Page 33 of Buried

“I’m awake,” Adelaide grumbled as she stepped into the kitchen.

I raked my eyes over her. She hadn’t bothered to brush her hair yet and had instead just thrown it up into a messy bun on her head with a few strands falling out around her face. She had a red line on her cheek from where she had obviously slept in one position for too long. Her belly was rounded out now, and she couldn’t hide it anymore, so she was just wearing a plain black tank top and a pair of stretchy shorts since it was pretty warm outside.

Fuck, even though she had just rolled out of bed, she was still the most beautiful woman I had ever laid my eyes on. Without any effort on her part, she always made the blood in my veins head straight to my cock.

She placed her hand on her belly at the same time that I saw Jaxon swipe either his hand or his foot against her belly. “He’s awake,” she mumbled, making me laugh softly as I leaned down to press a kiss to her sweet lips—always so sweet.

“I swear, you get bigger by the day,” Sam commented, watching her belly with fascination when Jaxon swiped one of his extremities across her belly again.

Adelaide scowled at him, making me bark out a laugh. She had a low tolerance for little comments like that, even if they were harmless. “Thank you for stating the obvious,” she snapped. Sam laughed. He got a kick out of getting on her nerves. “Thereisa growing human being inside of me.”

He rolled his eyes at her, already used to her smart-ass mouth by now. Kale stepped into the kitchen and slung an arm around Adelaide’s shoulders, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Ma, River,” Kale started, speaking to both of us, “One of the ladies working at the grocery store mentioned to me that there’s a small fair happening in town today, and they still have a spot open. I think it would do us all some good to raise some money for the kids in town here.”

I looked at Adelaide, only to find her already looking at me. She shrugged at me. “I think it’s a good idea. It’s a nice day out, and I could use some sunshine.” I pursed my lips, not sure about having her or Axel out in that heat. It was already hot outside, and it was only going to get hotter as the day wore on—somewhere close to a hundred degrees.

She pouted at me. I sighed. She knew that look would work on me about ninety-nine percent of the time. “They’ll have plugs out there, so we can have a fan blowing on Axel while he’s in his pack ‘n’ play to keep him cool, and we can just drape a sheet over the pack ‘n’ play to keep the sun off of his skin,” she reasoned with me.

I looked back at Kale. “If she’s in, I’m in,” I finally told him. He grinned, knowing I only agreed because Adelaide wanted to goand help the community. “Call whoever and tell them to secure us that spot.”

He nodded, and with another gentle squeeze to Adelaide’s shoulders, he released her and pulled out his phone, walking back out of the kitchen. Adelaide shook her head slightly. “It’s going to take me a minute to get used to all of the men calling me Ma,” she admitted.

I smiled down at her. “You’re my woman now, darlin’.” She smiled at me, making my heart swell in my chest. “The men will look to you as a mom—a guider of sorts.”

Since I had made it known that Adelaide was carrying my son and that she was definitely around to stay, the men had taken to her a lot better. I understood why they were a bit hostile toward her at first—besides Vern and Joseph, of course. She was an outsider, and not to mention, they all knew she was the reason I got kicked out of the Sons of Death, though it had all been worth it to have a taste of her.

Because now, Adelaide was by my side where she had belonged all along.

I caught her laughing at her phone a moment later. She flashed me a grin. “Joey said to make sure I don’t get sunburned and that I better get sprayed with sunscreen every hour,” she told me, a teasing smile playing on her lips.

I rolled my eyes. “Tell him to mind his own fucking business,” I retorted.

She only giggled before she leaned down to press a kiss to Axel’s forehead, since he was still drinking his milk in the cradle of my arms. She blew me a kiss before she sauntered out of the kitchen,gently pulling Reina away from the stove and ordering another club woman to finish breakfast as she did so.

I stared after her as she went.

God, she was perfect.

Chapter Twenty-Four

River

Istood to the side of the section we were assigned on the fairgrounds. It’d taken a little less than thirty minutes to unload all the tables and grills and get them set up. The club had jumped in to help, and some of the men even scolded Adelaide and Reina when they tried to help us set up. Some had gotten their heads bit off by my woman, but when one of them ran and grabbed her a corndog, she settled down.

Women were a different level of crazy when they were hungry… and pregnant.

I watched as Adelaide and Reina talked to the people in our town that came up to the table to buy burgers and hot dogs. Sam and I were manning the grill, leaving the two women to deal with everyone else. Neither of us were particularly friendly, nor were we people-pleasers. And while Adelaide definitely wasn’t either, she was damn good at putting a mask on. She could fake her bullshit with the best of them, and everyone that came up to buy food was eating out of the palm of her damn hand.

It probably didn’t hurt that the people in this town looked up to the Fathers of Mayhem MC. We didn’t bring trouble here, and we helped out when we could by doing things like this for the community. Though my club dealt with illegal shit, never, not in the thirty-something years this club had been established, had shit ever hit home.

And it was going to stay that way because I wanted this community to continue to be able to rely on us and trust us.

I looked over at Sam, only to find his eyes locked on Reina, his expression unreadable as he watched her. “You would be good for her,” I commented, making him drag his eyes off of her to look at me.

He arched an eyebrow at me. “What the fuck are you talking about now, River?” he demanded.

I shrugged, gesturing toward Reina with the hand holding my water bottle. “Her.” He grunted. “I caught you staring at her, Sam. You know shit doesn’t slide past me.”

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “That woman is going through too much shit right now to want anything to do with a man,” Sam told me. “Gregory made sure he fucked her up good.”

---