Ryder (20 page)

“It’s your turn to play, Daddy. Uncle Brax and Uncle Nix are getting old now so they can’t play for long. Uncle Brax told Uncle Nix that he got laid last night and the girl tired him out. And Uncle Gunner said that Auntie Lucy’s jugs are getting bigger with the baby. Can I have bigger jugs, Daddy” I look at Brax with a scowl on my face and he just shrugs.

“Dudes, watch what you say around my daughter, she is like a freaking sponge she sucks every little word in, she …” I get cut off.

“Yeah she does, she narked on me to Letty last week because I slipped up and said bad word.” This comes from Reeve.

“Dude, you and Skeet were talking about things you did to a girl while Demi was sitting right next to you, what did you expect? You all need to be more careful what you say around her please.” I walk out of the pool while carrying Demi and we head over to Letty, who is waiting with a towel for Demi. I set Demi down on her feet and kiss Letty.

“I will go grab her dry clothes, be right back.” As I walk away, Rafe and Reeve look at me and I nod my head in the direction of the house. I know that Brax and Nix are already there so I signal for Skeet and Gunner to join us. We all stand around the kitchen island and they all look at me, waiting to find out what I have to say.

Taking a deep breath and I give them what they are waiting for. “I’m going to ask Letty to marry me. Both she and Demi are my Inside Noise as you know, I can’t breathe without them. I know that you may think I am too young to settle down but my heart knows what it wants and it wants Letty as my wife and Demi as my daughter” I look around at my family and friends.

“Damn, that’s deep.” Brax replies.

““Yeah, balls deep” Nix says after a beat and we all burst out laughing.

“Dicks.” I shake my head at them.

“I need you guys to help me set up an epic proposal. I know she reads all this romance shit and they have some pretty fucking awesome proposals but I need to beat these book boyfriends.” I say with air quotes

Skeet speaks up, “I have a crazy idea but I think will be epic and … it includes Demi so that will make Letty happy to have her involved. So this is what I think …”

He tells us his plan and Skeet delegate’s jobs between us. I love his idea and to be honest, I love that Demi can be included. We go back out to the garden and I see that Demi is napping on Letty’s lap. I can’t help but smile. If you had asked me a year ago if I would be here with a girlfriend and a step-daughter, I would have laughed it off but hey, shit changes and I have to say that my life changed for the best. I walk over to my girls.

“Hey, Sunshine, you want to take her home?” Letty looks down at our sleeping daughter and nods.

“Yeah, I can give her shower in the morning. We could have a bath.” She winks at me and the thought of a very wet and silky soft Letty hits my dick hard. I take a sleeping Demi from her arms and lay her on my shoulder. I bend down to kiss Lucy on the head and lean into Letty's neck, kissing her lightly.

“I like the idea of you extra wet for me baby.” I suck on her ear lobe and walk over to my mom. “We have to be getting sleeping beauty home, I think the boys tired her out. I will ring you tomorrow about that gig we talked about and Skeet has a plan as well and it’s amazing” I wink and she kisses Demi’s head and my cheek. She walks over to Letty and hugs her; my heart swells when I see my girl and my mom getting on like a house on fire. Letty thinks the world of my mom and my mom thinks the world of Letty.

We say our goodbyes to my family and head out to my car, where I strap a still sleeping Demi into her car seat. I climb into the driver seat and lean over and pull Letty’s mouth to mine I delving my tongue into her sweet, wet mouth. My dick hardens and I break the kiss and look back at my daughter.

“If she stays asleep I am so going to fuck you when we get home, the bikini has teased me all afternoon. I had a raging hard-on that I had to hide from my brothers. Fuck, baby you looked hot. We need to hit the beach more often or we move to a new house with a pool. That way Demi can swim when she wants to and you can tease me all day long in a bikini, or nothing when we don’t have Angel with us”

I wink and kiss her again before starting the car. I look over at Letty, who is still breathing heavy, causing her perfect tits to rise and fall in her bikini top. I pull away from my mom’s house with Letty's hand in mine. I am praying quietly in my head that we can pull off the proposal of the century that will make Letty love it and hopefully say yes to being my wife. Oh fuck, what if she doesn’t want to marry me? The thought sends lead into my stomach. I look at Letty, who is looking straight forward, but she must sense me looking at her as she turns her beautiful face towards me and smiles. I can’t return her smile my face just won’t cooperate and Letty’s face drops.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” When I don’t answer, her she shifts her body to face me. “Ryder, you’re scaring me, what’s wrong?” I see her eyes well up with tears. Fuck, if I am scaring her she must think she has done something wrong.

“You love me right, Sunshine?” I ask her and hold my breath waiting for her to answer. She lets out an audible breath and slumps her shoulders.

“Jesus Christ, Ryder, you scared the ever loving crap out of me. Of course I love you, you fucknut. You are my Inside Noise, remember? Just like we are yours. What has brought all this on?” I shake my head and force a laugh out. I raise her hand to my mouth and kiss her palm.

“Nothing, baby, just me being a dick. I love you Letty, always remember that.” She smiles and nods at me. Fuck I pray to fucking God and my dad that she says ‘yes’.

Well, today is the day and I am a nervous wreck. I didn’t sleep much last night, not only because I am asking the ultimate question tonight but also because I slept at my brother's apartment. Since Letty and I sorted our shit we have barely spent a night apart and to be honest, I find that I sleep better with Letty curled against my body. I roll out of bed and hit the shower, letting the hot water roll over my nervous body. I run my fingers over my tribute tattoo again and think of my dad. Climbing out of the shower, I walk into my bedroom and find Lucy sitting on my bed.

“This sucks, Ry. Why couldn’t you choose something that I could do? Freaking baby Phoenix. We are so doing this again when the baby arrives, because did I tell you this sucks ass big time?” She crosses her arms across her bump and pouts, which makes me smile.

“Snowflake, I have to protect my unborn niece or nephew, and yes we will totally do this again. It will be a blast, I just hope it goes in my favor.” I say, as I grab my old Levi’s out of the drawer. I pull a denim shirt with pearl snap buttons for easy access out as well.  I pull my jeans on sans boxers and put on my shirt, rolling the sleeves up to my elbows. I add my black boots.

I leave my Phoenix wristband at home; I don’t want that to get damaged. I style my hair with a touch of gel but I don’t make too much of an effort; as there just isn’t any point. I turn to face Lucy, who is still sitting crossed legged on my bed watching me get ready. I know people might think it’s weird that my triplet brother's pregnant girlfriend just sat on my bed and watched me get dressed but hey that’s just us; it’s not like she saw anything.

“Ryder, honey, you will be fine. Letty loves you and you love her so I have no doubt how today will end. Just have some faith in your girl, ok?” I nod, taking a deep breath and add my final touch to my outfit.

I help Lucy up off the bed. Even though she has the smallest baby bump, she has been having a few problems with her left hip. Rafe wants to wrap her up in bubble wrap. He is so funny when it comes to her, but you have to love how protective he is of them. He will be an amazing dad. He is awesome with Demi so I think he will be just fine.

“Ok Missy, lets hit the road. I have a few things to do before my girls arrive, along with everyone else. I am so fucking happy that Quinn said that she would bring them to the place. I have so much to do when we get there. Beck, Skeet and Gunner are meeting us there to help move a few things around, Quinn also send me a playlist filled with Letty and Demi’s favorite songs.” I follow Lucy out to the living room to see my brother sitting there playing the Xbox, bastards. How can they be so fucking cool, calm and collected? We feel the same shit. They should be at least on edge. As if they knew what I was thinking, they both look to me and smirk.

“Chill the fuck out, bro. I don’t think my heart can take this much mushy shit. Fuck, I’m gonna turn into pussies like you two. Have a shot of Patron or something, anything please?” He begs and we all laugh. Rafe jumps off the couch and we follow him into the kitchen, where he pulls three shot glasses from the shelf and the bottle of Patron from the worktop. He places one in front of Reeve and me and fills them up. He winks at Lucy who is pouting big time.

“None for you and baby Phoenix, sorry.” He smirks at her. She raises her eyebrows at him.

“Baby, you do know that as my due date gets closer you are gonna have to stop drinking just in case we need to go to the hospital, right?” She winks at Reeve and me who are now bent over laughing at the stunned expression on Rafe’s face.

“Are you serious? Is she for real?” He looks between Reeve and me and Lucy, who is nodding her head.

“Aww bro, you will think twice before knocking her up next time.” We carrying on laughing but Rafe is still carrying the stunned look on his face.

“Fuck. Fine, no drink closer to the baby arriving. Come on, lets head over. We have a question to ask.”

We take my truck over, as I need to it take my girls home with me later. We all chat in the car while driving over, which seems to settle my rapidly beating heart. But as soon as I pull down the dirt track towards the building my heart rate kicks up a notch, or a thousand.

But there is no turning back now. Not that I want to.

Chapter 22

Letty

I received a text from Ryder yesterday telling me that he had made big plans for us today and that both Demi and me were to wear clothes that we didn’t mind getting dirty or ruined and decent footwear. So it’s a navy playsuit with birds on it for Demi and her old pink Doc Martins. I tie her hair back out of her face and add a hair band. She is sitting on my bed watching TV while I get dressed.

I throw on an old pair of boyfriend style jeans and one of my older ‘3 Doors Down’ concert t-shirts with my black biker boots and I plait my hair to the side. I put the minimum amount of make-up on, going with the more natural look. My phone dings and I see Quinn’s name on the screen, so I check the text and reply.

“Let’s go baby. Aunt Quinn is outside waiting for us.” I help her down off the bed and we make our way out the front door; I snatch up my bag and Demi’s little backpack with her snacks, juice and change of clothes in. When we reach Quinn she is bubbling in the front seat. I greet her as I strap Demi into her car seat. I jump into the passenger seat and Quinn pulls back out and away from my building. Quinn is in talking a mile a minute, so I can tell she is nervous about something. I turn the radio off and turn to face my best friend.

“What’s got you acting like a power puff girl on crack? You are all jittery, has something happened?” I smirk at her.  She can’t look me in the eye, so there is something she isn’t telling me. Bitch.

“Tell me, Quinn. Has something happened? You know I will cut your ‘Demi Time’ if you don’t share right this second. Come on girly.” She stops tapping the steering wheel and looks over to me when we stop at a red light.

“I um… kind of um… maybe um…IkissedReeveandSkeettheothernightandfuckitwassogood.” She says it so freaking fast that it comes out as one long as word. She takes a deep breath while looking at me, I’m sure my eyes are the size of saucers right now. I burst out laughing at her confession.

“OH MY GOD.” I double over in my seat, holding my stomach because it hurts from laughing; I hear Demi laughing in the back, even though she has no clue as to why I’m laughing at her Auntie Quinn. “Did you get down and dirty times two with them?” I wink at her and the color drains from her face but she shakes her head no.

“We got interrupted and I ran out of there. Shit, Letts, I so would have got down and dirty with Reeve and Skeet if Nix hadn’t come in. Oh, and that man is a whole hunk of hotness on his own” She fans her flushed face. We both burst out laughing. We talk for about twenty minutes until Quinn turns down a dirt road and I see a big red and white barn come into view. As Quinn parks the car I see that we are at ‘Neon Wars’. It’s a paint balling game but with paint balloons filled with neon paint, which glows under florescent lights.

The yard is filled with hay bales and wooden cut outs for protection. There are barrels and other shields to hide behind. What the hell did he bring us here for? I climb out of the car and see Ryder and everyone standing waiting for us. I go to the back door and get Demi out of her car seat.