Poor Castle! He’d probably rather get run over by a bus.
“Whatever,” Tessa grumbled. “I guess it’s better than sticking around here all night.”
“Okay, we’re out of here,” Saylor announced, clearly not a happy camper about the whole situation.
“And don’t you dare try to ditch him,” Stella warned.
Saylor sighed and turned to Reilly. “Lee?”
The blonde nodded and got up. “I just need to stop in The Barn really quick.”
Saylor shook her head and Tessa rolled her eyes.
“I’m never letting a man dictate what I do,” Saylor said more loudly than necessary.
“They don’t dictate—”
Stella raised her hand to cut off Cassie. “Don’t even bother to explain it. They only hear what they want to hear.” She turned to Tessa. “Do you need money?”
“Why would I need money? Jem and Cage pay me so well.” Tessa’s words were dripping with sarcasm.
“I guess Cage gave you a raise, then,” Jemma said dryly. Dyna stood on the ground in between her mother’s feet while Jemma held her little hands to keep her from trying to waddle away.
Shay had no idea if the baby could walk on her own yet since she didn’t know much about babies. But Jemma was holding onto her tightly as if the baby could suddenly do a two-hundred-meter sprint like Usain Bolt at the Olympics. Whether the baby’s escape would be successful or not was another story.
“Tessa, stop your damn whining. It’s getting old. Trip didn’t have to take you in, but he did. You could’ve stayed with your mother,” Stella said with annoyance. “If you don’t appreciate what you have here, you could always go back there.”
Tessa’s mouth flattened out. “I can’t go back there and you know it.”
Stella tipped her head. “Then stop complaining.”
“Let’s go,” Tessa said sharply to Reilly and Saylor before stalking away.
Dyna watched her go and her bottom lip began to tremble as Tessa got further away. Jemma leaned over and kissed her forehead. “You’re not old enough yet to go hang with the girls, Monkey. And when you are, just warning you now, your daddy will send someone even bigger and meaner than Castle to go with you.” She laughed.
“Isn’t that the damn truth,” Stella said with a sigh. “I sure hope this baby is a boy because if we have a daughter…” She left it at that and shook her head. She glanced in the direction Reilly, Tessa and Saylor disappeared. “I love those girls, but, holy shit, sometimes I think they forget how good they have it here.”
“Will you get a house mouse once the baby is born?” Shay asked her.
She nodded. “We would like to. We have plenty of room in the farmhouse and we’re both so busy, for obvious reasons, so it would be nice to have help. Especially since Trip wants two.”
“Boys,” Reese added and rolled her green eyes.
Stella laughed and placed a hand on her small, but still noticeable, baby bump. “Yeah, right. Two boys.” Like Tessa’s, her words were also heavily laced with sarcasm. “We just need to find the right house mouse.”
“I guess it’s like finding a nanny,” Shay said.
“Yes, but without the huge price tag of a nanny,” Red, whose real name Shay found out was Autumn, said.
The nickname made sense since her hair was definitely the color of flames, but Shay thought her real name was so pretty. Ozzy had told her that Sig had given her that nickname right after they first met and now almost everyone used it.
Apparently, Autumn didn’t mind.
“How about you?” Shay asked Reese, who appeared to be about five or six months pregnant.
The attorney, who was maybe a couple of years younger than Shay, shook her head. “With the way Deke and I go back and forth from our place in Mansfield to the apartment above the bunkhouse, I think it would be somewhat awkward to have another adult living with us. The apartment’s only one bedroom and it’s small. Plus, there’s a really good daycare a few doors down from my office. Worse comes to worse, on days it’s needed, Deke can keep the baby with him at Justice Bail Bonds.”
“Yep,” Jet cut in. “Now that I joined the crew, I can handle most of the skip traces so he can stay home and play Baby Daddy.”
Shay turned toward the former cop. “Did your family have a problem with you giving up your badge?”
Jet shook her head. “They just want me to be happy.”
Shay stopped her question, “And are you?” from tumbling out. That wasn’t her business. But to go from being a police officer to being with a biker who’d been arrested numerous times was quite the turnabout.
If her law enforcement family was fine with it, then they were very accepting.
“Sooooo…”
All heads snapped toward Cassie.
Before any more words escaped her, a few of the women gasped.
Shay was certainly confused on what that was about.