“I’ll do my best,” he promises, earning a smack on the back of the head from Z.
“Remember, abstinence is the only one hundred percent effective method of birth control,” she cautions them.
“Not cool, Hope.” Ravage grins at her. “Not cool at all.”
“Well, I guess a vasectomy is also pretty effective.”
Ravage winces and clutches his balls.
“I can’t believe you’re sending me with him,” Dex says.
“Sorry. I wanted to get the ones who actually had a chance of being a match in as soon as possible.”
“I’m teasing you. Thanks for setting everything up.” Dex drops his gaze to her stomach for a second before glancing at me. “This is really shitty timing for you guys. Sorry, Hope.”
She reaches out and squeezes his hand. “Never a dull moment. That’s why I love you guys so much.”
“Why am I going last, Cinderella?” Wrath asks. “Your favorite brother doesn’t get special favors?”
“Aw.” She wraps her arm around him, and he hugs her to his side. “I’m sending you and Z last because you said there was no chance.” She nods at Bricks. “And he needs to get this out of the way so he can get out of here.”
“My flight’s next week, bro,” Bricks reminds him.
“Shit, yeah, I’m trying to forget you’re leaving us,” Wrath says.
“I’ll be back.”
Finished with handing out advice, she makes her way over to me and passes me my card.
Teller strolls up and elbows my side. “We’re up first, Prez.”
“Great,” I answer dryly. “Something for us to bond over.”
Hope
Once I’ve given out the test times, I think everyone’s desperate for a distraction.
And I am starving.
We work our way into the dining room, and Rock pulls out a chair for me. Swan—my new favorite person in the whole world—sets my own personal small roast in front of us.
“Wait, why does she get special treatment? I’m ten times her size,” Wrath says.
“Not for long,” I mutter, picking up my knife.
Rock plucks the knife out of my hand and starts carving up my roast.
“Because she’s incubating the next generation of Lost Kings,” Swan answers. She pats Wrath’s shoulder. “And I want the baby to come out all cute and chubby.”
Heidi and Trinity help her carry the rest of the meal to the table. Before sitting down, Swan sets another dish in front of me. “Stuffed acorn squash. It’s full of vitamin C, folate, and iron.”
I poke at it with my fork.
“I swear it’s good.”
“Thank you.”
The dinner table is quieter than usual, but I’m too focused on satisfying my bottomless pit of hunger to play conversation starter.
After dinner, Rock asks the guys to meet him in the war room for a few minutes.
“How are you feeling about apple pie for dessert, Hope?” Swan asks.
“Is there any strawberry ice cream left?”
Her mouth twitches. “Yup.”
I make a “gimme” gesture.
“Apple pie and strawberry ice cream.” Rock chuckles and kisses my cheek. “Not the worst craving I’ve heard.”
Never mind cravings. Rock and I have been traumatized by some of the other couples in our birthing class. We are the only first-time parents in the group and boy did those people love to share every single intimate, gross detail.
“We’ll be back in a minute, baby doll,” Rock says.
Trinity runs outside, and Heidi takes Alexa to the bathroom.
“Ice cream sounds good,” Charlotte says.
“Get your own,” I warn.
She laughs as if she thinks I’m kidding, then turns serious. “I’m so glad the tests are finally set up,” she says.
“Me too.”
She moves a few chairs closer. “How are you feeling?”
“Stuffed.”
“I mean about the case.”
I let out a long sigh. “Tired of it already.”
“It’s before my time, but—” Her gaze darts toward the door. “How, um, well do you think Teller, um, knew her?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. She was ‘dating’ Rock when I first met him, so, I’m not really sure.” I want to say something more reassuring, but what? “I’ve never seen them together if that helps. As far as I know, she only visited the clubhouse once or twice.”
Her fingers twist in her napkin, shredding it into pieces.
“You two okay?”
“It happened before we even met. I’ll be more upset if it is his kid and he’s just finding out now. I think… I think that will be really hard on him.”
She’s right. Teller hated missing those few months with Alexa when Heidi and Axel lived in Alaska. Missing out on years of his own child’s life? I can’t imagine how he’ll handle that. Charlotte and Teller haven’t been together that long and she already knows him so well. I reach over and squeeze her hand. “I’m glad he has you to be there for him.”
“If you need any help, let me know.”
“Well, if it goes any farther after the testing, I might tag you in.”
“You got it. Whatever you need.”
Rock
“This will be quick, so take a seat.” I push the door closed and wait a second before taking my place at the head of the table.
“Are we burning down the lab?” Ravage asks.
“No, this has nothing to do with that.”
Wrath stares down the table at Rav. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I’m kidding. Sheesh.”
I nod to Sparky since he’s the one who requested the sit-down. “Boss, remember that highly concentrated strain I was working on? The Mind-Blower?”
I can’t keep up with every single one of Sparky’s “mind-blowing” projects, but I nod anyway. “Well, it’s not as good as I thought it was gonna be.” He glances at Stash. “You agree, right?”
“Yeah. It’s good shit, don’t get me wrong, Prez. But the shit we’re already selling Loco is way better.”
“How much money did you waste on this project?” Z asks.
Sparky bristles. “It wasn’t a waste.”
“Research and development is never a waste,” Teller adds.
Sparky crosses his arms over his chest and dips his chin. “Thank you, Teller.”
“That it?” I ask.
“Well, since it’s not up to the same standards of what we usually sell Loco, but it’s still good shit, we should offer it to the Demons. They’re always asking to get their hands on our stuff.” Sparky shrugs. “Might be a nice gesture.”
“Nice gesture my ass. Their sources are tapped right now. We can get a good price for it,” Teller says. “That’s all Chaser kept talking about at the Christmas party. And I doubt he’s found anyone since then.”
“You don’t want it for your personal supply?” I ask Sparky.
His eyes widen. Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested he smoke up any more than he already does.
“No, boss. As Z so helpfully pointed out, we used a lot of club resources on this project, and I’d like to recoup our costs.”
Z rolls his eyes.
“All right. When will it be ready?”
“I can have it ready in a couple days.”
“I’ll call Stump. Work it out. If we’re meeting them halfway like we used to, it should be quick.”
Teller raises his hand. “I’ll go.”
“Me too,” Murphy adds.
Sparky taps Stash’s elbow. “You know the most about it, you should go to give Stump the specifics. Those two hardly ever smoke up anymore.”