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Alice rubbed her stomach and groaned loudly. “My god that was good. I’m going to need you guys to come up to Wisconsin and cook for the club.”
“We have good food at the club,” Wrecker growled.
“I know,” Alice laughed. “I just like this food better because I didn’t have to cook any of it,” she confessed. She grabbed her purse off the floor and pulled out two Tupperware containers. “Do you mind if I grab some for a late-night snack later?”
“Jesus Christ,” Wrecker groaned. “You brought your own Tupperware?”
Alice stood and waddled over to the food. “Well, yeah, I didn’t want to have to borrow from here and then have to figure out how to get the container back to them.”
Wrecker and Alice were a damn hoot.
I had never met someone like her before, and it was mind-boggling the grumpy, growly Wrecker was her husband. Those two were the epitome of water and oil.
Though it seemed to work.
Wrecker gave her crap, and teased her, but you could tell he would also move heaven and hell for her.
They loved each other.
I loved that for her.
“Doll,” Cue Ball whispered in my ear. “Did you see she is wearing cow print pants?”
I nodded and smiled. “I did. I already asked her where I can get a pair. She’s going to send me the website.”
“Seriously?”
I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Oh, yeah, babe. I’m starting to see the appeal.”
“The appeal of what?” Faye asked.
“Alice’s pants,” I laughed.
Faye pulled up her phone and held it in my face. “I already ordered a pair.”
“See,” I laughed. “I’m not the only one who likes them.”
“Sorry,” Wrecker grunted. “I don’t know what it is about Alice, but she always gets people loving cows and shit. If none of you are married, I would suggest not talking to Alice about our wedding.”
And now my interest was piqued. I wasn’t anywhere near getting married, but I wanted to know what happened at Alice and Wrecker’s.
“Baby cow,” Alice called. “I had one walk me down the aisle.” She finished filling her Tupperware and sat back down. “I highly recommend renting one.”
“Am I the only one surprised she didn’t buy one?” Smoke laughed.
Alice smiled broadly. “Silly man. I had to wait until after Wrecker put a ring on my finger before I started building my mini farm.”
Smoke choked on his beer, and Yarder sputtered.
“You have a mini farm?” I asked.
Alice nodded proudly, but Wrecker shook his head. “That thing was mini thirteen cows ago. Now she has a herd,” he grunted.
“Based on the Census of Agriculture, an average herd of cows is forty-four. I have a long way to go to get there,” Alice rattled off. “Thirteen is not forty-four. Who wants to see Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sofia? They got delivered last week, and they are the cutest mini Highland’s.” She pulled out her phone and turned it to Sloane.
Sloane hadn’t said much.
It was like she was in shock and was just taking in Wrecker and Alice.
I couldn’t blame her.
I bet she was mentally taking notes and was going to report back to her author friend. Alice and Wrecker would definitely make a great romance book.
The crazy woman catches the eye of the bearded biker. Even I would read that book.
After we cleaned up dinner, the guys headed to have a meeting, and the rest of us put on a movie.
And we also had Alice as entertainment.
She camped out on the floor with Rocky, and they were playfully arguing back and forth about which Transformers movie was the best.
I didn’t have the heart to tell them that any of the Rocky movies blew Transformers out of the water.
Faye flopped on the couch next to me. “Were you going to even tell me, or was I going to have to wait for the wedding invitation?”
“Excuse me?” I laughed.
“You’re in love, Olive.”
“I’m not in love,” I insisted. “I have known Cue two weeks, Faye. You can’t fall in live that quickly.”
“You can,” Alice called. She pointed her finger to her chest. “I did. Well, I’m pretty sure Wrecker would tell you he fell in love with me the second I curtsied, but it took me a few days to fall for the bearded giant.”
“See,” Faye called. “Alice has been married for years.”
Alice side-eyed Faye. “I’m not that old,” she grumbled.
“How old are you?” Rocky asked. “I bet you’re not over thirty.”
Alice wrapped her arms around Rocky and hugged him. “I’m taking him home with me. He’s good for my ego.”
“How old do you think I am, Rocky?” Faye asked.
Rocky pulled out of Alice’s hug and tapped his finger to his mouth. “I would think you are thirty-eight.”
“What?” Faye gasped. “You just said she’s not over thirty, but you think I am pushing forty?”
“Easy,” I laughed. “He’s only ten, Faye. Give the kid a break.” Though I was surprised he had said thirty-eight. He was not going to be Faye’s favorite little man anymore, though it seemed like Alice would boost him to her favorite.
“She’s funny and has purple hair. It makes her young,” Rocky explained.
Alice fluffed her hair. “Make sure you tell Wrecker that when he gets out of Church. He keeps telling me I need to tone it down.” She scoffed and shook her head. “Was it not enough for me to push two children out of my hoo-ha and raise them to be decent people? Twenty-two years of my life given to those kids, and if I wanted to have purple hair, then that is what I am going to do.”
“You have kids in their twenties?” Rocky asked.
“So she was ten when she had them,” Faye sassed.
Alice eyed Faye. “Is there a reason why you’re projecting your bitchiness onto me?”
Sloane’s eyes bugged out, and even Rocky gasped.
“I also call it like I see it,” Alice explained. “You’re obviously mad about something, and instead of dealing with it, you’re being rude to me.”
“I’m not being bitchy,” Faye replied defensively, “I’m just...” she sighed heavily and threw her hands in the air. “Fine, I’m being bitchy, but it has nothing to do with you, Alice. I’m sorry. You really do look like you are in your thirties, and there is no way you have kids who are in their twenties.”
Alice reached back and patted Faye’s leg. “Thank you. And for the record, I’m forty-nine.”
I would have to process Alice’s age later because Faye was going through something. “What’s wrong?” I asked her softly.
She ran her fingers through her hair and looked on the brink of tears. “I really messed things up with Fade, Olive. I finally had a decent guy show a little bit of interest in me, and I blow it.”
“Is this still about the whole Anthony thing?”
“Yes,” she drawled. “I stopped mentioning him, but Fade still will only say a few words to me.”
“Give me the CliffsNotes of what we’re dealing with.” Alice nudged Rocky. “Grab me one of those pillows, will you?”
Rocky grabbed a pillow off the couch and tossed it to Alice.
She tossed it on the floor and laid down. “I’m waiting,” she called.
Faye gave her the rundown of what happened, and everyone was silent.
“Well?” Faye called. “What am I supposed to do?” she cried.
“You think I can pretend to sleep and they’ll believe me?” Alice whispered loudly to Rocky.
“Only if I can pretend with you,” he laughed.
Rocky’s laughter was contagious, and soon we were all laughing, even Faye.
Who would have known being thrown into the world of an MC would be an amazing thing for me and Rocky. I had never seen him so happy, and he really was surrounded by amazing people.
“I’m a lost cause, aren’t I?” Faye laughed. She wiped a stray tear off her cheek and sighed. “I’m just going to give up.”
“That would be my advice,” Alice advised. “You’re trying too hard, girl. If there is one thing I had learned from being with Wrecker for over twenty-five years is that you can’t force it. If it doesn’t happen naturally, then it’s not going to last.”
Faye nudged me and smiled. “Like you and Cue Ball. Nothing more natural than a gym exploding, and Cue Ball saving you.”
Alice raised her finger in the air. “Kidnappings, explosions, and dead animals are good examples of natural things that bring people together.”
“Uh, dead animals?” Sloane asked. “I can get behind the explosions and kidnappings, but the dead animals?”
“I mean, I’ve heard it happen before.”
Sloane tipped her head to the side. “Interesting. Though, Aero and I don’t fall under any of those.”
Alice smiled. “You’ve got the Beauty and the Beast think going for you, sweetie. The beast always falls for the beauty.”
Sloane blinked rapidly. “Thank you.”
Alice winked at her. “You’re welcome, hon.”
I patted Faye’s hand. “And your prince is out there somewhere, Faye. Maybe you’re like Snow White.”
“I need to go into the forest and live with seven strange men and wait for my prince to rescue me?” she asked.
“Uh, well,” Alice chuckled. “You might not need to be so literal.”
Faye threw her hands up in the air. “I’m just going to not try and wait for whoever my prince is to come to me.”
“Solid plan,” I replied. “No reason to be out there chasing after guys who are not worth your time.”
“Right on,” Alice called. “Now, who is going to go pop some popcorn?”
Rocky jumped up. “Mom and I can do it. She always makes the best popcorn.”
Rocky grabbed my hand and pulled me into the kitchen.
“I don’t know where anything is, Rocky,” I laughed.
We opened all of the cupboards until we found a box of microwave popcorn. I didn’t do anything special to the popcorn other than add salt to it. Apparently, that made amazing popcorn to Rocky.
“Having fun?” I asked.
Rocky watched the bag of popcorn spin around the microwave. “Yeah. Alice is super funny, and I like all of the guys. I wonder if they can come fishing when Cue takes me?”
I ruffled his hair and pulled him to my side. “You can always ask, but I know they have a lot going on.”
“Maybe they need help? I can help.”
Oh, Rocky. How did I manage to raise such an amazing boy? “We’ll talk to Cue on the way home, okay? See what he thinks.”
Rocky nodded and opened the microwave when the timer ended. “Work your magic, Mom.”
I grabbed the bag of popcorn and dumped it in a bowl. I sprinkled salt all over it and gave it a toss. “Think we should make another bag?”
“Make four,” Alice called. “The guys aren’t going to be in their meeting all night, and Wrecker can take down two bags by himself.”
“See,” Rocky whispered, “she’s funny.”
That she was.
He ran the first bowl of popcorn out to the girls and by the time we had the last bag popped, the guys filed out of their meeting.
“Some of that for me?” Cue Ball called. He snagged me around the waist and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
Cue Ball nodded. “All good, doll.”
“Cue!” Rocky cheered. “I saved some popcorn for you, and you can lay on the floor next to me.”
I bumped my hip against his. “You better go. We can talk when we get home.” I tried to not be jealous of the fact I was going to have to share Cue Ball with Rocky. Though it did make me understand better how guys I dated in the past didn’t like to share me with Rocky. The shoe was on the other foot now.
I wouldn’t want it any other way, though.
*
