Joy (Hell's Handlers MC 7)

Holly stopped dead, causing LJ’s arm to slide off her as he continued forward. He spun and planted his hands on his hips, legs spread. “Sugar…” The twitching of his lips was an obvious and poor attempt to hide his amusement. “Why are you still clinging to this notion that Izzy hates you?”

Staring at the ground, Holly toed a chipped corner of a linoleum tile. “I don’t know,” she said with a shrug.”

“Sugar, she’s flat out told you she likes you,” LJ said as he used one finger to lift her chin.

So maybe she was acting irrationally, but she’d just always gotten this from Izzy. These vibes of dislike, or maybe, distrust was a more accurate description. She shrugged again. “She watches me a lot with this suspicious look like she thinks I’m going to go search out my father and bring him back to arrest everyone.”

LJ’s head fell back as a boisterous laugh left him.

“Hey!” She whacked his stomach only to end up shaking out her hand. “Ouch.”

Damn washboard abs.

Okay, she loved those rippling abs, but come on, the man could at least pretend to be wounded by her. Boost her ego a bit. “Don’t laugh at me. I’m serious. I get this impression that she doesn’t like me. It might be stupid, but I’m just not confident in our friendship.”

“Oh, sugar…” He reached out, snagged her wrist, and pulled her to him. “That’s just Iz. She’s a tough cookie, but I promise she likes you. If she didn’t, she’d flat out tell you.”

Holly screwed up her mouth and rolled her eyes. “No, she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t want to offend you.”

“Ha! You think Izzy gives two shits about offending anyone? She’s gone toe to toe with Copper. And won. Trust me, if that woman didn’t like you, you’d know it. For certain. None of this ‘maybe she doesn’t like me’ nonsense. You’d be sleeping with one eye open.”

That finally had her laughing and relaxing. “I’m sure you’re right. Besides, she just had a baby. I’m sure she’d be nice right now even if she didn’t like me.”

“You’re nuts. Come on.” It was LJ’s turn to roll his eyes as he tugged her toward the open door of room four-eighty-seven. “Knock, knock,” he announced, rapping his knuckles on the door frame. “Favorite uncle here!”

Holly suppressed a giggle as they entered the room together. Izzy sat on the side of the bed, cradling a sleeping baby all bundled in fuzzy blankets while Jig sat in a high-backed recliner next to the bed.

“Hmm,” Izzy said. “Copper just left so…”

This time Holly did giggle.

“Whatever,” LJ said as he flipped Izzy off.

“LJ! You can’t do that in front of the baby.” Holly bumped him with her hip.

“The baby is sleeping. And don’t you think with parents like those two, the poor kid’s first word is gonna be fuck?”

“All right. Get out of our room. You’re now relegated to worst uncle,” Jig said, moving his hand in a shooing motion.

“What if I told you we come bearing gifts? Does that bump me back up?” LJ pointed to the package Holly held, so she lifted it and jiggled the gift around.

With a tilted head, Izzy tapped her lip as though giving the question some serious thought. “Guess it depends on how good it is.”

“Oh, it’s good. Tell her it’s good, sugar.”

“It’s good,” Holly parroted in a robotic voice making the other three laugh. She’d missed half of what they’d been saying as she couldn’t tear her attention away from the sleeping baby. God, she was so stinkin’ cute. A little button nose. A tuft of fuzzy black hair. Chubby cheeks. Just new baby perfection.

“Wanna hold her?” Izzy asked in a soft voice Holly had never heard from her before.

“What?” She lifted her gaze.

“Do you want to hold her while I open my gift.”

“Yes.” Her answer was immediate and forceful. Without looking, she shoved the gift at LJ and approached Izzy, who shifted the baby to her as though she’d been doing it for years instead of hours.

Entranced, Holly absorbed the weight of the soft and warm newborn in her arms. The baby let out a soft sigh, then her lips moved as though sucking a bottle twice before she settled back into steadiness. “Hi, beautiful girl,” Holly whispered. “Aren’t you just perfect?” She couldn’t resist. Holly leaned down and took a long inhale before kissing that soft as silk hair. The scent of baby lotion filled her senses. Without any actual evidence, Holly was convinced the makers of the stuff put some kind of drug into the baby lotion. A drug that made women’s ovaries go bonkers with just one sniff.

“Uh oh, LJ,” Izzy said with a teasing voice. “I can practically hear Holly’s uterus begging you for a baby.”

LJ’s eyes went wide. His gaze ping-ponged between Holly and the baby. “What? Uh…really. I…um…”