CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Pure chaos rules Rock and Hope’s house when I walk in a few mornings later.
Most of the commotion is centered around my niece, who’s screaming at the top of her lungs. Hope’s holding her and trying to console her, but Alexa keeps reaching for Murphy, who’s busy cooking.
A rather odd scene I’m interrupting.
Rock spots me and waves at me to come in before he steps outside to continue his phone call.
Hope flashes a weak smile. “Morning, Teller.”
“Morning. Where’s Heidi?”
“In the shower,” Murphy answers without looking at me.
I take Alexa and she screams even louder for a few seconds. When she focuses on me, her screams abruptly stop. “What’s wrong, baby?”
She bursts into tears again.
“She is not a happy baby today,” Hope explains, rubbing the back of her hand over Alexa’s cheek.
Guilt ripples over me. I shouldn’t allow my sister to impose on my president and his wife. “Sorry, Hope.” I pull out a chair at the large kitchen table and drop into it. When I glance up, Hope’s pretty eyes are narrowed in my direction.
“It’s not a problem, Teller,” she says in a way that sounds an awful lot like mind your own business. Except, Heidi is my business or she was.
“What’re you cooking, Mr. Mom?” I tease Murphy.
He throws a middle finger up without turning around.
Hope tsks at me as she sets coffee, mugs, sugar and creamer on the table. She hates when I pick on Murphy. “We like having them here. Keeps things lively.”
“I’ll bet,” I mutter.
Ignoring my comment, she hands me a frozen teething ring. “Here, see if she’ll gnaw on this.”
Heidi races into the kitchen, dressed in jeans, T-shirt, and a towel on her head, throws a quick hello at me, and races back out. A few seconds later the whir of a blow dryer starts up.
“What’s she up to?”
Hope glances at the clock before answering. “Trinity’s picking her up. Heidi’s helping her with a photo shoot.”
“Why isn’t she ready?”
Murphy glares at me again as he sets food out on the table. “She was up all night with Alexa.” He claps his hand over my shoulder, squeezing with enough pressure to get my attention. In a lower voice, he says, “If you harass her when she gets out here, I’m going to kick your ass.”
I don’t have enough fingers to count how many times Murphy has threatened to kick my ass lately. It seems to be our new favorite routine.
Looking a little less frazzled, my sister joins us at the table a few minutes later. She hugs me from behind, settling her chin on my shoulder. The damp ends of her hair brush against my arm and the scent of strawberries tickle my nose. She places a quick kiss on my cheek. “Morning. What’re you doing here so early?”
What am I doing? I wanted to see my niece. See my sister. See my best friend who’s never at the clubhouse anymore.
“Just wanted to see my favorite girls.”
She kisses my cheek again and takes Alexa from me, dropping into the chair on my left.
“Thank you so much, Hope,” Heidi says as she plays peek-a-boo with Alexa.
“No problem, honey.” While Hope says it to Heidi, she’s looking at me.
Great, somehow I managed to piss off Hope and it’s not even nine a.m. Rock will love that.
As if he knew, Rock steps back inside. He lifts his chin at me. “Morning.”
“Everything okay?” Murphy asks.
Rock plants a kiss on Hope’s cheek before answering. “Bricks had an issue with one of the guys we’re doing some custom work for.”
“You need help?”
“Nah, we’ve got it.” He nods to the hallway. “I did get those parts you asked me for, though.”
“Cool. Thanks.”
“Do you have to go down to the shop?” Hope asks Rock.
The two of them share a look. “Not until later,” he answers in a low voice, clearly not meant for the rest of us. Murphy coughs and rolls his eyes. My sister’s oblivious busy playing with Alexa.
After a round of eye-fondling his wife, Rock digs into breakfast. “What’s up with you?” he asks me.
“Not much, Prez.”
He accepts that answer and swings his gaze to Heidi.
“Ready for your big day?” he asks her in such a dad way, it hits me right in the chest. This is the kind of domestic scene she should have had as a kid.
I glance at Alexa. At least she’ll always—
“Teller?” Murphy’s voice breaks into my thoughts.
I turn and find him watching me and wonder if this is the first time he tried to get my attention. “What’re your plans today?”
Like an idiot, I lift my shoulders. I don’t have anything planned other than annoying my sister this morning.
“A few small things.”
“Come help me in the garage after breakfast?” he asks with a look on his face that says he knows I’m full of shit.
“Sure.”
Someone knocks on the front door and Rock yells for them to come in. Trinity enters, eager smile in place. “Ready, Heidi?”
Rock waves his hand over the table. “You can sit down and have breakfast first, right?”
Trinity grabs a chair next to Hope and drops into it. “I already ate, but I will have some coffee as long as Hope didn’t make it.”
Hope playfully punches Trinity’s side. “Rock made it.”
“Where’s your man?” Murphy asks.
“He’s working at Sully’s today.”
“Everything going okay there?” Rock asks.
Trinity’s lashes flutter as if she doesn’t want to give us the full story. “You know how he is. Not thrilled to be working out of someone else’s place.”
“It’ll be okay,” Hope says, “once Furious is back up and running.”
Trinity and Murphy both sort of nod at Hope’s optimism. We all know the rebuild of Furious Fitness will take a while to get sorted.
Heidi finishes her breakfast and stands. I offer to take Alexa, but Trinity holds out her hands. “Oh, let me give Alexa kisses.”
A few minutes later, there’s a flurry of activity while the girls pack up and head for the door. Heidi seems to get a little teary when it’s time to leave. Especially when Alexa screams bloody murder the minute my sister steps outside.
“Go ahead, Heidi. She’ll be fine,” I assure her.
“Shhh. Shhh, I got you, baby,” I keep talking in low tones until Alexa finally settles down.
“I’ll take her,” Murphy says, coming at her with a damp washcloth to clean her tear-streaked cheeks. Something my little niece doesn’t appreciate.
“You headed to the garage now?” Rock asks.
Murphy nods. “I’ll take Alexa.”
“Get her started in the garage early. Good,” Hope teases.
“You know it.”
Rock glances at me. “Take her outside if he’s gonna start anything up.”
“Yeah, of course, I will.”
Since I came over and ate their food, I should probably help Hope clean up or something, but Murphy’s eager to leave. Rock’s busy groping his wife while she loads the dishwasher anyway. Everyone seems to have a routine here I know nothing about. It leaves me feeling like an intruder.
“Doesn’t she work anymore?” I ask Murphy once we’re on the path to the garage.
“Who? Hope? Yeah, I think so.” He glances back at the house and sniggers. “They’ll probably go at each other for a few hours, then he’ll ride down to the shop and she’ll go to the office.”
“It’s disturbing that you know that.”
“You asked.”
“Da-da,” Alexa babbles as we walk through the woods.
Murphy runs his hand over her back.
“Aren’t you supposed to encourage her talking?” I tease.
He shrugs but doesn’t answer.
“What’s wrong?” I must be one insensitive motherfucker because it takes a few seconds to puzzle it out. “You feel guilty having her call you Dad?” I ask gently.
“Maybe,” he answers without looking at me.
Yeah, he’s scary as fuck on the outside, but inside, he’s always been sensitive. Probably why we get along so well. He makes up for what I lack.
“Figured when she’s a little older I’ll explain her dad’s in heaven or—”
“Why the fuck would you say that to her? You’re the only father she’s ever gonna know.”
My best friend turns and glares at me. “She has a right to know about her father. I’m not going to lie to her.”
“Why not?”
“The truth always comes out eventually. Isn’t it better for her to know growing up so it’s no big deal, rather than finding out later and hating us for lying to her all her life?”
Christ, when did he get so fucking smart?
If it were me, I would’ve scrubbed Axel out of my life for good. The constant reminder of my sister’s first husband has to eat at him. I respect the hell out of Murphy for giving this so much thought.
“I guess,” I grumble not quite willing to concede.
He hesitates. “But what if we make too big a deal out of it and she feels like she doesn’t fit in or something?” He glances down at Alexa who reaches up and tugs on his beard. “Shit.”
I shouldn’t laugh because he so clearly wants to do the right thing for my niece. “I think being a parent means you’re fucked no matter what you do.”
“Christ, you’re not kidding.”
Turns out our conversation’s appropriate because it’s Axel’s old bike we came to work on today. Murphy keeps it stored in a corner of the club’s garage under a cloth—not that anyone would bother it. “My sister know you still have this?”
“She knows,” he answers quietly.
“What are you keepin’ it for? Sell it.”
He hands Alexa to me and uncovers the bike. “I’m keeping it for Alexa. She can decide what she wants to do with it when she’s older.”
“What does my sister say?”
“Why are you so nosy today?”
“Today? I’m nosy all the time, aren’t I?” Actually, I’m trying to ease up on hovering in my sister’s business. But it’s hard. I only want good things for her. And I really don’t want her to hurt my best friend again.
As if she senses my inner struggle or maybe she just doesn’t like me not paying one hundred percent attention to her, Alexa grabs at my cheek. I pretend to bite her tiny hands, making loud nom-nom noises, pulling a series of shrill giggles from her.
I’ll definitely murder anyone who even thinks of hurting this precious little girl.
Since we’re bearing our souls and all it seems like the right time to have a certain conversation I’ve been meaning to have with my brother.
“Hey, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Speak,” Murphy mumbles as he drops down to work on the bike.
We’re in the back corner of the garage. Not much chance of anyone overhearing us. Even so, I lower my voice.
“I need our conversation to stay between us.” This isn’t a completely unusual request. Murphy and I go so far back, we hold plenty of secrets between us. We declared ourselves brothers before we ever earned our Lost Kings MC patches. Over the years we’ve shared stuff with only each other when the time wasn’t right to bring it to the club.
This is a slightly different situation, but I still trust Murphy to have my back. “It’s about Charlotte.”
He tips his head up. “Yeah, what about her?”
“We’ve kind of been seeing each other.”
Now I have his full attention. He slowly raises an eyebrow. “How’d that happen?”
“It’s complicated.”
He wipes his hands on the rag hanging from his back pocket and stands. “This is the second time you’ve used that word lately. If it’s the lawyer thing, I don’t think anyone will care. Hope—”
“It’s not the lawyer thing.” Shit, every single way I run over it in my head it sounds bad, so I spill it fast. “She’s Merlin’s niece.”
His jaw drops. And here I thought nothing could shock him anymore.
In my arms, Alexa squeals and kicks, reaching for him, babbling, “Da da da.”
He takes her without a word but continues staring at me.
“Merlin as in the Wolf Knight’s president, Merlin?” he finally asks, each word dripping with disbelief.
“Yup.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“A little.”
“What the…how the fuck?”
“Yup.”
“That’s who you went home with the night of the party?”
“Yes, but we knew…we…we’d hooked up before.”
“When?”
I understand his confusion. There’s not a whole lot we don’t share with each other.
“After we settled the case with my grandmother.”
“And you never mentioned it?” His gaze strays to Alexa and the corner of his mouth lifts. “So that’s why you came with us to the appointment?”
“Kinda. I didn’t know about her connection to their club until the night of the party, though.”
“You got our colors inked all over you. She didn’t notice?”
“Not until Grams’ funeral. That’s why she freaked out and left early.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“I know it sounds bad, but she’s not close to him. She has very little to do with the club.”
“Yet she happened to be there for a club party?”
His questions are mild compared to the grilling I’ll get from the rest of the club, especially Wrath. Still, I don’t like anyone questioning Charlotte’s motives. Not even my closest friend.
“Her brother confirmed it for me. She doesn’t—”
“Her brother? You’re already hanging out with her family?” I swear he almost sounds hurt.
“I’ve run into him a couple times.”
“He a patch holder?”
“No. He doesn’t seem to want anything to do with the club either. He’s real loyal to Charlotte though.” I smirk, remembering Carter holding the gun to my head. “Protective of her to the point of stupidity.”
“No wonder you get along,” he mutters. He runs one hand through his hair, causing Alexa to mimic the movement. He huffs out a laugh and kisses her cheek before focusing on me. “You gotta come clean—”
“Not yet. I need to see where this goes first.”
That makes him stop. I need him to understand that I’m not fucking around here.
“You’re really serious about her?” he asks.
“I could be. I’m not sure yet.”
He rolls his eyes. “Just what women want, a nice lukewarm commitment.”
“Can you keep this to yourself or not?”
His expression darkens. Maybe I hurt his feelings. “You know I will. I’ll do whatever you need me to do. I’ll even have your back when Wrath finds out and kicks your ass.”
I let out a snort because that’s most likely how this will go down. “Thank you.”
“Can I at least tell Heidi? She won’t say anything. She’s been yammering about setting the two of you up since we were at Charlotte’s office.”
“Really? Why?”
Murphy rolls his eyes. “She wants you to be happy.”
“I guess. Don’t mention the Merlin part. I don’t want her to worry. It’s not that big a deal.”
“You’re fooling yourself if you think it won’t be a big deal, brother. You know the issues we’ve been having with their club since Ulfric stepped down. Shit, even before then.”
“I—”
He cuts me off before I finish my thought. “Even if we end up being okay with it—and good luck convincing Wrath and Z it’s no big deal—Merlin’s the kind of asshole who will make an issue of it.”
Shit. He already has. The serenity I find with her is some sort of high I want to keep chasing. Making me forget all the reasons it can’t last.
Murphy cocks his head. “A lawyer, huh? Thought you didn’t like mouthy broads.” He says it with a smirk, using words I might have said in the past to mock me.
“It should be difficult, but it’s not. She’s easy to be with. I don’t have to explain things to her, she just seems to get me.”
“Good.” His throat works and he seems to struggle for what he wants to say. “You deserve that.”
“You getting emotional on me, Blake?”
He snorts. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“So, you’ll sit on this?”
“You don’t have to keep asking.” One corner of his mouth lifts. “Secrets are a bad idea, though.”
“We’re all holding secrets of some kind.”
“Seees,” Alexa lisps.
“No, no, baby.” I press my finger to my lips. “This is just between the three of us.”
She giggles and ducks her head against Murphy’s chest. “You’re gonna be that uncle, aren’t you?” he says through his laughter, rubbing his hand over Alexa’s back. “Spoiling my daughter and teaching her to lie.”
“Like you ever thought otherwise.”
Thursday night, I’m locking up my office when the low growl of a truck engine draws my attention away from the door.
“Hey, pretty girl. Want to go for a ride?”
My lips curve into a wide grin. “Sure.”
I jiggle the key, but it’s stuck. “Damn.”
A few seconds later, Marcel’s warmth is at my back. “Problem, Sunshine?”
“It’s stuck,” I whine miserably. This has been the week from hell.
He reaches past me and jerks the key loose, checks that the door is locked and hands my keys over. “Your chair arrive?”
“Yes. And I’d love to break it in with you, but if I don’t get away from my office right now, I might scream.”
He chuckles and throws his hands in the air as if he hadn’t even considered such a thing.
“You look pretty,” he says, giving me a once-over.
I exhale an annoyed snort. “Yeah, well, I was told my outfit was inappropriate for court this morning.”
He runs his gaze over my brown and white flippy skirt and short-sleeved, linen blazer. “Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s so hot. I couldn’t stand wearing a regular suit. I forgot what a grump that judge is.”
“Missed you this week.”
The tone of his voice makes me glance up. My heart thumps at his sincere expression. “Missed you too,” I whisper.
His arms wrap around me and he lifts me slightly off the ground, sealing his mouth over mine before I can protest. After a few seconds—or minutes, I’m not sure—he sets me down. “Come on. Let’s grab dinner. Anywhere you want to go.”
I’m tired, so we end up at the burrito joint across the street from my apartment. “This isn’t quite what I had in mind,” Marcel mumbles as he sets our trays down.
“I’m a simple girl.”
Our gazes collide and he shakes his head. “You’re anything but.”
“Tell me about your week.”
His shoulders lift. “Nothing exciting. You?”
I bite into my burrito and consider whether I should tell him about the party my uncle expects me to attend. Earlier in the week, I made up my mind. If Marcel was unable or unwilling to go, I wasn’t going. It would feel too much like betraying my boyfriend.
“The Wolf Knights are having a thing at Black Lake Park. He said I could bring you.”
He stares at me for a few seconds before answering. “When?”
“Sunday afternoon.”
“Maybe.”
I’m surprised he didn’t flat-out refuse.
“You still want to come up to the clubhouse?”
“With you? Absolutely.”
“I told Murphy about us,” he says quietly.
“You did?” Technically his friend is my client, so it’s weird. But the giddy girl in me is bouncing up and down. “What did he say?”
“He was happy for me.” He slides his gaze away and I have to wonder what he’s not telling me.