“How long are you going to keep reminding him of this,” I ask after chewing a piece of delicious steak. “Because Saintly’s likely to murder you if you don’t drop it, and I’m quite fond of your face.”
I know why Caz does it. Nothing insults my grumpy alpha husband more than questioning his manhood, and Caz just loves pushing his buttons.
“My face or my dick?” Caz asks, and Theo rolls his eyes.
“You have dick on the brain, dude,” Galen says. “Saintly’s right. You should get that shit checked out.”
Caz molds his mouth into an O shape. “Galen siding with his cousin. Shocker.”
“No one is taking sides; although, if you continue to poke the beast, I might need to incentivize you into toeing the line,” I add, patting Saint’s thigh.
Caz relents, like I knew he would. He throws up his hands. “No need to invoke the cockblocking strategy, babe. You know I’m only yanking Saint’s chain.” He grins at Saint. “You know I love you, man.”
Saint rolls his eyes, and Caz chuckles.
“And I’ve always got your back,” he adds with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Next time it happens, we’ll fulfil conjugal duties on your behalf.”
Saint throws a bread roll at Caz’s head, and Caz’s chest rumbles with laughter, knowing he’s won this round.
Never a dull moment, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The conversation flows freely as we eat dinner after Caz quits winding Saint up, focusing on different topics.
“I heard from Diesel today,” Theo says, and Saint, predictably, scowls.
He can pretend he still doesn’t like him, but we all know the truth. There’s a begrudging respect between them now.
“Is he still overseas?” I ask, spearing a piece of lettuce with my fork.
“Yeah. He sounds as busy as ever.”
“What’d he want?” Caz asks, pushing his empty plate away and rubbing his toned flat stomach.
“To offer me a job.” Theo beams.
“Get the fuck out.” Grinning widely, I stretch across the table to high-five my super-smart, super-sexy guy. “That’s awesome. I’m proud of you.”
“It’s only part-time, but it’s all stuff I can do remotely, and I want to contribute to the household finances.”
The only disagreement between us these past few months has been over money. Which I fucking hate, because it shouldn’t matter where the money comes from as long as we have enough. And we do. Between my generous inheritance and the sizable sum Galen got for the sale of his grandma’s house and land, we have more than enough to last us a lifetime even after purchasing this house, the garage business, and paying college tuition.
The guys donated all their savings to charity, because they didn’t want money that had come from illegal activities. They split their funds between a leading addiction support center with branches in Lowell and Prestwick and a new charity called Moonlight that provides a safe haven and support services for victims of sex trafficking.
“Plus, I can start paying you back,” Theo adds, challenging me with a look.
“Cool.” I don’t give a rat’s ass that I paid for Theo’s tuition—especially since Mom insisted on paying my tuition—or need him to pay me back, but I’ll take his money if it makes him feel better.
Initially, Theo tried reaching out to his parents, hoping they might support him financially after he landed a place at Brown, but after the media coverage of what went down with The Sainthood, they want even less to do with him now.
Fuck them. It’s their loss.
“Did Diesel mention anything to you about Christmas?” I ask Theo, and he shakes his head.
“We only talked business.”
“Work on him please.” I know it’s months away, but we’ll need months to convince him to join us, because Diesel never takes a break. “Mom and Lincoln are coming here to celebrate with us, and I’d really love him to come. I miss him.”
Saint harrumphs, and I slap his thigh in warning.
“I’ll do my best,” Theo says, cutting his steak into even pieces. “But I wouldn’t get your hopes up. He’s a total workaholic.”
I’m so proud of Diesel, and his promotion was well-deserved, but I hate that I never see him anymore because he’s so busy. He makes the effort to keep in touch by phone, but I really hope he can celebrate Christmas with us.
I’d love Bry and Howie to join us too so it’s a real family affair, but Saint vetoed that idea the second I suggested it. While he’s made an effort to bond with Bry and he’s in regular phone contact with him, he’s still on the fence about Howie. I’m hoping, in time, Saint will be able to find it in his heart to forgive him.
Howie wants to make it up to Saint, and, according to Bry, he craves a relationship with his nephew, but he’s realistic enough to know he hurt him by abandoning him as a baby and that he can’t rush him.
Bry graduated high school by the skin of his teeth, and he’s now working at a tattoo parlor in Prestwick. Emmett and Sean both got football scholarships, and they’re now happily settled in the dorms at the University of Southern California. I make a point of checking in with all three regularly, and I hope we never lose contact.
“How is the lovely Giana?” Caz asks, interrupting my thoughts.
I focus on his wolfish grin, already knowing where he’s going with this. Caz is in a playful mood tonight, and it’s a manifestation of the happy place he’s in.
“Still denying her and Lincoln have a friend with benefits thing going on?” he adds.
“The official line she’s still feeding me is they are best friends.”
“It could be the truth,” Theo says, always quick to defend.
“So pure,” Caz teases, and Theo stabs him with a dark look. Caz chuckles. “They’re bumping uglies, for sure.”
“She says she wants to help him set up his new law practice because she feels responsible for the fact he’s in a wheelchair now, and maybe that’s true, but she’s happy, and that’s all I care about.”
Mom and Lincoln moved to Arizona six months ago, because that’s where Lincoln and Diesel’s family lives. Mom is setting up the law office they bought together, as business partners. When it’s open, she will manage it while Lincoln will provide legal services to the local community. Mom sold our family home, and she’s bought a new sprawling mansion in a nice, exclusive, gated community in Arizona, which Lincoln shares with her.
“Shit, I forgot to mention this,” Galen says, setting down his silverware. “I saw a report online today. Finn Houston and his sidekick Brooklyn Robbins were arrested on drug-trafficking charges in Texas last weekend.”
“So that’s where they were hiding out,” Saint muses, finishing his food and shoving his plate away.
“I’m not surprised they were arrested. Neither of them is smart enough to sell drugs and not get caught.” I take a sip of my wine.
“Let’s hope they make it to trial,” Galen supplies.
“I doubt there are higher powers who need to silence those two idiots,” Saint says.
Silence descends as we remember how Randall Solice was found hanging in his cell just before he was due to stand trial on multiple charges.