A smile threatened on her lips but she suppressed it through sheer will. She watched as they walked out the front door and closed it softly behind them. She let out a deep breath and sank against the sofa. What was she going to do? Fatigue dragged on her eyelids like an unwelcome guest and she knew the first thing she was going to do was sleep.
Maybe things would be clearer after she’d spent a few hours in her own bed.
Or maybe they’d remain the same.
She loved them. That wasn’t likely to change with a few hours of shut-eye.
Damn it. She really loved them.
Who knew life could be so painfully, deliciously complicated?
#
The next few days Zoe spent recuperating at home while Delainey popped in with fresh groceries and a sunny disposition that came with a tidbit of juicy gossip here and there. Jax and Hunter came by every night to check on her but never pushed her beyond what she was comfortable giving, which filled her with some silly sort of warm girly feelings that went beyond the love she already felt for them.
“You have that look again,” Delainey said, gesturing toward her as she eyed the huge spray of roses dominating her tiny table. “And I’m guessing your lover boys sent these?”
“Yeah…sweet huh?”
“Oh come on! It’s more than sweet, it’s cavity-causing and I’m so jealous. No one is sending me long-stemmed roses,” she said with a slight pout that didn’t last long because Delainey switched tracks so quickly. “So, what’s going on?” she asked, going straight to the point. “I mean…are you boyfriend/girlfriend or what? I don’t know how this works.”
“Join the club,” Zoe muttered, then clarified with a cleared throat. “We aren’t anything.”
“And why not?”
“What do you mean?”
Delainey looked incredulous. “Two hot guys drooling over you, wanting to share you and adore you…what’s the problem? I think when you fell from the catwalk you suffered a head injury, too. Girl, you’re living the dream!”
“The Hustler dream maybe. I want a normal life at some point.”
“What’s normal?” Dleainey asked with complete honesty. “We live in a world where polygamists have hit television shows and everyone vacations at famous swinger clubs in Jamaica at least once in their lives. It’s not like we’re stuck in the ‘50s with an outdated morality clause hanging over our heads. Today’s world is incredibly forgiving and frankly, most people just don’t care and the people who do care, well, who cares about them? Honey, the only question that matters is…how do you feel about Jax and Hunter?”
Zoe’s eyes watered. “I love them,” she whispered.
“Then stop being so stuck in your own way. Live in full color, honey! Step outside of those black and white drabs and into the rainbow hues of life. I would if I were you.”
That shocked Zoe a bit. “Really? You would be okay living with two men as your lovers?”
“If I felt the way you feel about them, absolutely. Love comes in all shapes and sizes and you got lucky with two. Why wouldn’t I?”
“You wouldn’t care about what people say?”
“Well, maybe at first but small-minded people are always going to remain smallminded. Can’t change that. Besides, at the end of the day…who are you snuggling with — the small-minded jerks, or the two massively hot guys who can’t keep their hands off you?”
“Well, when you put like that…” Zoe laughed, wiping at her nose. “I guess that puts things in perspective.”
“Doesn’t it though?” Delainey winked then added, “And boy, does that help out in the inspiration department for the love scenes in the fabulous book you’re going to write!”
Zoe laughed bigger at that, loving how Delainey always managed to put things in a way that everything seem like common sense knowledge. What did she care what people said about her? She’d spent her life being laughed at because of her size, picked on, marginalized and overlooked simply because of what people saw on the outside and yet, she was pushing away two men who wanted her — just her — and she was freaking out over what people might think? Oh, screw that. SCREW THAT. She looked to Delainey. “I’m so dumb,” she admitted. “I’m so freaking dumb.”
“No, you’re not. You’re just scared. Now, stop being a fraidey-cat and go get your men before someone else figures out what you just realized.”
That thought galvanized her into action until Zoe realized she wasn’t in any shape to drive just yet. She looked to Delainey and her friend already had her car keys out. “Just tell me where you need to go,” she said, jingling the car keys. “I’m your willing chauffer to density, er, I mean destiny!”
They both yukked it up at the private reference to a favorite movie line (think Marty McFly) and then Zoe gave Delainey directions to the club house because frankly, she had no idea where either Jax nor Hunter actually lived. A bubble of laughter tickled her chest at that realization because soon enough, they were going to squeeze into her tiny apartment — all three of them.
She might have to box up some ceramic cats to make more room.
Her heart swelled with the promise of tomorrow with her bad biker boys and she realized she didn’t actually want to domesticate them all that much. She liked their rough edges and hard bodies.
A lot.
Nope. Come to think of it…she didn’t want to change them at all. She was okay with whatever their future became — whether or not it came with picket fences or radiators in the yard. She just wanted them. Their future would be perfect, no matter how it worked out.
“Can you drive a little faster?” Zoe begged and Delainey laughed, pressing the
gas a tiny bit harder. Zoe grinned. Her new life couldn’t come fast enough.
-Epilogue
As luck would have it ramen and peanut butter were not required to keep Zoe fed as she embarked on her new career because her two bad boys were actually pretty comfortable in the pocketbook — a fact that was revealed to her after she’d agreed to build a life with them in willing poverty.
At first Zoe had been appalled that they were using “blood money” as she called it to fund their modest yet awesome lifestyle until she managed to convince Jax and Hunter
to put the money to good use. “You want us to what?” “You renovated the clubhouse and built your motorcycle shop so now it’s time to
donate some of the money,” Zoe repeated, not backing down. “You have to do something to counter balance that bad karma. Trust me. I’ve done a lot of research into tainted money sources. It’s the best way to return the balance.”
“That’s a bunch of horse-“ “Careful! Fate is listening. Haven’t you have ever watched a movie where someone benefits from ill-gotten gains? Don’t piss off fate — it has a terrible sense of humor. The next thing you know, you could be sporting rebar through your skull after a freak accident on the highway. Nope, not gonna chance it. That money has to do some good in the world or else it’s going to bite us all in the ass.”
Jax and Hunter both heaved beleaguered sighs but eventually gave in because they knew she was terribly stubborn when she planted her feet. “So how exactly are we supposed to appease these gods of fate?” Jax asked.
“Well, I was thinking, we could make a donation to an organization that teaches gun safety,” she suggested with a small, playful smile. Seeing as the money came from the sale of illegal guns, she figured it was only fitting that they make a donation to promote safety. Twisted, huh? “Or, we could donate to a children’s hospital for kids who’ve been injured by guns?”
“Oh good grief,” Hunter moaned. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m not,” she answered primly. “That money is going to do some good in the world aside from catering to our own selfish purposes. Got it?”
“All right,” Jax said, shaking his head. “You pick the charity or organization and we’ll make it happen.”
She grinned with pure happiness and then, because she couldn’t help herself, ki
ssed both men in turn. “My bad boys are the best softies at heart,” she murmured with pure love.
“You’ve gone and neutered us,” Hunter grumbled, half-joking but his gaze was warm.
“Well, that’s not true and you know it,” Zoe said with a wink as she rubbed her belly. Yep. One of them was going to be a daddy. Of course, they had no way of knowing whose sperm had actually hit the target so they were just saying both were going to be daddies and that was just fine with them. To be honest, having two men waiting on her hand and foot, fretting over her needs and taking turns giving her endless orgasms was pretty sweet. Rough life, huh? She laughed when she remembered how she’d almost pissed away her future by refusing their love.
Who would’ve imagined the turn of events?