“Would you stop doing that! Put me down,” Carter yelps.
Rav takes one look at my thoroughly unamused expression and sets Carter on his feet. “Hey, I gotta ask you something.”
Carter turns his wary eyes on Rav. “What?”
“How are you with the sea creatures?”
Carter’s face scrunches into a thoughtful squint. “Be more specific.”
Rav spreads his hands out wide. “I want you to paint a giant sea witch on the fuel tank of my bike, so it looks like I’m riding Ursula.” He throws in a few hip thrusts in case we can’t grasp what he means by “ride.”
Charlotte buries her face against my chest and laughs.
“Uh, okay.” Carter slides his gaze my way as if he’s worried he’s being punked. “Are you allowed to do that?”
“Yeah. Rock said I could ask you if you had time to do it.”
“No. I mean, a sea witch isn’t very Lost King-y.” Carter wiggles his hands in the air around his head. “Aren’t you supposed to stick to crowns and skulls and stuff?”
I duck my head and laugh.
Rav clasps Carter’s shoulder. “You raise an excellent point, young lad. But you forget one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I do whatever the fuck I want.”
“And suffer the consequences,” I add.
“Exactly.” Rav points to me. “A man takes his punishment like a man.”
“You’re a fucking expert at that.” Wrath slaps Rav on the back, sending him forward a few feet.
“Can I get a sea witch painted on my bike?” Rav asks Wrath with an absolutely straight face.
“Why? You miss your mom?”
Charlotte and I both turn away, laughing even harder.
“Not cool, bro.” Rav grins. “But now that you mention it…”
Charlotte
Laughter really is the best medicine. I could kiss my brother for making Marcel smile.
“So, Carter, when are you going to tattoo your own sister?” I tap his arm and run my finger over his colorful sleeve of inked skin. “You’ve done work for Rock, Heidi, Grinder, Lilly—I’m getting jealous.”
He narrows his gaze. “What exactly are you looking for?”
I peer up at Marcel and he winks at me.
“Nope. All the nopes that ever noped in Nopeland.” Carter backs away from us, shaking his head vigorously in case all the nopes didn’t make his answer clear enough.
“But you’ve gotten so good,” I insist.
“I’m not branding you with your boyfriend’s MC symbol, ‘property of’ or anything else. Hell to the no.” He shoots a glare at Marcel, who chuckles.
“My husband,” I correct.
“Not yet,” Carter mutters. “Ask me to tattoo anything else on you, Char. Anything but that.”
“Char, it’s fine.” Marcel finally joins the conversation. “I’ll ask Bronze if he’ll do it.”
“Just make sure it’s on my day off,” Carter says.
While Ravage and Wrath follow Carter to his loft, I look up at Marcel. “You still want to go, right?”
“Do you?”
I’m not sure how to answer. Every time we’ve been there lately, it’s felt like an emotional crotch-punch. Either someone’s announcing they’re pregnant, talking about being pregnant, or joking about doubling-up on their birth control. If it’s not that, it’s tension between Rock and Marcel thick enough to slice with an ax.
“Charlotte?” He seems to sense my inner conflict. “I’ll do it. Soon. This week. I’ll tell them.”
This time he sounds determined and has actually given it a time frame. “I thought you wanted to go get tested again?”
He bites the inside of his cheek and flicks his gaze away. “Come on. We both know I was using that to delay the pain. From everything I’ve read, there’s no other option.”
It wasn’t unreasonable to want a retest, but I’m not about to hand him an excuse to postpone this again. “Good. Just tell me when. You won’t have to do it alone.”
“Thanks.”
Dread settles in my chest. It won’t take long for Heidi and Murphy to realize that I’ve also kept this secret. Suddenly my fear of losing them is bigger than my desire to have Marcel tell the truth.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Teller
The secrets end today. I made a promise to Charlotte to spill this week. Somehow, it’s already Friday. I’m running out of time if I want to keep my promise to Charlotte.
Rock and Hope invited us over for breakfast. When we arrive, Heidi and Blake are already there.
Perfect timing.
It’s just the six of us and the kids. I’m never going to have a better opportunity to tell Heidi without a larger audience.
After breakfast, we’re still sitting at the table, sipping coffee and eating coffee cake.
“This is good, Heidi,” Rock says, stabbing his fork into his slice.
She beams, always happy to accept compliments. Especially from Rock. “Thank you.”
I catch Rock’s eye and nod, slightly tilting my head in Heidi’s direction.
Rock frowns and sets down his fork. Now? His expression seems to say.
Didn’t he lecture me on how this can’t go on forever?
“Uh, I wanted to talk to you guys about something,” I begin.
Heidi sets her fork down and grins at me, then Charlotte. “Are we wedding planning?” she asks with a hopeful lilt in her voice. “I know you said redheads can’t wear pink, but I saw this gorgeous champagne tulle dress with pink butterflies. It would be so perfect on you, Charlotte…” Her voice fades when Charlotte doesn’t respond.
Heidi tries again. “Am I going to be an aunty?” she asks with even more excitement.
Charlotte flinches. Under the table, I slide my hand over her leg and curl my fingers around hers. She squeezes my hand twice as if urging me not to lose my nerve.
“Not yet,” Charlotte answers.
My gaze lands on Hope, who has her hands braced against the table like she’s preparing herself to jump up and comfort Heidi.
Even Alexa and Grace stop to stare at us, although they lose interest quickly.
Heidi’s smile fades and her confused eyes dart from Rock, to me, to Charlotte, then Hope. “What’s going on?”
“Why you being so twitchy, bro?” Murphy sits back and slings his arm over Heidi’s shoulders.
I hate that I’m about to wipe the easy smirk off my best friend’s face. After this announcement, things will never be the same between us.
“I’m not trying to be twitchy. There’s something I’ve wanted to discuss…” My voice falters. “News I want to share with you.”
Rock clears his throat. “What Marcel wants to—”
“I got it,” I cut Rock off. This has to come from me.
Releasing Charlotte’s hand, I rest my elbows on the table and lean forward. “Shit, I don’t even know how to say it, so I’m just going to spit it out. Rock and I found…Well, this will sound nuts, but it turns out Rock is—Rock’s my, uh, father.”