Kristen Ashley - Fire Inside

Mitch Lawson had proved without doubt that no matter how clean a cop he was, he had Chaos’s back. He was cautious but far from dumb, and willing to go the distance, therefore a worthy ally and a surprisingly scary adversary.

And it was debatable but Hawk Delgado might be a functioning lunatic. But he got the job done, no matter how nasty that job might be. He didn’t mind mess while doing it and he had an army of commandos at his back. He paid them well, but he earned their loyalty another way and every one of them would lay down their lives for their leader.

Tack’s eyes locked on Shy. “You and me now, to Baldy.”

Shy nodded.

Baldy was a biker and a doctor. He would be in a Club if he had the time. Seeing as he took cash for his services and the underbelly of Denver found themselves in need of a physician more than occasionally, he didn’t have the time.

Shy gave Hop a handshake then headed to his bike.

Hop waylaid Tack.

“He touches family, brother, you won’t get your chance to skin him,” Hop warned. “Lanie never again feels fear. Not like that.”

“I think he got that message,” Tack replied.

“Hope he did, Tack. Swear to Christ, he didn’t—”

Tack lifted a hand and curled his fingers around Hop’s shoulder. “Calm. Patience. Natalie wasn’t Chaos until we claimed her, so he isn’t wrong to be pissed. We’ll pay the money which is all he cares about, he’ll fall back and when he strikes, it won’t be courting Armageddon. He’s greedy but he’s not stupid.”

Hop stared into his brother’s eyes. Then he did what he always did and he had never been wrong. He trusted his friend, nodded, and moved to his bike.

He had a text with the details on the meet by the time he pulled into his drive.

When he slid back into bed with his wife, she was still out.

He curled into her, pulling her close, splaying his hand on her still-flat stomach, and he pulled in a deep breath.

Smelling Lanie’s perfume, he relaxed when he let it out.

Three hours later, he woke up, rolled carefully away from his still-sleeping woman, got dressed, and headed back out.

“Lanie,” Hop muttered, using her name to tell his brothers it was time to get back to their women.

Tack turned and nodded to Hop.

“Right,” he said. “Later, brothers. Have a mind, it’s early, he won’t move this quick, but watch your backs.”

Hop nodded. Shy did too.

They swung on their bikes and roared off. They’d just had a meet with “the boys”: Tack and his two lieutenants, Hop and Shy, as well as Hawk Delgado, Mitch Lawson, and Brock Lucas. War was declared. Reinforcements had been called. They were all in.

The meeting was tense, as it would be.

Now they waited.

As they rode away, Hop shouted, “Yo!” and Shy turned his head to look at his brother.

Hop jerked his head to the side. They both rode to the shoulder, stopped, put their feet down, and Hop looked back through the buildings from where they’d come.

Tack was standing there, motionless.

He was worried.

Hop closed his eyes.

When he opened them, Hop looked to Shy to see Shy looking back at Tack.

Then Shy’s gaze came to him. “My guess, four hours ago, on a scale of one to ten of how bad this shit is, I would have said eleven. Now, I’m guessin’ twenty-three.”

“We may be at twenty-five,” Hop corrected.

Shy’s lips twitched.

This was his brother, Shy Cage. He’d never been to war but he still showed no fear.

Hop looked back to Tack to see he was moving to his bike.

“Brace, brother,” Hop advised, then said, “Let’s ride.”

Shy jerked up his chin, they put on the gas, and they rode.

“Jesus, what is this?” Hop asked as he walked into the kitchen to see his woman in an un-fucking-believably amazing pair of knit yoga pants that were loose in the right places but clung to better places, and a casual wraparound top that just clung to the right places, in other words every inch of her torso. Her hair was in a messy knot on top her head. Her face had no makeup.

And honest to Christ, she never looked so beautiful.

His kids were in the kitchen with her and it looked like a pancake batter bomb had exploded.

Needless to say, his kids had taken the news that their father had a new wife and they had a new sister on the way without even blinking. Hop wasn’t surprised. It was good and kids sucked up good just as much as bad, so they had no problem settling into it.

Molly especially. Cody, thank Christ, had come into this world shielded by invisible steel. Not much affected him. But Molly had a mind to her dad since she could form coherent thought. Not close with her mother, Molly was Daddy’s little girl from the beginning. She wasn’t old enough to process it, but that didn’t mean she wanted her old man alone and coasting on the scraps of goodness life could give him. She seemed to relax when she got the news that Lanie was legally bound to her father and they were cinching that with a kid. Then again, his girl been relaxing since Lanie came into the picture.

Yeah, kids totally sucked up the good.

“We’re teaching Cody to make waffles, Dad!” Molly shouted with excitement.

“Don’t know why,” Cody stated, but did this from his station manning the waffle iron. “I get a woman, she’s doin’ all the cookin’.”

Hop stared at his son then cut his eyes to his wife to see her body shaking with silent laughter.

He had to stop himself from staring as his whole fucked-up night melted away at seeing his woman laughing.

She trusted him. Totally trusted him.

He’d left their bed in the middle of the night to do Chaos business. She’d gone back to sleep and stayed asleep, waking up alone, and there she was, making waffles with his kids and laughing.

Not anxious. Not freaked. Not wound up.

Laughing .

He’d done it. Pulled her out of the shadows and brought her into the light of family.

And she was basking in it.

He let that feeling smooth through him and turned back to his son.

“You plannin’ on shackin’ up soon, boy?” Hop asked.

“Soon’s I graduate high school so I don’t ever have to do laundry, clean, or cook,” Cody answered.

Hop bit back laughter.

Lanie didn’t bother. She giggled out loud, so Hop turned his head to watch her beautiful face beaming bright with happiness and he did it until he was sure he’d go blind.

“You’re stupid,” Molly declared, and Hop tore his gaze from Lanie to look at his daughter. “Everyone knows women don’t do all the cooking and cleaning anymore.”

“Lanie does it for Dad,” Cody shot back. “ And she works. And she has an ace ride.” Cody looked to his father. “I’m gonna get a Lanie, ’cept,” he screwed up his mouth as he narrowed his eyes on Lanie then looked back at his old man, “blonde,” he finished then thought better of his conclusion and said to Lanie. “Not bein’ mean. You got pretty hair, too.”

Lanie opened her mouth to say something but she was laughing too hard to get it out.

“Someone kill me. My son is already ordering up his woman,” Hop muttered and Cody looked at him.

“When did you have your first girlfriend?” he asked.

Hop wasn’t going to answer that. Instead, he homed in on the point his son was not making.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Oh dear,” Lanie mumbled.

“Totally, Dad!” Molly gave it away. “He has three. ”

“Oh dear,” Lanie repeated, but this time those two words shook with amusement.

“Three?” Hop asked, his eyebrows shooting up.

Cody lifted up the lid on the waffle maker to check progress all the while talking, “Seein’ as I already decided to hook up early, I figure I gotta get my experience in now.”