Page 73 of Redemption

“Whoops,” I say with a slight shrug, which makes everyone laugh.

We spend a while catching up and enjoying baby snuggles, the guys even get to have cuddles, which does something to me. She’s so tiny, and they’re all so big and strong and yet so incredibly gentle with Ophelia. It conjures up all sorts of images of them holding our baby.

I’m not quite ready for that yet.

Jynx stays on the phone for as long as she can, and the phone makes its way around the guys. Although it’s really nice to speak to them all, it’s not the same as having them here, and I miss them loads. Eventually, Rafe gets up to get the food out of the oven and dish it up for Lyric and the others, and Jynx says a hasty goodbye as someone says something off camera that the rest of us, unfortunately, don’t catch.

“We’re going to leave you to it,” I say as I stand up. “Call me or text me whenever, even if it's in the middle of the night, and let me know if you need anything.”

Lyric smiles, “Of course. Thank you for all of the food, gifts, and visiting. Keep us up to date with the Hunt case. I know we aren’t involved, but I still want to know what's going on and what the plan is, especially since Liam is involved.”

“Okay, we can do that,” Rage replies, with a smile.

Honestly, if the roles were reversed, we would all want to be kept in the loop too.

“When I’m feeling up to venturing out with her, can we come up to your place? I know it’s not technically out, but I feel like it’s a good compromise,” Lyric asks, sounding more vulnerable than she has the whole time that we’ve been here.

“Of course you can,” I reply warmly. “You know you guys can come up whenever you want to, and I made Ophelia her own little cupboard in the front room, you too. It’s got diapers, spare clothes, and all the things that you could both possibly need, all in the brands that you brought when we were looking into it.”

“You really are the bestest best friend,” Lyric smiles, her eyes watery. She yawns and adds, “Thank you.”

“I know I am,” I tease. It is definitely time for us to go now. She needs to eat and then get some sleep. “Enjoy dinner and get some rest. Come up whenever you’re feeling up to it. There’s no rush. We’ll let you know when we’re heading to get Hunt or if we’ll be out of town for a while. Elijah and the guys are coming back the day after tomorrow.”

“Awesome, I can’t wait to see them all,” Lyric says excitedly.

“Oh, and we got a puppy,” Luc adds. He looks at a wide-eyed Lyric with a grin. “I’ll send you pictures.”

“Hey!” Ezra exclaims, sounding offended. “I want pictures too.”

“I’ll send them in the group chat and the story of how we got her, but right now we’re going. Bye, guys,” Luc says with a smile.

The guys tell Lyric’s men to call if they want to, and then we all say goodbye and head back out to the cars and start the short drive home.

“Well, that was emotionally charged,” Trick says, when we’re nearly home.

“I’ll say,” I reply quietly. I still can’t get over the fact that they used my name as a middle name for Ophelia.

It’s so sweet.

“Ophelia is absolutely adorable,” Jensen adds, looking down at his phone and at a picture of all of them together. “The guys are so in love with her.”

“I wonder if she will ever realize just how protected she is?” Pete asks curiously. “She has some of the world's most dangerous people as her uncles and aunts. Nothing will get through them.”

“Damn fucking straight,” Atlas replies fiercely.

The car falls quiet for a moment, all of us lost in our thoughts.

“Pete, are you staying at ours tonight?” I ask as we approach our gates.

He nods. “Yeah, if that’s okay? Shadow is already up at your house, and I’m really tired. I can’t be bothered with the faff of going home. Plus I get the good breakfast at yours.”

I grin, “Of course it’s okay.”

“Thank you,” he replies with a tired smile.

Chapter Twenty-Four

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