“Oh my God, it’s yellow. Is it supposed to be yellow?” My nose scrunches up while I stare at Catori’s diaper. Maybe we should Google it, but the last time Simone Googled something we were running to the emergency room for nothing but a clogged nose. They gave us this blue sucker thing and sent us on our way.

Catori continues to cry hysterically, hating having her diaper changed and I get anxious. I hate hearing her cry, it makes me so upset knowing she’s upset.

“Hang on, I’m getting the bottle from the steamer and I’ll look.” Simone turns from the counter with the bottle in her hand. “Fuck that’s hot!” Her face contorts in pain, and she drops the bottle, causing milk to explode all over the floor and counter.

Jumping up from the floor, I race to Simone to check on her. Before I can reach her, my bare feet slip in the milk. Just as I’m about to wipe out, Simone grabs onto my arm to keep me from falling and we both fall together in warm spilled milk.

She looks at me, and I look at her as Catori continues to scream her heart out.

“Did you burn it badly?” Reaching for her hand, I flip it over and inspect her red palm. I knew I should have made one with a cooling system for the outside of the bottle. These store-bought ones suck.

Simone’s eyes begin to water with tears, this last week has been fucking brutal. We’ve had little to no sleep, hardly any time together, and I don’t know when the last time I showered was. Being a parent is not fucking easy. Those books lie out of their ass saying it’s easy with just a few steps to make a child stop crying.

Scooting closer to Simone, I wrap my arms around her, milk dripping from my hand onto her hair. We’re a mess.

“We’re going to need a shower,” she laughs, leaning into me.

“You should see Catori, she has crap all over her back. We all need showers.” I grin. Maybe we’re all messes.

“Why don’t you go for a ride and take a break, babe.”

Angry, I fist her by the chin making her look directly at me. My eyes narrowed in at her glossy browns.

“I signed up for this shit, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m her dad, and I’m not going to run out when it gets tough.” Her eyes bounce back and forth between mine, fighting tears. I claimed Simone and am not running out on her just because our baby might have colic, or I haven’t gotten to ride my motorcycle for a week. That last one is killing me though.

“You’re too good to us,” she pouts, grabbing my hand. I scoff in response. I need to find Veer so I can truly be the dad I never had. I want to get us a place with a big yard that Catori can play in with an ugly ass dog of some kind.

“Why don’t we do a date night?” I suggest before really thinking what the fuck I just offered. I’ve never done a date, what the fuck do I know about being romantic. Her face drops, her head shaking.

“I can’t leave Catori—” I slap my hand over her mouth, her interrupting irritating me.

“I’ll go out and get Chinese, we can chill on the couch, maybe light some candles and shit.” I shrug, trying to do the best I can, given my limited resources.

“I know it’s not really a date…” I start backpedaling. She hates it, why did I offer this?

Her milk spotted hand reaches for mine, pulling it free from her face revealing a smile.

“I’d like that. I don’t know when I had a full dinner last.” She looks to the floor, and relief causes my tense shoulders to relax.

“You can ride your bike to get dinner too,” she points out. I nod, a big grin on my face now. Fuck yes! Maybe I’ll have Machete roll with me, get some brother time in before baby language becomes my first tongue.

“Do you hear that?” Simone looks at me with wide eyes. I listen but hear nothing.

“She stopped crying,” I reply with wide eyes.

We both stand, and find Catori playing with her poopy diaper, it’s all in her hair and face.

We both sigh, Simone sinking onto the counter with exhaustion.

“Rock, paper, scissors?” I suggest. Simone laughs and readies her hand for the ultimate challenge. This game is something we both have relied on when it comes to Catori and her diapers, and puke.

“Rock, paper, scissors.” I slap down a rock, and she plops down a pair of scissors.

“YES!” I hiss, my hands in the air like I just won a championship game.

Simone growls, rounding the island in the kitchen.

“Come on poop princess, it’s time for a bath,” Simone sighs.

“I’ll get the baby bath filled, though you might think about getting in the big tub in with her.” I scrunch my nose at her, the smell of cooling milk not pleasant.

Laying Catori down in her crib in my old room, I turn the baby monitor on and slowly step out.

“She’s asleep,” I breathe heavily. I could use a nap, maybe some wine, but tonight me and Mac have plans to just relax. Just us. I can stay awake.

“Nice. I’m going to run and get our dinner, Jillian is going to come up and keep you company until I get back,” Mac informs, slipping his arms through his leather cut. I haven’t seen him put it on in over a week. Seeing the dark leather claim his back makes him look dangerous and sexy.

His hair is slicked back with just a few strands falling in his face. A dark blue shirt and black jeans hugging his legs well.

“Stop looking at me like that, woman. We have three weeks before I get to fuck you, and it’s killing me.” I jump, startled I was caught staring like a horny woman. He hands me the remote, his eyes hooded. “Find a movie for us but make it a good one.”

“What’s a good one?” I frown.

“I don’t know, not a chick flick.” He shrugs. “Anything besides Baby Genius, please.”

I laugh at his dramatic tone. Mac read that Baby Genius is great for soothing newborns, so we’ve been watching a lot of that lately.

It puts me to sleep.

A knock at the door has Mac turning around to answer it and I flip the TV on to see what movie to buy.

“Hey, thanks for coming,” Mac says.

“Are you kidding, I could use a break myself. I have two kids, you have one.” The familiar voice of Jillian sounds from behind me.

Dropping the remote on the couch, I turn around to greet her.

“Hey!” I smile.

She has her hair up in a messy bun, a white shirt, and gray sweats with white shoes. She looks comfy, which is good because I didn’t dress up for company. I’m wearing one of Mac’s torn rock band shirts, and a pair of sweatpants myself.

“Where is the baby?” She grins wildly. The woman has baby fever bad, I bet she’s fucking Zeek like crazy.

“Catori,” Mac reminds her of the name and Jillian scowls in response.

“She’s asleep, but I’m sure she’ll be awake soon,” I explain, pointing to Catori’s room.

“Still not sleeping through the night?”

“Not at all,” I sigh.

“All right, I’m out.” He points at Jillian. “Watch everything.”

“Go, everything will be fine!” she insists, waving him off.

Mac gives me a kiss on the lips, nipping at my bottom lip.

“I’ll be right back.” He winks, and my chest swells. I want to tell him to hurry back, but I want him to enjoy his ride.

Both of us girls sit on the couch, and Jillian begins to explain when she had her twins, it was a nightmare. No sleeping, bathing, or sex.

I shake my head. “I couldn’t imagine having two babies at once.”

Then again, seeing I can’t have any more kids I guess I’ll never know.

We grow silent, and she rests her arm on the back of the couch.

“You know, I have to be honest. I never thought Mac would settle down. Then again, I’ve never seen Mac the way he is around you.” Her brows raise.

Poking the stray string from the couch I laugh nervously.

“He wasn’t a ray of sunshine when I met him, trust me.” I recall how crude he was, and how we fought constantly. I don’t really know what to say about Mac. When we met he was quiet and brooding, but slowly he came around and I see parts of him nobody sees.

“How’d you and Zeek meet?” I ask, curious how she tamed the Outlaw of all Outlaws.

She looks at the ceiling, her mouth open as she begins to tell me. “Uh, well. I tried to arrest him.”

My eyes widen, a laugh ripping through my throat.

“I would have paid to have seen that.” I can’t imagine someone the size of Jillian trying to take Zeek down.

“It didn’t go so well.” She giggles with a scrunched face.

“I bet not. So how’d the club take it when they found out about you two?” I can’t help but get the scoop, I live for gossip. I mean a sheriff and a biker, that is as taboo as it gets!

“They hated me, but they came around because Zeek made them,” she shrugs.

Knocking on the door has us both frown.

“Someone else coming?” Jillian asks.

I shake my head. “No, last person that showed up uninvited was one of Mac’s hos.” My tone painted with hatred.

Jillian suddenly stands, her body going into defense.

“Well, I’m a pro at telling hos off. Let me take care of it.”

Jillian stands, and heads to the front door. Grasping the baby radio, I lift it to my ear to check on Catori, but I don’t hear anything. She’s still sleeping.

Standing, I take the opportunity to go to the bathroom while Jillian tells off whoever is at the door. Shutting the door behind me, I sit on the cold toilet seat and do my business. My bleeding has let up a lot, so I’m down to normal pads now. Which is great because the other pads made it hard to walk.

A bump in the other room makes the picture on the bathroom wall shake.

Narrowing my brows, I nervously squeeze the toilet paper in my hand.

“Jillian?”

Nothing.

Wiping, I quickly stand, and hurry out of the bathroom to see what’s going on. The front door is open, and nobody is in the living room.

My head snaps in the direction of the baby’s room.

“Catori…” I breathe with panic. Racing to her room, I shove the door open, not caring if I wake her. Standing next to her crib is Veer. I gasp, my knees wobbling at the sight of the man that keeps me awake at night has Jillian at gunpoint. On the floor next to them is another gun, it must have been what the commotion was about. Jillian tried to fight him off.

My chest trembles as a ragged breath gets caught in my throat. Veer is just as intimidating as I remember. His shadow on the bedroom floor creeping around my legs and stealing the very breath from my lungs.