Page 166 of Steel

Crow has laid low enacting his revenge for his family since he and Sage started whatever it is they’re playing at. They’ve been a thing for about two years now, but the brother is still running scared, if you ask me. Not that I got much room to talk. Was fucking up with my woman left and right long before we became an ‘us’.

Wraith pulled us into the common room earlier this week and told us we were gonna host a bonfire tonight.

Just the brothers, their Old Ladies or whatever partner they have for the night, and the kids.

Family.

That’s what tonight is about.

Family coming together for a reprieve from the darkness we’ve been dealing with lately.

I head into the bedroom where Bailee’s still getting ready and lean against the doorframe as I watch her slide a pair of jean shorts up her legs. They rest just under her ass cheeks, and when she turns around to view herself in the mirror then bends over to check how far they ride up, I let out a groan, which has her snapping her eyes to mine.

Shoving off the frame, I close the distance between us and wrap my fingers around her neck, gently pulling her to me. “Fuckin’ beautiful, you know that? Can’t get enough of you. In bed, out, it don’t matter none. Want you buried in my veins, baby girl.”

Her eyes fill with warmth as her body leans into mine.

We’re still struggling to find our footing in our relationship after the tension that fell between us. She still smiles and laughs, she’s still there growing closer to Lyric, and she’s in my arms every night. Still, sometimes she looks at me with this lost expression, like she can’t tell whether my words from our conversation were my truth or not. It’s a look I hope will go awaywith time. The only thing I can do is keep showing up and hope I don’t fuck anything else up along the way.

“The feeling is mutual, bossman,” she says, lifting to her toes to brush her mouth against mine.

Fuck that.

I drop my hands to her ass, pulling her tighter to me and sealing our mouths together.

Like usual, it doesn’t take us long to lose ourselves in one another. So much so that when my daughter’s loud, off-tune singing filters through the air, I pull away with a groan. I’m unsatisfied that my time with my woman is getting cut short but loving the happiness that rings in my little girl’s tone.

Lyric loves having Bailee around. She loves that Baileeseesher and that she gives her the love Lyric has always craved her own mother. Those two are peas in a pod, and if I fuck this up, I’ll not only be breaking Bailee’s heart, I’ll be breaking my daughter’s too.

That’s something I want to try my damnedest not to do.

Crushing my daughter’s heart would be crushing my own.

Lyric has had enough hurt and disappointment from one parent already.

I pull away and place a kiss on Bailee’s nose. “You look beautiful. About ready?”

“Yeah, just got to slide my shoes on. Do you mind grabbing the pasta salad out of the fridge? That’s all we needed to bring, right?”

“That’s all,” I answer, smacking her on the ass.

A smile breaks across her face as she pushes me away with a laugh. “Go make sure our girl is ready to go. Her bag is on the couch. I put some extra clothes in there along with some bug repellant and snacks. Can you ask if she wants to bring anything else?”

Listening to the way she cares about my daughter . . .fuck. It makes my heart fill with her even more. Soon, I’ll never be able to scrape her out of it.

Did Heather ever put extra thought into shit for Lyric? I can’t think of any time that she did. When Lyric was smaller, it was always me or someone from the club getting shit ready. As she grew older, she started to learn how to gather her own things when I couldn’t be there to do it.

“I’ll make sure she’s got what she wants.”

“Thanks, bossman.”

While Bailee finishes up, I head out in search of our girl. I find her sitting on the edge of her bed, her little legs swinging, staring morosely at the phone in her hand.

“What’s wrong, Princess?” I ask, squatting in front of her.

“She hasn’t called me lately.”

Fucking Heather, always hurting my girl.

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