“Okay, okay. Enough of this over the top kissy shit. She’ll be fine for a few hours without your dick giving her air. You’ve kept her to yourself for long enough. Go find the boys, Cowboy. We love ya… but you’re not welcome with us today.” Ivy pulls on my arm just as she sends Aiden into a fit of laughter. I forgot just how feisty she is, but I find myself loving it all over again.
“Ya’ll, don’t have too much fun without me today.”
“Yeah, yeah. Now go. We promise to take care of her and we’ll even give her back when we’re through today.” The girls all turn at the same time to catch me watching his ass walk away.
“Jesus. I miss those days.” Ivy exhales as she turns to walk the last few feet to the Jeep.
“Whatever. You and Taron still do the same exact thing.” Eaven responds while she’s buckling her seatbelt in the back with me.
“Yeah and you and Talon are just as ridiculous. It’s like you’re all a bunch of sex crazed lunatics.” Macy speaks up and before long I’m a few minutes deep in relationship talk with some of the best women I know. To say I’ve missed them is a huge understatement and it isn’t until this moment that I realize just how much that is.
“Smitty is closing the bar down for all of us tonight. We’re gonna cut down a big Christmas tree and put it in that back corner where we always sit and instead of bringing gifts for each other, we’re all just going to bring toys for the toy drive that Macy’s been working on. I’m not sure if Aiden gave you all the details or not. Tomorrow night everyone in the bar will be bringing more to add to the collection, so we should have a great year for the kids at the center who wouldn’t have a Christmas otherwise.” Eaven changes the subject once again talking about tonight’s get together with the Rebel Walking crew and I let her words sink in. I’m to the point now that there’s no way I can say no to it and I especially can’t keep Aiden from spending time with his friends and being a part of something so huge for this community.
“I need to do some shopping for the toy drive today then, if you don’t mind.”
“That’s one of the things we had planned! We also have to make a stop by the center and organize a few things. I know it’s not ideal for a girls day, but I promise we’ll make up for it the rest of the day.” She reaches forward and touches Ivy’s shoulder and begins talking about something else before she reminds her where to turn up ahead.
My head is spinning with these women… and it’s so refreshing to interact with genuinely good people that have a great heart. I guess I could get used to this.
Aiden
I didn’t meet up with the guys like the girls expected me to. Using the time to finish getting the house ready sounded like a better plan. In fact, the guys would have my ass if I chose to waste time about getting Kimber to move in with me. I guess you could say they’re all tired of me hopping on a plane every time I get a day off.
This house will be perfect for us, not that I want her to spend any more time in it than I do. I have full intentions of taking her on the road with us on this tour coming up. She doesn’t have anything keeping her from traveling right now and that’s going to be my biggest argument if she tries to shy away from all of this again. Like I said, I’ve been patient… but I’m going fucking crazy with our relationship in limbo the way it is. Plus, I want her in my bed every night, so I can wake up with her each morning, like all the other couples do.
I walk through the house and check out the work the contract painter did, impressed by it all. My sister helped line out all of the details and it doesn’t surprise me that she made sure it was all done correctly.
The sound of car doors closing outside gets my attention quickly, since our house is out in the country, purposely isolated from most people. The sound of Talon’s laughter has me slowing my step toward the front door, now knowing who to expect when I open it.
I’m not surprised to see the whole crew… Talon, Taron, Luke, and Holden walking up, but seeing the twins both with their babies. Talon carrying an infant carrier and Taron holding his daughter on his hip has me smiling. “I see the girls left you in charge of the munchkins for the day.” The proud dads don’t stop smiling as they both show off the babies as if we all haven’t seen these two before.
It’s not that unusual to see Taron with his daughter, Heaven. She’s almost to that toddler stage and is always with the crew. Talon and Eaven have been more cautious with their baby boy being around the band. That’s the quiet and reserved personality of Talon shining through, ensuring that his private life stays as private as possible.
It hits me with a ping to the chest knowing I’ll never have this, but I refuse to let it linger for long. Kimber and I can always adopt and I know we’ll both love any child and take it in as our own. We just have to wait for the time to be right.
“Where’s your boy?” I grab a few beers from the fridge and hand them to both Holden and Luke since they’re the only two here today without a helper.
“Nah I can’t til tonight… Lilly will be by shortly to bring me Lake. Looks like we’re on dad duty until sometime late afternoon.”
“It won’t be long and this’ll be you too!” It hasn’t been but a few weeks ago that we got word that Holden and Lindsey are now expecting too. He gives me that shit eating grin before he takes a big swig of his beer.
“I can’t fuckin’ wait. We just had the ultrasound done… looks like we’re having a set of twin boys. Now I just gotta make sure they don’t turn out like these two fuckers.”
“You’d be lucky to have sons as awesome as we are and you know it.” Taron leans over the bar and grabs a bottle of water. I don’t even feel bad for not offering them something to drink; they know they can have anything they want. Our friendship is long past having those kind of boundaries.
“What are ya’ll up to today?”
“The girls sent us over to help you get shit done. They said they’re working on convincing Kimber that she needs all of us in her life and we’re supposed to make sure you have this house ready for the big party tonight after Smitty’s.” Taron thinks he’s funny adding in that last little part about the after party being here.
“Nah. I’m not having a party here tonight. I’m spending the damn night with my girl in our house for the first time. You fuckers can go the hell to your house and plan that shit another night.”
“Alright… I’ll let you tell Eaven and Ivy that you’re not opening your house to the crew on a magical night like tonight.” I watch as these two famous Rockstars fluff out a blanket to put the baby down for tummy time and then sit in wonder as they guide Heaven while she wobble walks her way through the living room.
“I have no problem telling them.” I swallow the rest of my beer and start to make plans to have that conversation soon with one of them. In fact, I should probably call and check on them soon.
“Is she doing okay?” Luke turns his back on the others, making his conversation more private than he has to.
“She’s doing great. I’ve never seen her happier.” His face turns to a frown as I imagine he’s thinking about the shit that happened between them. “You really gotta stop beating yourself up over it. Maybe it all happened for a reason. If Lilly hadn’t disappeared… you’d never have found Kimber and brought her back here. Then I never would’ve met the single most important person in my life.” I pull out a second beer before I continue. “Hell, I guess I should be thanking you for going through all that fucked up mess so I could meet her. She’s really fucking amazing and I can’t wait to spend every day with her.”