Chapter 25
Wren
“Let me hold him,” I pleaded.
“I gotta go pump.”
“Dear God, woman, can you please not mention your breasts when you are in my presence?” Pipe got up from the couch and walked over to Nikki. “You’re like a sister. A sister I don’t want to hear about her breasts. Ever.”
Nikki patted him on the shoulder. “I’m going to have to get you earmuffs for your sensitive ears, aren’t I?” she joked.
Karmen gingerly hoisted herself off of the couch. “Why does no one tell you about the gross things that happen to your body after having a baby? Like you will not believe what happened this morning when I—”
Pipe put his hands over his ears and shook his head. “Not today, Satan. You are not going to discuss this while I’m in the room.” He walked to the front door, managing to keep his hands on his ears, and opened the door with the crook of his elbow. “Not today, Satan,” he mumbled under his breath. He walked out, leaving the door wide open behind him.
Nikki threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t know what is going on with him. I think he’s losing his mind.”
Karmen put her hands on her boobs and jiggled them. “These are not breasts, they are a food dispensary.”
“True that,” Jezebel shouted.
After Maniac had showered with me, we finally managed to stumble out into the common room half an hour after Karmen and Nickel showed up. The girls and I were sitting in front of the TV, admiring Karmen’s little man. Cole was the cutest damn baby, but it was hard jockeying for time to hold him. Nikki had managed to butt me out of the way two times, and Jezebel had been inching closer to Cora, who was now holding him.
Maniac and the rest of the guys were somewhere outside doing Lord knows what. Nikki had mentioned with winter coming, they were getting their bikes ready to be parked.
“You gonna tell us what happened this morning?” Cora asked.
Karmen waved her hand at her. “Nothing happened. I was just giving Pipe shit. Good thing he cut me off when he did because the only thing I could think of to say was an elephant fell out of my vagina.”
“Now what in the hell is going on in your head? That was the only thing you could think of?” Nikki demanded.
Cora cracked up, hitting her hand on her knee. “I can totally picture Pipe’s face because you know he would have believed you.”
“It’s like you’re trying to replace Alice or something. Next thing you know, you’re gonna come walking out of your bedroom wearing a cow onesie with a blender under your arm.” Nikki tsked.
Karmen grabbed her diaper bag off the ground. “Girl, please. My loopiness is attributed to the fact I am getting about three hours of sleep a night. Once I get that little monster on a schedule, my brain will go back to normal and we can all go back to laughing at Alice’s antics.”
“I still have yet to meet this Alice,” Jezebel commented. “I mean, you guys say she is hilarious, but I can’t really be a judge of that until she shows her face.”
“She texted me congratulations the other day, but that was it.” Karmen pointed at Cora. “Time is up. Pass the kid to Jezebel.”
“Hey,” I protested. “I thought I was next.”
Jezebel lifted the baby from Cora and cradled him in her arms. “Yeah, you’re next after me.” Jezebel walked around the room quietly cooing to Cole.
“I’m gonna text Alice. She should be here with us. It doesn’t feel right without her,” Nikki mumbled. She pulled her phone out and typed out a message. “Does get your ass here sound too harsh?”
“Say butt. That will totally soften it,” Cora suggested.
“I’m gonna pee and then pump.” Karmen walked down the hallway, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
I shook my head. “I think she lost her filter when she pushed that baby out.”
“How long should I wait for her to reply?” Nikki asked.
“How long does it normally take for her to reply?” I asked.
“If she’s not working, like two seconds. If she is working, thirty seconds.”
“Jesus,” Cora muttered. “You’re lucky if I reply to you the same day you text me, let alone within seconds.”
“Why don’t you call her?” Jezebel suggested. “I know if I really want to get a response from someone, I call them.”
Nikki pushed a couple of buttons, and then her phone rang loud on speaker. We looked at the phone like Alice was going to come bursting out of it. It rang seven times before it went to her voicemail.
“Alice,” Nikki shouted. “Why you no answer my phone call?”
“What the hell is up with the accent?” Cora laughed.
Nikki disconnected the call. “Not a clue. It seemed fitting for a message left for Alice.”
“Sounding like Long Duck Dong from Sixteen Candles is fitting for Alice.” Jezebel shook her head. “Damn, I really need to meet this bitch.”
“Meet what bitch?” Karmen asked. Her diaper bag was still hitched over her shoulder, but a suction cup contraption was in her hand.
“Alice. She’s not answering her phone,” Nikki replied, concerned.
Cora looked worried. “We could go up there.”
“Go up where?” Nickel asked as he walked through the front door that was still open.
“Kales Corners. Nikki can’t get in touch with Alice, and we’re worried.” Karmen dropped the diaper bag on the floor and walked into Nickel’s chest. “I need to pump but I’m too tired,” she mumbled.
Nickel wrapped his arm around Karmen’s shoulders. “Wrecker is headed past there today on his way back from Riverton. I can call and see if he could stop off to check on her.”
“You think he would?” Nikki asked.
Nickel shrugged. “Don’t see why not. I’m sure she’s fine, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure.”
Pipe stuck his head around the corner of the front door. “Is the coast clear?”
Karmen held up her breast pump and shook it. “Yeah. You’re just in time to watch.”
“Oh, fuck me running. Nikki, let’s go,” he shouted. His hands were over his eyes, and he looked like a five-year-old trying to unsee something.
“Not until Nickel calls Wrecker and asks him to stop off by Alice.”
Pipe dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Let me go over by the garage, and I’ll call him.”
“Why can’t you call him from right here?” Karmen laughed.
“Uh, reception is better over there.” Pipe turned, but he turned the wrong way and slammed into the doorframe. “Mother trucker,” he shouted. He peeked between his fingers and turned himself the right way, in the opposite direction of Karmen. “Give me two minutes and I’ll let you know,” he called over his shoulder.
“Why do you need to torment him like that?” Nickel asked her.
“It’s fun,” she replied simply.
“Okay, your turn. I gotta run to the bathroom, and then I need to check in on Jake to make sure he is doing his homework.” Jezebel handed Cole to me, and I tucked him in the crook of my arms.
His eyes were closed, and he slept peacefully.
“You look happy, darlin’.” Maniac sunk down on the couch next to me. He draped his arm over my shoulders and cracked a beer open with his other hand.
“I’m am,” I sighed.
“Don’t go getting baby fever on me,” he warned. “I need at least five years before we even think about kids.”
“Five years is good for me,” I whispered. I was content to just spoil Cole until we had own baby.
“Wrecker is stopping. He said he’ll call when he finds out what the loony bird is up to.” He cleared his throat. “Those are my words, not his,” he chuckled. He was standing off to the side of the door, shouting in to us. “Can we go now, Nikki?”
Nikki threw her hands up in the air. “He’s done lost his mind.” She grabbed her purse from the bar and hitched it over her shoulder. She hugged each of us and dropped a kiss on Cole’s forehead. She asked us to say bye to Jezebel for her, and then she was gone with Pipe before Karmen could torment him anymore.
“What’s he talking about Wrecker for?” Maniac asked me.
“Nikki hasn’t heard from Alice in a while, so Pipe asked Wrecker to stop by on his way back to the clubhouse.”
He took a long pull from his beer, then set it on the coffee table. “I’m sure she’s fine. She was when we were there a couple of weeks ago.”
She had seemed fine, maybe a little off, but I didn’t think there was anything to worry about. “Yeah, you’re right.”
He pulled me close and pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “You doing okay?”
I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. I couldn’t get mad at the man for being concerned at me. I could get a teeny tiny bit annoyed about it, though. “I’m good.”
He didn’t reply, and I looked up into his face. “What about you? Are you okay?”
“I’ve got my woman under my arm, sitting in my clubhouse, and I’m surrounded by my brothers. I’ve never been better, darlin’.”
I smiled and pressed a kiss to his lips. “This is our life, Maniac,” I whispered.
“It sure the fuck is.”
There was his favorite word again. But I wouldn’t change one thing about him.
I loved him and every fucking thing about him.
Life was fucking perfect with Maniac.
*