my roughed-up look might give me an advantage with the ladies, but it hasn’t helped for shit.” He took one of the tequila shots from the table and quickly downed it. “I mean, damn. What’s a man gotta do to get laid around here?”
“Maybe if you were packing like Viper then you’d have better luck,” Country grumbled. “Hell, we all would. We’d have to beat the bitches off with a fucking stick.”
Danny’s brows furrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Ignore him, man,” Rafe replied. “He’s still recovering from a traumatic event. Might even have a little PTSD.”
“Not sure I’m following.”
“Probably best that you don’t.” Rafe took a sip of his beer as he told him, “Just give it time. Things will change when you get your patch.”
“God, I hope so.”
Everyone continued to banter back and forth, and even though I was loving every minute of it, I needed to get back. I’d promised Sydney I’d only be gone a few hours, and I had to get up early for work. I leaned over to Roman and whispered, “I really need to get going.”
“Okay. I’ll take you home.”
“You don’t have to leave. I can...”
“I’m taking you home, Frankie.” With that he stood and announced, “We gotta get going.”
“So soon?” Marlowe complained.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I hate to rush off, but I’ve gotta get back home to the boys.”
“Okay. We’ll get together again soon,” Marlowe promised.
“I’d really like that.” I gave them all a quick wave as I said, “I really enjoyed tonight. I’ll see you all again soon.”
“Looking forward to it.” Remington smiled as she said, “You make a great addition to the group.”
“Thanks, Remington. That means a lot.”
Roman and I said our final goodbyes, then headed out to his bike. When we got home, the boys were in the living room watching TV with Sydney. They were so enthralled with their scary movie they didn’t even notice when she got up to leave. Roman and I nestled up on the sofa and finished the movie with them. It seemed so easy, so natural, being there with him. It continued to feel that way over the next few months. Roman had quickly become a fixture in our lives, and the boys truly seemed to enjoy having him there, especially Corry. Between the continued counseling and the time he’d spent with Roman, he was really coming out of his shell.
Things with Marc had also improved over the past few months. I never got the full story of what happened with him and Roman. I just know that whatever went down had caused Marc to make a dramatic change. He was friendly with the boys and actually seemed to be making an effort with them. He’d even gone so far as to tell them they didn’t have to come to his house unless they really wanted to. Marc had also left me alone. Other than an apology note and some flowers, I hadn’t heard from him since the night of the attack, and I was good with that. The boys were, too. The change in their father had truly made all of our lives better—and I owed it all to Roman.
It had been seven months since the day fate brought him into our lives, and I was feeling really good about things. The weather had turned warm, and I was sitting on the front porch watching as Roman took the boys for a ride on his motorcycle. Knowing how careful of a driver he was, I’d overcome my fear of them learning to ride, and they were taking turns going around our subdivision. They’d been at it for over an hour when Roman finally told them he needed a break, and he came over to join me on the front steps. He gave me a quick kiss before asking, “How ya doing, beautiful?”
“Couldn’t be better.” I leaned over and placed my head on his shoulder. “I really like having you around.”
“Is that right?”
“Um-hmm. I’m thinking it’s time we talk to the boys about you moving in.”
“Too late.” He chuckled as he said, “They’ve been hounding me about it for a couple of months now.”
I sat up straight as I gasped, “What?”
“Sean was the first to bring it up. It was right after the shit with Marc.” He shrugged. “Corry brought it up a few weeks after that. Then, they both cornered me a few weeks ago asking what was the big hold up.”
“Seriously? They never mentioned it to me!”
“I told them I was