I walk away from the children’s room smiling and my lips still feeling the weight of Toi’s hand on them. She’s got more spirit than I gave her credit for. Each time I catch a glimpse of it, I want to see more. Maybe I should try and find a man to watch over her. Ghost is taken with her, I can see it on his face. He’s relatively new. He came in after Blaze left the brotherhood. Blaze was a fuckwad, but there are days I miss the asshole. He transferred out to another chapter a year ago. His old lady, Jinxy, left the club not long after that. Those two should have never got together. Jinxy is a good woman, but Blaze isn’t the kind of man who can keep it in his pants with only one woman. Hell, I was the same way when I was younger. Which probably explains why I have so many kids.

I briefly wonder what Toi’s reaction will be when she discovers how many kids I have, but I shrug it off. Really, four of my kids aren’t even there; they’ve moved out to families of their own, like Max, or they’re away in college. I miss them. I may be an asshole, but I’m a decent father—or at least I’ve always tried to be.

“Where you headed, Marcum?” Topper asks, coming around the corner, hugging his old lady, Babs, close. Those two couldn’t be any more different in looks and in personality, but for some reason they just work. Topper is tall, skinny as a rail and kind of goofy looking in general. Babs is hot as fuck and curvy in all the right places. Topper is a good man, though, probably one of my best besides Moth.

“Heading to Dawg’s,” I tell him, giving my son Max’s road name. “Tess is cooking dinner, and I’m going to spend some time with Maddie. I’ll be back in time for church.”

“Want me to go and watch your back?” he asks. He’s always worried about me going places alone. I wave him off.

“You just want some of Tess’s fried chicken.”

“She’s a damn fine cook,” Topper laughs.

“I can cook,” Babs grumbles.

“Babe, I love you, but more for your ass than your food,” Topper answers, and from the look on Babs’ face he might be in trouble.

“Later,” I tell them, leaving them to it.

“Later, old man,” Topper says, and he’s probably older than me, so I flip him off as I leave.

* * *

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Max says, opening the door. He’s smiling. It’s the kind of smile that puts an ease in my soul. I’ve spent a lot of years worrying about Max. I thought I lost him and I wasn’t sure he’d make it once he got out of prison. I owe Tess a lot—for a lot of things—but none more important than the peace she brought to my boy.

I hug him tight and he returns the hug without thought. There was a time in my life that wasn’t the case.

“Hey Maxwell, where’s my pretty little grandkid at?” I ask when he steps back to let me in the room.

“I just got her down for a nap, and you will not wake her this time.” This comes from Tess, who walks in the room smiling. She comes over to me and hugs me, as close as she can because her stomach is stretched with my soon-to-be second granddaughter.

“Tess, honey, how are you?” I ask softly next to her ear as I hold her a little longer. She’s a good woman. A woman I respect and as much my daughter in my heart as if she had been born of my blood.

“Tired and fat,” she laughs, pulling away and holding her stomach. “But really happy,” she adds, looking up at my son, who wraps his arm around her and pulls her into him. It’s not a show of ownership. Not really. It has more to do with the fact that the man literally wants her in his arms all the time. I cared for Cherry, but until I saw these two together, I didn’t think what they share truly existed.

Fuck… maybe it doesn’t except for Max. With everything he’s been through, the man upstairs must have decided he needed a reward.

“You’re beautiful, Kitten,” Max grumbles, kissing her temple, making Tess’s smile broaden. “You two grab a beer and go out on the deck. It’s going to be a bit before dinner is ready.”

“Damn Maxwell, too bad you found her first,” I joke with a wink at Tess.

“Don’t even joke about that shit. I’d hate to have to kill my own father,” Max grumbles, grabbing us some beers out of the fridge and kissing Tess quickly before leading me outside.

I twist open my beer and take a big pull from it as I drop my ass in a chair. I kick my legs up on the banister and watch the waves of the ocean crash into the shore. The club owned this house, but when all the trouble came down with Max, and Tess was pregnant, I made it into a home for her and Maddie. It’s a good place, a peaceful one, and now that Max is back with his family, it is exactly what they need.

Max mirrors me, propping his legs up on the deck railing, but he looks at me.

“You okay, old man?” he asks, as if he can sense I have shit on my mind.

“I’m always good,” I mutter and for the most part that’s true.

“Okay then, what’s on your mind?” Max asks—like a damn dog with a bone.

“I’m fucking old, boy.”

“You’re only as old as you feel,” he spouts off.

“Well then fuck, I have years on the damn dirt.”

“Oh, give me a break. What’s got you all fucked up over age?”

“What else?” I answer, taking another drink.

“Who is she?”

“No one. A damn girl I took in payment.”

“Jesus Christ, Marcum! Payment?”

“Her dad owes the club. He couldn’t pay and until he does…”

“You’ll what? Use his girl? Christ.”

“Stop getting all sanctimonious on me, Maxwell. Your past is not exactly warm milk and nursery rhymes.”

“You can’t use her if she’s innocent.”

“That’s not even why I did it,” I sigh, feeling uneasy again. “And I’m not using her. She’s watching over my kids, mostly the twins.”

Max is quiet for a minute. My boy is sharp, like his old man. I know this is not the end of it.

“Why did you do it then?”

“She needs protection,” I grumble—which is partially true, but that’s not the full reason I took her. Hell, I don’t fully know the reason.

“From her old man?”

“Probably. She can’t talk. Had some kind of accident that injured her. I’d lay money on the fact her father was behind the accident.”

“You left him breathing?”

“I couldn’t kill him in front of her.”

“You like her.”

“She’s a baby.”

“How much of a baby?”

“Probably Tess’s age. I don’t know.”

“So you like her.”

“I told you son, I’m too fucking old.”

“She like you?” he asks, completely ignoring my answer.

“She can’t stand me,” I growl. “Keeps thinking I’m going to turn her into some club whore.”

“I like her already.”

“You really are a fucking pain in my ass, Maxwell.”

“When do I get to meet my step-mother?”

“Fucking asshole. I don’t—”

“What’s her name?” he interrupts me.

“Toi,” I grumble and Max straight out laughs.

“God, this just gets better and better. I’ll tell you one thing, old man,” he laughs.

“What?” I growl, draining my beer.

“You’re never boring,” he laughs, and I have to resist the urge to hit him over the head with my empty beer. That’d probably piss Tess off, and I actually like her.

“Fucking prick,” I grumble and do my best to ignore his laughter.