Trip shuddered. “Christ.”
“Yeah, bugs me, too, but it’s a growin’ service and there’s good money in it. Pet owners are leanin’ more and more that direction instead of draggin’ their dog, cat or whatever into the vet to get it done. Jury hates goin’ to the vet, stresses the fuck out. When it comes time...” He didn’t even want to finish that sentence. It turned his fucking stomach. “It’s somethin’ I’d use. Deke, too. Figure a lot of people might and there ain’t one around here.”
“You already did the research.”
“Couldn’t sleep in Rochester. Sat up and surfed the net on my phone, tryin’ to figure out how to help her.”
Trip stared at him, not hiding his surprise. “Seriously stuck on her. That was fuckin’ quick, brother.”
Yeah, Judge agreed, it was quick. “Not any quicker than Sig with Red.”
“Yeah, well, that whole thing with them was fucked up and not typical. Still ain’t. Might never be.”
“They make it work. Better together than apart,” Judge murmured.
“Think that’s you and Cassie, too? Think she’d make you a better man?”
He wasn’t sure.
“Damn well know my ol’ lady makes me a better fuckin’ man. No doubt ‘bout it and got no problem sayin’ it. Will get it tattooed on my fuckin’ forehead.” Trip turned his head until he found Stella standing over by Dodge and Cage, laughing at something. Probably at those two being assholes. “Fuckin’ woman got me good. Couldn’t do this shit without her.”
“Your fuckin’ queen,” Judge murmured.
“Yeah,” Trip whispered. “My fuckin’ queen. No fuckin’ doubt.”
“Just don’t turn this into Buck’s kingdom.”
Trip, with his eyes still glued to Stella across the barn, nodded. “Yeah. Workin’ too damn hard to destroy it all like he did. Hopefully, the good men sittin’ with me at that table up there,” he pointed to the ceiling, “won’t have any problem tellin’ me if I start slippin’ toward the dark side.”
“You givin’ me permission to knock you upside the fuckin’ head if you do?”
Trip grinned and picked at the corner of the bottle’s soggy label. “Fuck yeah. Told Stella she could have you kick my ass if I ever do anythin’ to hurt her. Same with this club. I fuck up with this club, kick my fuckin’ ass. Means I deserve it. Wanna do this right. Wanna raise my sons on this farm, in this club, in our family of brothers.”
Judge would love to have his own son here on the farm with him. He never told Trip about him and wasn’t planning on doing it anytime soon.
“Gotta knock her up to have sons.”
Trip grinned again. “When she’s ready.”
“Probably have daughters instead.”
The prez’s grin widened. “Then gonna raise a coupla badass girls. Won’t cry about what Stella gives me, long as she gives ‘em to me.”
“And if she don’t?” Judge knew Stella had lost a child; he just didn’t know the details. If Trip or Stella wanted him to know, they would tell him. Otherwise, wasn’t his business. Just like Ry wasn’t anyone’s business, either. Brothers or not. They all had secrets. Every fucking one of them.
Trip’s grin flipped upside down. “Then I gotta live with her decision. She comes first, the rest is just a fuckin’ bonus.”
Judge watched the prez’s ol’ lady, dressed in curve-fitting jeans and her normal rock-star clothes, grab a drink from behind the bar, then head in their direction. “She’ll give you babies, Trip. She loves you too much. Loved you since you were a fuckin’ asshole kid. Back then she said she was gonna marry you and she was fuckin’ right. You both just took a crazy ass path to get there.”
“Yeah, nobody felt right ‘til her. Knew it the second I spotted her at the bar that day. When I realized who she was, it was like goddamn fate clubbed me right in the head.”
Just like Sig knew it the second he rescued Autumn in the woods that morning.
Just like Judge knew it the second he saw Cassie walking through the parking lot in town.
It had probably hit Sig and Trip in the gut, just like it had hit Judge’s.
“So, about that idea I mentioned?” Judge asked as Stella reached them and settled in Trip’s lap, giving her man a soft smile.
“Wanna go back to the bar, baby, then walk back to me? I could watch that show all over again,” Trip told his ol’ lady.
She lifted a dark eyebrow. “I could, but I’m comfy right where I’m at now.”
“Soon you won’t be when my dick’s pokin’ your ass ‘cause you make me hard as fuck.” He turned his head toward Judge. “Yeah, will think on it. Do a little research of my own. The more scratch we got comin’ in from different avenues the better. To do that we need successful businesses with reliable help. Lemme talk to Deke about it, too, since he’s got a good business sense. Don’t wanna do it just to give your woman a job and then it ends up bleedin’ funds from the club.”