Holiday Havoc (Reckless Bastards MC 7)

“Max,” she sighed, letting her weight relax against me. “Where did you come from?”

“I’ve been watching you for a while, baby. Talk to me.” I turned her in my arms and held her chin so her gorgeous green eyes were on me.

“What do you want me to say? The shit she must have gone through, Max.” Tears pooled in her eyes as she dropped her head to my chest and fisted her hands in my shirt. I wrapped my wife in my arms and held her while she cried, our kids playing in the corner because she hadn’t let them out of her sight for the past two days. “She has bruises everywhere, some healed with new bruises on top of them, and even a few cuts. Shallow cuts but there was one deep cut,” her words broke off, no doubt thinking of the event that caused the deep scar on one side of her face that I barely noticed anymore.

“She’s okay now, babe. And if she’s not, she will be. Stitch will make sure of it.” The kid had stepped up, big fucking time. Gone was the playful new Bastard we all loved, replaced by the serious, take no shit man who looked after his woman.

“There’s no being okay after that, Max. Trust me.” I wished there was some way I could erase the memory of what she’d gone through with her foster father. Better yet, I wished I could find that motherfucker and give him the ass kicking of a lifetime and leave him with his own personal scars.

“You know I do, baby. But don’t shut down on me, please. I need you and our boys need their ma. If you want, help Marisol. I have a feeling she’s gonna stick around for a while.”

Jana cast a glance at our boys, who’d finally played themselves into exhaustion, curled up together in the playpen. Asleep. “You’d never be able to tell what terrors they are when they’re sleeping,” she laughed.

“Just wait,” I told her, making her shiver with unease.

“If they’re half as bad as you and Golden Boy, I’m handing the reigns over to you, honey.” There was nothing I loved more when she pressed on my shoulders to lift her petite frame up and took the kiss she wanted.

“Mmm, reigns,” I moaned against her mouth, using my body to press hers against the counter and taking our kiss to the next level. It started slow and sweet, but then, her slick pink tongue slipped between my lips and cranked up the heat to about a thousand degrees. When her arms wrapped around my neck, I lifted her up and let myself get lost in the taste of her. Happy to see her fears didn’t leave a lasting damage.

Too soon, she pulled back. “Is this cartel shit over now, Max?”

I hoped to fucking hell that the answer was yes, but the truth was I really didn’t know. But the truth I couldn’t tell my wife was, I didn’t think this was over. Not yet, anyway. “Until we have a reason to think it isn’t, yeah babe, it’s over.”

Jana’s eyes searched my face for signs of deception because I promised I would never lie to her, not even to ease her mind. “But you don’t think it is?”

“It’s the cartel babe. They don’t usually give up easily but let’s not borrow any trouble, yeah?” Brushing a lingering kiss to her forehead, I held Jana close until her arms went around my waist and she relaxed against me. “I won’t ever let anything happen to you, baby.”

She nodded against my chest. “I know, and I love you for it. But I can’t stop thinking about Marisol. God, she must have been so terrified.” How could I not love this woman with every fucking fiber of my being? Instead of being angry at Marisol for bringing this trouble and potential danger to our doorstep, to our fucking family, she was worried about her. Afraid for her.

“I’ll check with Stitch and see how she’s doing, okay? Maybe you can go up there and see her yourself.” I knew it was the only thing that would make her feel better and allow her to get back to being the wife and mom our family needed her to be.

“I love you, Max.”

“Damn straight you do, babe. I love you more.” And that was the fucking truth.

Jana grabbed my shoulders and slid from the counter, those damn fine curves she hadn’t been able to lose since giving birth to Jameson pushed up against me and sent blood shooting straight to my cock. “That’s good to hear. Now back up so I can finish all of this,” she spread her hands around the kitchen, filled with all kinds of dishes from chicken and sausages, to mac & cheese, salad and a few dozen cookies.

“You know Thanksgiving isn’t for another week or so, right?” There was enough food to feed the entire club, the Reckless Bitches and the families for at least a few days.

Her sweet laugh echoed in the kitchen, causing Charlie to stir in his sleep. “I needed something to keep from going crazy and unfortunately, spread sheets weren’t getting the job done.” Between feeding everyone and tending to her clients, I didn’t know when she found time to sleep but she was the perfect wife. Able to hold shit down when I couldn’t and she never complained, just wrapped her arms around me happily when I returned. “And you were occupied.”

I growled against her neck and nibbled her ear. “I’ll get Lex to watch the boys and we can take an hour or so for ourselves.” After the past few weeks, that was exactly what I needed. An hour alone with my woman.

“Give me an hour and then I’m all yours, big guy.” Then Jana jumped up and wrapped her legs around my body, crashing her mouth against mine in a kiss so hot I would have taken her right there in the kitchen if not for the sleeping boys in the corner.

When she pulled back, I smacked her ass with a groan. “I’m gonna hold you to that, sweetheart.”

Chapter Twenty-Four - Gunnar

Goddamn it was good to be home. Not even when I left to take care of my mom and get custody of Maisie had I missed Mayhem as much as I did over the past few weeks. Being back now, though, I appreciated every little thing. From getting up at the ass crack of dawn because for some reason that was when tots liked to wake up, to trying to navigate breakfast with a fussy little tyrant whose blue eyes matched my own. “Gunny, more ‘cakes!”

If she wasn’t the most adorable damn kid on the planet I’d have fed her oatmeal with no butter or brown sugar. Instead, in my efforts to be the parent she deserved, I’d made pancakes. Blueberry pancakes, thank you very much. Brother of the fucking year. “We already had pancakes for breakfast, Maisie.”

I watched as she got comfortable on her perch at the top of the slide. She nibbled her bottom lip in concentration as she prepared to launch herself from the top. She was an outside baby, preferring to be out in the sun and playing in the dirt than doing anything indoors.

Finally, she launched herself down the plastic incline, giggling loudly as she picked up speed and flew right into my arms. “More ‘cakes Gunny!” She smacked a loud kiss to my cheek before wiggling out of my arms and running around to repeat the steps all over again. And again.

And again.