“With Rodney?”
“Yeah,” Nitro answers this time, looking less confident than Fox. “But if their painting goes bad we also have tickets to a health resort and a hot tub being delivered, so, there's that.”
We all look to Marx next who rubs the back of his neck. “I got new ink for Lovely and my little girl. Right above my heart, where they belong.”
“She’ll love that,” Pops points out.
“Yeah, but it just doesn't seem enough.” Marx grumbles.
“Son, you know your woman. She isn’t one to like flashy things and she knows the power of inking skin. She will be over the moon.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Marx mumbles, before adding, “Might get her a kitten too.” Savage snorts and Marx flips him the bird.
“Good thinking.” Pops mutters. “Judge? What you got?”
Swallowing, I look around my brothers. “I never really apologized properly to Kaia, and the hurt I caused, so on one of our stops in our poker run I’m going to whisk her away to the place by the river where I broke her heart.”
Silence apart from Rider’s long drawn out “uummmmmmm.”
“No, hear me out. I want to erase that memory, replace it with a good one. A fresh start.” Reaching into my pocket I pull out the pouch I’ve been carrying around with me the past month.
I tip the contents into my hand, rubbing my thumb over the smooth band. “I’m going to ask Kaia to marry me. To tie herself to me in all the ways that matter.”
“Ugh, motherfucker,” Jules says as he too pulls out a box from his pocket, holding it in the air.
“Double weddings, shitheads!” Rider whoops, falling back into his seat laughing.
It’s all in good fun and I don’t care how much ribbing these bastards give me. They’re family, along with Kaia and my kids.
“Bigs? Keep an eye on the babies. Men! What’s say we go find our women?”
Sasha
I have never felt more relaxed in my life. The big man's hands run over my shoulder blades, massaging out the knots that come from throwing punches many times a day.
“This is soooo nice, I feel like a wet noodle,” Blanche moans from the table beside me. She is a funny woman. So tough and yet very soft on the inside.
In fact, many of the women are. Some are tough like Blanche, Ana, Nat, Violet and Judge’s Kaia. But deep down they feel lots. Some, like Lovely, Remy, Mira and Jasmine, are soft women with hidden depths. Soft on the outside perhaps.
And then there is Chewy. She reminds me of my Roman. Cold, detached, practical. But that is not all. People like Chewy and Roman feel the most. That is why Chewy has Rhodie and Roman has me. We protect their hearts when no one else can. And because of that we are devoted to them.
“Have you thought about what you’re going to do for Roman, Sasha?” Lovely’s soft voice drifts over me from her own massage table somewhere else in the room.
“Da, I wish to claim him as publicly as I can. Within the safety of our friends. Here, at the compound.”
An “aww” sound from the many women fills the room. “That’s so sweet, and an honor that you wish to do that here, Roman,” Lovely says, very much the President’s Ol Lady.
“The Bartashev bratva would not understand our love. To them we are the Pakhan and his devoted guard. Here, we are Sasha and Roman, husbands. I wish to spend an evening where I can love my husband freely in the open.”
“Then that’s what will happen,” Chewy declares before making an “uh oh” noise.
“Uh oh? What is uh oh, Chewy?” I think it’s Kaia who asks.
“Um, we maaaay have a leeeetle problem.”
“What the fuck is going on in here?”
Chapter 9
