Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
We all tilted our heads.
“What surprise?” Claude asked.
“I know the baby’s gender,” Aisling revealed, sticking her finger up before we could bombard her with questions. “You’ll find out tomorrow. It’s a special surprise, okay?”
It was going to be torturous to wait, but she had us wrapped around her finger, so if she wanted it to be a surprise, we would respect that.
“Tease,” Cameron joked as he laid his head in her lap.
“Don’t lie. You all love it,” Aisling said with a smirk as she carded her fingers through his hair.
That was the thing. We did. We were so far in this situation with her. Deeper than we ever thought possible.
Chapter 16
Kai
“We’re having a what?”
Me and the others flashed Aisling and Hayden surprised and confused looks as they stood in front of us by the bar.
When Aisling called a “family meeting” as we now called them, we all knew that this was something important.
“A gender reveal party!” Aisling announced, making murmurs of excitement and surprise ripple throughout our small crowd.
“You know the gender?” I asked as I moved to the front of the group.
Aisling smiled and nodded as she wrapped her fingers around Hayden’s bicep.
“We’ve been dying to tell you guys, but we wanted to come up with a cool surprise to announce it,” she explained. “We were told at my last ultrasound appointment.”
I thought my heart would race, but it stopped instead, feeling like someone just punched me in the chest. Today, we were going to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Already! I couldn’t believe we were getting so close.
“Is the party now? Please tell me it’s now,” Lincoln replied, seeming to fidget on the spot because he was so excited to know.
“No, we need everyone to clear out and then come back at five o’clock this evening. That’s when we’ll be done setting everything up,” Hayden told us.
Bradley groaned.
“That’s so long,” he said.
“Patience is a virtue,” Aisling replied, flashing him a playful look. “Let’s hope the baby is far more patient than any of you.”
The triplets chuckled next to me, shaking their heads in amusement.
“Feisty little thing, huh?” Auden said to me from my left.
I smirked as I crossed my arms over my chest, peering at Aisling with pure admiration in my eyes. She had no idea just how big of an effect she had on all of us. We had busy, exciting lives before her, but there had always been something missing. We were a family, but we weren’t… complete.
We looked after each other, but we wanted someone to spoil and protect. To please and hold. We wanted a child to love and a woman to be in love with, and… I believed we had found what we all wanted.
But did Aisling want us back the way we wanted her?
“Clear out of here,” Hayden told us, motioning for us to get out so that they could start on the surprise.
We were all dying to know the gender, so the seven of us left pretty quickly, heading out to our bikes in the garage.
“I guess we have to burn time. Anyone want to go get a bite to eat?” Cameron asked.
The others nodded, but I waved them on.
“You guys go ahead. I’m going to take a ride,” I said, slipping on my helmet and starting my bike before they could say anything to me. I just needed a little while to think.
I rode away from the clubhouse, listening to the roar of the engine and the wind whipping past me. Wanting to be out on my own, I took a quiet back road, soaring down the asphalt as my thoughts started to wander.
It was odd thinking how far I had come in my life. I went from a broken man in a different gang, reeling from the loss of my baby brother from a drug overdose.
I was done, and I needed a change.
That was what the Iron Serpents were for me and starting this group was one of the best things that I had ever done in my life. These guys saved me in a way that they didn’t even know, and I felt indebted to every single one of them.
That was why I felt the need to put in place a secure future for us.
I couldn’t help but feel nervous when I thought about the future and all of its uncertainties. I didn’t care what the gender ended up being. I was worried about everything else.
How would I train them? What would their name be? How would they lead the club when they became of age? What would everyone’s future look like?
I had no answers, which drove me crazy. How could I lead seven other people without any answers or insight about the future? I didn’t want to mess up, and I also didn’t want to be a bad father. On top of it all, I didn’t want to disappoint Aisling.