She trailed off.
“Molly,” Maddox growled.
“Well, you know Mom met me last night so she could follow me down for this weekend so she could be there too. But when we showed, Holly was a mess, crying and carrying on and saying she didn’t know if she could marry a man who doesn’t get how important a wedding is for a woman. And then she told us she’d told him that it would all be good because she’d talk to Mom and Dad about it and get my budget for a wedding, because obviously I’d never have one, and everything would be okay.”
The air in the kitchen could not be cut with a knife.
It’d take a chainsaw.
“Say that again,” Diesel demanded, which was good because Maddox was so ticked, he couldn’t get his lips to move.
“You heard me,” she whispered, then took a beat and spoke normal. “Dylan called her a selfish bitch and stormed out, which she thought was insanely out of line. I think she expected Mom and me to agree with her but I took one look at Mom . . . and you know how she gets red in the face when she’s drinking? Well, it was like that. And she just took off. Walked out before she said anything she’d regret and stayed in a hotel last night.”
“And you’re still there because . . . ?” Maddox prompted irately.
“Because she’s my sister.”
“Come home,” Diesel ordered.
“Honey, I calmed her down and we talked—”
“We might not get a bullshit vanilla wedding but whatever we have will be what you want with flowers and cake and a beautiful dress and shit like that and she knows that so throwin’ your lifestyle out like that is not on. Come home,” Diesel demanded while Maddox stared at him.
He was on board with that.
He’d always been on board with that.
But Maddox could not describe the depths of relief he felt hearing Diesel say that with the power he put in the words that he was still on board with that.
“I told her that after Mom left and I got her to calm down,” Molly replied, “And she realized she was over the line. It was like the haze of wedding fever lifted and she got it. She apologized to me and called Dylan and they talked for about two hours while I talked with Mom, and then Dad because Mom called him and he was pissed, then Mom again. And now we’re about to go have breakfast with Mom so Holly can sort things out with her and then we can go look at this gown. But I think I should stay. We have to go over what she has planned and cut out seven thousand dollars, something that’s probably going to take a lot of work. But in the end, she just . . . needs me.”
Good down to her soul, their Molly.
The one individual in that scenario who had the right to lose their mind was her and she was the one who calmed everyone down.
“You need us, we’re there. You need to leave, go. More shit happens and you get upset, don’t drive. We’ll come down and get you,” Maddox told her.
“It’s all going to be okay now,” she assured.
“If it’s not, you heard me,” Maddox replied.
“I heard you, baby,” she said softly.
Maddox drew in a breath.
“So how are my boys doing?” she asked, moving them away from that subject.
“We’re good,” Diesel grunted.
“What are you up to?”
Maddox and Diesel locked eyes.
Then Diesel said, “Maddox nearly fucked me through the wall last night. No worries, baby. There might be drywall damage, but if there is, we’ll fix it.”
They heard her pretty laugh through which she said, “Too bad I missed that.”
D dropped his eyes to the phone in a way Maddox couldn’t read. “We’ll reenact it when you get home.”
Apparently he was over it if he was joking about it.
Or at least Maddox was going to go with that.
“Awesome,” she replied. “So while the cat’s away, the cocks play?”
“Pretty much just fuckin’ each other’s brains out,” Diesel shared casually.
“Don’t get too much in, save some for me,” she said.
“Always ready for Molly,” Diesel told her gently.
“Love you, D.”
“Back atchu, Mol,” D replied.
“Love you, Mady,” she went on.
“You know you got it back, baby,” Maddox said.
“Okay, gotta let you go. I’ll call tomorrow before I hit the road. ’Kay?”
“Call whenever, if you want, we’re here,” Maddox ordered.
“I know. But I’ll probably be busy. If I can, I’ll connect later. Now gotta dash.”
“Later, babe,” Maddox said.
“Later, Mol,” Diesel said with him.
“Later, boys,” she replied.
The screen muted and Maddox again looked to D.
“We gotta take care of that for her,” Maddox told him.
He meant making moves on their future.
Diesel knew what he meant.
So D sucked back more coffee, and after he swallowed, he murmured, “Yeah.”
“House is done, bud, pool, yard. She won’t want anything big but we gotta give her what she wants and be ready to cover it.”
Diesel nodded and took in more joe.
Maddox felt his stomach tighten as he threw out, “And we got a future to plan for.”
With that, he meant building a family.
D knew what he meant with that too.
Diesel’s eyes came right to his.
“Yeah,” he said softly.
On board.
Commitment ceremony.
Kids.
Still soft, Diesel said, “She needs a ring.”
Diesel, absolutely not the shopper unless Mol was there (not that Maddox was but he could buy himself a pair of jeans and had opinions on couches and shit) offered, “I’ll look into those.”
Diesel nodded again, set his cup aside and watched his hand do it.
Then his gaze came direct back to Maddox.
“Come here,” he ordered quietly.
In that voice, with that look on his face, you’d have to bolt him down with chains to keep his ass in the chair at corners to D’s.
But he was not chained so he got up and barely took a step before D’s long arms were reaching out.
He grasped Maddox by the hips and pulled him around so his ass was to the table, D shifting in his chair to face him, his head tipped back.
He didn’t take his hands off Maddox’s hips when he asked, “You sleep good?”
“Nope,” Mad admitted.
“Me either,” Diesel muttered, his eyes dropped and he couldn’t miss Maddox’s meat pushing at the bottoms, something that had started to happen at “come here” and culminated the minute D got his hands on him.
But something shifted in his gaze as he stared at Mad’s junk.
Mad read it and his balls drew up, his chest warmed, and D’s fingers moved into the elastic waistband, pulling the bottoms down to Mad’s thighs, his cock snapping free.
Diesel took hold and Maddox tried to watch as he bent forward and swallowed him.
But the instant he had that mouth, his head dropped back and his hands went behind him to brace against the top of the table because D had a hot, wet mouth, power behind his pulls and could seriously suck cock.
Christ.
Right before he blew, Diesel popped him out and pushed his chair back, getting up.
D left him there and went to open a drawer and Maddox knew what that was about.
Who they were and how they all went at each other, certain things needed to be convenient pretty much everywhere.