I remained with Lark in the hospital room until Aaron arrived out of breath from running.
“My muse,” he said, taking her hand.
Leaving them alone to prepare for the surgery, I walked into the waiting room. Cooper patted the chair next to him and I joined him.
“She’ll be okay,” he said, sounding convincing.
I didn’t feel like talking, so I texted Dylan, Harlow, Mom, and Dad to let them know what was happening. Cooper spoke quietly on the phone with Farah who was on her way with Tawny.
First, Dick and Maryann arrived then Raven not long afterwards with Bailey.
“We were shopping when you called,” Bailey announced as Raven hurried to Lark’s room.
Joining her brother, Bailey tapped her foot and stared at the door. “How long will it take?”
“Patience,” Cooper muttered then returned to talking with Farah.
Bailey changed seats, so she was next to me. “Don’t be scared. Pixies are powerful creatures.”
Smiling softly, I took Bailey’s hand and waited.

When I entered, she sat up and focused on the bag in my hand. “The chick at the store said it works better in the morning, but it might work tonight. I bought a few extra tests, just in case. Do you need to pee?”
Lark stared at me then burst into laughter. “A few weeks into our relationship and we’re talking about peeing. Awesome.

Do you think I have good character?”
“The best.”
Smiling, she ran her fingers down my cheek and tapped the cobra’s face. “I’m really loyal,” Lark said, focusing on the snake instead of me. “My mom said I get stuck in the mud a lot. If I like something, I just like it forever. I don’t change. I wasn’t just saying that the first night.”
Leaning down, I kissed her “And you like me?”
“I should play coy, right? I should make you work for it, but I can’t. I don’t want to lie, so I’ll just tell the truth. I like you more than I’ve liked any guy ever. I’m a little obsessed with you. Like if you dumped me, I would stalk you.”
My smile widened. “Your honesty is really hot.”
“Would you stalk me if I dumped you?”
“Of course not,” I said, pulling a blanket over us. “I wouldn’t need to because I’d kidnap you and keep you as my muse slave.”
“I’d escape. I’m wily like that.”
“I bet you would, but we’ll never have to find out.”
Lark and I stared at each other as if waiting for the other one to be brave enough to say it.
“You’re mine,” I whispered. “No one else.”
Lark gave a gentle smile like in the studio. “I love you too.”
Finally, it was out in the open. The words sounded perfect and natural.
“I loved you last weekend,” I admitted. “I should have said that, but I was a jackass.”
“I loved you on our first date. I would have mentioned it, but I’m a bigger jackass.”
Laughing, I leaned her back on the couch. “I want to celebrate the love between two jackasses.”
“No,” she said, squirming free. “I want to be on top. I like exploring.”
“And what you like, you’ll always like.”
Tugging off her tee, Lark grinned. “I’ll be an old woman and still enjoying my cobra. Oh, and the hot guy attached to it.

What?” Judd growled and I had to admit Tawny was right about him sounding like a dog when he did that.
Turning around, I noticed two of Cooper’s club guys standing behind us.
“What’s your deal, O’Keefe?” one guy asked while the other avoided Judd’s hateful gaze.
When no one responded, the big bald guy looked me up and down. “She’s tiny. How does fucking even work?”
Aaron shifted next to me, now looking as hostile as Judd. “Back off, Mac.”
“Just curious. I’ve never fucked a tiny chick.”
“You shouldn’t talk about a man’s girl that way especially when she’s carrying his kid,” Cooper warned, clearly wanting to jump in, but holding back so not to emasculate Aaron.
Farah said guys in the club were testing Cooper lately because they sensed weakness in his leadership. I couldn’t imagine anyone looking at Cooper without fearing his wrath. Even if they didn’t fear Cooper, they ought to fear his enforcers. After all, Judd was glaring at Mac like waiting for any reason to attack.
Sensing a back story to this pissing match, I knew Mac was about to say something nasty even before he opened his mouth.
“I hear chicks get big tits when they’re knocked up. Certainly can’t hurt with this one.”
Why Mac was starting shit didn’t matter. Aaron threw the punch and the bar immediately exploded into violence. Judd was waiting for a reason to attack while Cooper and Vaughn were always up for a fight.
Aaron hit Mac again as the bigger guy stumbled back. I thought of grabbing a chair and helping my man, but Tawny pulled me away.
Soon, we were hiding under a table where Farah crouched with wide eyes. “Aaron needs to stake his claim and protect his woman,” Tawny said, cuddled next to Farah. “If you help him, it’s like you’re cutting off his balls and tossing them in your purse. Immature or not, these guys need to be men or they get insecure. Can’t have that.

The sound of a rumbling Harley wasn’t anything out of the ordinary around Ellsberg. This bike roared its engine once, twice, again and again as if attempting to gain someone’s attention. Or challenge a person to a fight maybe.
A frowning Aaron looked outside and his expression darkened. “It’s your fuckwad stepbrother.”
My stomach flipped and I backed away from the door as if I might run. Returning to sanity, I sighed. “How would he know?”
“I don’t know. I’ll tell him to fuck off.” Aaron walked onto the porch and Dylan turned of the Harley.
I watched Dylan stop at the front fence where he glared at Aaron. “I know Lark’s here. She needs to come home.”
“Fuck off,” Aaron said, keeping his promise to tell Dylan just that.

Lark wrapped an arm around me and started to speak until Bailey’s startled voice interrupted us. A huge football player had her pinned against the wall and she was yelling for him to back off. Instead, he crowded her more while playing with her blonde hair.
“Hey!” I yelled as Lark and I rushed over.
Six four and wide shouldered, the guy was wasted and angry at the interruption. “Fuck off, bitches,” he muttered.
Bailey clawed at his neck, but he had her pinned in a weird way, so she couldn’t get any leverage.
While I was ready to jump on him in a weak attempt to save my friend, someone shoved the football player off Bailey. I hadn’t even seen the guy appear, but he stood between Bailey and the pissed jerk.
“Fuck off, man,” the asshole said. “She’s mine.”
“Nick,” Bailey mumbled, looking ready to cry. “He humped my leg. Crush his skull, will ya?”
Nick frowned at Bailey who was leaning on him now.
The football player was an inch or two bigger than Nick and outweighed him by probably fifty pounds. Feeling the fight would be short, the asshole reached for Bailey’s arm and Nick nailed the guy in the face. To my shock, the giant asshole collapsed on the ground.
“My hero,” Bailey said, looking ready to puke. She caressed Nick’s biceps and asked, “Do you work out?”
Running his hands through his dark wavy hair, Nick laughed. “You’re so wasted.”
“And you’re like the Energizer Bunny,” she cooed. “My bro said you took a punch, yet kept on ticking.”
Nick started to speak then heard the asshole’s friends riled up.
I was too drunk to know if everything happened really quickly or if my brain just took awhile to catch up.
The guys rushed Nick who dodged most of them and hit another. The room emptied out except for Nick, the guys, and us. I grabbed a beer bottle and threw it at one of the guys shoving Nick.
When the bottle hit him in the back, the bastard glared at me. “You want to fight, bitch?”
“Leave her alone,” Nick said, kicking one guy into the jerk looking to hit me.
As impressive as Nick was against six guys, he was just one guy against six. A losing bet, he took a shot to the face then the gut. Lark grabbed a folding chair and went WWE on one guy. I was tossing beers in the roundabout direction of the other guys. Yet, Bailey was the one who ended the fight by pulling out a gun.
“Back the fuck off or I’ll burn this motherfucking house to the ground!” she screamed then fired at a lamp. Everyone stopped and stared at her. When she noticed me wide-eyed, Bailey frowned. “Too much?”
Grinning, I followed Lark to the door. Nick followed us while the assholes seemed ready to piss themselves. Well, except for an idiot who looked ready to go for Bailey’s gun.
"Dude,” Nick muttered, “that’s Bailey Fucking Johansson. Unless you want to end up in a shallow grave, back the fuck off.”
“What he said!” Bailey yelled, waving her gun around before I hurried her out of the door. The cold air sobered up Bailey enough for her to return the gun to her purse. She was still drunk enough to laugh hysterically as we reached the SUV.
“Did you see me kill that lamp?”
“You did good,” I said, groggy as my adrenaline shifted to nausea and the alcohol threatened to come back up on me.
Nick walked us to the SUV. “Next time, you might want to wave the gun around before you get drunk and dance.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Bailey growled, crawling into the backseat. Then, realizing he saved her, she crawled back to face him. “You were so brave. I should totally get you off as a thank you."
“Maybe another time,” he said, laughing as she batted her eyes at him. “Are you guys safe to drive?”
Lark nodded. “I’m sober enough to remember everything tomorrow. Trust me that there’ll be mocking.