Besides one small scrape on the side of his arm you’d never thought that King had been in an accident the night before, never mind one where the truck flipped on it’s side. When I thanked him for coming to my rescue, he looked at me as if my thanks were ridiculous, and then him and Bear started loading up everything from the garage apartment into a we-haul rental truck, including the sofa, and the bed, which had already been dismantled. Come to think of it, the bed being in pieces was probably the reason I’d woken up in Max’s room that morning.

We didn’t have much by way of furniture, but we didn’t need it. Thankfully Mirna’s house was cozy and it wouldn’t take much to fill it up.

Everything else we owned, clothes and all, had already been packed up into boxes so it didn’t take long for the boys to get it all onto the truck.

Ray came back from the beach with the kids and when Bo came bounding out of Ray’s new SUV I hugged him tight and didn’t let go until he started to wiggle in my arms. “Are you okay?” I asked. The sound of him calling for me still echoing in my thoughts. I shook it off, not wanting to pass on any of my worry or fear to him.

Bo nodded and pointed to a scrape on my cheek.

“I’m okay,” I said, touching my fingers to the small scab. “It’s just a scratch.” I took his little hand in mine and we piled back into Ray’s car together.

After the ritual of making sure everyone was back in the car and buckled in their boosters and car seats, checking to make sure every buckle was at chest level and every safety latch was tight, we took off for Mirna’s.

Home.

Bear and King were already unloading when we arrived. Some of Bear’s guys were there as well, standing guard along the perimeter of the yard and at the end of the driveway.

“You remember this place?” I asked Bo as we un-piled all the kids one by one and set them free to run about the yard and house.

Bo nodded enthusiastically.

I crouched down next to him and hugged him close to my side. “Do you want to go pick your room? You can have either the first one on the left, that used to be my old room, or the room at the end of the hall.” Before I’d finished my sentence Bo was already up the steps and in the house, darting past King and Bear who were carrying the sofa inside.

It took less than an hour to unload everything. Bear and King checked with the bikers they’d left behind and took off. Ray stuck around for a little while to help put dishes away in the kitchen but it didn’t take long for the kids to grow restless.

“Thank you so much for all your help,” I said to Ray as we stood outside her SUV after packing all the kids away again. I’d left Bo in his room, the one that used to be the grow room, laying on his back staring at the ceiling fan spin round and round with a goofy grin on his face.

“No problem. Thia’s sorry she couldn’t help but Trey’s got another cold and she didn’t want the other kids to get it.”

“Tell her not to worry about it and when Trey’s feeling better we can have a girl’s night.”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Ray said.

“Thanks again, Ray,” I said, wrapping her in a tight hug.

“Is this pre or post kiss? Doesn’t matter. Either way, I’m very okay with your decision to step outside of our marriage...but only if I can watch.” I didn’t need to turn around to know that Preppy was standing behind me, but when I did, I was surprised to see Kevin still with him. Especially because Preppy had called to say he was dropping him at his place before meeting me at the house.

Ray got in her SUV and buckled her seatbelt. “I’ll see you later,” she said to me before turning to Preppy. “For the record, Preppy you showed up post kiss, and you missed it. It was pretty epic. Tongue and everything.” Ray stuck out her tongue as she backed out of the driveway. All three kids in the backseat mimicked her, sticking out their tongues as well.

“Can you just lie to me and tell me that really happened?” Preppy asked, wrapping me in his arms. He stared down at my lips. “Never mind. I like the idea of these lips being only mine.” He pressed his soft lips to mine then pulled back slightly. “Unless you really did do it in which case...”

I laughed and gave my man a quick kiss. “Hey Kevin,” I called over Preppy’s shoulder.

“Hey, Dre,” Kevin said. He was standing awkwardly by the front porch, looking everywhere but at us, fiddling with the strings on the front of his board shorts.

I stepped out of Preppy’s hold, not wanting to make Kevin feel uncomfortable. Preppy reached in his pocket tossed Kevin a set of keys. “Go get your bag from the van,” he told him. Kevin nodded and headed down the driveway while we went inside.

We quickly checked in on Bo who was in his new room, still on the floor, playing a game on the tablet Preppy had insisted on buying him. He gave us a smile and a thumbs up. After I closed his door I took Preppy’s hand in mine and yanked him into what had been Mirna’s room but would now be our master bedroom. I shut the door behind us. “I like where this is going,” Preppy said, pulling me flush against his hard chest.

“No,” I said, wiggling out of his grasp and walking around to the other side of the bed. I had to put some space between us before Preppy rendered me dumb and I couldn’t get my words out.

“No?” Preppy asked, looking a little hurt.

“I just mean not right this second,” I corrected. His expression instantly brightened. “Kevin,” I prompted. “You were going to take him home, now he’s getting his bag from the van.”

“Yeah, about that,” Preppy said, scratching his neck. I waited for him to continue, but his only answer was an awkward grin.

“After last night I might be a little confused,” I explained. “So bear with me. What happened? Why didn’t you take Kevin home?”

“I did take him home, that’s the fucking problem,” Preppy said with a groan. He plopped down on the bed and unlaced his boots, kicking them off he lay back on the mattress and looked at me upside down. I sat down next to him and stroked his hair. “The place where he lives is a shit hole. And I don’t mean that like it had a bulb out on the porch or like the espresso machine overflowed and stained the carpet. I mean it like I could smell actual shit from the street. Kevin said the landlady who rents him the room has a fuck ton of cats and no litter boxes. Plus, the roof over his room is non-existent. It’s covered with a tarp where there was fire damage that was never fixed.”