Page 38 of Flirt

One of the twins wiggled, then whimpered, and it brought me back to where I was. “Can I get him?” I asked Luna.

“Of course. That one is Lock,” she said, then chuckled. “I think. We might have to put different color wristbands on them until we can tell them apart.”

I picked the baby up, opened the blanket until I could read the hospital wristband. I looked at Lock’s face, then down at Key as I fixed Lock’s blanket. “Yeah, good luck with that.” Not a single difference showed in their tiny faces.

“Thanks. Your doctor's knowledge of children is shining bright,” Luna said sarcastically.

I chuckled, and the movement of my chest and the sound made Lock squirm in my arms.

“Sorry, little man,” I said as I swayed side to side to settle him down. “I think they favor Ghost. At least for now. They change so fast. Who knows what they’ll look like in three months.”

“They’ll still look like Brax. Under their hats is his dark brown hair. I don’t see it switching to blonde. Maybe I will get lucky with their eyes, but somehow I doubt it. They’ll probably end up with his gray ones, too.”

“Archer looks like my momma,” Ally said and slid off Sami’s bed so she could get a better look at her brother in his hospital crib. “I guess that’s fair since Aunt Carly said I look so much like my daddy, I coulda popped out his butt.” Speed snorted, and Sami closed her eyes and sighed. Before anyone could say anything else, the door was pushed open, and Mac entered with the rest of the group following behind.

I moved around to the other side of Luna’s bed to get out of the way. When the ooh’s and aah’s started, the sound in the room rose a few decibels. Lock squirmed in my arms, and Key and Archer began to stir in their beds. Which wasn’t a huge deal since there were women who were dying to get a hold of them.

I smiled at Lock while I swayed back and forth with him. Holding him in my arms brought back memories of Sawyer as a baby. It had been a happy time and one of great sadness for me, too. Pushing that thought away, not wanting to travel down the road of my past in a room full of people, I placed my focus on Lock. I cooed and talked to him while I listened to the others around me. I knew the quieter I stayed, the longer I would get to hold him before someone stole him away.

There must have been five different conversations going on in the room. It happened a lot when this group was together. I had stopped paying attention to what everyone was saying until a familiar voice broke through and registered.

“I might have miscalculated this situation.”

I scanned the room until my eyes landed on the man the voice belonged to. I watched him shake his head, then run his hand across the back of his neck. Unaware I was looking at him.

Coast stood beside him, so I assumed that was who he was talking to. Coast confirmed it when he answered him with, “Ya think.”

Coast looked in my direction, then to my shock, said in not too low of a voice, “If you have a flogger, whip, crop, or one of those other tools you kink guys like to use, it’d be a good time to pull it out. The crowd might need to be tamed,” Coast advised and slapped Max’s shoulder.

I didn’t hear “asshole” as much as I read it from Max’s lips. I also realized that I was not the only one who heard them because the room had gone quiet.

Awesome.

Frozen in my spot, at first wondering what Max was doing here, then it struck me. He was the elusive Flirt everyone, including my daughter, spoke of, but I had yet to meet. There was always a reason for his absence when the other men had been around. If I looked at all the times he was conveniently missing, it made sense. Avoidance.

“Hey, Flirt. Come get a look at the newest members of the next generation,” Ghost said, verifying I was correct.

I heard Luna hush him, but I didn’t glance toward her. Everything was running through my head at once. Did everyone know? How much did they know? I felt betrayed, and as I thought about what a fool I’d been made of, anger set in.

“Don’t forget the small ears in the room,” Devil said.

Ah, yes. I had briefly forgotten about Ally, Neely, Paxton, and Tracker being in the room.

“Be quiet, Lance,” came from Bailey. And as usual, it took a second to link Lance with his club name Devil.

Max was the first to break eye contact between us, and I watched as he walked between the two beds. He stopped beside Sami’s bed and leaned down and kissed the top of her head, then he moved to Luna’s bed and kissed the top of her head, too.

He looked between the two women and spoke with ease as if there wasn’t now a colossal elephant in the room, “You both look beautiful. No one would ever guess you two just delivered babies.” Then he turned to face me. “Gabriella,” came smoothly from his lips as if there weren’t over a dozen people’s eyes focused on us.

I leaned down and kissed Lock on the forehead, then held him out to his mother.

“Brie,” was all Luna got out before I shook my head, cutting off whatever she planned to say.

“Thanks for letting me hold him.” She sighed and took her son from my arms. “I’ll be back mid-afternoon to do the circumcisions,” I said, glancing between Luna and Sami. I forced myself to include the others. “I appreciate you letting me share this special moment with you.”

I walked around the bed, and the others moved, giving me room to pass. When I felt a hand touch my arm, I didn’t even turn my head. “Don’t touch me,” I said, my voice slightly cracking.

The hand dropped away, and Max said, “You have to let me explain.”

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