get this ball rolling. My name’s Bear. That knucklehead behind me is my son. He goes by Batta around here. His Old Lady, Tatum, and her sister, Josie, should be here soon.”
I reached out to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you and your son,” I returned. Rinse and repeat as I met every member of the club, the Old Ladies, their children, several parents, and a few other various friends or family members. But I drew the line when they started trying to explain who was related to whom among the various chapters. “I’m doing good to keep up with the names of the people here. If you want me to know everyone else and all the caveats that go with them, I’m going to need a diagram of some kind.”
Bear chuckled. “Nah, we can save that for when you meet them. Besides, you just need to learn the women’s names,” he shared and pointed to a patch displaying his name on the front of his cut. “All the men in the club have their road name patch right here.”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely. Remembering half of the names for the current crowd was doable for me. My stomach fluttered at the thought of meeting even more of his family. Was I ready for that? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care because I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t give things with Bronze a chance.
With Blue in one arm, Bronze took my hand and led me down a hallway. “There’s one more person for you to meet.”
“Oh, yippee,” I said flatly. “I bet it’s the asshole brother.”
“See,” Bronze said as he entered an office. “I’m not the only one who calls you that. Sloane, this is Copper, my asshole brother.”
I moved to step forward and introduce myself, but Bronze’s firm grip stopped me. “He doesn’t get to shake your hand.”
I stepped back beside Bronze and waited for his lead. “Go ahead, asshole brother.”
Copper glared at his brother before he cleared his throat and softened his expression. “You’re welcome here until Bronze, and only Bronze, says otherwise.”
Without thinking, I pulled out my phone and started a voice recording. “Make a note in the character profiles that alphas don’t apologize.”
“Neither do assholes,” Bronze muttered as we left the room. “He’ll keep his distance, but let me know if you’re uncomfortable at any time.”
“The Irish princess isn’t scared of the biker president,” I teased. And I wasn’t—well, not anymore. While I didn’t see myself having warm and fuzzy feelings for Copper any time in the near future, I wasn’t going to draw a line in the sand and make things awkward between us for the foreseeable future. Instead, I smiled and promised to kill him in a book the first chance I got. “So, who’s hungry?”
To my surprise, Blue reached for me when we sat down to eat, our plates loaded with food. “No, no, baby girl. Let Sloane eat,” Bronze said and shuffled Blue to his other side.
She grunted and stretched herself across his forearm with her little hands opening and closing. “I really don’t mind,” I said with a genuine smile on my face. “I love babies,” I cooed and clapped my hands once before holding them out to her in invitation.
Bronze relented and handed her over. “Just say the word if you want me to take her back.”
“Got it,” I said with an exaggerated nod. “It’ll be when she cries, poops, or vomits. Or does anything else involving body fluids. Never mind. I’m going to stop talking,” I blabbered and took a huge bite of my hamburger, groaning when the juicy goodness filled my mouth. “Thh a ooo ooddd.”
“What was that?” Batta asked.
“She said, ‘This is so good,’” Bronze clarified.
“How the fuck did you understand her?” he asked.
Bronze stared at Batta pointedly, while my eyes stayed fixed on him. Did the man not realize what he was asking? I didn’t know what to say or do, and I couldn’t get Bronze to look at me.
Finally, I finished chewing the overly large bite of food in my mouth and swallowed. After wiping the crumbs away with a napkin, I inhaled deeply and said, “He knows what I said because I say it a lot when my mouth’s full of his,” I paused and cupped my hands over Blue’s ears, “dick,” I finished with a stage whisper. The room erupted in laughter while I brought my burger to my mouth for another bite.