Keeping Meg (Devil's Knights #6) (16 page)

“Well, I’m hoping he doesn’t try to collect until tomorrow. I was going to tell him the only way he wins is if Paige actually shows up with Princeton. I’ve got my fingers crossed hoping she chickens out the second she sees the tattoos on his neck.” She closed the door, mumbling about bets and tattoos, and I headed the rest of the way to our room and headed straight to the bathroom and turned on the water.

Steam billowed out of the shower, and I turned it a bit hotter to help work out the kinks in my neck from hanging from a ladder for the past hour.

The previous four days had been a whirlwind of shopping, planning, shopping, cooking, shopping, cleaning, shopping, and baking. Did I mention shopping? I swear if I had to run to the grocery one more time, I was going to go absolutely crazy. Ethel had been a godsend helping with all of the cooking. I don’t know what I thought when I had agreed to make tacos for seventy-five people. Throw in the damn cinnamon nachos, and I was completely maxed out and ready to sleep for the next three days.

I stripped off my clothes and stepped into the shower, the scalding water running over me and loosening all of my tight muscles.

“You gonna be done in half an hour, or should I tell everyone seven thirty?”

I stuck my head out of the shower curtain and saw Lo leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom. “Seven should be all right as long as you don’t plan on showering with me.”

“As much as I’d love to, babe, I know we wouldn’t be out of here until nine o’clock then.” He knew me so well.

“Seven it is then,” I laughed ducking back into the shower. I grabbed the shampoo, pouring a puddle into my hand and lathered it into my hair. “You called ahead and made reservations, right?” I called.

“Yeah. I called a week ago. We have two big ass tables in the back for us.”

“Good. You know how crazy the bars are on Friday for fish fries.” Fish fry and Friday night went hand in hand in Wisconsin. There was always at least a half an hour wait no matter where you went on a Friday night.

“We’ll be good, babe. All the hard shit is done. Now all I need to do is marry your sweet ass and lock you in our room for the next four days.” I heard him turn the faucet on, and I peeked my head out, full of shampoo, to see what he was doing.

“You’re not shaving, are you?” I asked.

“I was thinking about it. I figured you would want me clean shaven for tomorrow.” He turned to look at me as he rubbed his cheek.

It had been two days since he had last shaved and he had just the right amount of stubble that drove me crazy. I swear Lo would look hotter than sin with a beard. “I like you with scruff.” I closed one eye and squinted at him with the other as shampoo dripped down into my eye.

“Babe, two more days and I’ll have a damn beard.”

“Is that a problem?” I was hoping he wouldn’t say it was. “It’s almost January in Wisconsin. A beard is like a built-in face mask. If I could grow one, I would.” I grabbed some foam from the top of my head and strategically placed it on my chin. I’m sure I looked more like a deranged Abraham Lincoln than anything else.

“Babe,” Lo said, wiping the bubbles off of my chin, “leave the beard to me.” He rinsed his hand off under the running water, turned it off and sauntered out of the bathroom.

“Does this mean the beard stays,” I called.

“For now,” he hollered back.

“Yes,” I whispered pumping my fist into the air. A big chunk of hair fell into my face, blinding both of my eyes with the foamy shampoo. “Ow, ow, ow,” I mumbled blindly closing the curtain and stuck my head under the hot water.

After I had managed to not blind myself and get all the shampoo out of my hair, I scrubbed myself clean while I conditioned my hair and managed to be out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel in record time.

Lo was in the closet slapping hangers back and forth, trying to find a shirt to wear. “Can’t find the right Devil’s Knights shirt to wear tonight?” I laughed pulling open the dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of panties and bra.

Lo looked over his shoulder at me and watched as I dropped the towel and shimmied the panties up my legs and hooked the bra around my back. “I hate when you do that,” he mumbled turning back to the closet.

“Do what?” I asked pulling the straps up my arms.

“Put fucking clothes on,” he murmured.

“Well, Lo,” I laughed. “I don’t really think you’d last very long having everyone stare at me naked.”

“You’re probably right,” he agreed pulling a black button down shirt out of the closet and tossed it on the bed. “We leave in ten minutes. You gonna be ready?”

“Oh how you doubt me, Lo. I’ll be ready by the time you are.” I walked over to the closet, grabbing my dark plum sweater and my favorite pair of jeans. “I’m the girl that can be in bed sleeping one minute and five minutes later in my truck, dressed and headed to the store.”

“Yeah. I saw you do that the other day. You looked hot in pajama pants, my shirt and fur boots up to your knees,” Lo smirked, pulling on his jeans.

“I didn’t say how I was dressed,” I remembered that day. I had woken up to find that we were out of coffee, and I threw on the closest clothes I could find and hightailed it to the store. “You should have seen the stares I got,” I giggled, pulling a cami over my head.

Lo pulled his shirt off and tossed it on the floor. He bent over to grab the shirt he had laid on the bed, and my eyes were drawn to the bird on his side. “I still can’t believe you put my name on you.”

“Believe it.” He pulled his shirt on, leaving it open and stalked over to me. He wrapped his arms around me, pressing me close. “As long as your name is on me, you’re mine.”

“Oh, is that how that works?” I laughed.

“With me, it is.”

“Cyn and I were talking the other day, and she wants to go get a tattoo after the baby comes. I had a couple of ideas of ones I want to get, too.” I parted the front of his open shirt and put my hands on his chest, my fingers tracing over the flames. “I was thinking how you were King, and I saw this really cool crown design when Cyn was looking.”

“A crown, babe?” He asked, looking down at me.

His eyes were studying me, and I couldn’t tell if he thought it was a good idea or not. When I had shown Cyn, she thought it was hot and said Lo would probably cream himself when I told him. His reaction was definitely lacking from what she thought he would do. “Um, yeah. It’s just an idea.”

“It’s your body.” What the hell does that mean? Of course, it’s my body, but he was going to be the one who would have to look at it.

“But do you think it’s a good idea?”

“You getting something permanently on your body that represents me is fucking hot. I’ll take you right now to get the damn thing.” His arms tightened around me, and he pressed a kiss to my lips.

“I told Cyn I would go with her,” I whispered, regretting I had promised her.

“You can go with her when she gets her’s done, but after the wedding, I’m taking you to get that crown, babe.”

“You’re rather demanding.”

“I know you want it now, not five months from now.”

“Well, yeah,” I replied, wrapping my arms around his neck. He definitely wasn’t wrong. Ever since I had seen the tattoo, it was all I could think about.

“Where were you thinking about getting it?”

“Right here,” I whispered, placing my hand over my heart.

His hand covered mine, and he laced his fingers through my fingers. “I’m taking you the day after the wedding to get it done.”

“What am I supposed to tell, Cyn?”

“You can get another one when Cyn goes, I don’t care. All I know is that you are getting that crown over your heart with me sitting right next to you.”

“Have you always been this demanding?”

“Only with you.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead and stepped back, buttoning his shirt. “You got five minutes, babe.”

I glanced at the alarm clock on the side table and huffed. “You distracted me,” I said, pointing my finger at him. I grabbed my jeans and shimmied them up my legs then pulled the sweater over my head and headed back into the bathroom. After yanking my brush through my hair and swiping on some lip gloss and eyeshadow, I had thirty seconds to throw my clothes on and find some shoes to wear other than my slippers.

“Tick tock, babe.” Lo was sitting on the end of the bed scrolling through his phone waiting for me by the time I came out of the bathroom. I went straight to the closet digging around for my faux Uggs.

“I’m on time, or at least I would be if you hadn’t kept bothering me while I was trying to get ready.” I found the boots in the back of the closet and plopped down on my ass. “You’re not allowed to be around me anymore when I get dressed,” I muttered, pulling each boot on. “Alright, let’s go.” I stood up, my hands on my hips. “You owe me at least three drinks, if not four.”

Lo shoved his phone into his pocket and grabbed my hand, dragging me down the hallway. “Lo, you’re gonna pull my arm out of the socket,” I whined as I tried to keep up with his pace.

“I made a bet with Gambler, and we’re about to lose it,” he mumbled.

We came around the corner, and I saw Gambler standing by the bar, looking down the hallway a smug look on his face. “Oh Lord, Lo. What the hell did you go and bet against Gambler for?”

“He said Gwen would be ready before you. I told him he was full of shit.”

Gwen was sitting next to Gambler the same smug look on her face. How in the hell did Gwen get ready before me? She was the one that we were always waiting on. “I can’t believe you bet against him. You know he only bets if he knows he’ll win.”

“I thought I had a shot,” he whispered.

“I’m ready for my
free
steak dinner,” Gambler said rubbing his stomach. “Are you, doll?”

“Hmm, I think I want lobster.”

Wait, what? That was what Lo had bet? That loser had to buy dinner? I was totally fine with losing this bet because I had already planned on buying dinner for everyone. “Seeing as we’re going to The Den, your choices are limited to burgers, chicken, and fish.”

“That’s bullshit. How the hell am I supposed to order the most expensive thing on the menu then?” Gambler scoffed.

“And I already planned on paying for your meal. You wasted that bet, Gambler,” I laughed, grabbing my coat off the back of the stool I was sitting in before.

“Son of a bitch.” Gambler threw back the last of his drink and slammed his empty bottle on the bar.

“We all ready to go?” Lo asked looking around. There were over twenty of us heading over there, plus Jackie and her husband meeting us there.

Lo led the way out the front door, and I stopped in my tracks when I saw the big, fat snowflakes falling from the sky. “It’s snowing!” I shouted, holding my arms out. It had been such a mild winter that any flake of snow that floated down from the sky made me as happy as a nun doing squats in a cucumber patch.

“Fuck yeah,” Cyn chimed in.

Everyone filed out of the clubhouse each surprised to see it snowing.

I looked around, watching everyone act like kids in the snow, Cyn and Gwen each sticking their tongues out catching the flakes while Hammer and Edge tried to collect snow off the ground and make snowballs. Lo was standing by my truck, leaning against the door, and I smiled.

This night couldn’t get any better.

________

Chapter 2
2

Lo

“I bet you a six pack that I can get that bartender to go home with me tonight,” Hammer mumbled to Gambler.

Oh fuck, here we go. The beer was flowing good, and everyone was having a good time, Hammer included. “Bullshit. That chick won’t give you the time of day other than to take your money.”

“That’s it,” Hammer boomed, standing up and pushing his chair back. “You’re gonna fucking lose, Gambler.”

Hammer stumbled to the bar, knocking into Marley and Troy on the way but managed to make it without falling over. He leaned against the bar and waited for the bartender to come over. Now, it isn’t that Hammer isn’t a good looking guy at all, the problem came in when he opened his mouth. And, there was one other problem he hadn’t identified before making the bet with Gambler.

“I’m assuming you saw the big ol’ rock on her left hand?” I drawled, peeling the label off of my beer bottle.

“Spotted it the second I saw Hammer eyeing her up. I’ve been waiting for him to make his move.”

“I think we’re going to get going,” Gwen said, sliding up next to Gambler. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

“One sec, doll. First, we need to watch Hammer get his balls handed to him.”

We couldn’t hear what he was saying, but from the grimace on the bartender's face, we could tell that Hammer was not making the impression he thought he would.

“What the hell is he doing? Does he not see the huge rock on her finger? She could land planes with that thing,” Gwen asked.

It was like a car crash. We knew we shouldn’t watch, but we couldn’t rip our eyes away.

“Here it comes,” Gambler whispered.

The bartender reached under the bar, grabbing the water gun and sprayed Hammer right in the face. “Looks like I’ve got a six pack to go in the fridge,” Gambler laughed, slapping the table.

“What on earth is Hammer doing?” Meg asked. She sat on the stool next to me, resting her feet on the bottom rung of my stool.

“Jackass is as bad as Turtle.” I shook my head and drained the last of my beer. Hammer wiped his face off and walked over to the pool table, trying to act like he hadn’t just been sprayed with water by the hot bartender.

“We’re gonna go, hun. Cyn is fading fast, and I’m getting a headache.” Meg’s face was flushed, and she looked like she was ready to fall asleep.

“You ok, babe?” I asked, reaching out and brushing her hair behind her ear.

“Yeah. Nothing a couple of Tylenol and a soft bed won’t fix.” She leaned into my hand and closed her eyes. Even in a crowded bar surrounded by all our friends, all I saw was Meg.

I leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll walk you to the car.”

I stood up, tossing a fifty down on the table and grabbed Meg’s hand, pulling her through the sea of people and out the front door.