“Yep.”
“She’s not running a fever or anything. You can relax, brother,” Declan tells Ethan.
“We can’t be sure. What if it’s the flu or something?” Ethan gripes. “I don’t want Emily to have a sore tummy and throw up. She’ll keep my wife up all hours of the night and cause her more stress.”
“You mean you don’t want her keeping Sky up all night and cock-blocking your ass from getting laid,” Cash intervenes. “We all know when the baby goes down at night, so do you.” He wiggles his eyebrows. Ethan doesn’t argue his point, but he narrows his eyes in warning.
Skyler grabs Ethan’s arm. “You are not fighting at Avery’s wedding,” she warns, then turns to face Cash. “And you. Don’t provoke him. I could barely convince him not to shoot you the last time you said something about overhearing us having sex. I won’t try to stop him this time. I’ll let you learn your lesson the hard way. And I’ll be twice as loud to ensure you hear every bit of what Ethan does to me.”
Cash slams his hand over his ears, singing, “La, la, la, la, la. That’s nasty! You’re like my baby sister, Sky. How could you be so cruel?” Cash says, acting shocked and hurt by her words. He’s not. It’s not the first time Skyler has jumped between these two idiots and warned them off each other, only to turn around and give permission for them to fuck each other up when she’s had her limit. Although it is the first time I’ve heard her offer to let him hear her and Ethan having sex.
Ethan’s face lights up. With a shrug, he says, “Looks like I win either way, brother.”
Cash grumbles. “Here. Give me my baby, and I’ll take her over there away from the germs, just in case.” He reaches for Emily. Skyler hands her over, giving her a kiss on the head.
“She’smy baby, motherfucker. Don’t forget it,” Ethan says, making Cash’s grin widen.
“Oh, of course.Your baby.” Cash leans down, kissing Emily’s head himself, and says, “We’ll let him think that for a little while longer, Princess, but you know who you belong to, don’t you?”
“This mother—” Ethan moves to go after him, only stopping when Skyler slams her palm on his chest.
“Ethan. Let him go.” Ethan looks down at Skyler, clearly not happy with her demands. “If you let him go now, I promise to let you sucker punch him in the gutafterthe wedding. I’ll even take the baby from him and create a distraction. Then whatever happens, happens.”
Ethan looks to me for approval. He knows there’s no fighting among brothers unless it’s sanctioned by their president. They get loose from time to time, and one might haul off on another in a drunken tiff, but they pay the price to me when they do.
“As long as you do it somewhere far away from the party and don’t upset my daughter, I don’t give a shit. But you need Eli’s approval too.” Ethan nods, then takes off to speak to Eli. I watch as Eli’s smile grows and his eyes light up. He gives a subtle nod of approval, clapping Ethan on the back.
“Thank you,” Skyler says to me. “They’ve been at each other for days, and being cooped up together in the clubhouse with no way for Ethan to escape to work it off outside of sex … I’m tired, and this will help. I’ll make sure they do it in another room away from the party. I owe you one, Gabe.”
I grunt and down the rest of my beer.
“I have one more teeny, tiny favor to ask of you, though,” Skyler says, sounding nervous, or attempting to anyway.
“What do you need?”
“Well, I doubt Declan is going to want to stand up in the wedding and leave Violet by herself with the way she’s feeling.” Declan looks up when he hears Skyler and shakes his head.
“She’s right, Pres. I don’t mean to fuck up the wedding or anything, but I need to take care of my woman.”
“Dec, no.” Violet whines. “I’ll be fine. I am fine. It’s just a little … sickness.”
Jake and Eli have made their way over to the conversation. “What’s up, Dec?”
“Hey, Jake. Violet’s not feeling well. I want to keep a close eye on her, but I can’t do that if I’m standing up front with you and Avery.”
Jake shrugs. “If Violet isn’t standing up there, I don’t see why you would anyway. I mean, I don’t mind. It’s Avery you’ll have to talk to. This is her show, brother. I’m just here to make shit legal.”
I slap Jake across the chest with the back of my meaty hand. He grunts with the blunt force of it.
“You better be doing this shit because you love her and want to take care of her for the rest of your fucking life or I’ll shorten your existence and help her find someone more worthy.”
“Shit, Pres!” Jake laughs. “You know I love my Angel more than anything. Of course, I’m doing this for those reasons. I’m just joking. Fuck.”
“Actually,” Skyler interjects. “I was thinking, maybe, if Linzie wouldn’t mind standing up on Avery’s side, and since Declan wants to stay with Violet, maybe you can take Dec’s place on Jake’s side, to even things out.” There’s that mischievous look in her eyes again.
“I’m walking my daughter down the aisle with Russ. It’s what Avery wants. It’s what she asked us to do.”
“I know, Gabe. And you still can. We can have Linzie walk down solo, and you can take your place on the other side after you hand Avery off to Jake.” She smiles but looks unsure. “It’s just to even out the bridal party so everything looks right in the pictures. You’ll have to walk down the aisle with Linzie after the ceremony. Stand with her for a few pictures and sit with her at the dinner table with the rest of us. Nothing too crazy. I promise.”
