Page 54 of Double the Redemption

“Ooops …” Esme snorted with a laugh. The others did too.

Naomi sighed. “I’ve been working with him on his words and reading, but he picks up on all the ones he shouldn’t repeat better than the ones he should.”

“They do that. For the longest time, Gabe’s favorite word was the f-word because I let it slip once in front of him when I slammed my toe into the table. It hurt like a bit—a bugger. He’ll forget it soon enough. He said it for about a week, then promptly forgot it until he went to school and heard it from the other kids.”

“Ronin’s picking up words from school now too.” Royal sighed. “That and from Savage. I tell you, that man was raised with a potty mouth.”

“They’re bikers; proper language isn’t exactly their motto,” Win pointed out. “I once gave Rogue a dictionary and told him he should learn a few new words, and all he did was look up the f-word and give it back to me.”

“Did you really expect anything else?” Glitch asked, with a laugh.

“We’re off topic,” Esme butted in. “Naomi, seriously, I’m sorry all of this has been happening. I also one hundred percent agree that you should have called Taz and the team in. These guys need a kick in the butt once in a while to remind them to keep in shape. They’ve gotten a bit lazy, and with most of them having Old Ladies, they don’t consider the others’ outcomes because it’s not on their radar anymore.”

“I figured they were insulted that I called. No one other than Ink, Ice, and Rogue have been talking to me. And that’s only for business stuff.”

That was a bit of a lie. Ink tried to talk to her about anything and everything, but she was serious about wanting her space.

He left her little things every day. One day, it was flowers, a pretty bouquet of lilies, and another day, it was a teddy bear for Asher, who loved it and slept with it every night. Even last night, he slid an envelope under her door. Inside was a drawing of her sitting with Asher.

It was so ridiculously detailed and beautiful that she stood there, staring at it for a good five minutes, taking in every small detail. He caught the slight tilt of her lips, the little gaps between Asher’s teeth. She should have set it aside, refused to let him charm her, but she put it on the fridge, right in the middle, where she could look at it.

“They can be insulted all they like.” Harlow, Steel’s Old Lady, scoffed. “Maybe it will wake them up. I know we’re supposed to back our men, and I always will in public or when the Predators are here, but in private like this, I can say it.” She glanced at Karissa and Glitch. “And I’m including you in the Old Ladies bit, even if you are wearing your Predators cuts.”

The two women nodded.

“I am glad you decided to stay,” Scarlett said. “As stupid as they are, they are also very good men who will fix this. Their egos will be smarting for a bit, but they’ll get over it and realize this was for the best. I think they forgot just what it means to have someone in your position relying on them.”

Esme snorted. “They saw a pretty face with a cute kid and figured you’d be fine. Especially since you’ve been pretty quiet and keeping to yourself, or they thought we would all take you under our wings and handle it. As long as you stayed on the grounds, then you’d be fine, right?”

“I’m surprised that you’re not angry at me,” Naomi admitted, looking at Royal. “I almost shot your man.”

Royal barked out a laugh. “I’ve shot at him before. Trust me, that was never going to piss me off. I wanted to come over and high-five you.”

“You really don’t care that I almost shot him?”

“Almost being the keyword there. Maybe I’d be pissed if you actually hit him and it was serious, but he was the one who let himself into your apartment without knocking. He deserved it.”

“I heard you bit Ink.” Saylor laughed. “Saw the bruise the next day. It was nice and purple on his hand. Good job.”

Naomi flushed, guilt bubbling. “I just reacted …”

“That’s exactly what you need to do. We’re going to add working on your self-defense training in the coming days,” Karissa added. “Glitch and I will take turns working with you. The other will watch Asher. If you’re okay with it, the twins offered, and we’ll have Taz here to keep watch.”

“Is that necessary? I’m not very big or strong.”

“You need to be able to handle yourself in case anything gets past all the barriers and the rest of us,” Glitch answered. Naomi swallowed hard, fighting panic. “It shouldn’t happen, but you want to be able to take on anyone who threatens you or Asher, right?”

She nodded quickly.

“Then you’re working on your skills. Self-defense, knife work, and target practice.”

Esme laughed. “Won’t Savage just love that?”

“Can we join?” Wren asked, smirking.

“No,” Scarlett stated. “Are you trying to give Rogue a heart attack? You two knowing how to use a gun is liable to send him into a tizzy. He let you keep working with your knife work and doing the combat training with them. Don’t push it.”

“Fine.” Win huffed. “But we really should learn. We are going off to college in a year.”