Page 86 of Suspicious

Badly.

But Poppy smiles so wide as Alpha, Haven, and Livvy stand by her side. The happy blended family.

Beside them, South, Ingrid, and one-year-old Louis enjoy the rendition as we all continue to sing.

“Happy Birthday, Poppy and Louis. Happy Birthday to you!”

We all cheer as Poppy leans in to blow out her eight candles on top of her commando-themed cake. Topped with a fondant grenade, fake barbed wire wrapped around the edges, fondant bullets and dog tags with her name on top, and a metal check plate ‘8’ to finish off the theme.

At the same time, Louis leans forward, his tiny hand ripping a chunk out the side of his much cuter blue cake with a giant ‘1’ on top. Little toy bears and building blocks are scattered around the edges to finish it off. It’s far more childish than Poppy’s, with the added toy motorcycle thrown in, of course.

But everyone chuckles, watching Louis smoosh his cake into his mouth. It’s the cutest damn thing as South and Ingrid cuddle into their little man while Hurricane and Novah take a bunch of photographs.

Alpha sends out a whistle through the room, gaining everyone’s attention, and the general chatter dies down while we focus on him. “I wanna thank everyone for being here today. Obviously, Livvy and I are more than excited we even get to celebrate Poppy’s birthday this year after having a few without her.” Poppy turns to face her father, cuddling into his legs, but he continues, “I want to especially thank Clover and Wes for helping put this party together for Poppy and Louis. You guys went above and beyond.” We turn to them, and they both smile. Wes wraps his arm around Clover in celebration. Her eyes light up, and a flush crosses her face as Maverick glares at Wes.

“Arm off, Prospect!” Maverick grunts, making the rest of us snicker as Wes quickly drops his grip on Clover and takes a large sidestep away from her.

Clover rolls her eyes with a huff, then turns to Alpha. “It was our pleasure, Pres. Happy to help.”

Wes nods in agreement. “Yeah… anytime, Pres,” he relays.

Glancing around, I notice I can’t see Hayes anywhere. Our other prospect has seemed to have gone AWOL. Though, tobe honest, I’m not even surprised. The guy is completely incompetent. He probably went out to get ice or something, broke down, and forgot to take his cell. It’s absolutely something he would do.

If he’s not back closer toward the end of the party, I’ll locate his tracker. But for now, I’m going to stay with the party. I’m not wasting my time on a damn idiot.

Holding onto Bea a little tighter, I continue to watch as Alpha turns to Haven. “I want to take a moment to thankyou,Haven.”

Her eyes widen as she snorts out a laugh. “Me?What the hell didIdo?”

Livvy shakes her head. “You brought our daughter back to us. Without you, we wouldn’t even be having this party for Poppy today.”

Haven offers a weak smile as Alpha takes her hands in his but glances down at Poppy, nodding his head. She grins wide, bouncing up on her toes, and picks up the grenade from the cake in her hand, making us all furrow our brows. “Feeling a bit peckish there, Poppy?” Haven chuckles as Poppy giggles, and Alpha suddenly drops to one knee.

The entire room lets out an audible gasp as Haven’s eyes widen so wide it’s almost comical to see. Her breathing stops as Alpha grins at her.

“Haven… you changed me. You changed my life. You brought my family back to me and made it not only whole again but so much bigger and brighter. On paper, no one wouldeverthink that you, me, Poppy, and Livvy could make this work. But we do. The way you and Liv take care of our daughter, it blows my fucking mind.Youblow my fucking mind. I always said after everything fell apart with Livvy that I wouldneverget married again… but, Haven, I can’t imagine this life where you’re not mine in every. Possible. Conceivable. Fucking. Way. I love you. And I know you never thought I was going to ask you this… but Iamasking, baby, will you marry me?”

Haven swallows hard, her eyes instantly shifting to Livvy. I can’t stop smiling that her first thought in this is to the ex-wife of the man proposing to her. But Livvy simply smiles, giving Haven a subtle head nod. And with that, Haven instantly lets out a small sob, her bottom lip trembling as she slowly bobs her head. “Yeah… you better fucking believe it!” she replies, jumping into Alpha’s arms, slamming her lips to his in a passionate kiss.

We all throw our hands in the air, letting out a huge cheer, just as Poppy hurls the cake hand grenade to the floor in her excitement. While Alpha and Haven continue to kiss, the rest of us settle and watch as Poppy bends down to the mess on the floor, searches through it, and picks up a ring. “Got it, Daddy!” she yells, making Alpha pull back from Haven.

He spins, facing Poppy as she smiles at him, and he takes the ring from his daughter. “Thank you, baby girl.”

Haven bursts out laughing as Alpha shrugs, showing her the ring covered in cake crumbs. “Wanna make this official?” he asks.

She snatches the ring from him, slides it in her mouth, sucking off the hand grenade cake crumbs, then hands it back to him. He rolls his eyes, then proceeds to place it on her left ring finger. “You’re locked in tight now,” Alpha states.

Haven grins. “I already was,” she chimes, then leans in, kissing him again.

Poppy spins, giggling, and embraces Livvy, who is also smiling wide. I have to admit, I am so fucking elated for them. After everything that family has been through, they deserve true happiness.

Bea spins to face me, beaming with joy as I hold her tighter. “That went even better than I thought it would,” she states.

Widening my eyes, I jerk my head back at her. “Erm, are you telling me you knew Alpha was going to propose today?”

She shrugs, waggling her eyes. “What happens in the clubhouse kitchen stays in the clubhouse kitchen.”

Furrowing my brows, I let out a small laugh. “What does that even mean?”

---