“Tell him what?” Lyric growled as he opened the front door.
I snickered and moved across the room to grab my friend’s arm, guiding him toward the back storage room. “Let’s talk about shelf space for our extra supplies. Also, could we turn a small corner of the front into a private nursing area? Just big enough to fit a few comfortable chairs, with room to move around as well.”
“Well, we could add another half wall, or you could just get creative with inventory and seclude a corner off in the baby section,” he suggested as we stepped into the storage room.
“Good idea,” I muttered, shutting the door. As soon as it was closed, I pulled him over to the back exit. “Remember that IOU that we discussed you giving me for my birthday?”
His brows lifted. “You have a dead body you need me to get rid of?”
“No, dummy,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “This doesn’t involve a corpse.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, lifting his dark brows. “I’m listening.”
“I want you to keep an eye on my dad.”
“Okay, before I say yes or no to this, I’m going to need more details here, River.” I could see the reluctance on his face already. I was asking him to spy on one of his fellow MC brothers. It went against everything he’d been taught about the brotherhood of being a part of the MC.
Which was why I knew I would have to cash in my IOU he’d promised me.
“You know that saying ‘No news is good news’?” He nodded, and I let out a small huff. “Well, that doesn’t apply to this situation. My dad has been too quiet over the past few days. Colt Hannigan and quiet are a scary combination. There has been no snarling or growling or threatening. He’s waiting until my guard is down. Or worse, when Maverick’s guard is down.”
Elias gave me a hard look. “Or he’s just accepting that you and Mav are together.”
“Yeah, it could totally be that.” I snorted, rolling my eyes again. “Get real. He’s plotting something, Elias. And I need to be prepared for whatever he’s going to throw our way.” Still, he just stood there, looking reluctant. “El, please. I know this is asking a lot, but he could be planning to hurt Maverick.”
“River, if you needed me to bury a body—or fuck, kill someone and then bury the body—I’d be saying yes in a heartbeat. No questions asked. But Colt is my brother.”
“So is Maverick!” I cried, my frustration making my voice rise and tears sting my eyes. “I’m not asking you to kill my dad, damn it. Or even hurt him in any way. I’m simply asking you to keep tabs on him and let me know if he does something that could potentially hurt the man I love.”
He muttered a curse, then groaned, long and loud. “Fine,” he finally gave in. “But that’s it. And only for a little while.”
Relief made me breathless for a moment, and I nodded emphatically. “Yes, of course. I won’t ask anything else of you. Thank you, Elias.”
“Don’t thank me,” he grumbled unhappily as he opened the back door and stepped outside. “I feel like a fucking traitor for even agreeing to this shit.”
“But you’re not,” I called after him. “You’re being a hero.”
“You are a pain the ass, River!” he yelled as he put his iPad into the saddlebag on the side of his motorcycle, then climbed on.
“True. But you love me anyway.”
His eyes narrowed on me. “That’s debatable right now.”
“Ah, don’t be like that.” I leaned back against the side of the store. “Keep me posted.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he muttered, starting his bike.
I watched him ride away, knowing his grumpiness wouldn’t last long. He just needed to pout and grumble about it for a few days, but he wouldn’t let me down. Shaking my head, I walked back into the front of the store.
“Um, hello!” I squeaked when I found Lyric pressing Mila up against the wall, causing my best friend to giggle. “Could you two not work on more babies in the middle of our store, please? I know we are going to be selling all kinds of stuff just for mommies, but homemade porn isn’t on the inventory list. Even if Lyric is lickable, I didn’t take you for one to share the view, Mil.”
“I know my man only gets hard for me, so I don’t care who sees us,” she said as she unwrapped her legs from around Lyric’s waist. “And we’re not working on more babies. Unless he wants to be the one waddling around for nine months. Then I’d be okay with that.” Her face contorted with pain. “I hurt just remembering how badly I tore pushing out Isaac and Ian. That episiotomy scar goes all the way to my asshole.”
“But you were a warrior, baby,” Lyric soothed. “Not a single drop of drugs the entire time. You were a champ. And if we have a daughter, I doubt she would be nearly as large as our beasts.”
“You’ve wanted a girl so flipping bad ever since you saw Gian with Gianna and Lillianna. And now Luca has little bitty Remi.” She met my gaze and grinned. “Someone wants a little princess of his own to spoil.”
He gave a shrug. “Yeah, I’m not