CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Danielle

“We’re still new. Tiffany’s a bitch, but she’s a smart bitch. She had a fifty-fifty shot of freaking you out enough to mess with your head. I don’t think she was ready for the consequences though.”

I glanced up at him. “Thank you for giving her back her clothes.”

“Baby, there are kids downstairs.”

I leaned back with a frown. “So, if it was adults only, you wouldn’t have given them back?”

He smiled. “I’m pleading the fifth on that one.”

“Probably a good choice.” I buried my face back in his chest and let him hold me.

“So you fucked Tiff,” Annie murmured.

“Don’t start,” Austin said.

“That’s scrapin’ the very bottom of the barrel big brother. What the hell?”

“I was drunk and horny. She was there and willin’.” My body locked and Austin gave me a gentle squeeze. “But we don’t need to go there.”

“Ignore her, Dani,” Annie said. “She’s a total skank who seriously has fucked pretty much everyone in the club, other than a couple of the recruits.”

“But that’s kind of sad,” I said.

“How so?”

“Because when a woman feels insecure enough to sleep around, especially that much, she has bigger issues… like her dad didn’t love her enough maybe. I think that’s sad.”

“Holy shit, Booker,” Annie said. “How the hell did you manage to convince this woman to give you a chance? She’s obviously too good for you.”

“I’m hoping she won’t figure that out until after I marry her.” He kissed the top of my head. Austin loosened his arms and pulled me to the chair opposite Annie’s. He sat down and guided me onto his lap, wrapping an arm tightly around my waist. Because he was so much taller than me and the chair was huge, I was able to settle myself on his chest quite comfortably.

“What’s going on with Bullet?” he asked.

“Maybe you should talk about this in private,” I said.

Annie waved her hand dismissively. “Honey, if you’ve got my brother talking marriage, you’re already family.”

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” I said.

“Classic Booker,” Annie said with a giggle. “Romance is not his forte.”

I bit my lip which made Austin chuckle. “She knows.”

“He’s romantic in his own way,” I said.

“Seriously,” Annie said. “Saint.”

“Yeah, she is.” Austin kissed me quickly.

“Stop,” I whispered, but I had to admit I was feeling better than before.

“What’s going on with Bullet?” Austin asked his sister.

Annie grinned. “Nothing he won’t learn from.”

“So it’s like that,” Austin murmured.

“He just needs to miss me a little I think.” Annie cocked her head. “Something you’ll need to learn, Dani, is when these men get out of line, or start to take you for granted, you need to dish out some lady justice. Keep ’em on a tight leash.”

“Shut the hell up, Annie,” Austin said with mock irritation.

I giggled. “If I run into issues with this one, I’ll call you.”

“You will not,” Austin said. “You will never have her phone number.”

“We’ll see,” Annie said. “Let’s get downstairs. I’m ready to get my drink on.”

“You’re comin’ home with us tonight, right?” Austin asked.

“If you don’t mind.”

“We don’t mind,” I said, quickly and climbed off Austin’s lap.

Annie and Austin stood, and Austin grabbed my hand. “We’ll meet you down there, Annie.” She nodded and left the room and Austin pulled me into his arms. “You okay?”

I looped my hands around his neck and smiled. “I will be. I’m sorry I thought the worst.”

“I promise, I’ll never cheat, baby. If I fuck up so badly you stop loving me and giving me you, then we’ll break up, but I won’t ever cheat.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too, babe.” He leaned down and kissed me, and it quickly turned heated. Austin laid me down on the bed and, as was his go-to, he slipped his hand under my shirt and pulled down the cup of my bra. His fingers rolled my nipple and I whimpered as I deepened the kiss. I felt a buzzing from his pocket and he broke the kiss with a curse. Rolling onto his back, he answered his phone. “What? Yeah. Okay.” He hung up.

I sat up and fixed my bra and shirt.

“Sorry, baby. We’ll resume this later,” he said and slid off the mattress, pulling me with him.

“Everything okay?”

Austin nodded. “Bullet’s here.”

“Oh,” I said. “Drama?”

He chuckled. “One thing you’ll learn about Annie, there’s always drama. Come on, let’s go have some fun.”

I checked my appearance in the mirror and then followed him downstairs. A tiny body collided with my legs from behind and I glanced down to see Lily hugging me.

“Dani, Dani, Dani.”

I hunkered down beside her and grinned. “Well, hello pretty girl. How are you?”

Lily jumped up and down. “Daddy said I could stay up and have a cupcake.”

“Oh, my goodness! That’s so exciting. May I join you for the cupcake?”

She nodded.

“But you have to eat your dinner first, right?”

She nodded again, but her little nose went up in a wrinkle.

I giggled. “Good girl.”

I stood again and she slipped her hand in mine as we continued into the great room. We walked in to find a standoff of sorts with Austin, Hawk, Mack, and a tall blond man who was having it out with Annie, however, I didn’t miss his devotion to her. He stayed connected to her, kept himself between her and the other men, and they may have been arguing, but I could see a spark of mischief in her expression, which made me think she was very happy to see her man.

“Daddy!” Lily called.

Hawk turned toward me, gave me a look of pleading, and then turned back to the group. I scooped Lily up in my arms and smiled. “Let’s go find those cupcakes, huh?”

We walked into the kitchen where Susie met us and waved me to a door at the back of the room. I carried Lily through and saw that a few of the ladies and older kids were playing with the little ones in a well-equipped playroom. I set Lily down and she went straight for the kitchen set. With my shadow occupied, I left the playroom and headed back to the great room.

I noticed Austin’s body was stiff, his expression one of rage, and I wondered what had happened between the time I dropped Lily off in the playroom and now. He and Hawk were in the middle of a stare down and Annie had her hands on each of their arms. Bullet stood close to the threesome, but gave his woman a little space.

“You are a fuckin’ piece of shit,” Austin hissed.

“I learned from the best,” Hawk retorted.

Hatch watched them closely but didn’t step in…yet.

“What the hell is your problem, Booker?” Annie demanded.

Austin turned his head slowly. “Why are you so eager to forgive him?”

“For what?” she demanded.

“For nearly killing you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“The doctor!” Austin spat out.

“The abortion?”

“Well, yeah.”

“You think Hawk forced me to do it?”

“He fuckin’ knocked you up, so yeah!”

“What?” Hawk snapped.

Annie removed her hands and burst out laughing.

“What the fuck, Annie?” Austin demanded.

“Booker. Hawk didn’t get me pregnant. Marvin Adams did.”

“The center for the Trojans?”

Annie nodded. “Yeah. He was worried about a possible basketball scholarship to Oregon State, so he gave me the money and it went bad. Hawk just happened to be home when I started to hemorrhage. Honey, he took care of me. He’s the reason I didn’t bleed to death.”

Austin glanced at Hawk. Both their bodies were considerably more relaxed.

“This is where all this hostility shit’s been coming from?” Hawk asked.

Austin rubbed his forehead. “And the fact you didn’t testify against your father… yeah.”

“He didn’t testify because he didn’t need to,” Hatch said.

“Meaning?” Austin asked.

Hawk sighed. “I signed an affidavit attached to a detailed account of everything I knew about in terms of what Annie told me, along with what I’d observed. You found the proof, so the attorneys figured pitting me against the bastard might do more harm than good. You know I have nothing to do with him. He’s fuckin’ dead to me.”

“Fuck,” Austin rasped.

This was when I moved. I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his waist. Austin settled his hand at the back of my neck, thumbing my pulse.

“Brother, I’m sorry,” Austin said to Hawk.

“You’re a fuckin’ moron,” Hawk said, and then laughed. “Fuck me, if I’d known this was what got your panties in a wad, I’d have told you years ago.”