Lullabye (Rockstar #6) (8 page)

I put my robe on and make my way through the house. I should have put my slippers on, the floor’s really cold on my feet. I can hear him talking and I grin, slowly opening the door.

“The princess was the most beautiful thing the prince had ever seen. He walked right up to her and spoke to her. He was a prince after all, and princes aren’t afraid of anything. But the princess didn’t want to talk. She just wanted to look at the rippling water. So the prince sat down next to her and they watched it together.”

I lean against the doorjamb. “Xander.”

He looks over with a smile from where he’s sitting on his sofa, feet propped up on the coffee table, little Kierah resting on his thighs while she sucks furiously on the bottle of formula Xander’s holding to her mouth.

“What?” he asks. “She was hungry.”

“You can’t keep taking her. It’ll mess with our routine,” I tell him.

“Why can’t I keep her? You won’t miss one, right? You weren’t even counting on having four, so why not just give me one to take care of. Uncle Xan Man is awesome, right little Kierah?” he asks, his grin a mile wide as he looks down on my little girl.

I laugh at his suggestion. “You can’t
keep
her, Xander.”

“Why not? Really, think about it. It’s one less poop pants to change. One less burp to try to extract. One less bottle to feed,” he pleads as he lifts Kierah to his shoulder, over the burp rag. I raise a brow at that. Then he burps her as if he’s been doing it for months instead of days. I can’t help but gape.

He wiggles his eyebrows and grins that Xander grin.

“What’s going on here, Xan?” I ask, more than a little shocked at what I’m seeing.

He shrugs, then puts a now-sleeping Kierah into a crib. Wait—a
crib?

I get up, following him, mouth hanging open. “Is that a
crib?
”

“Well, yeah. Where else are the babies going to sleep when they come visit Uncle Xan?” he asks, as if it’s the stupidest question in the world.

My mouth opens and closes more than once and I back up slowly, feeling behind me for the sofa, sitting on it when I get there.

“Well then,” I mutter.

“What’s the big deal, Luce? I just want to help take care of the kids.” He says it so matter-of-factly that it sounds like it’s just a normal everyday occurrence.

“I get that. I do. But you keep sneaking them away.”

“I don’t
sneak
,” he defends.

“You sneak. The last three days there’s been a baby missing.”

“Trying to help,” he defends.

I bite my bottom lip. “Xander. I can’t
give
you one of the babies.”

He pouts playfully. “You can let me borrow them. Take care of them. I mean, with four of them, aren’t you going to be grateful to get rid of one for a short period of time?”

“If I say ‘yes’ I’m a bad mother. If I say ‘no’ I’m an idiot.”

“What’s going on in here?” Jesse asks from where he’s leaning against the doorjamb. He looks like he’s been there awhile.

“Uh, Xan wants to help with the babies.”

“And what did you say?” he asks.

“I didn’t know
what
to say. Jesse, he’s got a
crib
set up. He’s got diapers. He burped Kierah better than I do!” I tell him, not hiding the surprise.

“What the fuck, man? Where’d you get a crib?” Jesse asks.

“First, you owe the swear jar. Baby present. Second, the baby store. There are so many baby stores you just don’t know where to begin. And when you get inside? All the stuff they have?” He walks over to a closet door and opens it, where it’s loaded with—stuff. Bottles, burp rags, diapers, clothes, rattles.

“What the…” I trail off.

Kennedy strolls in, following as Jesse walks over.

“They’re not just your babies,” Xander explains. “They’re all of ours, you know?”

Jesse just stares.

“He’s right,” Kennedy agrees.

“What?” I ask.

“He’s right. They may biologically be your kids, but we’re all going to look at them as if they’re ours too. How can we not, man?” he asks Jesse.

“Well, hell,” Jesse mutters.

I blow out a breath. Oh boy. “We’re going to have to set some rules.” All three men look at me. “They aren’t so important now, but they will be when they get older. I mean, imagine if we woke up and one or more of the kids weren’t in their crib. They could have crawled out of it and we would think they were with you.”

Xan nods. “I can get on board with that.”

“Are you going to keep taking my baby girl?” I ask.

“Maybe,” is all he says. “When she gets older she needs to know someone’s there—besides her parents—to protect her from her bully brothers. You
know
they’re going to be bullies. They’re freaking Kingstons!” Xan declares.

I lean back on the sofa. “And here I was worried I’d have too many babies and not enough hands.”

“What are you going to tell the chicks you bring back here to bang?” Kennedy asks.

“Dude. I won’t be bringing them here,” Xander says with disgust.

“Dude,” Kennedy replies.

Xan shakes his head. “No way am I exposing our kids to that.”

“So, what?” Jesse asks. “You’re just never going to get laid again?”

“Dude, watch what you say around the babies,” Xan scolds and I snicker. “And hell yeah I will. Just not
here
.”

“New York’s a long way for a bootie call,” I say softly.

“Then it’s a real good thing it’s a whole hell of a lot more than that.”

“D
ID YOU HEAR
anything?” Sera asks again. She asks every day and every day I have to tell her no.

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

“This is weighing so heavily on Jesse and Ben—and you.”

It is. Very heavily. This shouldn’t have happened. She was supposed to be under our protection and whether or not she took off, we were supposed to keep her safe. But we didn’t.

“How’s Jeni?” Twins. I imagine it’s much more difficult for her. I don’t know if it’s true that twins can sense things about one another or not, but so far Jeni hasn’t said anything about it.

“She’s okay. She stays in mostly. She was a homebody before, but now she’s too scared to leave the house,” Sera says, walking up to me and kissing my neck. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”

“Maybe it is,” I agree, pulling her in close, leaning down to kiss my wife’s lips. My want for her never eases. It only increases each time I touch her.

I push the breakfast dishes aside on the window seat and pull Sera onto my lap. When I reach up to remove my glasses, she stops me.

“Leave them on,” she tells me, her voice husky with arousal.

“We don’t have much time,” I murmur between kisses on her neck.

“Long enough,” she replies, taking my cock out of my pajama bottoms. I groan when her fingers wrap around my length, gripping me tight as she begins to stroke me.

I reach between her legs and dip my finger underneath her panties and into her warmth. “So wet.”

“Mmm,” she moans, her head falling back, exposing her throat to me. Invitation accepted.

I kiss up and down her neck and push a second finger inside her pussy.

She’s so good at stroking my cock—too good.

“Enough of that,” I tell her, moving her panties to the side and pulling her down onto my dick.

“Oh, yes,” she moans and it sets me on fire.

I lift and lower her hips, feeling her pussy hot and wet surrounding me, her lips on mine—everything about her a part of me and me a part of her.

“Fee,” I whisper against her.

“Batman,” she whispers back and I let out a laugh.

“Really?” I ask. “Now?”

“The glasses are your disguise,” she moans out as I push hard up into her.

“Fee, my love, that’s Superman.”

“Superman, Batman, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that it’s you—my Cage,” she whispers, her breathing heavy.

“Then fuck me like it’s our last time.”

Her gaze snaps to mine, confusion evident.

“I just… need you. Desperately,” I confess.

She nods and slams her mouth onto mine, her tongue brushing against mine, the tempo swift and passionate, matching the rhythm of her hips and I groan. Oh yeah. Just like that. This is what I need. I need to know she wants me as much as I want her. I need to know she loves me as much as I love her. I need to know she needs me as much as I need her.

“Cage,” she whispers, her body quivering.

“Close, so close, my Fee.”

My phone rings. She looks at me and I look at her, then to my phone. Giovanni. The man has the worst timing.

“Nichols.”

“I need you and Serafina to come to the warehouse.”

Sera starts moving on my dick again and I nearly groan. As it is, I’m trying to regulate my breathing.

“Fine.”

She leans in and licks my neck. Fuck.

“One hour.”

When he hangs up, I drop my phone and flip Sera onto her back, pulling her hips to the edge of the window seat.

“Hold on.”

She lifts her hands to brace herself and I slam into her.

“You were naughty just then,” I say between thrusts.

“You like me naughty.” She grins.

I lift her leg, her knee hooking over my shoulder.

“Oh God, yes. Harder,” she pleads and I oblige.

Faster.

Harder.

More.

Always more.

Her breath hitches.

“Give yourself to me,” I command.

I fuck her with purpose, making sure to hit her clit on the down stroke, and within minutes she’s screaming out my name.

“Yes, yes, Cage!”

Fuck yes. Her pussy squeezes me so tight, her wetness coating my cock and balls, and I can’t hold on. I’d like to get her to come again, but I just can’t. Not right now. I need her too much.

I hold her gaze and give myself to her as she just gave herself to me. “Fee,” I groan.

Her hands lift to cup my face as I come hard inside her.

I collapse on top of her, and kiss her neck.

When I can feel my legs again, I look up into her eyes, running a fingertip down her cheek.

“Always and forever yours, Fee.”

“Only ever you.”

“Look at that,” Fee says. “Five minutes to spare.” She’s all grins.

“No thanks to you and your wandering hands,” I say, reminding her about the reason we had to rush in the first place.

“Are you seriously complaining about shower sex?”

“Never. You know how Gio can be.”

She nods.

“Let’s go see what’s so urgent.”

We head into the warehouse, nodding at the guards on the way in.

“Shit,” I mutter aloud, smelling the reason we’re here before I see it.

Sera stops. “Oh God, oh God, oh God.”

“Can you do this?” I ask, not blaming her one bit if she can’t.

She nods. “I just…” She closes her eyes and steadies her breathing, building her resolve back up. When she opens her eyes, that dead look she gets in them when she needs to shut down her feelings is there—the one I wear just as she does.

“I’m ready,” she says and I squeeze her hand.

We walk to the back of the warehouse where our interrogations take place.

Giovanni’s standing, facing us, his arms folded across his chest as he talks to Damian and Ernesto. Fuck. This is going to be bad.