Corrupting Cinderella (42 page)

“Hey, Axel.”

“Does prez need me?” he asks. I can’t tell if he’s looking for a way out or he’s really worried Rock might need him for something.

“He didn’t say so, but he’s right outside.”

Unfolding himself from the floor, he plants a kiss on Heidi’s cheek and steps out. His big, booted feet haven’t even cleared the room before the girls burst into giggles.

“You’re so lucky,” Penny sighs.

“Who’s prez that he’s so worried about?” Skye asks.

“My Uncle Rock,” Heidi answers with a whole lot of pride in her voice. “Hope’s his girlfriend,” she says while pointing at me.

The girls seem less than impressed.

“They’re all so old. Aren’t there any other guys in your brother’s club, like Axel’s age?” Penny asks.

I tamp down a giggle at that.

“Yeah, there’s two other prospects, but they’re older than Axel too.”

“High school boys not very interesting these days?” I ask.

Skye gives me a cool glance before answering. “We’re seniors now. We can’t date high school boys.”

Oh dear.

“Food will be ready soon, if you girls want to come out.”

Heidi nods. “We’ll be there.”

On my way back outside, I intercept Bricks. He gives me a quick hug. “Where’s the birthday girl?”

“Inside watching movies with her friends.”

He chuckles. “I brought Lisa and Deacon with me, but she’s probably not gonna wanna hang with them in front of her friends.”

I’m not so sure about that. Heidi seems to do whatever she wants.

“Winter brought Caleb too,” he continues.

“Cool. Rock set up some games in the backyard for the little guys.”

He’s tapping a big, pink envelope in his hands. When I glance at it, he shrugs. “For Heidi,” he explains while handing it to me.

“I’ll stick it on the table.”

He goes inside, and I drop the envelope in a box Trinity set up outside for people to deliver their cards and gifts to Heidi. It seems most people brought gift cards, although there is one big box wrapped in green and silver paper on the table. Idly, I flip over the card and see it’s from Murphy.

That should be interesting.

“Let’s eat!” Z shouts.

Trinity races out of the kitchen to find Wrath. I watch them for a minute, until Rock wraps an arm around my waist. “Hungry?”

“Actually, yes.”

His lips find my ear, and he gently sinks his teeth into me, sending shivers through my body.

“Not here,” I groan.

His deep, rumbling chuckle races right through me.

We’re interrupted by the girls flying out of the house. Z teases them, makes them say please and thank you about a hundred times before finally feeding them.

They’re not amused.

After everyone’s eaten, Heidi goes through her presents. She’s collected enough gift cards to fill the closets of three teenage girls. One by one, she reads the cards and thanks everyone. Only Wrath, Teller, Murphy, Axel, Rock and I are standing around when she gets to the last present.

“It’s from me, Heidi-bug,” Murphy says with a grin.

“I figured.” Heidi rips into it and beams at the helmet inside. “Oh, I love it! Thank you, Blake.”

It’s a big, shiny black one with a full face mask, decorated with pink skulls and butterflies. Very Heidi.

“We’ll take our ride in a few, okay?”

“Yeah.” She smiles shyly. “I didn’t know if we were still doing that.”

“Of course, Bug. It’s your birthday.”

She bounces on her toes a few more times, then races over to show her girlfriends and Axel the helmet.

I quirk an eyebrow at Murphy, which he doesn’t see, because he’s watching Heidi.

Teller’s got an uncertain look on his face, but he answers my unspoken question. “They’ve been doing that every year on her birthday since she was like eight.”

Wrath shifts and shakes his head.

We’re interrupted by Heidi racing back. “Can we go now? Please?”

Murphy sets his drink down. A corner of his mouth twists up. “Yeah.”

“We haven’t done cake yet,” Wrath advises.

Murphy slaps Wrath on the arm. “We won’t be gone long, bro.”

We watch them walk down the driveway for a second before Teller walks into the house.

Turning back to Wrath and Rock, I sigh. “Aw, that’s sweet that they have a birthday ritual.”

Wrath gives me his “are you nuts” face.

“What?”

“He needs to knock that shit off. It ain’t okay anymore.” He throws a glance at where Axel is hanging out with Skye and Penny.

Wow. Okay. “Wait, I thought you were team Murphy?”

Wrath shrugs his massive shoulders. “Axel’s a good kid. He cares about her.”

Now I’m utterly confused. “Murphy cares about her.”

Wrath looks at me like he’s surprised to find himself in the middle of this conversation. “It’s not about that. It ain’t cool to have another brother’s girl on the back of your bike.”

Rock taps Wrath on the shoulder. “We’ll worry about it another day. Axel’s fine. Teller’s fine with it. Let it go.”

“Yeah, okay.” All at once, the tension seems to drain out of him. “You seen Trin? She was ripping your kitchen apart looking for a lighter earlier,” he says with a smirk.

Rock chuckles. “Yeah, she found it.”

“Cool. The cake she made is pretty kick-ass. She’s real excited about it too. Those two better not be gone too long.” He throws a glare down the driveway as the sound of Murphy’s bike starting up fills the air.

A giggle bubbles out of me. “You’re so cute,” I say without thinking.

Wrath’s blue eyes flare in surprise. “Cute? Sugar, there’s absolutely nothing ‘cute’ about me.”

Rock’s staring at me like I just stood up and announced my intention to take up stock-car racing.

My mouth opens and closes a few times before I frame what I want to say. “Well,
I
think it’s cute you’re all worried about Trinity being disappointed if Heidi doesn’t get to see the cake she made for her.” I manage to babble out while sounding very much like a petulant child.

Rock and Wrath share a glance. Wrath settles back into a pose of indifference. “She spent a lot of time on it, that’s all, Hope.”

“Sure. Okay, Wrath.” I give Rock’s hand a squeeze and then head inside to see if I can help Trinity out.

As soon as Hope’s out of earshot, I burst out laughing. “She so has your number, brother.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Wrath loves his lethal image, so I enjoy poking at this one. “Aw, I think it’s nice. She thinks you’re cute. Like a fuzzy puppy or something.”

“Jealous?”

“Nope. She’s referred to me as sexy, sexual crack, big and scary, but never
cute
.”

“You want her to find me sexy? Cause I’ll charm the pants right off her if you want.”

This whole conversation just stopped being funny.

“Thought so,” Wrath says with a grin.

“Fuck you.”

I’m still watching Hope’s sexy ass swaying away from me. I wish I’d taken her in the garage when I’d had the chance. It might have helped ease some of the leftover tension from earlier. I realize I’d been a bit of a dick, but something about my girl thinking she needed to explain a two-syllable word to me rankled.

“Seriously, you think we need to have a talk with Murph?”

I can’t even deal with that situation right now. “Dude, she’s known him since she was a kid. It’s their thing. Let it go. If Axel has an issue, he can bring it up.”

“Whatever.”

We wander back and rejoin the party. The girls are busy teaching Bricks’s kids one of the games we set up outside. It’s a cute picture, and I take a second to appreciate my Lost Kings family all in one place. I’m not related to a single person here by blood, but it doesn’t matter. They’re family.

Familiar arms snake around my middle and squeeze. Her scent drifts to me, but I’d recognize her by feel alone.

“Hey, baby,” I rasp, placing my hand over hers. I tug her around until she’s facing me and slip my arms around her.

“Having fun yet?” she teases.

I’m not sure if I would call this afternoon “fun,” but I am content and I tell her so.

With everyone else occupied, I nudge Hope into the garage. “Got a project I want to show you.”

She rolls her eyes because she knows I’m full of shit. Can’t lie to my girl worth a damn.

“Rock,” she whines, “there’s children out—”

I cut her off with a kiss and behind her flip the lock on the door. “No windows, baby.” Well, there are windows, but they are high up enough to keep out prying eyes.

Warm breath skates over my neck as she lets out a husky laugh. “You’re so bad.”

“What? I just wanna show you my latest project.”

She smiles and kisses me back until we’re both frantic. Then she ducks to the right, out of my grasp.

I shift restlessly, aching from the loss of her body against mine.

“Show me your project,” she purrs in a teasing way that surprises me.

I look up and catch her watching me with a heavy-lidded, sexy gaze. She slides her tongue along the seam of her lips and I swear I feel it in my cock.

“You’re so fucking hot, Hope, but you’re begging for me to spank your ass right now.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Oh, game on.

The
whoop, whoop
of a police siren interrupts the filthy plans I have for my girl.

“What the fuck?” I grumble.

Hope’s posture straightens, and she grabs for the door.

“Christ, give me a second,” I grind out, pointing to the erection tenting my jeans.

She giggles.

“Thanks, babe. Laughing at it will definitely help.” Of course, that only makes her laugh harder. “That’s enough. Let’s go see what the problem is.”

Of course, Wrath is the one standing closest to the garage and doubles over laughing when he spots us walking out.

“Shut up, dick.”

Hope’s blushing ten shades of red as she stalks past us and down the driveway in the direction of the glowing red and blue lights.

“The fuck?”

Wrath shrugs. “Your house, was waiting for you to go deal with it.”

Of course.

Except it looks like Hope’s got it covered.

“Can I help you, officers?” I call out as I stride over the lawn.

“We’re looking for Marcel Whelan. He here?”

I whip around and find Rock almost right behind me. “Go find Teller.”

He nods and takes off.

“What’s the problem?”

“You a family member?”

“Sort of. I’m also Mr. Whelan’s attorney, so what’s the issue?”

He jerks his thumb toward the back of his car, and through the window I spot a tear-streaked, red-faced Heidi.

“Oh my God! Heidi?” My gaze shoots to the officer. “What’s going on?”