“Well, he’ll be here. He’s a busy man. Oh, girls, can you peek into the oven? The food should be just about done.” Their mother headed for the stairs and said, “I want to run up and brush my hair real quick.”
Chloe followed Serena and Drake into the kitchen, where there was a store-bought Bundt cake sitting on the table still in its packaging with a bright orange sale sticker on the top.
“Sometimes I wonder how she managed to produce us,” Serena said.
Drake kissed her neck and said, “I thought we’d covered the birds and the bees pretty extensively.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t cover the inadequate trapping of a man,” Chloe said. “Since Mom doesn’t know how to cook, want to make bets about what’s in the oven?”
Serena opened the oven door, and they groaned at the sight of something indistinguishable in a disposable tinfoil pan. “What is that?”
“The trash can is filled with empty boxes of frozen breakfasts.” Drake pointed to the trash can. “Maybe she mixed them together.”
“Like I said, how did she give birth to us?” Serena said. “Even I know how to buy fresh doughnuts.”
Drake slung an arm around both of them and said, “I don’t care how she managed to do it, but I’m thankful she did. You’re two amazing women, and I’m proud to call you family.”
“Aw.” As Serena hugged him, the roar of a motorcycle sounded out front.
Justin? Chloe’s pulse quickened. She barely had time to realize there was no way it could be Justin before the kitchen door flew open and a very large man dressed in head-to-toe black—from the bandanna tied around his head and his dark sunglasses to the studded leather boots on his feet—strode in. He wore a thick silver chain around his neck, and at least two or three days’ worth of salt-and-pepper scruff decorated his neck and jaw.
“Baby!” he hollered in the husky voice of a smoker as he walked right past the three of them.
Their mother’s frantic footsteps thundered down the stairs. She appeared in the doorway, squealed like a teenager, and ran into his arms. He lifted her off her feet, grabbing her ass as he kissed her—hard.
Correction.
The black-haired Dog the Bounty Hunter practically ate their mother’s face.
Chloe tried to swallow the bile rising in her throat. She grabbed Serena’s hand and whispered, “Please tell me I won’t be her in twenty years.”
As she was set down, their mother said, “Tony, I want you to meet my girls, Chloe and Serena,” as beaming and breathless as a new bride.
Chloe had seen that look on her mother too many times to count, and what was Drake? Chopped liver? Why didn’t she introduce him?
Tony raked his eyes down Chloe and Serena from their heads to their toes and said, “Baby these aren’t girls. These are fine-ass women. How’s it going? I’m Tony.”
Drake stepped in front of Chloe and Serena and crossed his arms. “Drake Savage. That’s my wife and my sister-in-law you’re eyeing.”
“Cool name, dude. Hot wife.”
Pig. Chloe wondered if he was the type of biker Justin associated with. If he was, she wanted no part of Justin’s world, no matter how romantic last night had been. Though she appreciated Drake’s efforts, she did not need a man to protect her. She stepped around Drake and said, “Are you a Dark Knight?”
“No way, babe,” Tony said. “I don’t do any of that group bullshit where you have to attend meetings and do community crap. Ride hard and live free, baby. There ain’t no other way.”
Relief swept through her, bringing with it a jolt of courage to do what she should have been doing all along. “My name is Chloe, not babe or baby, and my sister, Serena, and I would appreciate you not looking at us like we’re pieces of meat.”
Tony chuckled, and as he turned his attention to the cake on the table, he said, “Hey, I meant no offense.”
“How about, I’m sorry if I offended you?” Chloe said through gritted teeth.
He cut himself a piece of cake and said, “Oh, don’t worry, you didn’t.”
Serena grabbed Chloe’s wrist, a warning glare in her eyes as she mouthed, Let it go.
Chloe was sure she had smoke coming out of her ears.
Tony looked at their mother and said, “Get your riding boots on, baby. Everyone’s driving out to Plymouth for a party at Greg’s place.”
“Oh?” Their mother managed to look a little conflicted as she said, “I thought we’d have brunch.”