Page 25

Zoe

The clubhouse looked like a daycare the next morning.

Since Lainey had already been asleep in the borrowed playard by the time Coast made it back to the house sometime around sunup, he set her usual one up downstairs. Along with her swing and some of her toys.

The room was equally packed.

I’d been nodding in and out when Coast came in, so I woke up to the surprise of finding my clothes hanging in the closet with his and all of Lainey’s things in the dresser drawers.

Even her little bath seat and tub toys were in the bathroom. Along with my toothbrush, hairbrush, and products.

He’d moved us in.

Like it was no big deal.

Like we belonged there.

I blinked tears away as I brushed my teeth after a shower.

Lainey had been stolen by the sweet-tempered Eddie, who had her propped on his hip as he started to prepare breakfast.

I had to admit, I was more than a little excited about a home-cooked meal. It had been so long. The closest I got to home-cooking these days was adding some chopped onions or extra veggies to my ramen that I made by running water through the empty coffee pot to get nearly boiling water.

Maybe I could contribute to the clubhouse by making them some meals as well.

I’d been too overwhelmed with everything the night before to discuss details with Coast. Things like… logistics. Where was Coast going to be staying? What would I be paying for rent? What were the club rules?

I decided not to take any jobs early in the day so I could talk to Coast as well as the other guys in the clubhouse to make sure no one felt weird about our presence.

By the time I made it down to the kitchen, the smell of bacon cooking had my belly letting out a loud grumble.

While Eddie was still hard at work in the kitchen, my daughter was nowhere to be seen.

Eddie nodded his chin toward the front of the house, and before I could even turn in that direction, I heard a deep belly laugh drift over to me.

I followed the sound, my lips curving up at her easy joy.

When I walked into the living room, I found Lainey on the couch with Coast at her feet. Her onesie had three snaps undone, exposing her round belly.

And I watched as Coast leaned down and blew raspberries on her tummy, getting another laugh out of my daughter.

“Ugh. I want some laughs,” Jade, who was sitting across from them, grumbled. “Stop bogarting the baby.”

Coast leaned down, doing one more raspberry, and another laugh.

My heart felt like it was coated in something delicious and gooey.

Coast finally caught sight of me, shooting me warm eyes as he re-snapped Lainey’s onesie.

“Wanna go hang out with Jade?” he asked her as he lifted her up.

“Gimme,” Jade said, snatching Lainey out of his arms. “You wanna go look at the trucks?” she asked, heading toward the front door.

“You okay?” Coast asked, catching me watching him.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked, watching him tense up.

“Not too long,” Eddie called. “Breakfast is almost done.”

“Sure,” Coast agreed, following silently behind me up to his room.

If he thought it was weird that I’d locked the door, he said nothing.

“Is everything al—”

His sentence got cut off by my lips.

There was a short second where he tensed, where he wasn’t reactive.

But then his arms were around me, pulling me flush against him as his lips angled over mine again and again, taking it deeper, making the need spread through me.

It wasn’t long before his hands were sliding down my back to sink into my ass, using it to grind me against him.

His hardness pressed against me, making me whimper against his lips.

Coast walked backward, taking me with him as he lowered himself to sit at the edge of the bed.

I kicked off my shoes before moving to straddle him.

There was no shame to be found as I lowered myself down onto his lap, shifting until his hardness was pressed against where I needed it most, then rocking restlessly against him.

Coast’s hands slid up to the hem of my shirt, dragging it up, then breaking the kiss to pull it off.

I’d been too sticky from the shower to even think of wrestling myself into a bra yet, so I was bare to him immediately, dragging that sexy little rumble out of him.

Coast wasted no time ducking his head and sucking one of my nipples into his mouth.

A low moan escaped me as I arched into his mouth, my hips grinding down harder against him as the need increased.

He was impatient with me, though. And I was loving his lack of control as he flipped me onto my back, then reached down to undo my button and zipper, then drag down both my shorts and panties.

He was down in seconds, his tongue on me, teasing my clit until I was writhing and whimpering, my fingers tangled in his hair, my thighs crushing his head, back arching off the bed.

“Coast, please,” I begged, tugging his hair harder. To no avail. I pressed my feet into his shoulders, pushing him away.

“Please, what?” he asked as he reached back to tug off his shirt, then removed his jeans.

I wasn’t someone who was bold and outspoken in general, let alone in bed. But the need was a clawing, desperate thing. And that made me shameless.

“Please fuck me,” I said, watching his eyes go molten.

He came over me, his hard lines meeting my softer ones.

He reached out to the nightstand, grabbing protection and tossing it on the mattress beside us.

Then his lips were on mine and his hips were rocking against my cleft.

When I was scratching my nails down his back and rocking up into him, he threw his weight, rolling onto his back, then grabbing the condom and rolling it on.

“Get over here,” he demanded when he was done, his hand fisted around the base of his cock. “There you go,” he murmured as I moved to straddle him. “Now take me in and ride me.”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

I slid down his length, both of us gasping at the sensation as he filled me. But there was no savoring the sensation. The need for release was too strong.

Coast’s hands went to my hips as I started to ride him exactly how my body was begging for: hard and fast.

It wasn’t long before I could feel that telltale tightening, that tension in my muscles.

“That’s it,” Coast said, gaze on me. “Come for me.”

Just like that, the climax burst through me, stealing my breath, so the only thing that came out of me was a gasping sound as I fell forward into him.

Beneath me, Coast let out a curse, anchoring his arm across my hips, then starting to rock up into me. Slow at first, then faster and faster. Taking me from one orgasm and toward another at a breakneck pace.

“That’s it,” Coast said, voice getting tight. “Let me feel your pussy squeeze my cock.”

A needy whimper escaped me as he drove me right to that edge again, then sent me soaring over.

My cries were muffled with my lips against his shoulder as the waves crashed through me over and over.

Coast worked me through it before pulling my hips down hard as he surged up, then came with me.

I collapsed on him afterward, too weak to hold up any of my own body weight.

Coast chuckled in my hair, rolling us until we were both on our sides, but close.

His forehead pressed to mine.

“I figured that was the best way not to fuck up your hair and let everyone know we weren’t exactly talking up here.”

I chuckled and rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling of the room that was going to be mine temporarily.

“I did actually want to talk to you about some things.”

“We can talk,” he agreed, folding up and standing beside the bed to deal with the condom, then fishing his clothes off the floor again. “While we eat,” he added, tossing me my clothes. “Trust me, you don’t wanna miss Eddie’s food.”

“He had me at ‘home-cooked meal,’” I agreed, feeling all loose-limbed and relaxed as I got back in my clothes.

“So, what did you want to ask?” Coast asked as we walked out into the hall.

“Well, board, first of all.”

“Board?”

“Rent?”

“Fuck that. No. You’re not paying fucking board to stay in my room. Get the fuck outta here.”

Was he brash and aggressively caring? Yes. But I found it almost unbearably charming.

“What else?” he asked as we went down the steps.

“Well, I was also wondering about the rules.”

“What rules?” he asked.

“Well, club rules,” I said as the guys glanced over.

“Well, for one,” Eddie said, snapping a pair of tongs between turning breakfast sausage patties in a pan. “No hooking up in the kitchen.”

Everyone turned to look at the guy I remembered being named Dixon.

“What? I didn’t know!” he said, throwing up a hand.

“It’s just plain unsanitary, man,” Eddie said, shaking his head as he started to pile food onto a plate.

“It won’t happen again,” Dixon said, looking a little pink in the cheeks.

“That’s for me?” I asked when Eddie passed me a towering plate.

“I hear you’re a ballerina, but I can’t have you leaving my table looking that skinny,” he said. “It’s an insult to the food.”

With a laugh, I took the plate. “Thank you. And I don’t really dance anymore,” I said. “Aside from for fun here or there. This smells amazing,” I added. Then, in a lower voice to Coast, “He won’t be insulted if I can’t finish all this, right?”

“Don’t worry,” Coast said, taking his plate, then pressing his free hand to my lower back to lead me over to the table.

“Someone will clear your plate for you. I dunno if you’ve met everyone here.

So, everyone, this is Zoe. Zoe, this is Dixon, Caymen, Kylo, York, and Velle.

And that,” he said, nodding over toward where a man was sitting at the island, “is Jade’s man. Levee.”

“Where is Jade? I can take back Lainey so she can eat.”

“They’re in the back on a blanket looking at the clouds,” Levee said, eyes soft just thinking about his woman. “Your daughter sounds like an owl,” he added, eyes warm.

“She does,” I agreed. “I love her little hoots.”

“Got a good laugh, too,” Eddie added.

“That’s new. Just the past week or so. It’s such a great sound.”

The memory of Coast blowing raspberries on her belly and getting that laugh out of her made my heart go all gooey again.

“Gotta find me a honey to give me about five of ‘em,” Eddie said.

“Hey, she’s got a friend with three littles,” Coast said. “She’s a piece of work too.”

“How was Brooke?” I asked.

“Strapped.”

“What?”

“She said she wasn’t worried about any issues at the motel because she’s got guns to protect her and the kids.”

“Oh, wow. I… didn’t know that.” But, somehow, I could actually picture her knowing how to shoot. Hell, Brooke seemed like someone capable of anything she put her mind to.

“You gonna fill everyone in on these ‘issues?’” York asked.

“Huck wants to have church about it. Saves me from having to talk about it more than once.”

“I’m sorry to be… a pain,” I said, not quite able to look at any of them when I said that.

“A pain?” Levee asked, shooting me a smirk. “Honey, we’ve had gangs, organized crime, drive-bys, shootouts, car chases, stalkers… what am I missing?” he asked, addressing the others.

“Yakuza,” Eddie said.

“Right. And I’m sure we’re missing something else. The point,” Levee went on, “is this is just another week in the clubhouse. Don’t sweat it.”

The casual way they all acted about that was comforting. At least I didn’t feel like a burden.

“I was thinking I could maybe cook for everyone. To show my thanks.”

“You don’t like my cooking?” Eddie asked, voice so heartbroken that my own hurt.

“What? No! This is amazing.”

“Then why are you trying to steal my gig?”

“Oh, I didn’t…”

“The kitchen is Eddie’s domain, except on the rare occasion that he’s sick or busy,” Velle explained. “It’s how he shows love.”

“Oh, okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to step on your toes. I just wanted to do something to—”

“You don’t have to thank us,” Coast cut me off. “We’re not even doing anything.”

They were.

He, especially, was.

But they clearly didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. And who was I to push it?

“How about I do the cleanup?” I asked Eddie after we all finished eating, leaving the sink overflowing with dishes, pots, and pans. “The cook shouldn’t have to clean.”

“You’re not gonna give up until you get a task, are you?” he asked, whipping off his apron.

“No.”

“Alright, lil’ mama. Load the dishwasher if you must. I’m gonna go see if I can make that baby of yours laugh too.”

She was currently giggling as Dixon pretended to bite her feet in the living room.

It was actually pretty sweet how a bunch of rough-and-tumble men were completely fascinated by a little baby. Even the standoffish ones who didn’t want to engage with her directly—Caymen and York, in particular—sat back and watched with pinched brows. Like they were trying to figure something out.

As for Lainey, well, she was gobbling up the attention. My little girl sure seemed to love the spotlight. It was something I couldn’t have seen so clearly without bringing her to the clubhouse.

I listened to them talk to her, her hooting and cooing back at them as I loaded the dishwasher, feeling a strange sort of rightness in my heart that I hadn’t anticipated.

I’d figured that staying at the clubhouse would be awkward at best. That I would feel like an outsider. That I would mostly only be around to sleep because I would be avoiding the men who surely didn’t want to share their home with a single mom and an infant.

I’d never been so happy to be wrong in my life.

I knew, logically, the novelty of a baby would wear off. And, yeah, there were going to be loud parties and half-naked women around. But I was oddly okay with that.

This was so different from any life I’d known before. But there was something beautiful about it, too. The brotherhood, the love.

I’d never been around large families, but I’d always devoured movies and shows about them, loving their dynamic, the way you always had someone to talk to, to rely on.

It had only ever been me and my mom.

And now, me and my daughter.

It was nice to cosplay part of a big found family for a while.

By the time the dishes were done, Coast was making a bottle for a sleepy Lainey.

“Here, let me take her.”

“Make us some coffee then meet us upstairs,” he suggested, resting the side of his face against Lainey’s head. It was such a sweet, soft thing to do. And it made my heart tug hard.

“Will do,” I agreed.

When I got up there, Coast was on the bed, Lainey had finished her bottle, and she was snoozing in the crook of his arm.

With his free hand, he patted the space beside him.

And I wasted no time joining him.

Them.

And there was that little feeling again.

The rightness of it.

The heart tug.

“Coast?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“How are you so good with kids?”

Coast exhaled hard; a muscle ticked in his jaw.

I didn’t think he was going to tell me.

But then, as he absentmindedly ran a finger over Lainey’s soft, pudgy hand, he did.