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TALLY

EIGHT YEARS LATER

“You nearly done?” I called to Tie, attempting to hold the ladder as he jiggled and shuffled around. “My balls are gonna freeze off if we’re out here much longer.”

We were on Christmas light duty because Harmony insisted that they needed to be up so things would start to feel more magical .

“Almost,” Tie yelled back, though I was already shivering.

I hated the cold.

It made it harder to do almost anything.

Talk.

Think.

Ride my motorcycle.

The distinct growl of a couple of Harleys pulling around the corner at the end of the block was a noise I would know anywhere.

And apparently, I wasn’t the only one who knew it.

“Daddy’s back!”

“Nya, don’t go out there.” Harmony’s call had me turning on my heel in time to see a tiny blonde-haired toddler shoot out of the clubhouse doors, heading for the front gates. “Nya!”

I abandoned the ladder, skidding on the cold ground as I started running. Thankfully, one of my footsteps was like five three-year-old steps, so I managed to cut the kid off before she got too close to the road. I grabbed her under the arms, the high-pitched giggles that left her tiny body instantly made me laugh as I tossed her into the air and caught her again.

“The escapee has been detained,” I announced, tucking her under my arm as she kicked and flailed.

“Let… me… go,” she protested, though the way it was broken up by laughter was a sure sign she was planning on making another run for it the second her feet hit the ground.

“Nya,” the troublemaker’s older brother, Layton, exclaimed. He stepped outside with Harmony beside him. Both had concerned frowns on their faces. “You have to wait until Dad stops before you come out here. Those are the rules.”

Layton was one of the most level-headed six-year-olds I’d ever met.

Honestly, you couldn’t get two more different kids.

While Layton took the world a little too seriously sometimes, always cautious and extremely protective, Nya saw everything and anything as a new opportunity to cause absolute chaos. She was a toddler-sized tornado, and I was not looking forward to when she got to her teens.

Kit and Harmony were lucky they had Layton to hopefully keep an eye on her and try to steer her straight.

But I was already taking bets on how much hair Kit would lose before Nya even turned sixteen.

Kit and Wreck finally pulled in the front gates and eased their rides into the open garage where the rest were parked, just in case we were hit with any snow or ice. It wasn’t likely, but stranger things had happened at Christmas.

Like Harmony said, it was fucking magical.

“Unccy Tally… down now, please!”

I held her out in front of me while I waited for the engines to switch off, her legs already kicking.

The instant the deafening rumble stopped, I placed her on the ground, and she was off like lightning.

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”

When he stepped out a few seconds later with her on his hip and her arms wrapped tight around his neck, you could see that she thought my best friend was the most incredible thing in the entire world. Harmony grinned, watching as the two of them bent their heads together and whispered while Layton leaned into his mom, content to simply be with her.

To think these two kids might have never existed was such a crazy reality to imagine.

Kit and Harmony were born to be parents, but the universe didn’t make it fucking easy for them.

When they found Kaci to be their surrogate, everything changed. She gave them two beautiful babies and became part of our big crazy family.

In more ways than one.

“Tie! Your son is playing kickball with my bladder again!” Kaci groaned, joining us outside with her nose screwed up and a hand on her tiny round belly. She spotted him at the top of the ladder and shook her head. “If you die before this baby is born, I’m going to have to kill you.”

“Shit!” I rushed over and grabbed the ladder firmly in my hands. “He’s fine, safe and sound.”

He glanced down. “Yeah. I’m fine, Tally’s holding it steady,” he told her with a wave of his hand, having not noticed that I’d been at least ten feet away for the previous few minutes.

“Super steady,” I agreed, smiling wide at Kaci who wasn’t as amused.

“How was Op?” I asked Kit, stepping back when Tie made his way down. I made sure his feet were firmly back on the ground before I followed Kit inside.

Kit chuckled. “You know, I always think this place is crazy until I go up there. They have three fucking teen daughters in that clubhouse.”

“Now that’s a special version of hell I’m not really into.”

Kit placed Nya on the floor, and she was gone in seconds. Now she’d had her daddy time and was ready for a new adventure. We both took a seat at the nearest table, and the hard, pointed look he aimed across at me had me rolling my eyes. “You need to start riding up there with me again.”

“Is that a request or an order?” I challenged. The way his eyes narrowed in response quickly made me feel like absolute fucking shit though.

“Does it fucking matter?” he threw back.

“Brother—”

“No. Honestly, I get it was hard when she moved, and you stopped wanting to spend time there…”

I gritted my teeth. Even years later, there was still a sharp pain. It wasn’t as bad as before, but I didn’t know if it would ever actually leave.

“…but fuck man, I’d really like my best friend riding beside me again.”

Kit had a huge supplier of quality weed, so good that Optimus—the president in Huntsville—had asked to be introduced. The deal was that we transported the product upstate, and he gave us a small cut from his profits for us taking the risk of getting caught.

For a long time, I spent almost a weekend a month up in Huntsville, nowadays, I only made the trip a handful of times during the year, and that was only when Kit really needed me.

It wasn’t that going up there was heartbreaking or devastating.

It was just a habit I had formed to get through something hard.

Only, I was starting to think that instead of worrying that going back there would bring back old memories, it was about time I started to create new ones.

“Next time,” I told him, holding out my fist. “I’ll start riding up there with you more often.”

He bumped his fist to mine and leaned back in his seat, rolling his shoulders before looking around. “Fucking hell, it looks like Santa puked in my clubhouse.”