Chains took the joint from Phoenix as he rolled his eyes. Then he muttered, “Some of us could’ve been so lucky.”
“Quit hogging it. Puff, puff, pass, asshole.” Ghost jokingly backhanded Chains on the elbow. For doing so, he took a massive drag and blew the smoke in Ghost’s face.
“You’re such a dick,” Ghost muttered. While Ghost was waving the smoke out of his face, Angel reached across the circle and took the joint from Chains and stuck it to his lips.
Ghost opened his eyes after waving wildly and saw Angel with the joint. “You all are a bunch of fucking assholes,” he grumbled as he slouched back in his seat. Croc laughed and damn near tipped his chair over.
“Are they always this nice to each other?” Kira asked with an expression of uncertainty.
They all busted up laughing. “Yeah, babe. Pretty much,” said Angel as he gave me a wink.
I took the empty seat that Squirrel had vacated and pulled Kira down into my lap. The guys all watched us with one eye as they continued to joke with each other. I knew they weren’t missing a thing and were likely biding their time to give me shit.
I took a single drag from the joint that Angel passed me and blew the smoke away from Kira. Out of courtesy, I held it up in offering to Kira, but something told me she wouldn’t take it.
“No, thank you,” she politely declined. I decided to have mercy on poor Ghost. Handing it on to him, I smirked as he gave a harrumph to the rest of my brothers.
We sat and bullshitted with everyone for a while. When I noticed she was starting to doze off, I figured I better get her home. Though I’d love to keep her with me all night, I didn’t know if she was ready for that.
Fucking was one thing. Staying the night was a whole other level.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” I murmured in her ear. She snuffled into my neck, and I had to fight the chub that wanted to pop. “Kira,” I tried again.
“Why don’t you just take her back to your room? You obviously wore her out.” Angel snickered.
“Can’t. Zaka is loose in the house because I didn’t plan on being gone all night.”
“Oh, shit. Yeah, that monster will eat your house in half if you don’t go home,” Angel said with wide eyes. Angel had been there the first time I came home after leaving Zaka out of his crate all night. It wasn’t pretty.
“Well, you can leave her here with me,” offered Chains with a grin.
“Fuck you,” I said, though there was very little heat behind my words, since I knew he was only fucking with me.
“So is that serious?” Angel asked me with a straight face as he motioned toward the woman dozing in my lap.
Not wanting to admit what I’d seen and where my head was, I shrugged. Angel leaned forward with his elbows on his knees as he stared in my eyes.
“Don’t lie to me,” he said quietly. He and I had been friends since I moved in next door to him twenty-three years ago. We knew each other better than any of the other brothers.
“I don’t want to talk about it yet,” I admitted reluctantly. My gaze dropped to the dark golden head resting on my shoulder. Emotions heavier than I was ready for shot through me like a bolt of electricity.
“Well, that’s at least honest,” he said as he looked up through the dark hair that had fallen across his eyes. “If you want, my truck is out back. I can bring it around if you want to drive her home.”
The thought of being cooped up in his truck, no matter how nice it was, sent a shudder of revulsion down my spine. I sighed. “Okay, fine. Thanks. I’ll bring it back tomorrow morning.”
“No rush. I have my bike,” he said with a shrug.
He went to go pull his jet-black Dodge around and stopped on the driveway. He left it running and hopped out.
Standing, I tried not to jostle Kira, because I actually loved carrying her. Once I got close, he opened the passenger door, and I settled her in the seat. With her seat belt fastened and her mouth falling open, she continued to sleep. I chuckled and closed the door.
“You sure you know what you’re doing?” he asked me.
Swallowing hard, I ran a hand through my hair. “Fuck, no,” I said. Despite my gift, I had no idea what the future might hold other than the fact that Kira Baranov was mine.