He walks back to the car and when he opens the door I wait to see if Annie makes a reappearance. She doesn’t. The car reverses and just like that, it’s gone. I stand there for a long time processing what the fuck just happened. Long enough that Leo joins me again.
“Shit good?”
“Yeah. A hundred grand a year good and Annie gone forever good.”
“Huh?”
I explain what just happened and he laughs. “At least you can afford to hire a nanny now.”
I huff. “I suppose. Holly know any good ones?”
“Brother, you know Holly was never actually a professional nanny, don’t you?”
I shrug. “Of course I knew that.”
“Do you want me to ask her if she’ll help you out looking for someone? They’ll end up spending time with the other old ladies and kids, Holly can suss them out before you hire.”
“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”
My son has one last night in the hospital and I have one last night before I’m on night feed and diaper duty. Fuck Lily. Fuck Annie. I was right before I met either of them. Fuck and duck. From now on my kid and the club are the only certainties in my life. Women can come and go, quite literally. With a new bounce in my step, I walk into the bar, scan for Stevie and find her dancing with Nikki. I have some making up to do and tonight, it’s my last blow out.
I cross the bar and throw her over my shoulder. She giggles and whacks at my ass to let her down.
For a brief moment I go to head for the stairs but remember I have a house. That hasn’t changed just because… nope, I’m not thinking of her anymore.
“Shane! Are you gonna put me down?”
“Nope.”
It doesn’t take long to walk home and once through the door, I set her down on her feet in the hall.
“What do you think of the house?”
Her brows knit together but she takes a look around and shrugs. “It’s a house. It’s okay.”
“I want to make you a deal.”
“Shane…”
“Please, just hear me out.”
“Go on then.”
“I need help with my kid. We fuck crazy good. I want to pay you to watch my kid when I’m on club business. Days, nights, weekends.”
“Where does us fucking come into it when you’d pay me to be a babysitter?”
“Because I want you to move in. My kid ain’t gonna have a mother, the most I can do is make sure he has as much stability and routine as possible. I don’t want you to be his mom, just someone kind and you know, a woman. And I want you to be the only one I fuck here.”
“Here?”
“While I’m in town, when I want to fuck, I’ll come to you and in return you won’t touch any of the other brothers. When I’m on the road, no questions, no lies, no pretences that we’re anything more than fuck buddies who look after my son.”
“You want the old lady benefits without making me your old lady?”
“No, I’d pay you for looking after my son. And we’d exclusively fuck each other without being together. I don’t want you fucking me like an old lady.”
“You want a whore to fuck on tap.”
