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Chapter Fourteen

Jolie

“Why do we need to go shopping?” Blayne complains for the tenth time since we climbed in the car. Sinclair managed to convince the guys I needed new bras and so a shopping trip was in order. Blayne, Sinclair, and I are riding together with Trace and Colt in the front seat. Summer is meeting us there with Leland this time, as Khale is still pissed at me over Creed.

I even extended an invitation to Jimmie and Betty. The girls are not happy about it, but since our children will grow up together, we need to get used to it. The only way we can figure out if she can be trusted is by spending time with her. Davis watched the tapes of our conversation, and he couldn’t see anything to indicate that she was lying.

“Because we need the proper support, and squishing your breasts into those tiny sports bras every day isn’t wise for milk production.”

Blayne’s eyes bug out of her head, and Sinclair laughs. “I’m not feeding this thing on my breast. You can do it.”

“Me? I will have my own baby to feed.”

“People breastfeed twins all the time—Jolie will have to do it.”

They both turn to look at me. My eyes widen and I open my mouth to say something and then close it again. “I mean... I guess. To be honest, I hadn’t thought much beyond Trace sucking on my nipples last night.”

Trace coughs from the front seat, and Colt hyena laughs at him. “How big are her nipples now, man? Sinclair’s are massive.”

Trace reaches out and whacks Colt. “We are not talking about their nipples,” he retorts.

Thankfully, Sinclair changes the subject and asks if we have started to buy baby things yet. I tell her I haven’t, but that we are planning a trip with Annabella and Grandma Betty very soon.

We pull into the shopping centre car park. I’m surprised we could even come here since the guys usually insist on high-end stores, ones with appointments and good security, but Sinclair insisted since her cousin works in a bra store, she wants to go there. Honestly, I don’t care either way. I wouldn’t even be here today if it wasn’t for her pushing the matter.

We find a parking space next to Summer, and my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, hoping Jimmie somehow convinced Betty to come along.

Jimmie

We just pulled in.

Me

Same, we are on the second level.

Jimmie

Meet you on the first floor.

“Jimmie is here with Betty, so everybody better be on their best behaviour.”

“I’m always on my best behaviour,” Colt says, saluting me. I roll my eyes at him—It looks like he has had at least one cup of sugar already this morning.

Trace moves in beside me and interlocks our fingers, pulling my hand to his mouth and placing a kiss on it. “I will check out the store and then I will keep him outside so you girls can shop in peace.”

“You don’t want to help me try on bras?”

Trace swallows hard. “How about I promise to take yours off later? Will that be a better incentive?”

“I don’t know... I still think I could be flexible enough to have changeroom sex.”

He looks mortified I would even suggest that. Oh, my sweet Trace—all those years refraining from sex, he really needs to catch up. Everyone needs to have public sex at least once.

He leans down next to my ear, his voice low. “When I fuck you, Star, there will be no one else around to hear you scream my name.”

Well, okay then. Maybe I was wrong about him.

When we reach the first floor, Jimmie and Betty are waiting for us. Betty clutches Jimmie’s hand like it’s her lifeline and I can’t really blame her. Sinclair might be friendly, but Blayne and Summer can be standoffish, even more so given the situation. I give her a small wave, and she smiles, her shoulders relaxing just a little. They actually look really cute together, and from the smile on Jimmie’s face, I think he has some explaining to do.

I let go of Trace’s hand and march right up to Jimmie with Trace hot on my heels. “Um, I need to pee really quick, and Jimmie is going to come with me. Trace watch Betty, please.”

Her eyes go wide, but she doesn’t say anything. Jimmie gives her a reassuring smile while I grab his hand and pull him to the women’s toilets. He follows me in, and a woman gives him a foul look as she exits. I check every stall and turn back to face him, raising a brow.

“What?” he asks.

“Don’t what me, James. Is there anything you want to tell me? There is something a little different about you today.”

The smile on his face is so wide it reaches his damn ears. “We did it and it wasn’t gross.”

“Ohhh, Jimmie got his dick wet,” Blayne says, doing a ridiculous dance as she enters the room, followed by Sinclair, Summer, and Betty. Poor Betty looks mortified, her face so red it could give Sinclair’s a run for her money.

Jimmie looks at Betty, who reassures him. “It’s fine. They are your friends.”

“Khoda was there too,” he says, also blushing. “It turns out he was also afraid because the other guys are so damn...”

“Alpha?” Betty offers.

“Exactly, but the guys sat us down and told us they knew Khoda was bi, and they knew I wasn’t sure what I was. But they didn’t care. It’s the first time we have ever sat down as a group and actually talked about shit, and I kind of have Chester to thank for that.”

“Chester?” I question.

“Yeah. When they were locked up, he went to rough them up for beating on me, since that made you sad. He also told them to pull their heads out of their asses and realise what an asset I am to their team. That if they didn’t try, he would see to it that Betty and I were removed from their team and they would be indefinitely suspended. Well, that’s all they would willingly tell us, anyway. Brennan is also forcing us to attend weekly group therapy sessions, much to their disgust.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Blayne says dismissively, waving her hand. “We want to get to the sex parts.”

“You will be happy to know I’m not a virgin anymore, and I one hundred percent like both genders.”

“Yay,” Sinclair says with a clap. “Now that we have invaded their privacy, can we please go and get new bras? My nipples are sensitive, and I need them ASAP.”

“Me too,” Summer says, cupping her breasts. “And are anyone else’s nipples like a million shades darker than their skin?”

“Yes,” Betty adds, “and massive, like they will be bigger than the baby’s head if they keep growing.”

Summer does something unexpected—she links arms with Betty—and as she looks back at me, I mouth, Thank you . We all walk out of the toilets, and the guys are standing there, watching the surroundings. Safety first and all that.

“Oh, thank god,” Colt says. “We were deciding if we should go in or not, but Jimmie was in there and we figured he is trained just like us.”

“Blayne would have been more qualified to kick ass over me,” Jimmie jokes. “Her muscles put mine to shame.”

Blayne flexes and shows everyone her biceps, which starts her and Colt in a flexing competition as we all walk towards the clothes shops.

“All right, girls, wait here with Jimmie,” Trace says once we enter the store. “Colt, you check the changing rooms. You have the app Marlow developed that will alert you to any bugs. Leland, you take that side of the store, and I will do the registers.”

“Isn’t this overkill?” Sinclair complains once the guys leave to sweep the store.

“Possibly, but since I was kidnapped by my own father and now my uncle is acting sketch as fuck, plus my mother isn’t messaging me back as often as she was, we are not taking any chances. Especially since these babies’ lives would be at risk.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I totally understand. Can we blame baby brain? I have been reading up on it, and it explains why I keep putting the milk in the pantry.”

Finally, the guys come back and let us know the store is clear. Sinclair introduces us to her cousin, and she shows us their maternity range.

“Holy shit, who would have thought maternity boulder holders could be so sexy?” Colt yells from across the store, holding up a bra and waving it at us.

Trace manages to get Colt to wait with him and the others near the door while we shop, and we are immensely grateful after that comment. Sinclair’s cousin takes us into the changerooms and measures us for our new bras. She also brings us a huge selection to try on.

I manage to pick seven new ones. Although it’s unrealistic that I will wear all of them before I need new ones because let’s face it, no one changes bras every day. I remove mine as soon as I get home and fling it into the corner of my room, and when I roll out of bed, it usually goes back on again. Is it gross? Probably. But seriously, those who wear them daily get it, and those who don’t usually have a penis, and they don’t get an opinion on the matter. So out of the seven I chose, five have matching undies, so I can try to feel sexy.

Blayne flings the curtain open, stepping out in her workout leggings and a maternity bra, her small bump looking so damn cute. “Seriously, I have been introduced to the magic sorcery of maternity bras. Look, easy access,” she says, unclipping the top of the bra and flopping her boob out. “It’s magic, babe, look!”

Sinclair walks back over, having already picked out what she needs. Her eyes go wide, and she storms in and rips the bra back up. She looks over at me, and I shrug.

“It’s not my fault your girlfriend flashed me.”

Summer and Betty come back in, both laughing and holding bags with their purchases. “Look how cute these are,” Summer says, reaching for Betty’s bag and pulling out some lingerie. “Someone is getting lucky tonight.”

“Finally! I have only been waiting forever for Jimmie to love me. If that means I have to accept Khoda into what we have, I will.”

“So you’re not getting down with him?” Blayne asks, and Betty shakes her head.

“It confuses me that all teams don’t take a leaf from my book or Jolie’s and all be together. It makes more sense,” Summer adds, and Blayne turns around and removes the bra and puts her sports bra back on.

“Maybe because my team is full of dicks and they do nothing for me,” Blayne says, adding in her opinion.

“Yes, but how many of yours are screwing Sinclair? That still counts, you know, “Summer says. “I feel like this is a good reason going forward that all teams should be genetically modified like you, Jolie. Think about it, our teams may have been willingly placed here by our parents, but it can all get messy, like Jimmie and Betty and the rest of their team. Mr Z thought it made teams stronger having a girl involved, but really was it all just some test to prove his super teams were all around just better? He made an army before he left, and somehow you need to figure out which babies are in what teams.”

Shit, I haven’t even stopped to think beyond my own babies. Has Brennan thought about this? Has all that information been decided? “Good point. I honestly didn’t even think about it. Brennan has taken charge. A lot of the information Mr Z left was cryptic, and there is one locked file that Marlow has been trying to crack, like it’s one last test the psycho left for him. It has been driving him crazy.”

“Maybe Jimmie could help. I know he isn’t on the same level as Marlow, but he is really good, and he might be able to offer a fresh set of eyes,” Betty adds.

I nod at her. I will force Marlow to let Jimmie take a look.

“Alright, girls,” Trace says, popping his head in. “Colt is bouncing around like a crackhead on payday, and I’m afraid I can’t hold him off for much longer. He is currently out there asking about bras for men.”

Sinclair says she’s on it and leaves, with Summer and Blayne both following her. Just as I turn to follow Trace out, Betty grabs my arm.

“Thank you for today,” Betty says, sincerity lacing her tone.

“It’s no trouble at all. We will be spending a lot of time together with our children, which will be good to help process everything. We all understand you were not given many options. I appreciate that you took the time to think about the father situation with the babies. My daughter is going to be a very lucky girl.”

Betty’s eyes water and a small smile reaches her lips.

“Oh no, don’t cry. I’m not good with that.”

Betty laughs. “Let’s go before Colt causes too much mischief.”

We all head back out to the cars. Jimmie is dropping Betty off and meeting us back at the house. Summer and Leland offered to take Sinclair, Blayne, and Colt back home, since they are still living together and all heading home. Which reminds me that I have something else on my to-do list. Now that they are no longer in high school, they need to find their own houses. It’s one of the reasons we are building student housing on campus. Though so long as they want to live together, they can stay.

By the time we get back to the house, half of the guys are not home. I’m sure Brennan is at the office again, even though I have told him he needs to take some time off.

We find Case, Kai, and Boston playing video games when we walk in.

“We’re back,” I say, throwing the bag of bras onto the couch, and Kai picks it up and rummages through it. “Is Marlow home?”

“He’s in his room,” Case says, as he shoots at some zombies on the screen.

“Why?” Boston asks, eyeing me off.

“Because he has been working on that code day in and day out. Jimmie might be able to offer some help.”

Boston pffts at me. “If Marlow can’t do it, no one can.”

“Okay, smartass, why didn’t we think of that? Oh wait... we did. But sometimes bouncing ideas around can help.”

Boston just smirks at me—the asshole was riling me up. I flip him off and head back to Marlow’s room. He is sitting at his desk, his elbows resting on top of the surface and his hands holding his hair back that has been let out of its usual man bun. His head snaps to me when he hears me enter.

“This thing is driving me crazy,” he huffs out. “I look over it and I know the answer is staring right back at me.”

“I know. That’s why I have Jimmie coming over to help.”

He swivels in his chair and pulls me between his legs. “As much as I appreciate that, I don’t know what help he will be.”

“But it can’t hurt to have fresh eyes take a look or even offer suggestions. The worst that could happen is he suggests everything you have already tried.”

“I hope so because it just doesn’t make sense. It only gives me fragments of information.” He lifts my shirt and leans in, placing a kiss on my stomach.

A knock at the door ends the moment.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Jimmie says. “Boston sent me back here, and honestly, he scares the piss out of me more than Chester does. At least with Chester, I know what I’m in for.”

“Come in,” I offer with a chuckle. “I don’t blame you.”

“Pull up a seat,” Marlow says, nodding his head to the chair in the corner of the room. Jimmie walks over and picks it up and makes his way to our side. I sit on Marlow’s lap, and he wraps a hand around what’s left of my waist. Marlow explains to him what is going on and Jimmie nods his head in understanding, but I feel like it’s an alien language.

“Is there no back door in?” Jimmie asks, and I snort.

“That’s what she said.”

“Jolie, I expect better of you,” Jimmie jokes.

“You need to lower your standards of me ASAP.”

“Anyway,”Marlow says stroking his thumb against my skin. “I thought that, but every way I try it all looks like this.”

He points to the screen and I’m still lost.

Jimmie scans over all the lines of text and cracks his knuckles. “Okay, so we go back to basics. You said this was made for you, so this has to be something he knows that you, and only you, can crack. Think back to anything you were taught or anyone he made you meet.”

“Okay, guys, I might leave you to it. I hope you figure it out,” I say as I slide off Marlow’s lap.

“Love you,” Marlow says, and I lean down and place a soft kiss on his lips.

“I’m going to go kick some zombie ass,” I quip as I make my way to the door.

“Bye,” Jimmie says, not looking at me, his head still riveted to the computer.

I hope they can figure it out because whatever is in that folder will hopefully be the key to knowing more about what Mr Z was up to.