Page 103 of The Deals We Make

Switch and I pull up the rear, but you can hear the laughter and whooping all the way down the corridors. Staff look in disbelief as a metric ton of leather-clad bikers cheerfully rush through.

The hospital learns fast what it means when a next-generation Iron Outlaws baby is born. Because their mildattempts to restrict us to only four guests are completely ignored. As is the stronger request by hospital security.

But King makes a promise to them all. That he, as president, will make sure we stay in line.

Niro pulls out his phone. “I’m prepared.”

“For what?” Halo says, tugging Ari onto his lap and kissing her soundly.

“This could be up to forty-eight hours long, right?” he says.

“If she’s lucky, it will be a lot less,” Vi says, then looks at Briar. “Did they say how dilated she is?”

“She’s been in labor a while. Seven and a half centimeters, they said,” Briar replies.

“That’s a really tiny fucking baby,” Clutch says, using his finger and thumb to decide how big it is.

Gwen laughs. “It’s not the size of the baby, it’s how big her…opening… is right now in readiness for the baby to come out.”

Clutch’s expression morphs into one of horror. “Your pussy opens up to the size of a small black hole when you give birth?”

“Ten centimeters before you can push,” Vi says.

Clutch uses his fingers again to gesture ten centimeters, then looks at Gwen. “Jesus Christ, babe. No wonder you don’t want kids yet. Can’t say I want to see that. I need to worship that pussy of mine some more before you give birth to my kid.”

Gwen slaps Clutch’s chest with the back of her hand. “If I have to physically do it, you need to witness it. And yes, to the worship.”

Bates sits on the floor, his back against a wall, Vi between his legs, resting back against him. His hands rub lazily over her bump. “I can’t fucking wait to experience it.”

“You weren’t there when Avery was born?” Calista asks.

Bates shakes his head. “No. But I’ll be there for this one and won’t love them any more or less than I do Avery.”

I take Calista’s hand and tug her close enough to whisper in her ear. “They weren’t together when she gave birth. Only found each other again last year.”

“Shit,” she whispers. She turns to Bates and Vi. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Bates turns Vi’s face so he can kiss her. “It’s all good. I don’t blame Vi.”

Vi returns his kiss. “If you miss this one, it might be another story, though.”

“Anyway, back to my baby planning,” Niro says. “I got a pool. Well, I have two. The first is, I’m gonna set a timer, once we’ve all decided our bets, on how long it’s gonna take for the baby to arrive. The second one’s the weight. The winner is the one closest. And then, the final game is guessing the name. Each bet is fifty bucks. Half the money goes to the winner of each bet, and half goes to the little one.”

Clutch is the first to unroll cash. “I’ll take seven hours and seventeen minutes.”

“Given you weren’t aware how they came out of a ten-centimeter pussy, can’t wait to see how much you think they weigh when they arrive,” Switch says.

“I’ll be honest, I’m a little bit terrified by that new bit of information,” Sophia says.

“Best leave looking up details until there’s one in there,” Switch says. “What goes in must come out, right?”

Sophia laughs. “Says the guy whose contribution will be a solid ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes?” King asks.

“She’s being reductive for the point of humor,” Switch says.

“Sure, Jan,” Saint says.