“Yeah,” Malcolm agrees as he stares down at her.
I hate admitting that he’s even hotter holding our daughter. It’s not fair. I’m not prepared for the onset of new emotions that bombard me, pushing aside some of my anger and resentment toward him. Some, but not all, by any means.
A few minutes later, when Malcolm finally looks up at me, he asks, “Do you need anything?”
Is that a trick question? What I needed months ago was for him to not be a dick and push me away. I needed him, not his money, and I sure as hell didn’t need his insults.
“No, Malcolm, we don’t need anything from you.”
“Don’t be like that,” he says. “You may not want my help, but you need it. You needed it months ago when you told me you were having my kid, but I failed you back then. Let me try to make it up to you now. At least let me hire some guys to fix your air conditioning and make sure the house you two live in doesn’t fall down around you.”
“The house is fine.”
“Yeah, well, fine isn’t good enough for me. I would sleep easier if I knew it was safe.”
“Sleep? What’s that?” I joke. “All I get are naps, no more than two or three hours.”
“The babysitter doesn’t help?” he asks.
“Beth is there with Honey while I’m at work, but I’m her mother. It’s my responsibility to get up with her all hours of the night.”
“If I were there, I could help.”
A bark of laughter escapes me. “You wouldn’t last a night!”
“Try me,” he says, face serious.
“I’m not leaving her with you overnight!”
“I didn’t ask you to,” he replies. “I’m telling you to let me stay at your place at night.”
Of course he tells me and doesn’t ask. “That would be too much right now,” I tell him. “I need you to give me some time and take things slow.”
“I don’t know how to go slow,” Malcolm says. “But I’ll try to learn how for you.”
“Okay then,” I agree, even though I’m not entirely sure what I’m agreeing to.
All I know is that it sounds like Malcolm genuinely wants to be with me and Honey. His reassuring words are one thing, although I’m not sure I’ll buy anything he says until he backs up his words with his actions.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Malcolm
* * *
“First order of business,” I tell my brothers who have gathered around our table in the Dirty Aces chapel. “I want to thank all of you for putting up with me these last few months. I know I’ve been an asshole and that this has been a difficult time, what with two successful mergers, and the deal we have with that fat prick Harry. I didn’t make shit easier with the Naomi drama.”
“Ah, shit, prez, that’s all behind us now,” Fiasco scoffs.
“Well, maybe not as far behind as you might think,” I say as I size up everyone at the table. “I remember how everyone reacted when I told you Naomi ended up pregnant. I’ve thought a lot about it these past few months, and she and I have decided to try and give it another go, for the sake of our daughter.”
“Really?” Silas scoffs. “You need to just buckle down and pay your monthlies, like Fiasco here, and put that whole situation behind you.”
“I knew you would feel that way,” I nod to Silas. “And some of you, or hell, all of you may agree. But it’s not your decision who I’m with, and it won’t affect my ability to lead the MC. This isn’t a club matter. It’s my fucking life. Naomi won’t be working for us, and she won’t have anything to do with our business. This is just between us. You know I wasn’t right in the head for a while, and a big part of that was because she wasn’t around. I’m not going to sit at this table and talk about my feelings to you sons-of-bitches, so let’s just leave it at that. Now I know I want to be with her, and that’s how it’s going to be. I expect you to treat her like any other ol’ lady when she’s around, and to respect our relationship. Other than that, you can feel any damned way you want about it. Sound good to everyone?”
“Yeah,” Devlin says.
“Of course,” Wirth agrees.
“Do what you want,” Silas snorts. “I said my piece.”
“It’s all cool with me, too, prez,” Fiasco nods. “I am over all that drama, and don’t even want to look back. I’m thinking with my head, just like you said.”
“That’s good to hear,” Nash says with a grin. “I’m on board with this too, Malcolm. To be honest, seeing how close you two were when you were together, I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. I had something like that once a long time ago with my ol’ lady, and the truth is I still miss her.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Silas gripes. “Don’t we have anything else to discuss before one of us gets our period?”
“Hell yes, we do,” I confirm with a smile. “We’ve got three more clubs to consider for a patch over, and I want to go over our future plans for profiting off our relationship with Naomi’s fat dipshit father. I’ve had some time to get things straight in my head, brothers, and I think you’re going to like what I’ve got planned. I think you’re going to like it a lot.”
“We going to piss the fucker off?” Fiasco grunts.
“Hell, or at least make some decent money?” Devlin asks.
“There will be plenty of both things, boys. I’m talking enough money to keep everyone’s pockets nice and full. My idea is to keep building up a tight working relationship with Harry’s speed supplier and then eventually convince them to cut out the fat middleman, which means all of Harry’s profit would be ours.”
“You wanna screw him over, blindside his business after he gets comfortable?” Nash asks with a smirk.
“Let’s just say that we are gonna do him dirty.”
“Here! Here!” the guys all shout their agreement.
Epilogue
Malcolm
* * *
A few months later…
* * *
When Naomi gets back from shopping, she has to stop her car out on the main road, as the driveway leading up to her old farmhouse is full of big trucks from the contractors I called.
“What is all this?” she asks me as I open the door to her old rust-bucket for her, leaning down to steal a kiss.
“This is the crew that is going to put some shine back on this creaky, old house of yours, so the city doesn’t end up condemning it.” I grin down at her before helping her out of the car. “How is my Honey-Bear doing back there?” I ask as I lean back into the car, getting a smile and a coo from my daughter, who is gleefully trying to devour a squeaky giraffe.
“Dammit, Malcolm,” Naomi huffs. “You didn’t have to do all this, spend all this money on me and Honey. And you could have at least consulted with me about the changes before doing them!”