Maisie
I T LILY’S DAD, Hawk, who was blond and gorgeous, and rocking a handlebar moustache to die for. I’d already t her mom, Payton, at the dance class, and she stopped to offer a drink and we chatted about our kids. She and Hawk had a couple of other children in the little kids’ room, apparently, which she promised to introduce to later. I t Cassidy’s husband, Ace, and their older son, Maverick, and Booker and Dani, and Mack and Darien (I think) whose kids were also in with the little ones.
I kind of lost track of nas after that, relying on Hatch to fill in on occasion, but everyone was warm and welcoming. They did treat a bit like a unicorn, several admitting they’d been questioning my existence, but they all seed genuinely thankful that Hatch was "less of a dick" since we’d gotten together.
Poppy loved the attention Lily lavished upon her. There didn’t seem to be a an bone in the older girl’s body, and they beca fast friends, exchanging phone numbers and promising to hang out more.
"What’s up with that?" I asked Hatch after watching Maverick and Lily. Maverick held Lily’s hand on occasion, stroked her hair, and all around appeared to worship the ground she walked on.
Hatch sat on the picnic table, and situated on the bench between his legs, my arms over his thighs, and lowered his mouth to my ear. "He decided when he was six or so that she was his old lady."
"Shut up," I breathed out.
Hatch nuzzled my neck. "Been in love with her since the day he t her."
"How does she feel about him?"
"Don’t know. Hawk keeps her pretty sheltered. They live next door to each other, but Lily goes to the art school up in Vancouver. Mav’s on the football team at Skyview, so they’re in two different worlds right now. Lily’s all sweetness and innocence. Mav’s a good kid, but he’s the son of a biker and he’s around won who don’t have a whole lotta class, and they’re starting to notice him."
I frowned. "I don’t want to know."
"Didn’t say he does anything with ’em, Sunshine. Cass’d kick Ace’s ass if he let that happen."
"Well, these won shouldn’t even think about it. He’s in high school."
"I agree, but look at him... does he look like he’s in high school to you?"
"Well, no," I conceded. "But, still. Ew."
"Doesn’t matter. Maverick’s only got eyes for Lily. If they don’t get together, it’d have to be because of an act of God... or Hawk."
"Hawk would stop it?"
"Right now, hell yeah."
"Good dad."
Hatch chuckled. "Yep."
Poppy watched Devon covertly, but I noticed. He respected her space, stepping away if she got too close, but seed to enjoy her company. He was charming, but not too charming, which I believed would serve him well in life.
Hatch slid my hair away from my neck and kissed gently. "What are you thinking about?"
I craned my neck and smiled up at him. "The charm of the Wallace n."
He raised an eyebrow. "Don’t typically get called charming, Sunshine."
"That’s a load of crap and you know it." I turned back to watch Poppy. "Did you forget I nearly had to cut a bitch yesterday?"
Hatch dropped his head back and laughed, drawing confused looks from the rest of the brothers standing around.
I waved my hand. "Don’t mind him. I just reminded him of sothing."
"Burger or dog, Maisie?" Knight asked.
"Burger, please," I said.
"Hatch?"
"Burger." Hatch leaned down and wrapped his arms around my chest. "Like that you think I’m charming."
"The problem is you’re supposed to only be charming to ."
"I’ll work on that."
"No, don’t. That’ll just make you more lethal."
"You like lethal," he whispered. "Especially when I do that thing—"
"Stop," I ordered a little too loudly, and Hatch started laughing again, while I blushed profusely.
As we dressed our burgers, my phone buzzed in my pocket, so I pulled it out and glanced at the screen. Alison’s na popped up and I frowned. Choosing to ignore the call, I slid my phone back and continued about my business. A few minutes later, my phone buzzed again. Handing my plate to Hatch, I sighed. "Excuse for a minute."
I walked to a private area away from the group and answered the call. "Hello?"
"Maisie?" Alison said, sobbing into the phone. "I’m so sorry."
"Maisie! Mom has a gun!" Grace scread in the background.
"Ali, what’s going on?" I spun to face the group again and locked eyes with Hatch who stalked toward imdiately.
"I can’t keep doing this," Alison rasped.
"Doing what, love?" I asked, then muted my phone and said to Hatch, "Sothing’s going on with Alison. Gracie’s screaming in the background that Ali’s got a gun, she’s terrified, Hatch."
"It’s all too much, Maisie, you know?" Alison rasped.
I unmuted my phone as Hatch gathered up his brethren.
"What’s too much, love? Where are Ryan and rrick?" I asked Alison.
Gracie continued to scream in the background and my heart raced painfully.
"Do you rember that ti we took the kids to the museum?" Alison asked.
I tried to keep my voice calm and carefree as I said, "The great pink eye incident of two-thousand-six?"
"Ohmigod, yes," she giggled, but her laugh sounded manic.
"No, Mama, please don’t," Grace begged.
"Alison?" I called.
"Huh?
"Ali, love?" I called again.
"Yes, I’m here."
"Rember, after the kids got pink eye, how Grace took care of rrick and Poppy? She went and got her plastic stethoscope," I reminded her. "Goodness, she was the cutest little nurse, eh?"
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