“You’re just in time, I’m about to take the lasagna out of the oven,” she says, giving me a kiss on the cheek. Breaking away from me, she turns to Blackie and greets him the same way. “Jack’s been waiting for you.”
“I bet,” Blackie mutters.
“Come in,” Reina continues. “Close the door behind you, Blackie.” She turns her attention back to me. “Bas brought a woman, says it’s his sister-in-law or something along those lines, but they can’t keep their eyes off one another, and she’s got a little boy. He’s getting along so well with Danny. Everyone’s in the living room,” she adds before strutting towards the kitchen.
Keeping my back towards Blackie, I shrug off my jacket as he closes the door. I’m about to make my way into the living room when I feel his arm snake around my waist. Pulling me towards him, his lips find my ear.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs.
Relief washes over me and I slink against him, relishing in the feel of him. I hate when we fight. I fucking hate it more than anything.
“I’m sorry too,” I whisper, turning my head. Our eyes lock and he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Still love me?”
If that’s not the most absurd question.
Love might not have been enough for my mother, but it’s everything to me. As long as I’m breathing, I’m going to love this man and with love, I believe you can conquer anything.
“Like I can ever stop,” I reply, leaning in to kiss him.
“Didn’t you two get enough of that shit,” my father growls.
“Cockblock,” Blackie hisses.
Laughing, I break the kiss and turn to face my father.
“Hi, Dad,” I say. Taking him in, I breathe another sigh of relief. Gone is the frail man, tormented by his mind. In front of me stands the badass I grew up admiring. Dressed in faded jeans, a black Henley and his worn leather vest, he’s Jack Parrish, president of the Satan’s Knights and nothing can touch him. Nothing can break him.
The mask fades and a genuine smile spreads across my face. Tears also fill my eyes, but I somehow manage to keep those at bay. Without thinking too much into it, I throw my arms around him and hug him tightly.
I don’t want to lose my husband to his disease, and I don’t want to lose my father to his.
These two men, they’re my whole heart and I don’t think I’d survive without one of them.
“Whoa,” my father says, wrapping an arm around my waist. “What do I owe this greeting to?”
“I’m feeling generous,” I reply, breathing in the scent of his musky cologne. He’s worn the same scent since I was a kid. Then, it was mixed with the stale smell of cigarettes, but he’s kicked that habit after my brother, Danny, was born.
“At least one of us is,” Blackie says from behind me. “I’m blocking your number from my phone.”
“I’ll just show up on your doorstep, motherfucker.”
“Yeah? You remember what happened the last time you did that?” Blackie taunts as I pull out of my father’s embrace. He glares at my husband until I lift my hand to his cheek and turn his attention back to me.
“Let’s forget about that, yeah?”
The lines in his forehead pinch together as he narrows his eyes and studies me intently.
“You look different,” he observes. Biting the inside of his cheek, his gaze flits to Blackie. “She looks different,” he repeats.
Turning to my husband, I raise an eyebrow as his eyes rake over me.
“She looks the same to me,” he says finally. A look passes between us and I know he’s biting his tongue, thinking about this morning. The blush that swept across my body and the hickeys on the inside of my thighs.
“There’s something different about her,” my father insists. “She’s fucking glowing.”
Diverting his eyes behind me, Blackie shrugs his shoulders.
“I’ve got that effect on her,” he retorts.
“If there weren’t kids around, I’d fucking break your face.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” I say. “You’d be just as lost without him as I’d be.”
“We should change the mantra around here to property of Blackie,” my husband quips. The thing about Blackie, he knows when to poke the beast and he knows when to retreat and after that, he makes his way into the living room.
My father and I follow him, and we’re introduced to Bas’s sister-in-law, Mac, and her son, Ryder. Only she’s not really his sister-in-law and after Layla, Pipe’s wife, refills Mac’s glass of sangria, we get the whole scoop. Apparently, she and Bas were in a relationship many years ago. He went to prison and while he was inside, she unwillingly got mixed up with his brother. While the little boy is Bas’s nephew, his brother never really played a role in the kid's life and if you ask me, Mac still holds the candle for Bas.
We do our best to welcome her into the fold and by the time the dishes are cleared from the table, it’s as though we’ve known her as long as Bas has. My father even adopted a new nephew when Ryder began calling him Uncle Jack. It was very cute and even more proof that when you’re brought into our family and welcomed at our table, you become property of Parrish. It doesn’t matter where you came from, all that matters is you’re where you belong now, and that’s a forever kind of thing.
It’s something we’ll all carry with us.
Whether we’re blood or bound by brotherhood, it’s something we’ll pass down from generation to generation.
Before Reina has a chance to bring out the dessert, my father rounds up his men and announces it’s time for them to roll out. Everyone with a leather vest jumps at his command and after they kiss their significant others goodbye, they’re following my father out the door. It’s a sight I’ve seen my whole life and still, it brings goosebumps to my skin.
It’s knowing these men respect and honor my father enough to follow him to the ends of the world. That they’ll treat my husband in the same regard. That’s a powerful gesture and whether I like it or not, I can’t turn a blind eye to their loyalty.
“Hey, come with me,” Blackie says, pulling me away from my thoughts. I take his offered hand and excuse myself from the table. He leads me into the kitchen and before the door can close behind me, he releases my hand and lifts them both to my cheeks. His lips come crashing against mine and he kisses me with promise.
A promise to return.
A promise to love.
A promise to keep us moving through this crazy ride we call life.
Pulling away, he keeps his hands on my face and searches my eyes.
“We good, Lace?”
I know the minute the question leaves his lips, he waits for my mask. However, the smile I give him isn’t forced, it’s not manufactured to disguise my emotions. It’s genuine and full of love. Like I said, I believe in love. I believe with love, you can conquer all.
You can defeat your demons.
You can beat the odds.
You can do anything when you do it with love.
“We’re good,” I assure him, reaching on my tip toes to kiss him once more.
“Oh, for fucks sake,” my father sneers from behind me. “Enough is enough.”