” I hiss at him.
Rock’s mouth twists into a smirk and he gives us a casual shrug. “Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
Wrath leaves to find Trinity and Z leaves to take the dogs for a run.
“How you doing?” Rock asks.
“Good.” I stop and take a breath. “I want to patch Charlotte and ask for the officers’ votes.”
“All right. Today?”
“Yes.”
Together, we push into the kitchen and find Murphy and Heidi fussing over a pissed-off Alexa who’s getting bathed in the sink.
“Blake, can you grab me a towel?” Heidi asks.
Murphy holds a towel open while Heidi hands Alexa to him. He wraps her up tight, and she stops wailing. Leaning over, he gives Heidi a quick kiss and they share a few words.
Rock walks up behind Hope and wraps his arms around her middle while she continues her conversation with Charlotte.
I join them and slip an arm around Charlotte. “Where’ve you been?” she teases.
“We’re gonna sit down for church in a few,” Rock says.
“You want me to round everyone up, Prez?” Murphy asks.
“No. You’re busy with our birthday girl.” He nods at me. “Bring everyone in.”
“You got it.”
Murphy lifts his chin at me, grateful I think, to have a few extra minutes with his family.
I take Charlotte outside. Before we return to the party, I stop and back her against the side of the clubhouse.
“Kiss me.”
She wraps her arms around my neck, rises up on her toes, and presses her lips to mine.
I pull back, staring down at her face. “Do you want kids?”
Her big blue eyes widen in surprise. “Eventually, yes.”
“You ever think about us having kids?”
A bright smile lights up her face. “Only every time I see you with Alexa.”
“Yeah?”
She nods and pulls me down for another kiss.
“What made you ask that today?” she murmurs against my lips.
“Realized I’ve never really asked.”
“And what if I said no?”
She’s teasing me, so I pin her to the wall and grind my hips into her. “I would’ve convinced you.”
Her soft laughter warms me all over, confirming my decision to patch her. Hopefully it won’t be hard to convince my brothers.