Page 61 of Saved By the Marines (Soldiers Of Misfortune)

“You keep saying that, Senator,” I said, tilting my head and giving him a bored look. “You failed this time. You’ll fail every time, because you’re a failure. A complete fucking loser.”

With that, I motioned for my team to get out of there. We didn’t need to be brawling in the hall. Especially not with the likes of him. Despite my bravado that asshole had way more connections than we did. Now I just wanted to get home to Bailey and put all this shit behind us. Her father wasn’t going to let this go easily. We all knew it, but together we’d deal with whatever temper tantrums he threw and the fall out from them.

I doubted he could get us discharged. Even if he did, it didn’t matter. I loved the Corps more than life itself. But I—we—loved Bailey even more than that.

CHAPTER27

Bailey

Ihummed as I loaded frosting into a piping bag. Jean had mentioned that one of her grandbabies was having a birthday in a few days and I offered to make a cake for the party. A party I was invited to.

Lowering the piping bag, I shook my head. Being with these men meant I was going to always be included in family events. A lot of family events since their family was huge. Wolfe's family was huge, I hadn’t met Kip or Jasper’s families and knew that it wasn’t likely I ever would. Wolfe’s family was their family, too.

Every weekend might be a barbeque on its own with most of the family getting together. It was mind blowing for me. My birthdays had usually been the servants making me a cake and celebrating with me because Dad almost always forgot.

Last year Amy had taken me home for Christmas and I’d gotten to spend the holiday with her wonderful family. Her mother and father had even bought me a present. Now, here I was with a potential family of my own and I wanted it so badly that my hands were shaking.

Not that I was only doing this for Wolfe’s family. I wanted these three men. The family they came with was just the cherry on top. I spun the icing turntable and piped thick pink frosting on top of the cake and along the sides. Setting the bag aside, I used my palette knife to spread the frosting until it covered the layers of spongy cake.

I’d texted Amy to thank her for the boxes of things she’d packed up for the guys to bring to me. They’d probably been expecting a lot of clothes and shoes, not boxes upon boxes of baking equipment. Not that I had everything here, but it would do until we could make a trip back to the apartment. I needed to speak to them about what the plan was. Thankfully, I had some time until fall semester started, but Amy would need to find another roommate if I wasn’t going back. There was a little piece of me that didn’t want to.

Now that I wasn’t living under my dad’s thumb, I could do whatever I wanted. I eyed the cake, happy with the base I’d put on it. I put new frosting in a new bag and began to decorate. The plan was to make a few different options for Jean to choose from. My eyes strayed over to the timer on the stove where I had more cake layers baking.

The guys had left early this morning for their base. Wolfe had mentioned that they had a meeting. It was giving me time to work through everything. My nerves settled as I fell into a rhythm and I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but a knock on the door made me jump.

Craning my neck, I saw Jean at the back door, smiling. “Come in!” I called out, greeting her when she walked through.

“Oh! Bailey!” Her eyes were wide as she took in the three cakes on the counter. The round vanilla cake was pink with white frosting decorating it in swirls and slashes. The second was a square chocolate with purple and a layer of pink that dripped down the sides like paint had been spilled. The third was a half vanilla and half chocolate rectangle, also pink, but it had a fairytale scene made out of fondant.

“I can do any of them and mix and match decorations. Whatever you want,” I told her. My fingers itched to fix a small flaw on the last cake, but I forced myself to leave it alone.

“They’re so beautiful,” she whispered, approaching as if any sudden movements would cause them to collapse. “I didn’t mean for you to do all this work.”

“Honestly, it feels really good to be able to bake again,” I admitted with a small smile. “I’ve been feeling so out of my element for so long now, this was a chance to dive back in.” And I meant it too. It wasn’t just getting back into baking that was making me happy. It was the lack of guilt, the absence of fear. Before, I was always afraid that my father would erupt and end my baking career before it began. Now, I felt perfectly relaxed and was thoroughly enjoying myself.

“I could pay you for all of them,” she offered.

“Oh no.” I shook my head. “I was hoping this could be my present to Ivy.” Her granddaughter was turning six.

“If you’re sure, then that princess cake would be a huge hit.”

“Great! I’ll remake it for the day of the party. Would you like something to drink?”

Jean laughed softly. “My sons don’t have much in the way of drinks here. They don’t have a lot of guests and usually come over to my place to pilfer what they can.” She paused, her eyes narrowing on the cakes. “Come to think of it, they wouldn’t have had enough to make even one of those cakes.”

“There’s a store just up the road,” I said with a laugh. “I borrowed Jas’s car.” I poured a cup of coffee that I’d made with my French press and set it in front of her.

Jean’s eyes closed as she sampled it. “Well, now I’ll be coming over here each morning and pilfering from them.” She shook her head in amusement as I set a muffin in front of her.

I sat down beside her and smiled when she groaned as she bit into the blueberry muffin. “You’re welcome anytime.” I hesitated a moment before admitting, “I didn’t have a great relationship with my dad growing up and I didn’t have anyone else. I’m not really used to a large family, but being welcomed so fully into yours has made me so happy I could just sit here and cry.”

Jean’s eyes softened and she reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it. “It only took about a minute to see the way my sons look at you. You already have their hearts, they’re just trying to take it slow so they don’t spook you. You will always be welcome in our family.”

Tears pooled behind my eyes and I nodded, looking down so I could blink them away. I knew that she meant every word of it. This was what it was like to have a mother. I wished it was something I’d always had, but since I hadn’t I was grateful to have it now. With her.

We chatted while she finished her coffee and muffin and then she left. I’d only been cleaning my mess in the kitchen for about ten minutes when the guys showed up. I eyed them as they walked in. They looked incredible in their fancy uniforms. “Do you always wear those to meetings?” I asked. Kip had explained that these were their Marine Dress Uniforms. Of all the military services dress uniforms, each sexy in their own right, the Marine uniform was by far the best. It was all I could do to form words with the three of them standing there.

They exchanged glances and worry clawed at my stomach. Something was wrong.

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