Was it even possible for us to get married? I suppose she would probably have to legally marry one of us and then we could have the ceremony for the rest? How the hell would that work?
You know what, if anyone could afford to find the loopholes, it was our families. Luckily, America’s capitalist system did ensure one thing—money could get you anything if you were willing to spend enough.
“Maybe if we get her pregnant he won’t kill us,” King mused.
“What type of backward-ass logic is that?” I barked out a laugh. I was finding both the notion of marrying Dahlia and having kids with her far too appealing to be rational. I needed some goddamn sleep is what I needed.
“He wouldn’t want to leave a child fatherless, right?” He shrugged nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just suggested knocking Dahlia up. I had no idea what she and Lincoln were doing in the kitchen—hopefully getting her something to eat—but I was thankful for it because she would run if she heard King acting like this.
Yates poured himself a drink from the office bar. “Somehow I don’t think he would care.”
It was true—he was a scary bastard.
King shook his head and smiled. “I think I may have freaked her out a bit today.”
“Yeah?” I asked, arching a brow.
He shook his head. “Not because of the family business. No, she’s taking that all… way too well, but I won’t complain. No, I freaked her out because she realized we hadn’t talked about protection and I told her I knew that she was on birth control but that if she wasn’t I wouldn’t mind. I didn’t mean for that to slip out, really, but her expression was pretty fucking adorable.”
I stared at him in shock before exhaling. “Fucking shit King, the woman just agreed to entertain the idea of being with all six of us. As in dating. Not getting married and having our goddamn kids.”
“I disagree, I think she understands how serious this is,” Yates pointed out, leaning against the desk.
“She didn’t say no, either. Just thought I was crazy.” King shrugged. “Which I am. So that part didn’t upset me.”
Stratton chuckled, shaking his head and tapping out his cigarette near the open window. I knew he hated smoking around Dahlia, and I appreciated that he avoided it, although I doubted she would mind.
Dermot offered me a look that said it all. It was the ‘they are fucking nut jobs and there is no point in trying to reason with them’ look. I threw up my hands and fell back on the couch, trying to not think about why I liked her lack of a ‘no’ in response to such a serious notion. Maybe I was just as crazy as they were.
When Dahlia’s voice echoed outside the door, I sat up, rolling my shoulders back, still finding myself a bit sore from the game on Sunday. We had this week off from practice because of Labor Day weekend, and my body had for sure needed it. If we did end up going overseas, we would have to explain it to our coach, but I was hoping he could put together the pieces that it had to do with the shit show going on. I’m sure by now everyone in town was talking about it, not to mention what seemed to be the rest of the nation.
The door opened and Dahlia walked in, laughing at something my brother said as he offered her a smile that I rarely saw. Lincoln was far too fucking serious for his own good, but Dahlia seemed to lighten that. She was good for him.
She was good for all of us, had been from the start.
I nearly groaned at the tight pair of pants she was wearing, her perfect ass on display despite the sweater she wore. The woman made me want to tie her up and explore every inch of her perfect body. I looked at her delicate wrists, imagining them wrapped in a silk tie and pulled above her head as she pulled against them, moaning in response to my mouth on her wet cunt.
Fuck.
“I think the FBI people are outside,” Dahlia said happily, coming over to me and sliding onto my lap. I nearly cursed, loving the feel of her ass against me. My eyes trailed over her face, realizing she was flushed, which meant that she very much knew what she was doing and had decided to sit on my lap anyway.
“That would explain why some of the news stations cleared out,” Yates agreed and walked back out the door to no doubt let them in. I was glad Lincoln hadn’t taken Dahlia to the door—I wasn’t sold on her having to be part of this meeting as it was.
“Are you sure you want to meet them?” King questioned quietly.
“Yes.” Dahlia nodded.
Christ.I did not want any law enforcement around Dahlia in general, let alone Callum and the crew of people he seemed to carry along with him. A group of people that contained not one person with military training but three, along with the Hearst brothers.
“Come here.” King motioned for her and she hopped up, rounding the desk as he tugged her down on his knee. I stayed where I was, my brother spreading out on the same couch as Dermot walked around the desk and stood behind it. This wasn’t our first time meeting with Callum, but we also often were part of the Ross family meetings King held. I had been surprised when he had asked us if we wanted to be an active part of it because I hadn’t thought there was a question about that, but apparently burying bodies is different than sitting in confidential meetings. To be fair, I knew hell of a lot more than I used to.
Stratton stayed where he was by the window, seemingly undecided on how much of the Ross family shit he wanted to be a part of. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t going to get much of a choice. I had a feeling he would still fight it a bit though.
He stiffened slightly at the sound of male voices echoing through the space as Callum’s team arrived. I understood that far too well. Luckily for my peace of mind, I was pretty damn sure that the men in question were with India. Although I couldn’t fully read the dynamic, and I would find it both an odd coincidence and a bit funny if they were in a similar situation as ourselves.
The door opened and India Lexington stepped through, making Dahlia smile, which was reason enough to like the woman despite her reputation. Or I should say lack thereof. The Lexington family was old money. Older than ours, and pretty much as old as this country. You would have thought with that type of power there would have been more information about her, but instead it was as if all she’d ever done in her life was go to school. When King was gathering information, it concerned all of us because the woman’s dossier was essentially a single paragraph. Although, I suppose it was somewhat fitting, considering the power her family held—as we knew from experience, covering up information was all too easy if you were willing to pay.
My gaze tracked Dahlia as she stood up to hug India, our girl instantly filling the space with a more relaxed and happier tone than would have been there otherwise. Despite her normal stony gaze, India seemed to like Dahlia, and her smile was authentic… Which was good, because if our girl had hurt feelings, that would have been far more of an issue. As they exchanged greetings, my eyes jumped to Eugene Hearst.