She’d been there awhile.
Diesel slid away from him, pulling up his shorts. He went to the linen cupboard, grabbed a washcloth, returned to the sink and wetted it while Maddox did up his jeans and Molly moved in to gather the multitude of equipment it took to blow out her hair.
Shoving the cloth down the back of his shorts, D cleaned his ass cursorily, a wipe. He mopped up the cum on the basin before he walked through one of the two doors to the walk-in (D and Mad had designed it so Molly could get there from bathroom and bedroom, which made it convenient since her boys could do the same), not looking at either of them, probably to take the cloth to the hamper in the closet and get dressed.
But also to escape and crawl right back into his head.
That was all right. Maddox was learning he could work with that.
He’d just pull him back out.
Both Molly and Mad watched him go, and when he was in the closet, Molly and Mad looked at each other.
“So, apparently,” she said in a very quiet whisper, “fucking him into the right place in his head works.”
Maddox smiled at her.
She shook her head, smiling back, but saying, “Men,” like they baffled her and exasperated her at the same time, but she loved every second of it.
He went in at her back, bent and kissed her neck and then followed D into the closet.
Diesel had his jeans on and was yanking on a tee.
“It’d be good to get a rundown of the fun you had last night,” he noted, reaching for one of the dozens of work polos he had that Molly cleaned in a way that was more like wringing miracles because they could get sweaty and dirty and every last one still looked brand new (and when it didn’t, she threw it out and contacted George herself to get him another one).
“Tonight,” D grunted. “Now I need coffee then I gotta get to work.”
Maddox grinned again.
Fuck, he hadn’t smiled this much since they first met Molly.
It felt good.
Really good.
“Right.” Maddox pulled on his polo.
With a ball of socks in his hand, D nabbed his boots and made a move to leave, not breaking stride even as he looked right at Maddox and declared, “You’re an asshole, you know that?”
Yeah, buddy, I agree. That was a fucking phenomenal session and I love you too.
Maddox smiled big at him and answered, “Yup.”
“Fucker,” D grumbled and walked out.
The stop and start of the hair dryer just plain stopped and Molly appeared at the door to the walk-in, still fucking smiling.
“I so, so, so, so, sooooooo love you guys,” she announced.
Maddox looked at their beautiful girl.
And burst out laughing.
Until My Dying Breath
Molly
MOLLY WAS ON the way home from work, groceries for a special meal in the back, when the radio muted and her car started ringing.
She looked to the dash, saw who it was and happily took the call.
“Hey, honey!” she cried.
“Well, hello there, sister,” Rebel greeted, sounding funny.
Oh no.
Nothing could be wrong.
Not that day.
Especially not that day.
That day being the day after what happened last night.
And that morning.
“Is . . . uh, everything all right?” Molly asked.
“Yeah, just wondering if you guys have plans next weekend,” Rebel answered.
Oh boy.
“Um, no. Not that I know of,” Molly told D’s sister, who was the kind of woman who was also Molly’s sister, and Maddox’s sister.
Bottom line, who Diesel loved, and who loved Diesel, Rebel loved too.
In fact, although Molly felt slightly ashamed to admit it (but it was true), Rebel felt more like a true sister than Holly did.
Molly loved Holly.
She was just a lot of . . . work.
And Rebel was totally . . . not.
“Cool,” Rebel replied. “I got a room at the Valley Ho. I’m gonna take off Friday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday morning and head down to you guys for a long weekend. Is that all right?”
That was awesome. Amazing. Molly was delighted. Mady would be thrilled. D would be ecstatic.
Except, why did she sound funny?
And why wasn’t she asking Diesel about this?
“That’s totally all right,” Molly said. “I’ll ask the boys to make sure. But . . . I mean, I don’t want to put my foot in something, but why aren’t you asking Diesel this?”
Rebel, being Rebel, all out there, honest, communicative, never kept you guessing, didn’t keep Molly guessing.
“I called him last night. He didn’t share a lot but he seemed to be in a bad place.”
Mm-hmm.
That had been right.
And then D had done what D had done with Maddox last night.
Of course, Molly felt him get tense after, when she and Mad made a thing about it.
But then he’d let Mady make love to him in the bathroom that morning, kissing after and everything.
Obviously, she couldn’t share any of this with Rebel.
“I think he’s been working through some things,” Molly told her.
“Yeah. And that’s probably not gonna get a lot better considering Mom’s gonna be pushing for a family Thanksgiving with the usual tight-ass, narrow-minded view of what family means.”
Molly felt her lips thin.
She had hate in her heart for nobody. Not a soul. People had reasons for doing just about anything. She might not like them much because of how they behaved, but hate?
No one should hate.
That said, she hated Diesel’s parents.
Especially his mother.
The dad was an asshole. A lost cause. He couldn’t come up with an original thought if he was offered ten million dollars to have one. He was weak of will. Weak of mind. Weak of character.
The mom, she was a different story and she had different weaknesses that were less . . .
Not understandable. Understandable wasn’t the word. Molly didn’t understand Mr. Stapleton.
It was just, for a woman, a woman who had a good mother, who had a good mother-in-law in Erin (that soon to be made official, she hoped), a woman who wanted to be a good mother, Mrs. Stapleton’s weaknesses were just—unacceptable.
“Did you tell D about this Thanksgiving thing?” she asked Rebel.
“Yeah. Like me, he wasn’t a big fan,” Rebel answered.
Molly had to think on this.
Because anything that had anything to do with his parents, or that loser brother of his, always shoved Diesel right into his head.
But last night . . .
“Do you know Tommy Barnes?” she blurted.
“Tommy?” Rebel asked.
Dang.
She felt funny talking about this with Rebel because Rebel might be all about the sister stuff with Molly and Maddox, but she was D’s and she had a strict code when it came to what she thought was right, and wrong, and talking behind D’s back would not be right.
Though she was the one who called about this visit, going around D.
“Yeah, Tommy. Uh . . .”
Did she know about Tommy, as in Diesel and Tommy?
“He told me, Mol, later,” Rebel shared. “After he moved to Phoenix, after he came out to me, he told me Tommy was his first guy. But yeah. They were best friends through high school. He was around a lot. I knew him. Great guy. Totally a great guy. If D hadn’t found you guys, it would have sucked it didn’t work out for those two, he was that great of a guy. Then again, Tommy’s gay, not bi, so it probably never could have worked. But I’m still glad he was D’s first. Tommy was solid. Totally down with who he was, as he should be.”