Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“No.”
“Me either.” She slides her body up mine and straddles my lap. All my good intentions go right out the fucking window when I move my hands up her thighs and slide them back to her ass, finding her bare.
Standing in the middle of the front yard, I watch Harlen carry a trash bag to the back of his truck and toss it in the back, adding it to the pile there.
Unbeknownst to me, last night while I was dealing with the officers who showed up at the house to document the damage done, Nalia had sent out a text to her family, and by eight this morning, they were here to help clean up. Her dad showed up with donuts, her sister Willow, her husband Clay, and their son with bagels, her sister Harmony, and her husband Harlen and their girls with a fruit platter and coffee, and her brothers Bax, Talon, and Sage with their wives and kids.
It's taken all of us working together about two hours to get everything cleaned up after spending a good amount of time in the kitchen hanging out before even getting to work. Without them all chipping in, I would have been cleaning up the mess for days, especially after getting up this morning and seeing that there was way more damage done than I realized last night in the dark. Not only had they toilet papered the yard and tossed eggs at the house, they had also trampled the flower beds and pulled shit out of the garden.
“I think that’s as good as it’s going to get, until you can use a pressure washer,” Nico tells me as he walks up with the hose he was using to spray down the outside of the house. The white brick was stained with yellow spots, along with a few of the windows where the kids had tossed eggs.
“I got one at the shop, I’ll bring it home tomorrow and some cleaning liquid” I take the hose from him and start walking it to the garage where the hook up is. “I really appreciate you guys stepping in to help get this all cleaned up.”
“Nalia was pretty adamant that she didn’t want the kids coming home to see what happened.”
Of course, she was, which is why her mom stayed behind at the house with Zuri and her nephew Nash.
“That’s the last of the trash.” Bax passes a bag of garbage to Sage, who walks it over to the back of Harlen’s truck, tossing it in with the rest.
“Thanks, man.”
“Glad we could help,” Bax says as Harlen walks up to join us. “I’m going to go get my wife; we still have some stuff to do around the house before we head over for the barbecue.”
“I’m going to do the same,” Harlen tells us as Sage and Talon join us, along with Clay, who has his son on his hip.
“I owe you all a beer.”
“We’ll have one this afternoon,” Nico says, patting my back, and Harlen gives him an odd look. “What?”
“Just wondering what the fuck is going on,” Harlen tells him with a frown.
“Pardon?” Nico asks him.
“You’re cool with this guy after what?” Harlen looks at me. “A few weeks? Clay and I had to walk through fire for god knows how long before you accepted us.”
“Christ,” Nico mutters. “Can’t you see that I’m getting too old for the bullshit? I just want to be on the beach with my wife. The sooner I know all my girls are in good hands, the sooner I can make that dream a reality.”
“Well, that’s not sexist at all.” We all turn and find that the girls have made their way outside with the kids in tow. “I can take care of myself,” Willow tells her father, placing her hands on her hips. “I didn’t need Clay to come along and take care of me.”
“Seriously, Dad.” Harmony shakes her head, giving him a disappointed look.
I glance over at Nalia and see that she’s holding one of Harmony’s girls, with a frown on her face as she looks at her dad.
“No one said that you girls are not capable of taking care of yourselves,” Nico states, looking through his daughters. “What I will say is I rest a little easier knowing that you have someone you can lean on when I’m not around, and eventually when I die I’ll go knowing that you’ll be taken care of.”
Just like that all of their frown’s dissolve and they all walk over to their dad wrapping him in a group hug. “You’re not going anywhere for a long, long time,” Harmony says quietly while Nalia and Willow whisper their agreement.
“Jesus, he’s good,” Clay mumbles, and I chuckle along with the rest of the guys.
Twenty-Six
NALIA
Billie
“They’re so cute,” Cat says when Nalia leans over so my dad can whisper something to her. Whatever he says makes her smile, and when he sees it, his face goes soft like it always does when he looks at her.