Page 74 of Badd Ass
Brock gave me a look. “Damn, son, you might be on to something.” He grinned. “Especially you, with a baby on the way.”
I nodded. “That’s what I’m saying.” I jerked a thumb at Bast. “I can’t imagine it’ll be too much longer before this guy is making his own announcement.”
Bast held up his hands. “Whoa, man, don’t go jinxing me. I just got married, I’m not ready for that yet.”
“Yeah, neither am I, but here I am.”
Brock snickered at me. “What, didn’t Bast give you the talk about how babies are made? You see, when a man and womanreallylike each other—”
I threw a lime slice at his face, nailing him dead center between the eyes. “Shut up, fucker. And besides, I wouldn’t mock too much, since you could be next on the surprise-I’m-a-daddy-train.”
Brock’s eyes widened. “Hey, don’t jinx me either. Just becauseyourode bareback doesn’t meanI’mgoing to.”
“You can’t try and tell me you guys haven’t been tempted.” I looked at him and then Bast.
“He has a point, Brock,” Bast said.
Brock groaned. “I know, I know. And actually, if you want real honesty, we have. Once. The first time I went up to see her, after like a week without her? We couldn’t wait, and neither of us had anything, so we just…”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Andthat, brother, is how babies are made.”
Brock rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, no shit. Bareback is damned addictive.”
“Sure as hell is,” Bast agreed.
When we both glanced at him in surprise, he just stared back at us.
“What? We’re married. We may not be actively trying for one, but if Dru does get pregnant…honestly, I’d be happy. Scared shitless, but happy.” He shrugged. “We had a moment a few months ago where we thought she was pregnant, but it was a false alarm. That made me think about things, though, and I realized I wouldn’t mind if she got pregnant.”
The women had clustered around us at that point, and Dru reached across the bar, grabbed her husband by shirt and hauled him in for a kiss. “You’d be happier than a pig in shit if I was to get pregnant, you big macho fuckstick,” she said. “You know you want a baby girl.”
“Yeah, true,” Bast said as she released him. “But, babe, I’ve never evenhelda baby before,” he said.
Dru tapped his nose. “It’s easy. You just don’t drop it and don’t squeeze too hard.”
Bast chuckled. “Well, yeah, that much I know. It’s the rest I’m not sure about. Changing diapers and making bottles and all that shit? And what about when the kid starts talking back? I mean, how do you go about raising a human being so they’re not a complete fuckup?”
My heart was racing as Bast talked. “Those are all pretty pertinent questions, I’d say.” I eyed my older brother. “You took care of us all, so you’ve got some experience.”
Bast shrugged. “I kept you from starving and made sure you went to school. Barely counts.”
I shook my head. “No, man, it was more than that. You took care of us. None of us have forgotten that.”
Mara cut in, quietly. “None of you boys have anything to worry about. You’re sweet, caring men. You’ll take care of us, and when you become fathers, you’ll be amazing at that, too.” She kept her gaze on me. “All of us are proof that life isn’t ever perfect, and parents aren’t perfect, and things happen. My dad wasn’t necessarily a good father or even a good person, but he did his best to love me, and I think I turned out okay. Same with my mom. Just do your best. That’s all there really is, I’d say.”
“Nowthat’sdamn truth,” Claire said. “Love is all you need.”
Canaan and Corin, who’d snuck up at some point, started singing The Beatles song Claire had unwittingly referenced, getting laughter from everyone.
Bast slugged my shoulder. “I’ve got closing. Get out of here. Be with your girl.”
I glanced at him. “You’re sure?”
He snorted at me. “Bitch, I worked open to close by myself every single day for years. Igotthis.”
I ducked under the service bar and went upstairs with Mara. We didn’t talk. We didn’t say a word, in fact. The second we got into my room, we closed the door, locked it, and stripped each other naked in record time.
We didn’t say a word as I lowered her to the bed, kissed every inch of her body, and then slowly slid bare inside her. Nor did we speak as we moved together in perfect synch, breathing mated, lips touching now and again, hips meeting and parting in a slow, fierce rhythm.