“Baby, I am. It’s safe and good on gas,” I tell her.

“I will have to sit on a phone book just to see over the damn steering wheel. How the hell is that safe?”

“Actually, the seats are completely adjustable,” Phil says, earning a glare from Lilly. And laugher from our group.

“This is not okay.” She stomps her foot.

“Look, maybe we can compromise?”

“Compromise?” she yells, throwing her hands up in the air. “Like what? I say you’re not going to buy me a car, and you force it on me? That kind of compromise? Yeah, no thanks.”

“Calm down, okay? I want you to be safe, and this is one of the safest cars available.”

“Actually, we have a Mercedes Benz tha—” I look up and narrow my eyes on Phil. “Never mind,” he mumbles before walking off.

“Take a deep breath.”

“I don’t like this,” she whispers, and I see tears in her eyes. “I didn’t want a car to begin with, and I don’t want that thing.” She point at the Acadia.

“Why don’t you want it?”

“I just don’t. And I don’t want you to spend that kind of money on me.”

“You know, if you were to sue me for back child support, you would be rolling in the dough.”

“I would never do that,” she gasps.

“Lil,” I laugh, running my fingers along her jaw, “I know that you wouldn’t, but the point is that you could. I haven’t been around since Ashlyn was born. I wasn’t there to help you with bills or expenses. I want you to have nice things. There is no reason for you to struggle anymore. So please, let me do this for you,” I beg. It’s not lost on me how different this situation is compared to the one I was in with Jules. Jules wanted everything; she was never satisfied, and if I took her to a car dealership and told her to pick out a new car, she would have left me filling out the paperwork while she took off in her new ride.

“I don’t like it.”

“I know, but can you just do this one thing for me? I want to know that you’re safe, and that when you have my kids in the car with you, they’re safe too.”

“You say ‘this one thing’, but I know that you’re going to have a million other things.” She pouts.

“You know you’re really f**king cute when you’re upset?”

“You’re so...” she stops, like she’s trying to think of a word to use to describe me.

“Annoying,” Liz supplies, laughing.

“Yes,” Lilly says, looking at Liz. “Thank you.”

“You are so annoying,” she says, looking back at me.

“But you love me.”

“Don’t remind me,” she grumbles, so I bend her back and kiss her until I feel her body relax, and I know I have her right where I want her.

“Let’s go get your new car,” I say kissing her again before swinging her up into my arms. “Get the paperwork ready, Phil.”

“On it.” He smiles.

“Yay!” I hear Ashlyn yell.

*~*~*

It is official. My family is f**king crazy. Yes, they mean well, but they need to leave; I want to be alone with my woman and kids. I look around the room, realizing that everyone is settling in, getting comfortable like they plan on staying all f**king night.

“What the f**k is your problem?” Nico asks, making my eyes narrow.

“What the hell is going on? You guys have never all stopped by on the weekend. And now it seems like you’re never going to leave.”

“We wanted to come show our support and prove that we do like Lil,” he says, looking into the kitchen where she and November are standing.

“First, don’t call her Lil. Second, since when have you liked her?” I ask, watching Lilly laugh at something that November says.

“She’s grown on me, and I know that it’s not some game or a show that she’s putting on for us.”

“Lil’s not like that,” I tell him, taking a pull from my beer.

“So you can call her Lil, but I can’t?”

“Pretty much.” I shrug.

“Daddy, can we go outside?” Ashlyn asks, coming to stand in front of me.

“Yeah, baby, let’s go get your coat.”

“I’m coming too,” Asher says.

“Me too,” Trevor says.

“Oh, me too,” Nico says in a high-pitched girl’s voice.

“You’re silly, Uncle Nico,” Ashlyn says giggling, making Nico smile. He bends, picking her up and holding her upside-down.

“Do you still think I’m silly?” he asks, bouncing her up and down, making her laugh louder. I look up and see Lilly watching; our eyes meet for a second before hers go to Nico, going soft. She loves that Ashlyn is able to experience this; being an only child and her parents’ siblings living so far away when she was growing up, she wasn’t able to spend much time with her aunts and uncles.

“Okay, you’re not silly-y-y-y,” Ashlyn squeals before Nico rights her and sets her feet on the ground, making sure she is stable before letting her go and ruffling her hair.

“All right, get your jacket and see if Jax wants to go out with you,” Lilly says, walking into the living room.

“You good, baby?” I put my arm around her waist, kissing her hair.

“Yeah.” She leans in, wrapping her arm around my back. “Should we order pizza for everyone?”

“No,” I say, just as everyone else says yes, and all the kids start yelling, “PIZZA!”

“Honey,” Lilly whispers, her fingers digging into my side. I look into her eyes and shake my head.

“Jesus, fine, you girls call it in, and me and the boys will go pick it up,” I tell her, kissing her forehead before dipping my head to the side and whispering into her ear, “You owe me later.” I watch her face turn a light pink before hiding it against my chest. “Love you, Lil,” I say into the hair at the top of her head.

“Love you, too,” she says, her words muffled by my shirt.

“All right, I’m going to take the rug rats outside. Let me know when you guys order the pizza so we can go pick it up.”

“Sure,” she mumbles. I tilt her head back with a thumb under her chin so I can kiss her. The second my lips touch hers, I pull her a little tighter against me, wanting to absorb as much of her into me as I can.

“Stop being gross!” Jax yells.

“Yeah, that’s icky,” Ashlyn says, and Lilly smiles against my mouth.

“Get used to it,” I can hear my oldest niece July say, and I smile, rubbing my nose against Lilly’s before pulling away.

“All right, let’s go.” I throw out a hand towards the door and watch as all the kids start to run outside.

“So I did a background check on Lilly,” Nico says once we’re outside and all the kids are running around screaming. His words catch me off guard and I turn to look at him.

“Say what?” I ask. I can feel my body preparing to attack.

“Look, I did it a while back after the first time you saw her. I wanted—” That was it; I couldn’t take anymore. I looked around, seeing if anyone was watching us before putting him in a headlock. We have all been fighting since we were kids; yes, we all love each other, and yes, we are close, but we are male, and sometimes you had to let that shit out through your fist. I pull his head down low so that if any of the kids were to see us, they would think that we are just horsing around.

“I’m going to say this one f**king time, and I want to make sure you hear me, so I’m going to speak really slowly.” I tightened my arm around his neck, and it barely registers that he isn’t fighting back. Nico is as big as Asher and has filled out even more since working for Kenton, and I know if he wanted to, he could put me on my ass any other time, but right now, I’m so pissed that I feel like The Hulk. “Lilly is off limits. She is not Jules; she’s not some chick that I’m just f**king with. She is someone I have history with. And the person I plan to spend the rest of my life with. So I’m gonna tell you like I told Dad—if you’re not on Lil’s side, you’re not on my side. Do you understand?”

“What the fuck?” I hear before I’m being pulled away from Nico. I brush Trevor and Asher off and right myself.

“It’s cool; we’re cool,” Nico says, holding up his hands.

“Are we cool? Tell me what I want to hear.” I look at all three of my brothers. “You three all need to tell me that you’re on her side.”

“Dude, chill, we’re all on Lil’s side,” Trevor says softly.

“Don’t f**king call her Lil,” I growl, and Nico laughs.

“Look, we get it, and we’re all sorry,” Nico says smiling.

“So why the f**k did you have a background check done on her?”

“I wanted to see what she’s been up to,” he mumbles, and I run my hands down my face.

“I love you all, but I know what I'm doing. This situation with Lil is stressful enough for her. If she finds out that you’re running background checks or anything else,” I tug my hat off and run my hands though my hair, “that might send her running.” I close my eyes and shake my head. When I open my eyes back up, I look at the three of them. “I have to tell you, if she runs, I'm following her. Even if that means moving to another state.”

“The only reason I said anything was because I wanted you to know that I didn’t think she would commit check fraud,” Nico says, looking worried.

“I already knew that without you telling me you did a background check, dick. It’s called trust.”

“You know, if you ever did something like that to November, I would kick your ass!” Asher says, glaring at Nico.

“Yep, I would f**k you up if you did that shit to Liz.”

“Just don’t do anymore shit like that,” I say.

“You have my word.” Nico nods. “She’s good for you. I see that, and I can tell she loves you and Jax,” Nico says.

“Just, all of you, stay out of my love life.”

“You haven’t had a love life in a long time; we’re all waiting to see what happens,” Asher chuckles.

“This isn’t The Real Housewives; this is my life!” I shout.

“Hey, that’s a good show,” Trevor mumbles.

“You’re all idiots,” I toss over my shoulder as I walk off to join the kids. A few hours later, after everyone has left and the kids are in bed, Lil and I are cuddled up on the couch watching Ridiculousness, laughing our asses off at the stupid things people do, when she reaches over, grabbing the remote and pausing the TV.

“Thank you for having everyone over today,” she says, turning towards me.

“I didn’t want them here,” I tell her, and her eyebrows come together.

“What?”

“I didn’t invite them. They just showed up. All I wanted to do today was relax with you and the kids.”

“Oh,” she says, her eyes searching my face.

“They wanted to prove to you that they’ve got your back. They do care about you, baby.”

“But—”

“No buts.” I cover her lips with my finger. “They know that they shouldn’t have placed you in the same category as Jules. They wanted to show you that we are all family, and we all stick together.”

“I really like them all. And I'm happy they have been here for you,” she says, leaning in and kissing my chest before turning her body back around and laying her head against my chest. Then she lifts the remote in her hand towards the TV and the sound of Rob Dyrdek’s voice fills the room. I sit watching the show, but not really seeing it. My mind is full of thoughts about the past, and if I'm lucky, what the future will hold for all of us. I hold Lil a little closer when I hear her laugh. This is my boom. I knew it years ago, and I know it now.

Chapter 7

Lilly

“Stay away from my husband.” I look up, along with every child in my classroom.

“Can I help you?” I stand up from where I was sitting on the floor in a beanbag chair having story time.

“You need to stay the f**k away from my husband!” It takes a second for me to realize who she is and who she’s talking about. She looks different from the last time I saw her at Cash’s parents’ house; her once brown hair is now blonde, and she’s wearing jeans and a sweater that is cut low, showing way too much cl**vage and it looks like she has lost twenty pounds.

“Let’s talk in the hall,” I say softly. I have a classroom full of seven and eight year olds; I don’t need her to start yelling and screaming in the middle of my classroom.

“I don’t want to talk to you in the f**king hall. I want you to tell me that you will stay away from my husband.” I walk to the door of my classroom. Once there, I turn slightly to look at my students.

“Molly, will you please finish reading the rest of the story to the class?” Molly stands, picking the book up off the floor before sitting in my chair. Once I see that she is seated, I turn to face Cash’s ex.

“Let’s just step out into the hall.” I step out, hoping that she will follow me and not cause a scene in front of my students.

“I told you already, I’m not talking to you in the f**king hall. I am not talking to you at all. The only thing that I want is for you to tell me that you are going to stay the f**k away from my husband.”