“I’m not going to make him my own personal assassin, or you guys would be fucked, I just want coffee…and food…maybe orgasms.” I shrug.

Ryder grins at me, flashing white teeth. “I’m sure I can help with that,” he murmurs seductively, his eyes glancing down at my lips and tits, which are pressing against Kenzo’s white shirt and leaving nothing to the imagination. I gulp loudly, clenching my aching thighs together. My pussy literally took a beating, but it still throbs at his words. Hooker.

He grins, swiping his finger over my exposed collarbone, making me shiver, but all he does is push a strand of hair behind my ear before looking away.

Dear fucking God, these guys are not good for my pussy. All they have to do is look at me with those mean eyes, and I melt.

Diesel slips in behind me on the sofa, jostling me forward as his legs go to either side of me. His chest is still bare, and my sewing work is hidden behind white gauze. He wraps an arm around my waist and drags me back until I’m locked between his thighs. With his other hand, he offers me a steaming cup of coffee.

Groaning, I take it and burn my mouth as I take a sip—worth it. My stomach growls then, and he laughs as he kisses my cheek. “Presents first, food after.”

“Presents?” I perk up. “Is it a new bat?”

Garrett laughs.

“Told you,” Kenzo grumbles, and hands some money over to him, which he pockets before winking at me. Dayum, this truce thing is really working.

“No, no bats, I’m afraid, darling,” Kenzo tells me, leaning forward to meet my gaze. “We wanted to show you that we can be more than…well, mobsters. This is all for you. Whatever you don’t like, we can take back, and we can get whatever you need.” He scrubs the back of his head. “I know we started off…awkwardly, but your happiness is important to us.”

I look over at the bags and boxes on the table I didn’t notice before. There are so many, they spill onto the floor. What the— “When did you even get all this?”

“Earlier, Ryder and I went shopping.” Kenzo laughs.

I look at Ryder, who only sighs. “He made me.”

“You don’t have to buy me shit,” I grumble. It chafes me, I like to buy my own way in life…this feels like I’ll owe them something after.

Ryder leans over, uncaring that I’m wrapped in Diesel’s embrace, and grabs my chin hard, making me look at him. “No strings, no expectations. This is just something nice, and I know that’s hard to understand, I still struggle, but we did it because we care. Accept that, love.”

Fuck, how did he know?

Because Ryder knows everything, and he’s made it his business to learn everything about me. That fucking man. He smirks like he knows my thoughts and leans down, licking my lips before humming. “Mmm, coffee.”

He pulls away, leaving me breathless and slightly wet. Asshole. Okay, no strings. Normal people can accept gifts. You can do this. “Seriously, I hope you didn’t spend a lot,” I murmur, and my eyes widen when I spot the Cartier box.

Diesel laughs when I try to run away, wrapping his legs around me until I have a psychotic human koala draped around me, keeping me still. Ryder plucks the coffee from my hand before I spill it and, with his eyes on me as I struggle, places those lips where mine were and downs it.

“Motherfucker,” I hiss. “You owe me more coffee.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” He winks and grabs a box, a small one, and thrusts it at me. He suddenly seems nervous, which isn’t a word I would normally use to describe Ryder. “Here, this is one I picked.”

Unable to escape, I sigh and accept the box, flipping over the lid. Inside, nestled in silk, is a necklace. It’s fucking stunning. It’s a thick golden coil, a choker, with a snake head at one end and the tail at the other. Scales cover the gold surface, and the eyes are bright red rubies. It’s breathtaking, and no doubt expensive.

Two parts of me chafe—one that expects strings to come with this, and the other that wants to be mad. I’m not something they can buy with jewels. I don’t want their fucking money.

Kenzo leans forward. “Darling, accept this. We plan to spoil you a lot.”

“Why?” I demand, clutching the box, angry now.

He shrugs. “Because we can, because we all know where you came from and most of us came from there too. You should have nice things, you should be spoiled with jewels and gifts that hardly compare to your beauty. Get used to it, it’s happening.”

“But—” I start, but Ryder narrows his eyes.

“Just say thank you, we don’t want anything in return…well, maybe don’t kick Garrett in the family jewels again.”

“The money—”

“We have a fucking ton, more than we could ever fucking need, so accept the damn gifts or you’ll hurt their feelings. The stupid assholes never do anything for someone else, so don’t turn this around now,” Garrett snaps.

Well shit.

Sighing, I gather my courage, knowing this is my issue to deal with. I decided to go all in with them, to give up fighting every little thing. This is my issue with money and presents, not theirs. Garrett’s right. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, before looking at Ryder and Kenzo who appear deflated. Ryder is grinding his teeth. “Thank you, I’ve never had a present before, and I guess I didn’t know how to respond.”

“Never?” Garrett rumbles.

I shake my head, reaching out and stroking the snake. “Never, we didn’t celebrate any holidays or my birthday as a kid, so as an adult?” I shrug. “It never happened.”

“Fucking assholes,” Garrett grumbles, as Diesel pulls me closer.

“When is your birthday?” Kenzo demands.

“Erm, May, I think.” I sigh, and Ryder looks at me quizzically. “They never told me exactly.”

His eyes narrow, his fists clenching. “I will find out.”

Diesel kisses me again. “I never had presents before these guys either, but look at them, look how happy they are, you’ve given them a purpose. They have all this money and no one to spend it on, so let them spoil you, Little Bird. It’s as much for them as it is for you. Their father used his money like a weapon, another thing to hoard. So this? This is good for them, showing them it can do something other than make you powerful.”

He’s right. Kenzo is smiling widely, and even Ryder is relaxed and seems happy. “It’s beautiful. I’m seeing a pattern though.” I laugh, and Kenzo reaches out and passes me another two boxes.

Carefully shutting the necklace’s box, I look around for a place to put it when Ryder’s hand curls over mine and extracts it, his sad, dark eyes meeting mine. “Thank you,” he whispers, and I follow his gaze to Kenzo. There’s a story there, that’s for sure, but not one for right now.

I nod, and he passes me the next two. I open them cautiously, not even shocked at the jewels inside—just how rich are these guys? In one box is a belly charm with a dangling gold snake, which makes me laugh. In the other is a ring that has me gasping. It’s black and large, set in a gold setting that has fangs gripping the jewel.

“They are—” I shake my head. “Amazing,” I whisper.