With his gaze locked on me, Zodiac replied, “I was too excited to boss your sister around to wait for you.”
“I’m cooking dinner,” I announced. “Ivy, come along with me, so we can talk about how I’m having another boy.”
I walked past Zodiac and Clint and found refuge in the kitchen with the women. Shay looked so relieved to know she wasn’t expected to cook.
Ivy and Shay wrapped me in their arms and hugged away my anxiety-induced trembling. I felt overwhelmed and bloated. Ivy looked too damn cute while I felt like a messy hag.
Zodiac didn’t help by staring at me with his icy blue eyes. A smirk warmed his gorgeous freaking face. I wished he’d leave but also hoped he would stick around.
Mostly, I wanted to know him as a person. I had been curious since the first time we met. But Zodiac wasn’t the kind of man to make small talk, especially with a woman he seemed dead set on putting in a box.
ZODIAC
Elle Reed was a gorgeous woman, but she was a shitty liar. Even when she tried to dismiss me and got all the words right, her needy gaze gave away her heart. I felt like a different man whenever she stared at me as if nothing else existed.
Rather than admit her feelings, Elle scurried off like a domesticated cat having faced off with a wild predator. She did little to hide her fear of me. I held power over her in the same way she did over me.
Before following her back to the family room, I had inspected the hallway lined with family photos. I was curious about Elle as a kid. But mostly, I wanted to see if her boy was a weird-looking baby.
The pictures on the walls had the usual family “lean together and smile” poses. I did find one with Elle holding a tiny Sutter. He looked like a doll in her arms. Her smile was infectious. I liked knowing she would be that excited one day while holding my boy.
If I were capable of committing to a woman, Elle would be the one. I hadn’t gotten hard for another chick in months. Voluntary celibacy felt like a sickness, but I didn’t want anyone except the crazy blonde hiding from me in the other room.
The women huddled together and gossiped. Clint made a show of avoiding me and speaking with Sutter.
Ford moseyed in my direction while holding a can of kombucha. I knew his son was big on the healthy drink. I wondered if that was something Elle enjoyed.
“I admit when I kicked your ass years ago,” Ford said and offered a sly grin, “I sensed you’d run your own club one day. However, I never imagined you’d knock up my only daughter. Life’s funny that way.”
“Are we going to fight now?”
“Think you can take me?”
“Depends on whether your wife and kids will start screaming and crying in fear for you. I imagine that’d throw me off.”
Rubbing at his silver beard, Ford smiled. “Pax claimed he got the better Black Rainbow member sniffing around his daughter, but he’s wrong. I don’t want to share Elle. She can stay in Little Memphis, and you can ride up here to visit the kid.”
“I’m keeping the boy full-time.”
Ford narrowed his gaze. “Is this a game you’re playing to fuck with Elle?”
“I don’t trust anyone with my kid.”
“Then, you should be more careful about who you jizz inside.”
“Elle can move to Baton Rouge and visit the kid.”
“Okay,” Ford said.
“Really?”
“No, but I have a policy of never arguing with the mentally ill.”
Feeling Elle’s gaze on me, I turned to find her staring in my direction. She noticed me noticing her and looked away. I smirked at her goofy antics.
Ford asked, “Will my grandkid have another set of grandparents?”
“No.”
