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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

HAMMER

Sitting behind my desk, eyes on my woman, my son following close behind, my daughter in her arms. There are not many times when my boy leaves his momma’s side, especially when she’s got his little sister. Kid is damn protective of his sister. He’s just a toddler, but he’s sharp. Takes in everything around him. He definitely didn’t like it when Tessa cried. Kid would get all defensive and start trying to do things to make her stop. Tessa isn’t one to cry, and when she does, there are only a few things that help. Food, milk, or being cuddled by me. At eighteen months, the girl knows what she wants and when she wants it.

Before Avery, not once did I think I’d have an ol’ lady, let alone a kid. Now, I’ve got Avery and two kids. If I could, I’d knock my woman up again. Seeing her pregnant and carrying my kid is something I enjoy seeing from the time she tells me, or in Tessa’s case, me telling her, to the day the Doc puts the baby in my arms.

I enjoy having them come in here and hang out, especially my woman. I like it most when she doesn’t have one of the kids, and I can take her however I want. The majority of the time, it’s me who goes home to them instead of them being here at the clubhouse. With the storm, I wanted them here. I haven’t put a generator in at the house yet, which we have here in case the power goes out. Plus, here there were other kids. Most of them were around Tate’s age, some around Tessa’s.

“Not a good time,” I grunt, toying with my phone. I’d been getting ready to make a call when they came in.

“Why’s it not a good time?” Avery asks. She knows something’s going on and doesn’t like being kept in the dark. “What’s going on?”

“Can’t talk about with you, Sunshine, not this time. You’re gonna have to trust me that it’s all gonna be good.”

It better be. I’ll be pissed if it isn’t.

It’s why I told Cy I’d call Twister and Jackson. Jackson will be able to answer questions about why his company looked for his woman and didn’t tell her mother after they did find her. Twister will hopefully be able to get me answers as to why Badger’s ol’ lady told Alanna to come to our club in the first place.

There are too many damn questions rolling around in my head, all of them I need answers to. None of them, my woman or kids, need to hear.

“You can tell me something, Tyler.”

Fuck me, her using my name and not my road name is telling. The only time she uses it outside of my being deep inside her is when she’s getting upset. The rest of the time, she keeps to calling me Hammer like everyone else.

Sighing, I get to my feet, close the distance between the two of us, kiss her briefly, and take my girl in my arms. Tessa immediately snuggles in, and I know what that means. She intends to nap on my chest.

Fuck me.

I glance down at my boy and find him already moving to the corner where Avery set up a few of his toys to play with. He knows his sister is looked after and thinks it’s time to play.

Looking back to my woman, I make sure she gets the message without me saying it out loud. If she stays here, whatever she hears, she knows doesn’t leave this room.

“You should know by now, Tyler, I’m not going to run my mouth. I don’t do that. Not when it’s important to you. I keep your secrets. All of them. And if we’re going to have yet another baby on our hands, you won’t have any peace of mind because we’ll constantly be in your hair.”

Blinking at her, the last of what just came out of her mouth repeats itself in my head. “You serious right now?” I glance down to her stomach then back up to her face.

“The test was positive this morning.” She nods, a smile playing on her lips. “You didn’t notice?”

I give her a knowing grin. With Tessa, I told her she was pregnant before she could tell me. I knew it because I noticed the changes in her body.

This time, hell, I must not have been paying as close of attention to my woman as I should’ve been. I’ll have to remedy that ‘cause she’ll never know a day where I don’t know her body.

With Tessa settled against my chest, one arm cushioning her bottom, I wrap my arm around Avery, tugging her to me. I lean down, kiss her deeply, and murmur against her lips, “I finish this business, we’re gonna celebrate me knocking you up again, Sunshine.”

“Looking forward to it,” she murmurs against my lips.

“Good.” I pull away slightly and nod to the couch off to the side of the room. “Rest up on the couch, baby. I’ll make these calls as quick as possible.” Afterward, I’ll take the time to show her my appreciation, then I’ll get back to business once again.

I wait for Avery to stretch out on the couch and glance at Tate playing with his toy motorcycle engine I’d gotten him for his birthday. Avery didn’t let me get him the little dirt bike I wanted to give him. She demanded that he not get one until he was at least six.

What she doesn’t know is I’d already gotten him his bike. It’s just parked in the garage right now. I’ll convince her before his next birthday that he should get it soon.

Once I’m satisfied they’re both good, with Tessa in my arms, I move back behind my desk, take my seat, and pick my phone up off the pile of papers. I search through the contacts finding Twister’s number, and hit dial. I’ll get him to conference in Jackson. That way, I can get this done all the faster. I’ve got other things I wanna get on with. If it weren’t for the fact this is Alanna we’ve got to protect, Alanna and Charlotte, that is, then I’d say fuck it. But they’re family, and we protect our own.