His mother always bitched that she couldn’t have nice things because of him and Rook.
Now Cage looked back, he didn’t think that was the reason. As an adult, he realized how much his mother lied to her sons. Probably to Dutch, too. However, he never discussed it with his old man.
They stepped into the short hallway off the kitchen. To the left was the full-sized bathroom with a shower stall and to the right was a nice-sized laundry room, which also included another door outside. A back door, he guessed.
“No washer or dryer,” he murmured.
“Nope. Dutch said you can use the shit in the bunkhouse. Actually, his exact words were, ‘He wants a fuckin’ washer and dryer then his ass can buy ‘em. Ain’t payin’ to rent that shit when there’s a perfectly good set in the fuckin’ bunkhouse. His ass can hoof it over there.’”
Cage grinned. Yeah, that sounded like his old man.
They moved to the last room farthest from the front door. The master bedroom. It was definitely larger in size, had a bigger closet and a bigger bed. He guessed this one was a queen versus the double in the first bedroom.
“You and Jem gotta fight it out who takes the bigger room. If I were you, I’d offer her this one. Sweeten the pot a little bit. Then once you find a house mouse and Jemma leaves, you can switch rooms. Or, hell, by then, we might figure out a better setup for you elsewhere. Keeping this here long term will cost too fuckin’ much. Need somethin’ more permanent. Your kid ain’t temporary, your place shouldn’t be, either.”
His chest really ached, and it had nothing to do with his cracked ribs or injuries. It had to do with all of the responsibility beginning to close in on him, starting to smother him.
Sometimes even made it hard to breathe.
Like now.
His whole life was upside down, all due to picking the wrong pussy to stick his dick into.
He closed his eyes, willing that heavy weight to lessen.
“You all right?”
He opened his eyes and met Trip’s concerned ones. “No. Ain’t gonna lie.”
Trip’s lips thinned. “Yeah. Get it. It’s like a direct kick in the nuts, right? One you didn’t see comin’ and had no time to deflect.”
“Yeah,” he murmured.
“No one said you had to keep her. Not one of us woulda blamed you if you hadn’t, brother. Not one of us. It ain’t an easy decision but sometimes it’s the right one. It was right for Autumn and Levi. It could be right for you and it also ain’t too late to change your mind. Plenty of folks out there would love to have a baby.”
Cage slowly inhaled, filling his lungs, the air expanding his chest and shoving that weight off. “Yeah. It’s too late.”
Trip tilted his head and stared at him for a few uncomfortable, silent moments, then gave him a sharp nod. “Then do whatchya gotta do, brother. And do it right. We got your fuckin’ back. That’s the whole point of a brotherhood. That’s the whole reason I came home and decided to rebuild this club from the ground up. For fuckin’ situations like these. You ain’t gonna be the only one raisin’ this baby. We all are. It ain’t just Dutch and Rook at your back anymore. It’s all of us.”
Cage stared at a spot on the floor because he couldn’t let his president see the tears stinging his eyes. But his voice was thick when he lifted his head and said, “Yeah, brother, you don’t know how fuckin’ much I appreciate that.”
Trip swallowed hard. “Okay, got shit to do. So do you.”
Cage stood in the bedroom doorway and watched the Fury prez make his way through the trailer. The whole time Cage kept his eyes glued to the colors on the man’s back.
“See, Dyna? You got a whole fuckin’ army at your back,” he whispered against her soft hair. “Thank fuck for that.”
He took a last look at the bedroom and wandered back through his new home.
Their new home.
Once he got settled in, he wanted to set up an outdoor space right outside the door. The pavilion wasn’t far but it would be nice to sit right outside the trailer to smoke a bowl or drink a beer after a long fucking day.
Or give his baby a bottle.
Your life’s just been changed forever.
Wasn’t that the fucking truth.
Chapter Seven
Cage had texted her earlier asking her to come out to the farm. He had something to show her. She already knew what it was since Judge had given her the head’s up a couple of days ago, but they had wanted to keep it a surprise from Cage.
Being in Dutch’s house for the past few days while helping with Dyna, Jemma could see why Cage wouldn’t want to raise his daughter there.