She nods. “That’s what I thought. Now. Get up. We have stuff to do today.”
Holden grabs her hand, pulling her toward their pile on the floor. “Come back to bed.”
“As tempting as that is, it’s already eleven in the morning.”
Ryder sits up, propping himself on an elbow. “How the hell?”
“Do I need to explain how time works, Love?” Zane asks dryly, making us laugh again.
Love?Holy shit. Les narrows her eyes at me in warning not to say anything, and I have to bite my lip to keep it from spilling out. Did Zane call Ryder…love?
“No, smartass, you don’t,” Ryder chuckles. “I don’t ever sleep this long.”
Zane jumps to his feet. “It’s Sir Smartass to you,” he jokes, jerking Ryder to his feet and then Holden. “The missus has spoken.”
Les’ eyebrows raise slowly. “The missus, huh?”
I jerk Leo to his feet. “Yep. You’re ours, Les. Deal with it.”
She widens her eyes comically. “I think I changed my mind.”
“Take that back,” Ryder growls playfully, pulling her against his chest.
Les puts the back of her hand on her forehead, dipping her head backward dramatically. “Be still my heart.”
“You’re a smartass this morning too,” Ryder laughs, kissing her neck and stepping back.
She snorts. “I’m a smartass every day.”
“That’s the damn truth,” Leo mutters, earning a sharp punch from her to the arm. “Ow,” he winces, rubbing his arm.
She flips her hair over her shoulder, and we follow that sassy swing of her ass downstairs toward the smell of food. Zane’s behind us, so it has to be Micah that cooked.
The food is laid out on the island, but Micah is nowhere to be seen, probably because of Zane. If Ryder can get over it, so can Micah.
We all plate up food and make our way to the dining room, where Dex joins us a minute later.
“Did you have a good talk with Evander?” Les asks Leo.
“Yeah,” Leo shrugs, “I hope I helped.”
After everything went down in the basement, Leo called Evander to see if he was still coming over. When Evander said no, Leo threatened to send Dex after him, and he showed up thirty minutes later, much to our amusement. While waiting, Leo filled everyone in on what he and Les overheard and his talk with Micah.
“I’m sure it did, Baby,” I tell him. I’m fucking proud that he’s stepping up to the plate and helping Evander and Micah navigate their feelings for each other. It’s scary as hell at first.
Les looks at her phone with a frown, then pushes her plate away. I can see her steeling herself for whatever she’s about to say. Ryder and Zane catch it, opening their mouths up at the same time to argue. She holds a hand up. “It’s not about Gregory. Save it.” She gives me a look. “It’s about your dad.”
I frown. “What about him?”
“He’s back in town,” she relays. When Les cut Conner from the Poletti’s, he fled town. No one has seen or heard from him in the three years she’s been in control. “That’s where Micah took off to. He’s kicking up a fucking fuss at Maximus demanding to see you.” She leans forward, bracing her arms on the table. “It’s your call, Gage, but if you want to see him, you aren’t going alone.”
I can feel my heart rate pick up from the thought of seeing him. He always treated me like shit, told me too many times to count that he wished I was dead.
“I don’t know, Pretty girl,” I mutter, feeling unsure for the first time in a long time.
“You want my opinion?” Dex asks, and I nod. “Go down there and tell him to fuck off. Run him back out of town. Let him see the man you’ve become without his punk ass.”
I take a second to think about that. My dad’s last words were how much he wished my mom would have aborted me when she found out she was pregnant. Instead, she had me and then left me with him to raise.
