Rubbing his hands across his head, Gunner tugged his hair as he waited for Penelope. She had to leave the kitchen table to put Addy to bed with Hollywood. His leg shook underneath the table as he braced his elbows against it.

He barely lifted his head when he heard the two of them approaching. It already pissed him off that Hollywood was hearing all his business. None of the bikers without a title should be privy to his business. But he supposed they were brothers-in-law or whatever.

"So, this hot mess happened today?" Penny lifted a brow at her older brother.

The blonde man grunted lowly in confirmation.

While he looked away, Penelope held out her hand and Hollywood forked over ten bucks. "So... you're on to the next..." Penelope trailed off. "By the way you look I'm guessing not." Either way she won the bet of how long it'd take for him to fuck something up.

Groaning louder, he dropped his head against the dinner table. "How the hell am I even supposed to react to that?"

Penelope rolled her eyes at his dramatics. Beside her, Hollywood passed her a carton of pineapple when he saw her growing irritated. Flickering his gaze between the siblings, Hollywood leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her temple.

"I'll let ya handle him," Hollywood murmured to her. Glaring at him, she shooed him away since he was abandoning her.

"Not the way you reacted."

"She should have told me, Pen," he rasped. "I can't even-I can't wrap my head around it."

Penelope took a good look at her brother, tilting her head in thought. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. His face was flushed, his hair was all over, and his eyes were tinged red. She hadn't actually seen him like that in a while. "Are you mad she has a kid or cause ya didn't know?" She couldn't figure it out.

"What?" He finally glanced up at her.

"You heard me." Her head cocked with a lifted brow.

Gunner frowned, what the hell is that supposed to mean? "Can't be mad she has a kid, the hell does that even mean? I-I don' know man. I hate not knowing shit... And it changes- i-it changes everything. I can't just be a boyfriend anymore and I don't even know how to be a boyfriend to begin with. I haven't asked matter of fact!"

"Lower yer voice, goddamn. So, it changes things... What does it change?"

Gunner scratched the back of his head. "Changes how we date, how we communicate. I mean, our priorities. Hell, it changes how we fuck."

Penelope couldn't bare another eye roll at his last comment. Inhaling she leaned against the table, "You're right nothing is going to be the same as dating someone who doesn't have kids. It's shitty how you found out and completely out of her control too. You should be fucking up Daminger and you're here cryin' to me when he disrespected not only you but who you say is your girl."

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she contemplated. "You're not crazy. You can be angry, that makes sense. It's jarring but yelling at that fuckin' girl especially if what Valentina relayed to me from what Butcher told her it was frankly very icky of you," Penelope quipped at the end.

Gunner quieted for a moment before peeking at her. "Is it really icky?"

"A tad." She shrugged while standing up for tea, grabbing him a mug for coffee. "So, is it worth it or are you going back to being a whore?"

Sneering, Gunner snatched the coffee before swatting at his sister. "Wasn't a whore, asshole. Thing is, I can't goddamn think of anythin' but her. She's running laps in my fuckin' mind. I don't want anyone else. Can't look at another girl without thinking about how fuckin' cute she is or how pretty her eyes are. Or how she smells like flowers all the friggin' time. O-Or how she pushes her hair behind her ears when she gets nervous-"

"God you're pathetic."

Grumbling even more, he sipped loudly simply to annoy her.

Penelope's green gaze flitted up to him over her own mug, her lip twitching. "Her kid's cute."

Gunner's head flew up, his brows nearly reaching his hairline. "You knew?"

Her lips curled into an arrogant grin, "Mhm. And I hope that makes you feel worse 'cause we talked about when she was goin' to tell you. Lemme' tell ya, that little girl is so stinkin' cute. Looks just like her mama."

And fuck. It was like a fist around his heart manually pumping it, his stomach jumping around with nerves. Damn. Why does he want to see that kid so bad? It was like his chest was aching with a want that he's never quite felt before. Aside from maybe Lily but that was definitely a different kind of craving.

"And that's the look of a chained man right there," Penny wiggled her brows. "Now, get out of my house. My advice going forward: let her have the night to chill. Bring her flowers or somethin'. Get on your knees. Pray. I don't know... Have an open conversation about your feelings, but I know you struggle with that."

"Thank you and fuck you." Gunner patted her on her shoulder on the way out.

***

Pinching her phone between her ear and her shoulder, Lily browsed the farmers' market. Esmerelda babysat a sleepy Rowan who'd turned into a chatter box overnight with her one-word vocabulary. So, the two of them didn't get a lot of sleep. After the long relay of events, Esmerelda practically begged for Lily to leave the baby with her for the errands she would run.

Now, as she got to her last stop to get her produce, she couldn't help but wish she was home. With things going pear shaped between her and Gunner, she was just now noticing how many bikers just lingered around every corner of the town.

And she was noticing how all their eyes strayed to her at some point or another. It felt like she was being babysat herself. Before she could even entertain herself with the thought, she pushed it aside. It'd be a tad self-centered of her to assume the bikers were giving her any attention, as if whatever happened between Gunner and her was special.

Ignoring the pang in her gut at the reality, Liliana ducked her head down and grabbed some pears for the puree she'd be making Rowan that night. Filling her basket generously, she walked around as she tested the ripeness of almost everything she grabbed. Fanning herself lightly in the open market, she saw the bikers were finally distracted and had fucked off somewhere they couldn't see her at least.

A frown tugged at her lips when she wondered about the next time she'd inevitably run into Gunner. She wondered if he'd even acknowledge her.

It'd probably be best if that's what they did. Act like they didn't know each other.

Licking her lips, she told herself that was just fine with her. It wasn't like she was used to all of his focus being on her all of the time. Or his green eyes following her wherever she went or like she had welcomed it unlike the other bikers. Not even how he always made time to see her.

No, she was just fine if they ignored each other after this hot mess.

Peeking over, she saw the bikers still distracted. So, after checking out, she made a quick break to the car. Clumsily, she nearly tripped over herself while waddling with the bags hanging off of her. Shoving the trunk open, she couldn't help but reminisce about when she was waddling around pregnant.

She felt her womb itch with the memory of carrying her baby. Ugh, she wished she could just stick Rowan back up there for safe keeping. But that would suck for the both of them.

A hand slapping against her car and Lily gasped in surprise. She half expected it to be a biker, but she glanced up and paused. She didn't recognize the man. Not at first.

But the blue line in the flag on his hat gave it away pretty quickly, even if he wasn't in his uniform.

Andrew Daminger was grinning down at her.

"Hey, pretty lady."

Liliana gripped her trunk and slammed it shut, nearly getting his fingers in the process. She wished she had. He opened his mouth to continue.

"I'm uncomfortable being around you, I'd prefer it if you leave me and my daughter alone."

His jaw opened and closed repeatedly, floundering at the blunt request.

"You don't mean that," Daminger spluttered. "I-I did you a favor. You should be thanking me." He patted his chest as a flush crawled up his neck, tight frown lines jarring at his face.

"All you did was air out my business. What if Gunner was actually dangerous?"

"He is dangerous—"

Liliana didn't stop, continuing to talk over top of him. "Then you put me in a position where my daughter isn't safe. So, I'll repeat myself. I don't want you showing up anymore. I don't want you patrolling by my house for fun. You or Gunner. I want you to leave. Me. Alone."

Liliana stepped back, her eyes pinned on the cop warily, but it still didn't stop him from attempting to stop her.

Despite her fight, his tight grip captured her wrist. With a growl, Lily tried to yank away as her stomach plummeted into her ass. His other hand clawed at her waist in an attempt to keep her docile and avoid a scene.

"Let me go!"

"Yer' not understandin'. I helped you. I got that asshole out for you and your girl's safety! This is where you say thank you!" His voice had raised to an alarming volume. Liliana froze momentarily. Her wide, brown eyes were locked on Daminger's stormy gaze which swirled with a blazing anger that shook her to her core.

Forcing herself to move, Lily pushed at his chest. A wince tore from her clenched teeth as his grip began to bruise.

Jerking herself back before he could grab at her with both hands again, Lily's hand smacked sharply against Daminger's cheek. Immediately, it went red.

A deafening silence seized the both of them and Liliana could have sworn she saw murder in the officer's eyes.

Before he could move, it was like the sounds around her came rushing back in. "What the hell?! Let her the fuck go, man!" She'd never been so glad to hear Taz's voice.

A bulky arm wrapped around her waist, and she was yanked from Daminger. Thrown backwards, she tumbled into the group of bikers that were huddled around her. A few of them steadied her as her breaths came out shaky and staggered.

Taz's face was red with anger. He was practically nose to nose with Daminger. "I ever see you put her damn hands on her again or her fuckin' kid I'll gut you like a fish. You best pray I never see you in a mile radius of her. Fuckin' pathetic. Go suck your Captains dick like usual. Make yourself useful," Taz spat at Daminger's feet.

Flickering his eyes past Taz and to Liliana, Daminger's glare felt ice cold as he backed down due to the numbers on the bikers' side.

His steps backwards were slow and deliberate, fully taking in Liliana before shooting Taz a glance of annoyance and taking off.

Sliding her eyes shut, Liliana couldn't control the shake in her hands as she pressed them over her eyes tightly.

"Thank you," she whispered meekly without even taking her hands away from her face.

Sighing roughly, Taz clapped his hand over her shoulder before tugging her into a tight hug. "We won't let it happen again. All this shit is comin' to an end, I promise. We're handling it."

Sniffling quietly, she nodded into his chest.

"Thank you," she couldn't help but repeat herself. A sob caught in her throat as she hugged him back just as tight.

"Myself and another biker- we'll follow behind ya with our bikes to be sure he doesn't follow. I'll have some of the Mayhem Men ride by hourly, keeping things safe."

She shook her head immediately. "They don't have to do that. I doubt he'd like that."

They both knew who she meant. Shaking his head in disagreement, he didn't bother arguing the fact. "Don't matter what he likes. I'm giving you my word. I'll do this myself with some friends of mine. Right?"

The closest biker to her chimed up, "Yes ma'am. We know Daminger ain't up to anything good."

Wiping her nose, she nodded once. It would probably be best, especially considering Rowan would be home with her.

"O-Okay, okay." She nodded while hugging her arms around herself. Taz opened the driver side door for her and got her situated to drive and lead them. When he patted her hand reassuringly, she squeezed it gratefully and couldn't wait to be in the comfort of her own home where she could scrub Daminger from her skin.