Page 62 of Players and Pages
I playfully hit his chest. "Oh no, not now, mister! There isn't time for that, remember?”
His look of defeat had me cracking up.
“Maybe later… if you’re lucky."
"Promise?" he asked as he led me to the store. This alpha was shameless.
"Depends on if you're a good boy," I teased, earning me a swat on the ass.
"Hey now," Taryn called out. "Save that for the bedroom."
I looked up to see her and Liam holding the door open for me.
"You better give me that cute little nephew of mine," I said, letting go of Cy's hands to take the baby from her and giving him my full attention.
"Take him, he was up all night again," she groaned, though the loving smile that she had while she looked at him told me she didn't mind too much.
"That's just because he missed me yesterday," I teased. "How's Gem?"
"Perfect," Bea said, coming into view with our niece on her hip. Her dark curls were perfect as always and Gem had a thick strand in her tiny fist.
I walked through the door with a greeting to the sweet little girl.
The scent of paperbacks had me breathing in deep, a sense of calm washing over me like it always did. This was truly one of my happy places.
The other was with them.
"How many emails did we get yesterday?" I asked as I walked towards my desk, bracing for their answer. I swear I was starting to develop an email phobia.
"I've handled all that and posted on all our media pages, regarding it. No one is going to talk shit about you on my watch," Bea told me. There was fire in her voice, the heat burning in her eyes just as fierce.
I swallowed hard, letting her support chase away the nerves.
"Thank you," I started to say but she held up a hand to stop me.
"There’s always going to be someone that is jealous of you. You snagged one of the hottest packs in this area. Hell, the state and league, too. But we aren't going to back down," she told me. “We’ll shut it down every time. No one deserves that.”
"I’m sure the pictures from last night didn’t help," I muttered, lowering my head.
Griff stepped towards me and pulled my chin up. He was never one to let me hide. "Bea's right. There are haters everywhere, but you have your besties, their packs, and us, all in your corner and we won't let anyone treat you badly again."
"I'm grateful to have you all backing me," I told him. “I’ll get used to it eventually.”
“You’ll get used to the limelight,” Taryn said. “No one expects you to get used to this hate, or to tolerate it.”
Liam squirmed a little in my arms and farted, breaking the tension. I laughed as my guys backed up.
"He's not going to explode," I said, tickling Liam until he was giggling. "Which one of you wants to hold him?"
My money was on Jackson, but to my amazement Cy was the one to hold his arms out for my little nephew.
"Be gentle," I told him as he moved to place Liam in his arms. The twins were nearing four months now and could hold their heads up themselves, but I still worried.
"Like this?" he asked, looking from the baby to me and holding his arms like he was already holding Liam.
"Perfect," I assured him, as I placed Liam in his awaiting arms. If the sight of him holding Liam didn't have my ovaries bursting I don't know what would.
Bea stepped towards Griff and Jackson elbowed him to make the same motion with his arms as Cy had. He huffed but did and then my rough and tough guy was holding my niece.
