“Put your hand over your eyes!” Mikey ordered as they approached the kitchen doorway.
Demo lifted both his hands, which raised both Mikey’s and Nelly Bean’s hands into the air. Nelly Bean’s feet also came off the floor for a second. “With what free hands?” Demo asked the six year old.
“Oh, yeah.” Mikey’s face scrunched in thought as he realized the dilemma of his order. “Um, here.” He let go of Demo’s hand.
Paige’s muffled giggle reached his ears. She was standing just to his right in the doorway, likely still recording the entire exchange.
Demo placed his hand over his eyes. He left a small crack in his fingers so he could still figure out where he was going. He didn’t want anything to ruin the kids’ surprise for him, including him being led right into the table where he could knock the cake over. “I hope Nelly Bean knows where he’s supposed to lead me.”
“Here, take my hand,” Mikey told his brother.
Like a human train, Demo was led over to the kitchen table. He could smell chocolate and sugar in the air.
The scraping of wood on the linoleum floor reached his ears as Paige pulled out a chair one-handed. She was definitely still recording. The boys helped Demo park his ass into the seat at the head of the table. Nelly Bean immediately climbed up onto his lap. Demo wrapped one arm around his small waist to hold him steady as he kept the other hand secure over his eyes.
Paige helped Mikey move the large plate with a round cake closer to where Demo and Nelly Bean now sat. Demo closed his eyes for real this time. He’d seen writing on the cake, but didn’t want to read it just yet. That really would ruin the surprise. He figured it was a Thank You cake, which was completely unnecessary, but he’d never turn down chocolate cake. He was no fool. Neither the boys nor Paige owed him anything, let alone a thank you.
“Okay,” Mikey announced. “You can open your eyes in three…two…” He paused for dramatic effect. “One!”
Demo dropped his hand, his eyes landing on the extremely sprinkle-covered cake. In fact, he could barely see any icing on the cake, there were so many sprinkles.
But on top of the sprinkles were candied letters that had Demo’s breath catch.
Fuck what he’d thought before. This was the best fucking surprise he could have… No, he never could have imagined this. They’d just moved into his house. Heneverwould have imagined that Paige would… That she’d allow…
He caught her beautiful eyes across the table. Silent tears streamed down her face, but there was no apprehension. Of course there wouldn’t be. She never would have helped the boys with something like this if she wasn’t behind it a hundred and ten percent.
When Demo had claimed Paige as his ol’ lady, they’d signed paperwork making each other Power of Attorney. Paige had also named Demo the boys’ guardian if something happened to her. They’d done everything but get married and have Demo adoptthe boys. It had been all Paige was willing to offer up at that time. Which was perfectly fine with Demo. Their relationship was still new. But Paige had just been assaulted and had been terrified she was going to die. If having him sign paperwork gave her peace of mind, Demo would have signed anything she put in front of him.
This was different. This wasmore. Demo would be as much the boys’ parent as Paige was. He would legally be their father. Not stepfather, not Paige’s boyfriend. Theirfather.
Demo didn’t think he’d ever been so honored in his entire life.
Looking down at the two tiny faces that stared up at him with pleading eyes as milk chocolate as their mother’s. He wasn’t sure his heart was going to make it.
Swallowing, Demo found his mouth had gone dry. Fucking hell. He was a grown-ass man, yet these two little humans had brought him entirely to his knees. If he wasn’t already sitting, he’d have collapsed to the floor.
“I would love to be your daddy.”
Both boys cried out in joy and threw their arms around Demo’s neck. He hugged them tight, knowing from this moment on that they weren’t just Paige’s sons. They were his now too. Looking across the table, he saw Paige finally put her phone down. She’d caught the whole thing, recording it for them to watch later or maybe to show the judge. He wasn’t really sure how adoption worked. He’d never looked into it, not wanting to get his hopes up that this could one day happen.
He crooked a finger at her behind Mikey’s back. She approached, leaning down over the three men in her life. “I love you,” he told her. “Thank you for poking me with your needles.”
Paige smiled down at him. “Thank you for not letting me walk away from you.”
CHAPTER 3
SOPHIA
“You know, it’s a very good thing I’m not a sympathetic vomiter.”
Jasmine’s groan was echoed by the porcelain of the toilet bowl. Sophia had a tight hold of her bestie’s long, blonde hair as she puked her guts out.
The duplex Sophia’s parents had built for Jasmine and Sophia to live in with their men had a common living space connecting the two homes. Generally, that’s where the four of them were. Best friends since elementary school, it was about as much space as Jasmine and Sophia liked between them.
Which made it pretty damn lucky that they’d ended up marrying brothers. And not just any brothers, but close brothers. Brothers who would sacrifice everything for each other. The running joke was that Jumper and Pirate each had two wives, and it was only one that they used for sex.
After what went down on the evening of Jumper and Jasmine’s rehearsal dinner, it was completely and totally understandable that they hadn’t ended up getting married back in April. The club had thought Scar was dead, Pumpkin was in the hospital clinging to life, and Sophia and Pirate had had amassive scare that had affected both of them. But Jumper still had every intention of marrying Jasmine.
