Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“Everyone’s bigger than you,” Sunny muttered.
Wren pounded his fist on his thigh. “That’s not true!”
For fuck’s sake, his girl was a pro at pissing people off.
“Did you tell your teacher?” Taryn asked a little more quietly, but Stone could see her anger simmering right beneath the surface.
No doubt she had better control over her temper than he did.
“No. He told me if I snitched, I’d get stitches.”
With her mouth hanging open, she glanced at Stone. Then with a shake of her head, Taryn asked Sunny, “Is bullying typical at your school?”
Sunny shrugged. “How would I know? Nobody fucks with the Kings.”
A snort shot out of Stone’s nose before he could stop it.
“That’s not funny,” Taryn muttered under her breath.
“Yeah, but true.” Stone once again addressed his daughter, “Sunny, you make it clear to everyone in that school that he’s under the Kings’ protection too, yeah?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Do I have to?”
His eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Did those fuckin’ words come outta my mouth?”
Sunny’s mouth twisted. “Yes.”
“Then there’s your answer.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to stare out of her window, a clear sign she was done with this conversation.
Only Stone was not. “You make it known, Sunny. Then, Baby Bird, if they still fuck with you, you let me know. Gonna handle it.”
A groan could be heard from the passenger seat. “As his mother, I would handle it, not you.”
“Sunny, do what I said. It don’t work, Momma Bird’s gonna handle it.”
Taryn sighed.
“What? Am I wrong, Momma Bird?”
She simply shook her head. He needed to head off any further discussion of this shit when they were alone. No doubt it would go sideways and get heated.
He hoped to get sex from her later, not an argument.
“Here’s the deal…you gotta go into that school ‘cause some asshole kid needs a reckonin’, then my ass is gonna be right by your side.”
“I said I can handle it.”
“Yeah, you’re gonna handle it and I’m gonna make sure it’s handled. You get your lunchbox back?” The last was directed at the annoyed woman’s son.
“No.”
“You tell that little bastard he don’t give it back, I’m gonna break all his fuckin’ fingers.”
“No! Don’t you dare say that, Wren. You might get kicked out of school and you just got enrolled there. I’ll call the principal in the morning.”
Stone met Wren’s gaze in the rearview mirror, and as soon as the kid gave him a small smile, Stone smothered his own and began heading home.
Chapter Eighteen
Stone scooped up the sleeping boy, careful not to wake him. Taryn had mentioned the other morning how Baby Bird slept like the dead. He sure as fuck hoped that was true. He didn’t need her son waking in the middle of Stone’s plan and fucking it up.
A plan he had come up with while he once again stared restlessly at the ceiling from the goddamn couch.
Why couldn’t he sleep? Because of the temptation on the second floor. The one in his bed.
Seeing the prospect trying to get a piece of her today proved he wasn’t the only one she tempted. Of course, she hadn’t done it on purpose. She hadn’t been flirting or even toying with any of the club members—not even him—while at The Castle, but even without that, something about her drew men.
It could be she wasn’t even aware of it.
But he was.
It was refreshing to have a woman in their midst whose goal wasn’t to collar one of them. Or be worried more about the way she looked.
Taryn was simply trying to get by in life and make a damn living. Trying to raise her son right. Trying not to get beat to fuck by her dickhead ex.
However, he needed to get this plan rolling before Taryn woke up, too. He thought it was a damn good one. Of fucking course, she might not agree and put a stop to it.
When he had headed into his bedroom, he had nudged the door wider with his foot so he could carry Wren back through it without knocking the kid silly. Bonking his head against the door frame might wake up the whole household, including his own cranky crotch fruit.
After creeping up the steps and on his way to his bedroom, he had opened Sunny’s bedroom door to peek inside to make sure she was crashed, too. The proof was the soft snoring coming from under the covers pulled over her head. His girl liked to burrow deep when she slept.
Come winter, she’d be wrapped up like a fucking burrito.
He carefully carried Baby Bird into her room, keeping an eye on the sleeping boy. His eyes were still closed, his mouth hanging open wide enough to catch flies, and every muscle soft like jelly.
Good.
After gently placing the kid on the top bunk, Stone covered him up before quietly slipping back out of the room and securing the door behind him. Both kids would be surprised come morning, but they needed to get used to sharing the room since Stone planned on reclaiming his bed.