BOOTH

“Booth, I need you in the war room,” Steel yelled at me the second I hit the main room of the compound. For fuck’s sake, couldn’t a man have a little something to eat and maybe a coffee before everything turned to shit? I just had one of the most earth-shattering orgasms of my entire life, told the woman of my dreams she was marrying me—which she readily agreed to—then made out like horny teenagers in the shower, so I was feeling fucking great, and then my VP wanted to piss me off. But I would not shirk my responsibilities as the head of the club.

“Yeah, give me few, brother,” I answered before I headed for the kitchen to get a coffee. Creed was in there on Shiloh watch. Stella and the girls had left for their spa treatment day a few minutes ago after having to hustle as we were late to get going this morning.

“Hello, Unca Vinnie,” Shiloh said in a singsong voice from her perch in her highchair. She was four and should have been out of it by now, but the kid was a fucking menace in the kitchen. The first time she fell off the chair and had to go to the ER for a big gash on her forehead, the whole six of us went, and the ER doctors vowed never to let us all in together ever again. It hadn’t been pretty, and the one-year-old with the open wound had been calmer than we were. But after a few more trips like that over a short period of time, one doctor quietly suggested we keep her in the highchair for all meals. The doctor never said when to take Shiloh out, so she still ate in it. I heard Teach suggested we start letting her sit in a ‘big person’s’ chair soon. Yeah, sure like never.

“Good morning, baby girl. Whatcha got there?” Fuck. Did I want to know? The kid had some weird tastebuds.

“Banana and Vegemite on toast,” she answered proudly, holding up the disgusting concoction and offering me some.

Ah, no, no, and no.

“Sexy Stella made it for me.”

I nearly choked on my spit. Holy fucking shit. It might be time to start minding what we said in front of her.

Creed grunted a laugh—well, his version of one—as he came back to the table with a wet washcloth. Shiloh was not only dangerous but also messy at the table.

“War room, Pres,” Creed said as he made quick work of cleaning Shiloh of mashed banana. We all had our fair share of Shiloh time, so it was just a natural thing for us now. I nodded my understanding as I filled my cup with steaming brown goodness while Creed finished cleaning up Shiloh.

“Come on, Squirt. Let’s go find Seb. He is taking you to day care today.”

I raised my eyebrows at the news.

“Only Seb?” Creek knew what I meant by this. My orders had been two guys on Shiloh if Deck wasn’t going as well.

“Squid is on the girls, and we are a man down with—” he stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Shiloh. She missed Dundee. She knew he was dead, but I don’t think she grasped that he wasn’t coming back ever again. Charlotte suggested we not say his name around her for a while and wait to see if Shiloh could remember him herself or just forget. I could see Deck was relieved when Charlotte said that because Shiloh had lost so much already in her young life. With Charlotte and Deck getting ready to get married, Deck didn’t want anything bad touching the little princess of the club.

“We need to see where Lucky is at with his recovery and if he is going back in or coming home.”

We needed more men, but I was wary of bringing anyone new into the compound. The Rogue shit wasn’t sitting well with me. He knew too much and heard too much. There was no way he had bugs in the compound everywhere, but he was always one step ahead, and his intel on the girls was too firsthand. I had my suspicions he was getting information from a source that was known to the club, but I didn’t know who or how.

I watched as Creed pulled Shiloh up and swung her onto his shoulders. Her squeals of delight warmed my heart. Her cast was off now, thank God. It had been a constant reminder that we’d failed her as her family—I’d failed her, and that would never happen again.

***

“Are the girls safe at the spa?” I asked as I sat down at the head of the table. This seat held a lot of power, but it also carried a lot of responsibility. I thrived on it, but this dark time in the club weighed heavily on my shoulders. Seeing the girls safe and protected was a high priority in all of our minds.

“Yeah, Pres, I just heard from Squid, and he said there’s lots of giggling and shit,” Mannix reported with a smirk. He knew when the women of the club got together, anarchy tended to ensue. He especially loved seeing Deck deal with Charlotte’s funny antics. She got a little loose when alcohol was in the mix, but with her pregnant, I saw he was a bit calmer about the day. Now, it was my turn to stress about Stella and the fruity cocktails she and Mia liked. They tended to send my honey into a loose-mouthed sex-talking fiend. Actually, I was quite looking forward to seeing what she was like when they got back.

My cock was still deliriously happy after the morning’s monumental lovemaking in the shower. Stella allowing me to take her like that showed she trusted me, and even after my nightmare last night and my subsequent breakdown, she didn’t shy away from me. Didn’t laugh or pass judgement. She talked me through it all, listened to me, and gave me the space I needed to get out of my head and regain my composure. The way she’d held me and stroked my hair filled my heart with even more love for her. She was it for me, and I’d meant it when I said I was going to marry her. It hadn’t been a conventional proposal, hell, Stella may not have realised it was a real proposal, but it was. I would get her a ring, but I didn’t want a big to-do like Deck and Teach were going to have.

Just Stella and I would suit me just fine. Maybe we could go away to some place where she could wear a bikini the entire time, get married on a beach with just a minister, and come back married. Who knew, maybe I could get her pregnant on our honeymoon. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted it. Marrying Stella as soon as possible had just jumped up on my list.

“Okay, then good. Now why the hell are we here and not out working?” The thought of pumping some weights sounded good to me.