Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
That said, the wheels were in motion.
I was about to send Zayn his commissioned art. And I’d already been in touch with Teddy’s associate about the hotel.
Maybe it wouldn’t be just a dream for much longer.
Levee - 3 months
“You’re a lucky fuck, man,” Cato said, nodding as we stood at the curb in front of the house I’d just bought.
He was right about that.
The thing was, with being a member of the club, you had to live somewhat close to the clubhouse. And it wasn’t really an area where you found bungalows. Let alone one big enough to eventually have a family in. Especially if that family involved the ‘litter’ of kids Jade had been very clear about wanting.
I hadn’t given kids that much thought before her. The more I saw her with kids now, the more I wanted to see her with one of my kids.
I could picture it right in the house I now had the keys to. Coming home to see her in the front covered porch, rocking a baby like I’d seen her do with other babies countless times before.
Or walking in to find her sitting at a canvas in her art room, the sun streaming in through a myriad of suncatchers, casting rainbows across her skin and hair.
I could see both of us sitting at the table in the dining room, watching the chaos as four small children chattered and laughed.
“Though I don’t know why the fuck you would want to stick your uncle in the guest house.”
It wasn’t exactly my idea.
The longer Jade and I dated, the more she got involved in the caretaking of my Uncle Will. And because Jade had the heart the size of a blue whale’s, it made her want to do more and more for him, even when he was nasty to her.
To her credit, the more she worked at him, the more my uncle’s sharp edges softened. And, amazingly, the more he actually wanted to start taking care of himself. Hell, she actually had the man eating the fruit that I’d been bringing—and then throwing away—for years.
Because of all the improvement, she’d been dropping hints at the idea of having Uncle Will closer, so we could keep a closer eye on him.
While I would never want Uncle Will in my actual house, I was alright with the idea of him staying in the guest house. It would certainly make it easier to take care of him.
It wasn’t a big guest house. The real estate agent had referred to it as a “granny pod,” and said the previous owners had installed it for the same reason I would need it for. Taking care of an aging relative. It was basically one big room—living, kitchen, and bed all in one—with an oversized bathroom that was handicap equipped. It even had one of those no lip bathtubs, so you could roll a manual wheelchair right into, if necessary.
I was really fucking lucky to find this property. And then to win the nail-biting bidding war.
In the end, money talks, though. And I had more than enough of it, thanks to years of making a nice salary while having almost no living expenses.
“So, when are you going to tell her?” Seeley, at my other side, asked.
“Once we get it cleaned up,” I told them.
It was perfectly livable.
But Jade had been dreaming of this place for a long time. I wanted to get some of the overgrown weeds and shrubs cleaned up. Maybe fill the garden beds with some gorgeous, colorful flowers. Get the floors inside refinished because the tile was chipped enough in places that I was worried one of us might cut our feet if we went barefoot. Everything inside needed a fresh coat of primer. Then it would be ready for Jade to pick out paint colors.
Objectively, yeah, we were still kind of new, in the grand scheme of things. But we hadn’t spent a full twenty-four hours apart since that night I picked her up from Teddy’s place. And, frankly, I never wanted to. Having a home we could both move into that was close to the clubhouse was the easiest solution.
And the first step toward forever.
Jade - 5 months
“Where are you, doll?” Levee called, the screen door cracking against the frame as he spoke. “Gotta get that fixed,” he grumbled.
“Don’t you dare,” I called, looking over my shoulder as he walked into the dining room where I was painting a mural on the wall.
It was a big endeavor that stretched the whole room from just above the board and batten and to the ceiling. But it was a true labor of love. And it featured a bunch of little nods to our relationships, to the found family we both loved so much, to the hopes for our future.
“Don’t I dare what?” Levee asked, stepping into the rounded doorway looking as sexy as ever in a white t-shirt that was sticking to his skin underneath, thanks to the unexpected rain shower that had started to pelt at the windows a couple minutes before.