Ellie
“Mom! I can’t find my shoes!”
I rolled my eyes. “Isabella Marini, how many times do I have to tell you to put them away when you take them off?” I was tired of yelling at her about it, but no matter what I said, she always managed to lose them. And she always managed to make me late for things.
We couldn’t be late for this. Parker would forgive me, but I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.
“Okay, okay, I found them.” I couldn’t believe how old Isabella looked, and she was only eight. A beautiful girl, I thought with her curly dark hair and eyes just like mine. She would grow up to be a stunning woman, too. If she lived long enough—sometimes her attitude made me want to strangle her.
“You look great,” I said, kissing the top of her head.
“Oh, Mom. Gross.” She smoothed her hair down. Already I was gross, and she was only eight. I couldn’t wait to see what the tween years would bring. I grimaced at the thought, shooing her out the door and locking it behind us.
“Is Daddy gonna be at this thing tonight?” Isabella asked, climbing into the passenger seat of my BMW. I waited for her to buckle her seatbelt before I pulled out of the driveway.
“Of course he will. This is Uncle Ryder’s retirement party.”
Isabella wrinkled her nose. “Retirement party. This is just the nice party, right? For the families. And when we’re gone…”
“Hush, young lady.” She giggled in spite of me, and I bit my tongue to hold back a giggle of my own. She was way too smart for a kid her age. Then again, she always had been. She kept me on my toes with the questions she asked, for sure.
She was right, too. The club would have its nice, PG-rated “family” party for Ryder, where all the kids and wives would show up and give him hugs and toast to him. Then the kids would leave—and most of the wives—and the party would really start. According to my husband, the only thing that topped a retirement party was a new patch party. I had already seen the results of three of those over the years, and wasn’t sure I wanted to know what a retirement party would end up being.
“So this means Daddy is the real president. Like, Uncle Ryder is out for good.”
“I guess so, sweetie.” Ryder hadn’t run things for a long time, but he stayed around to counsel Parker over the years. Parker had wrestled with his conscience, wanting to be a strong president and a wise one at the same time.
I could still remember the conversation we had when Ryder first approached him with the idea of retiring full-stop. We had only been married for around six months at that time, and I had just started my grad school program. He wasn’t sure he was ready to take full responsibility for the club, and I told him I understood that—after all, he was young, and the Inferno Hunters had known only one president for over twenty years. Besides, he’d had a new family to adjust to.
Ryder didn’t want to leave, of course—it was Candace who had been on his case about it. They arrived at a compromise after Ryder spent more than a few nights sleeping at the clubhouse when Candace refused to so much as speak to him, let alone share a bed with him. When she calmed down, everyone decided it would be for the best that Ryder stay around to advise and keep his hand in the game. I felt more secure that way, too, knowing my husband wasn’t walking into something he felt unprepared for.
It was time for him to fully step up, though, without his training wheels. I knew he was ready. He’d managed to step up and be the family man I needed him to be. If he could manage that, there was nothing he couldn’t do.
Isabella tried to hide her excitement, but she couldn’t fool me. She had a crush on Mason’s stepson, who had first come into the club along with his mother around the same time Parker and I got married. Isabella had just recently started taking an interest in boys, growing up too fast as always, and even though she and Thomas were practically brother and sister, those things tended to change as kids got older.
When we got to the hall where the family party was scheduled, there were already dozens of bikes in the parking lot, along with a lot of cars that looked like mine. The club had experienced record profits after Parker stepped up, and the amount of money in the parking lot alone attested to that.
Stepping out of the car and walking toward the front door, I had the strangest feeling of being the queen of the party. Even though it was Ryder’s night, I was the one at the head of the club—next to my husband, of course. I was the incoming queen, the first lady, the boss. The amount of deference the club members already showed toward Isabella and me seemed to double.
“Are you still smoking?” I asked Benny, shaking my head. Isabella went inside—looking for Thomas, I guessed—but I stuck around to give Benny some hell.
“I tried that vaping thing you set me up with, but I don’t know. It’s not the same.”
“Listen, it’s for the best. You want to be around for that new baby, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I smirked, then stepped inside. I felt that way toward all the guys, especially the single ones. I didn’t know that Benny would ever get married, even if one of his usual hookups had ended up pregnant. I felt as though I had to take care of him, the way I took care of all the other misguided, lost souls who banded together in the MC.
I spotted Megan, Mason’s wife, by the buffet and went over to help her. She looked relieved to find me there. “Oh, thank God. These guys won’t shut up about being hungry, but they won’t do a damn thing to help me.” Her perfectly curled blonde hair looked about ready to drop thanks to the steam coming from the chafing dishes. I put on an apron, thinking back to my days as a waitress, and jumped in to help.
“Come on. When’s the food gonna be ready?” Hook hovered near the table, a plate already in hand.
“I swear to you, Hook, I’m gonna get you with these.” I held up a pair of tongs. “And you’re not gonna like what I do with them.”
“How do you know?” he asked, winking.
I rolled my eyes. “We’re almost finished here. Hold your horses.” I turned to Meg. “Sorry it took me so long to get over. I had a few last-minute things to do before I shut down the office for the day, and, of course, my daughter had to look just perfect for a certain someone.”
Meg laughed. “I swear, the two of them will end up married. Mark my words.” She nodded across the room, to where my daughter and her son stood talking. She tried so hard to be cool, I noticed, standing against the wall with her arms folded. Thomas was ten, so his much older and more sophisticated ways left Isabella star struck. She couldn’t let him see that, though.
“Have you seen my husband around here?” I looked over the heads of the members and their old ladies, hoping to catch a glimpse of Parker’s dark hair and tanned skin. I could always find him in a crowd, like he was a beacon drawing me to him. There he was, standing there in a corner, talking with Mason and Ryder.
“Oh, he’s with your husband,” I said, pointing.
“Of course,” Meg said, rolling her eyes. “I told him I needed help, too.”
“So he’s as far away as possible. Yeah, that’s sounds about right.” We laughed together, shaking our heads at the impossible nature of men. The food was all set up, so Meg whistled through her fingers to alert the rest of the gang. After that, it was every man and woman for themselves.
I stayed behind the table, making sure everything was fully stocked. It felt right for me to be there, to show everyone that I didn’t think I was anybody special just because my husband was about to take full control of the club. I got nothing but smiles and nods from everyone, and air kisses from the women. They were all a good bunch. It had taken me a little time to get used to some of them—I would never have threatened to grip Hook’s balls with a pair of tongs when we first met—but after almost five years of knowing them, they were like family.
Then came my actual family. My daughter, with her father’s hands on her shoulders. She told him a story about something that had happened at school that day, but I had the feeling it was more for Thomas’s benefit. He stood in front of her, perfecting the aloof, distant attitude that usually drove girls crazy. I could tell it had that effect on Isabella.
“Hey, missy. Why don’t you take a plate and fill it with some vegetables and protein?” She looked mortified that I would suggest she eat—healthy food, at that—in front of a boy.
Parker smirked, looking down at the little girl he had adopted years earlier. “Yeah, unless you’re afraid the broccoli will give you gas.”
I thought the poor kid would die, and I smacked Parker’s arm when she wasn’t looking.
“Oh, come on. I’m just playing. That’s my job, right? To embarrass the hell out of her?”
“Yeah, well, you know how sensitive she is. It’s only going to get worse, too, the older she gets.”
“Don’t remind me,” he said, looking grim. Then he smiled. “Hey, you.”
“Hey, you,” I mouthed. I hadn’t seen him all day, and he looked good enough to eat. Better than any food in front of me. He was also last in line, so I fixed a plate and joined him and Mason’s family at a table down in the front of the room.
The night was a good one, with lots of toasting and language children shouldn’t hear—that became a bigger problem the more the men had to drink. The first half of the party was supposed to be dry, but I saw more than a few flasks throughout the night. I tried to contain my worry that a bunch of drunkards would be on the road on their bikes.
Parker saw the worry on my face. “Don’t sweat it. They’ve all got a high tolerance. You know that.”
“Yes, I know. It doesn’t mean I don’t worry about them and the other people on the road, though.”
“Because you’re a good first lady.”
I grinned, pushing him away in a playful manner. “So I guess you’ll be at the second party, at the clubhouse,” I said.
“I never said I would be,” he replied.
“Oh? You’ve decided to grace me with your presence tonight?”
“If you’re a good girl, maybe.”
I frowned. “They won’t want you there? The rest of the club?”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with them. Not their decision. I’m president, babe.” He winked jokingly.
“You know they’re going to give you a lot of crap about being there,” I said.
“So what? I stopped caring about peer pressure a long time ago.”
“I’ll make it worth your while.” I winked, then got up to get Isabella. She didn’t want to leave, but I told her she had to or I would make Hook drive her home on his bike. She followed me pretty quickly after that. I noticed the way Thomas’s eyes followed us as we left. Oh, help me, I thought.
# # #
I heard the front door open and close, and my heart was glad. I wouldn’t have told him to come home—that was up to him—but the fact that he had made me very happy. Our big, rambling house didn’t seem like a home without him.
Minutes later, he was in the room and in my arms. He lowered me to the bed, his hands and mouth all over me. It was like he needed to assert his power over me, the way he had just officially asserted it over the club. I didn’t think the club would ever like it as much as I did.
I was ready for him, wearing his favorite satin nightgown with no panties. He looked relieved—less work to do, less time before he was inside me. When he pushed forward, I reflected on the way it always felt good. It never got old, even after five years of being together. Taking care of Isabella when she was sick, then taking care of each other when we inevitably got sick from her. Fights. Moving into the house, doing repairs. We still had each other, and the heat between us.
I closed my eyes, arching my back as I accepted his first thrust. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer for a kiss. He made love to me, holding me, rocking slowly. I pulled the t-shirt over his head, marveling in his beautiful body even though I’d touched it so many times. The muscular back, moving under my hands as he drove himself into me again and again. The strong, wide shoulders and thick arms. His butt, flexing. I wrapped my legs around it, pulling him into me, jerking my hips up as I did.
“Oh, you want it like that, huh?” He picked up his pace, both of us grunting the faster he went. Our bodies crashed together, and he pushed me higher and higher into the stratosphere with every thrust. I loved it, reveled in it, the way I could lose myself in him. I trusted him with every bit of me. I knew I wouldn’t regret it, and I never had.
“Yes…yes…Parker, give it to me…” I rolled my head from side to side, lost in sensation, the urge to come overriding my thoughts. I begged, pleaded, my body desperate for satisfaction. When it came, I gripped him hard with my arms and legs, digging my nails into his back, clenching around him as my muscles clenched around his length. He groaned, coming along with me. The both of us were left panting, gasping, wrapped up in each other. No, it never got old.
I watched him as he rolled off me, smiling. “Hi,” he said.
I giggled. “Hi, yourself. You’re in a good mood.” I rolled onto my side, waiting for him to join me. He finished undressing, his jeans had been puddled around his ankles, then crawled into our king-sized bed.
“It was a good night,” Parker said, settling back against the pillows with a contented sigh.
I murmured my agreement. It was good. I was always happy to see everyone in a great mood, getting along. “Ryder looked good. Positive.”
Parker nodded, running his hands through his hair to contain the mess I’d made of it just minutes earlier. “Now Candace will stop giving him shit about being around the club. He deserves to retire, travel. Candace wants to go to Europe. Can you imagine him in Europe?”
I laughed softly. “No. And now I wish we could go with them, to watch this train wreck in person.” I leaned against Parker’s chest, hearing the deep rumble of laughter there. It was a good sound. It made me happy to hear it.
“I have something to tell you. Something interesting happened today,” I said.
“Oh?” He sounded half asleep. I decided to wake him up. I looked at him, wanting to catch his reaction in the dim light.
“I’m pregnant.”
Parker’s eyes widened, his mouth fell open. “You are?”
“Mm-hmm. I went to the doctor today, and he confirmed. I’m ten weeks.”
“Oh my God.” He pulled me closer, holding me like he’d never let me go. “A baby. Oh God, we have to get ready.” He was so excited, I thought he might jump out of bed and start getting things together then and there.
I chuckled, pulling his arm to keep him from leaving me there. “Relax, Dad. There are thirty weeks to go. We have lots of time to get a room ready and such.”
“Oh God. A baby. I can’t get my head around it.”
I grinned. “Well, you have plenty of time for that, too.” I kissed him, my heart just about bursting with love. I couldn’t wait to tell Isabella the next day, and Meg, and Sandy. And my mom. But just for that one night, the baby was just our secret, something that belonged just to the two of us.
THE END
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