Page 51 of Papa's Beloved

“I’ve noticed a difference,” Tully adds.

We spend the rest of the drive chatting and planning the menu. Stormy recently put a new pizza oven in the kitchen. I’ve been dying to try it out. Tully drops us off at the front of the market. We wait for Mayhem to park his sled and join us. Tully will park the SUV and join us. The party is tomorrow. Shopping today and we get up at the crack ass of dawn to start the sauce or gravy, depending on where you’re from.

Stormy pulls the list out of her purse and we each grab baskets and head to the different shops in the market.

This place has everything: fresh produce, housemade salami, pepperoni, and cheese. Crusty loaves of bread. It smells amazing and it’s making me hungry.

Two hours later, the back of the SUV is loaded with food and we’re headed to Ruby’s for breakfast. I’m jonesing for their bacon flight. Huge chunks of bacon, some candied, some savory. It’s fantastic. My stomach growls to punctuate my thoughts.

“We better get you fed. If Papa knows I let you go hungry, he’ll have my hide,” Tully says.

We load back into the SUV and head to Ruby’s, with Mayhem following us. The ride doesn’t take too much longer than normal, even with Mardi Gras traffic. The city fills up mid-January with revelers.

Tully maneuvers through traffic with ease. For a young guy, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. After his parents died, he had a rough way to go with his piece of shit uncle and aunt. I’m glad Boomer hired him and took him under his wing.

Chapter 38

Papa

Irace to the sled, throw my leg over and start it. I backed into the space earlier. I open the throttle and take off without waiting. I knew my brothers wouldn’t be far behind. My mind races with thoughts. Who did the call come from? Who has my Nay? Is it a prank call or is it real? My heart thunders in my chest as I speed down the road.

We took significant steps to not only cover our tracks, but throw anyone off our scent as far as Pablo is concerned. Wizard has tabs on Linden too. As far as we knew, he is currently out of the country. It’s one of the reasons we’re waiting to take out the Dawgs. We plan on taking Linden out with them.

After I get on the highway, I use my headset to call Tully. He’s with the women today. It goes straight to voicemail. Fuck, something is not right. I disconnect the call and use the voice command to call Mayhem. He’s the second prospect with the girls today.

Gambit sprung a surprise party slash meeting on us last night. Stormy is in full tilt mode. Gambit offered to have the party catered or order pizzas, but Queenie refused, saying she’d take care of all of it.

Said she and the others would whip up a feast of some kind for our visitors. Several members of our allied clubs are coming so we can complete our plans.

Nay

WE TALK TULLY INTOeating with us. Mayhem insists he stay outside and keep watch. Tully convinced him to switch off with him and the two text back and forth to get Mayhem’s order.

Besides the bacon flight, I order French toast bites and loaded tots. Yeah, I’m going to need to get to the gym before my ass can’t fit through the door anymore.

“Nay.”

“Hmm?”

Stormy laughs. “You’re lost in thought.”

I smile. “I’m thinking I need to go to the gym before my ass can’t fit through the door anymore.”

The rest of the table burst out laughing. Tully laughed too hard. He had tears coming out of his eyes.

“Nay, you could have triplets and your ass wouldn’t get too big,” Tully says. “Plus, Papa would love more junk in the trunk.

My smile widens. “True dat. My man does love my ass.”

“It’s a nice ass, Nay,” Stormy says, then sticks out her tongue at me. “Here I am stuck with white girl booty and you have all that glorious ass, no fillers.”

I choked on the drink I was taking, but swallowed without spitting it out. Lucia pops up and pounds on my back. It takes several seconds to be able to tell her I’m fine.

“Are you okay?” Lucia asks.

“Death by laughter. There are worse ways to go.”

Our food arrives and, for the next few minutes, we start our meal in silence, enjoying the food. I’m starving, so I dig into my bacon and French toast with fervor.

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