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Chapter Nineteen

F aith shifted because her side was painful. She cracked open an eye, looking down for what was causing her pain. She held in a chuckle when she saw the situation.

The boys had been scared last night, so she and Slice had let them crawl into bed with them. Between her, Slice, and the two boys, the king bed was a good fit as long as everyone laid the correct way.

Isaiah was lying across his brother’s stomach with his head barely out of the covers, and the pain Faith was feeling was Isaiah’s foot pushing into her side. She scooted away a little and instantly felt the relief.

Willa and Cruise had taken LB for the night so she and Slice could concentrate on Micah and Isaiah. The boys had been feeling scared with the change in routine. She and Slice had decided the best way to handle it was to say that a not-nice man had worried her and they’d decided to take a short vacation at the MC.

Slice had made it clear last night to her when he got to hold her and have her alone for a couple minutes that he would be fine making their move permanent. She didn’t know where that meant, but she was ready to take the leap. She loved the man. He loved her and the kids. She was old enough to know her own mind and not want to wait.

She’d gotten a text late last night that Hope and Benji had been moved into a suite in Locks’ house because the MC was concerned that her connection to them could place Hope in danger. Faith had refrained from any smart-aleck comments regarding Hope’s proximity to a certain hot, older man and decided she’d wait until she could tease her sister to her face.

Slice had said he wasn’t proposing exactly because he didn’t have a ring, but when he did propose, did she know what type of wedding she’d want? Her wants and needs over the years had changed.

She’d never dreamed of a poufy white dress with a long train because she’d dealt with so much bullying over her weight that she’d pushed that aside. As an introvert, the thought of everyone judging her as she walked down a long aisle was petrifying.

After being around Slice, she wanted to be married to the man. How that happened, she honestly didn’t care about as long as she was his. And her boys, she wanted to do whatever they needed to have them permanently. Remi had chatted with her last night while they were waiting on the men. Remi seemed to think that they could make that happen with the contacts they had. LB was the one they needed to figure out.

Faith lay there thinking of the people who had lived in the apartment next to hers. The man she identified last night had been there, and then, when they first moved in, Faith remembered a younger girl who was maybe twelve or thirteen. She’d only seen her twice and then never again. Faith had assumed she’d moved out, possibly because the young girl didn’t attend school.

A couple times, Faith had noticed a well-dressed woman exiting the house and leaving in a black sedan. Faith didn’t know cars well, so she had no idea what kind of sedan. With what she knew now, she would be more aware, but back then, it was just someone visiting a neighbor she didn’t know.

Remi had said they’d contacted Faith’s landlord to get information about the tenant, but the landlord had passed eight months ago, and his son was managing it. The son lived out of state and had not returned their phone calls.

Faith wished she could figure out what was going on so she could help keep LB safe, but she had more questions than answers.

A hand brushing her bangs off her face had her turning toward Slice. His gorgeous, tattooed arm was partially covered by a T-shirt. He’d worn pajama pants and a T-shirt to bed last night since the boys were sleeping with them. She was glad they’d comforted the boys, but she was aching to be with Slice again.

“You okay?” Slice asked softly.

She nodded, turning her lips to his hand and kissing the palm.

He grinned. “None of that. They’re waiting on us for breakfast and an update.”

She scrunched her forehead because how the heck did he know that?

He held up his phone with a message from War for Slice to get his lazy ass out of bed and come down to breakfast .

She nodded. “We should probably wake the boys up anyway, so we’ll be on a schedule.”

It might be a Saturday, but they’d slept in until nine-thirty a.m., and Faith didn’t want the boys fighting to stay up until midnight tonight because they weren’t sleepy.

Slice nodded and slid out of the covers, coming around the side of the bed and helping Faith up, tugging her against him. He leaned close to her mouth, and she slid her hand between them.

“My breath smells horrible. Let me brush my teeth, then I’ll kiss you,” she said.

Slice stared at her. “Is this one of those times where there’s no way I’m winning this argument? What about on those mornings I want to roll over and slide inside you? Are you saying you’ll need to get up and brush your teeth?” he asked.

“Shh, the boys will hear. I don’t know. I just know my mouth feels and tastes horrible, so I wouldn’t enjoy kissing you because I’d be worried.”

Slice shook his head and turned so she could walk past him. As she did, he smacked her on the ass. When she turned to look at him, he shrugged.

“Face it, I love your juicy butt,” he whispered.

Faith grinned back and then went in to brush her teeth. She might need to figure out a solution to bad breath because her panties were soaked at the thought of Slice waking her by sliding inside her some morning.

Slice carried Isaiah on his back down from the bedroom. Micah had run down before Isaiah was dressed to see if Grant or David had stayed the night too. They hadn’t, but the houses were all so close that Slice figured breakfast might include everyone.

He walked into the kitchen and helped Isaiah down. Faith turned and handed him a cup of coffee already doctored the way they both liked it.

“Food’s ready. Fill your plates and find a place to eat. War said he’d be here in a couple minutes,” Baron said, taking a tray of bacon from the oven and sliding it onto a hot pad on the island. Regina pulled cinnamon rolls out of the oven and then efficiently covered them in frosting.

Slice remembered his introduction to making the cinnamon rolls correctly. The first time he’d made them, he’d kneaded them too much, and they were almost little hockey pucks.

Bear and Regina had taught him how to make them correctly. Slice looked forward to mixing up a batch for his family sometime. He’d also spent time with Regina in the orchard learning how to make applesauce, apple butter, and cooking pumpkins for Sarah’s bread. The time had helped him heal some.

He believed that it wasn’t only a woman’s place in the kitchen, and it would take both him and Faith to keep their household running with three kids, and if they added more, they’d need to work together.

War came in and grabbed a cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee.

“Go ahead and eat. After everyone’s done, Mom said she’d keep the kids here, and we’ll head to the clubhouse for an update.”

Slice was nervous, wondering what, if anything, they’d found out. He needed to figure out how to ask Faith to marry him and be his Ol’ Lady in a way she’d appreciate and how to get all the boys as their kids.

He was concerned that the young girl Faith had mentioned might actually be LB’s mom. He didn’t know why his instincts were leaning that way, but his stomach was churning with worry. Faith finished her food and grabbed his plate and hers to put in the dishwasher.

Regina had herded the kids upstairs, and he could hear them running and playing. War said something but it was on his bad side, so he turned to War and asked him what.

“Sorry, Slice, I’m low on sleep, or I would have got your attention before I spoke. Let’s all head down to the basement. I really don’t want any of the kids to hear what we know and what we’re currently guessing.”

Slice slid his arm around Faith as they headed toward the basement stairs. The worry on her face was killing him, though he was positive he looked the same. They all found spots on the furniture in Regina and Baron’s basement. After their kids were older, Baron had made it more into a man cave with a big screen TV that took up the whole wall and two levels of recliners facing it. There were also lots of seats around the room.

“Bear is going to start off with what we know. Beth will add what she guessed from the way the woman answered her questions. Bear, you have the floor.”

Bear stood and walked in front of everyone. “Let’s start with, this is fucked up, but thanks to Santa’s Slay MC deliveries and Slice hearing what he thought was an animal, we inadvertently foiled what I think was human trafficking. The brother,” Bear used air quotes and continued, “said his sister got pregnant and didn’t want the baby. He arranged for a friend to adopt the baby. I don’t believe him, but we couldn’t break that story. Regardless, she didn’t sign anything, and even though he kept saying she was seventeen, his voice was off. Until we find the sister, we won’t know. Scoop put his prints in the system and was running them when I came over here. For now, he’s a guest of the brotherhood until we decide what to do with him. I’ll just say I don’t think he should be let go. If we don’t want to keep him here, I suggest we ask Ariel’s new relatives to see if they have any suggestions.”

Ariel’s husband was President of the Saint’s Outlaws MC. Slice wondered if Bear meant having SOMC do something to him or if he was thinking since a lot of Pit’s members had jobs as first responders, if they would have a legal way to deal with him.

Beth stood up and took over from Bear. “All the way to the rehab facility, we questioned the female who impersonated a DCFS worker. Neither Dex nor I believe that she had anything to do with what happened prior to Christmas Eve. She did say that he’d approached her at a bar in Oklahoma City and had a great story. Even though he’s a horrible human being, he is attractive, so I think she fell for him. She did say he mentioned whoever was supposedly adopting LB was in Texas. He told her after they got LB, he would pay her an extra five hundred to ride with him to Texas. I’m not sure he would have paid her. He could have been planning to tie up loose ends in Texas, and she would have never been seen again.”

Beth sat down, and War stood up. “Faith, you’re an adult, but I hope you’ll consider you and the boys moving onto the compound until we figure this out.”

“Faith and I want to be together, but I need to get a ring to do a proper proposal, and then I think we’ll need to see what’s available on the property.”

Yells and congratulations echoed around the room.

“Okay, Slice, I realize you just bought a nice SUV, but Jesse hasn’t had time to do any upgrades. How about Faith drives a bail bonds SUV for now? Unless you’d rather we had a detail on her taking her to and from school,” Remi suggested.

Slice looked at Faith to see what she was thinking. She’d been thrown into this, and he wasn’t sure how she’d deal with everything.

“I’m fine driving one of the bail bonds SUVs if you think it’s needed, but I’m also fine having escorts if it’s warranted. I don’t want anyone to try to use Micah and Isaiah to get us to give up LB,” Faith said. “I may not work for the bail bonds and am normally not a tough girl, but they’ve incited my mama bear tendencies. I want a taser and maybe a gun because no one is going to take my babies,” Faith growled as she stood up and looked around the room.

Remi grinned. “Oh, she’ll fit right in.”

Chuckles and smiles had Slice relaxing a little. His family wasn’t out of the woods, but Faith was on board with the plan, which made everything easier.