Wild Wind: A Chaos Novella (Chaos #6.6)(32)

He didn’t like it either.

What he did do was take their coffee mugs and set them aside, then pull her in his arms, roll over her and make out with her hot and heavy.

Because they had to get on with their days.

But there was always time to make out.





Chapter Eight



Original Gangster



Jagger



Early that afternoon, Jagger was on his ass on the floor of bay two at the garage at Ride, his wrists to his cocked knees, and Joker was sitting beside him in the same position.

Both of them were staring at the vehicle that was right then currently kicking their ass.

It wasn’t a build.

It was a restoration.

An old Ford Bronco that was totally worth the effort, seeing as it was a Bronco, and Joker’s vision for it was epic.

But everywhere they turned, they found rust.

Which was a pain in the ass and it was making the budget skyrocket.

“Remind me not to do this again,” Joker said.

“Dude,” Jagger replied, because Joker said that a lot, but when he got something in his head, he didn’t listen to anyone. So a long time ago, Jag had quit trying.

“Every time we take on a restoration, we get kicked in the ass,” Joker told him something he knew.

“But, brother, it’s a Bronco.”

Joker sighed, knowing like Jagger did, at least this time, that made it worth it, just as a child called out, “Daddy!”

Both Joke and Jag looked to the mouth of the bay where they saw a little girl with black hair racing their way.

Joker and his wife Carissa’s first.

Though, if you counted Carissa’s boy from her previous marriage, which Joker did, their girl was their second.

She was called Clementine.

Coming up behind Clementine was Wyatt, Joker’s first blooded boy, and trailing was Carissa, with their last, a baby girl, Raven, on her hip.

Since he wasn’t there, Travis (their first) was probably with his father.

But even with this parade, Clementine was determined to take all her dad’s attention, considering she little-girl tackled him.

Joker pretended it was a major hit, groaning and rocking deeper with the blow than was necessary.

Wyatt ignored both men, seeing as he was his father’s son, and way more interested in the Bronco, so he went right to that.

Raven was all about her dad too, reaching out to him, and Carissa was all about her husband, heading straight to him.

But the shout that Jag would put money on all of them hearing even before they heard it came from the door to the office.

“Get that baby up here!” Tyra yelled.

Tyra, their former president Tack’s wife, also the garage’s office manager, was a baby monster. It was hilarious. And luckily, with all the brothers busy procreating, she got her fix regularly.

“Coming!” Carissa called.

But she stopped at her husband first, bending low, touching mouths, sharing smiles, shifting so that Joker could get a wet buss from Rave, then, with a smile and, “Hey, Jag,” she took off toward the office.

Clementine was having none of this and declared just that before her mother was even out of eyesight.

With a scrunched-up, little-kid-pissed face, her hands to his shoulders, she stated, “I pin you, Daddy!”

“All right, baby,” Joker muttered then fell to his back.

She squealed with triumph.

Jagger pulled out his phone and took a snap after Joker took control, wrapping his arms around his daughter and kissing her face all over.

This caused more squeals.

“Selfie, brah.”

Hearing this, Jagger looked to his left and Wyatt was already posing with two fingers in front of him in V position.

Christ, the kid was barely four.

Totally Joke’s kid, and not only due to the jet-black hair and steel-gray eyes and preoccupation with vehicles, but also the inherent cool factor.

Obediently, Jagger shifted, reached the arm with the phone long, did the V with his other hand, and took a selfie.

After this, Wyatt again lost interest in him and went back to the Bronco.

Yeah, so his dad.

After the cool, all about the cars.

By the time he did, Joker had sat up, Clementine was in his lap and her attention had turned.

To Jagger.

She launched herself at him and he did his best to pretend it was a valiant struggle, but she did a great job at pinning him.

“Got you!” she yelled in his face.

“You sure did, cuteness,” he told her.

She didn’t waste time exalting in victory.

Her head snapped to the side, she then shouted, “Hoppy!” jumped off Joker, making him grunt for real when one of her feet hit his gut, and she took off after their brother, Hop, who’d just walked in the garage.

“I see a future in GLOW for your girl,” Jagger said as he did an ab curl back up to sitting.

“It’s her new thing,” Joker told him. “Last week, she wanted scissors to cut all her dolls’ hair. The week before that, she made me sit on the couch and put gunk on my face because she saw her mom give herself a facial. This did not go great for her since I have a beard and that fucked with her vision of how comprehensive she wanted to get with my skin, but her mother put her foot down in a negatory when Clem demanded I shave it off. The week before that, she was karate chopping and kickboxing everything. We had to put a stop to that when she roundhouse kicked a table and broke a lamp. I saw it. It was a solid kick. I was impressed. Carrie was not.”