39. Lucky

39

LUCKY

ONE AND A HALF MONTHS LATER

“ B usted.”

I cringe as I hold my drumsticks suspended above the snare, my bare foot barely resting on the bass pedal as Leonor walks into the room.

Giving her my best smile, I set the sticks down and straighten up. “Hi, baby cakes.”

“Don’t you hi baby cakes me.” She takes a bite of her sugar free brownie as she heads my way. “You know you’re not supposed to even look at your set for at least another three months.”

“Two and a half,” I correct as I turn on my stool and pull her between my knees. “Are you double fisting baked goods?”

“Yes, but don’t change the subject.”

Grabbing her hips, I ignore the lecture my girl is delivering— again— and press my face to her freshly popped baby bump.

“Hello in there,” I say, talking over Leonor. “It’s your papa . Tell your maman to give me a break, oui ?”

“Lucius.”

I tilt my head slightly and look up as Leo sighs then grin when she runs her fingers through my hair. “You can’t stay mad at me.”

“I’m not.” Another sigh. “I just don’t want you to compromise your recovery because you’re itching to play.”

“I won’t.”

Probably. It’s been really hard to refrain from doing ninety percent of the things I love to do ever since that stupid surgery.

I can’t drum, I can’t work out. No driving. I have to sleep on an incline, which has been hell while sleeping five deep in a king size hotel bed. Sex has been a lot harder, not that I’m complaining about the number of blowjobs I’ve been getting, the fact that I’ve done nothing but effortlessly bottom, or been forced to watch various combinations of my boyfriends with our girl. I’m really not but I’ve always been a very active participant in our sex life and this has been an adjustment.

Especially since Leonor’s drive has been through the roof lately.

It’s like we squeaked into the second trimester and suddenly all of the symptoms that would have tipped one of us off before exploded all at once.

She’s hornier than I’ve ever seen her, very emotional, she has morning sickness right away but after it passes Leo spends the rest of the day eating everything she can get her hands on. She sleeps a lot more than expected, taking mini comas as she puts it because even a twenty minute power nap means she’s hitting her REM cycle within seconds of her eyes closing then waking up in an alternate universe, and more recently, Leonor has had to adjust her wardrobe.

She still wears mostly ratty T-shirts and tiny shorts but as of yesterday, our girl is no longer able to button her jeans.

And I’ve been loving every minute of all of it.

All four of us have, honestly, and despite knowing for sure the two little buns in Leo’s oven are genetically mine and Pete’s, the five of us having babies together has brought us closer than we’ve ever been.

More protective, too.

With Leonor being high risk, her doctor has run more tests and scheduled more visits than what’s normal, and during one of those Dr. Morgan did some testing to make sure the babies were healthy and on track. Since our girl is curious as fuck, she asked if we’d be able to determine paternity at that point, which none of us cared about, but Leo wanted to know and I have no doubt in my mind as to why.

She wants to have a baby with each of us.

None of us have hidden the fact that we wanted families and kids, it’s been talked about a lot over the years and knowing for sure that the twins are a heteropaternal superfecundation anomaly, Leo is going to be determined to make this happen. She just needed a starting point.

Dr. Morgan says that as long as this pregnancy continues the way it has so far, there shouldn’t be any reason Leonor can’t have more babies after this, it just might be harder to conceive. Which again, we’re fine with because it means more sex for us, we just need to pay attention to who comes inside her when we’re trying for baby three and four.

I also know that this is Leo’s unspoken way of marrying the four of us, if you will. Since it’s not legally possible, having a baby with each of us, one that would have each of our DNA and Leonor’s, making them blood siblings? That’s our girl’s solution, and her dream.

She actually stressed about it some before we found out she was pregnant, not being about to legally commit to all four of us and as cute as it is that our big bad Leonor would marry us in a heartbeat, it isn’t necessary.

We belong to each other, we always have, and nothing in the world will change that but if our girl wants to try to have babies with all of us because of how we feel about each other, I’m good with that, too.

But I can promise you she’ll call it quits and ask Dr. Morgan to tie her tubes once we’re done because Leo is already uncomfortable as hell and we haven’t hit sixteen weeks yet.

“I got crumbs in your hair.”

I grin and kiss her belly then sit up as she leans toward me. “I don’t care.”

“You do,” she says with a smile as she presses her lips to mine. “But thank you for lying to my face about it.”

I snort as she goes upright, watching her intently as she stuffs the last of her brownie in her mouth before brushing those crumbs from my hair.

That pregnancy glow looks so good on her.

She’s always been the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, hands down, no questions asked, but she really is glowing and it’s been even harder to resist her because of it.

“No.”

I frown. “No?”

“No,” Leo says again. “A big fat no.”

“No, what?”

She rolls her eyes. “No, we don’t have time for a quickie.”

“I wasn’t exactly thinking that but now that you mention it…” Smiling, I slide my hands around to her ass and squeeze.

“Lucius,” Leonor warns. “You have an appointment in three hours.”

“Which is plenty of time. It doesn’t even have to be a quickie. I could eat your pussy, fuck you until you scream, recover and repeat in two hours. And still make my appointment on time.”

My girl squeezes her thighs together, wiggling her hips in my face unintentionally as her pussy no doubt becomes my favorite water sport. “I can’t. We can’t. I told Justine I’d meet her at the house.”

Playfulness aside, I reach up and pull her to me for a kiss then wrap her in my arms the best I can. “Is she sure she’s ready?”

Leonor nods as she pushes her fingers through my hair. “She wants to get things taken care of before the babies come. It’s been hard for her to even think of packing away any of Pierre’s things but we need to pick out what she’s sending off to be made into baby blankets, then she wants to decide which pictures to put in the nursery.”

“Do you think she’s ready?”

“No,” she says with a sad smile. “But I think the twins have given her purpose again. She’s so excited to be a grandma, practically over the moon to help plan and prepare. Justine has gone as far as to make sure there’s enough room for more than these two by using Pierre’s office as the nursery because she’s hoping we end up with enough babies to start a softball team.”

Giving her my own sad grin, I kiss her again. “Justine is going to be the best grandma to our babies.”

“She is.” A more genuine smile touches Leo’s lips before she giggles. “Justine and Andrea have already joined forces and this baby shower is going to be bigger than Mardi Gras.”

“Good.” Planting one more kiss on my girl, I get to my feet, take her hand, and lead her from the spare bedroom. “You and those babies deserve it. Is she coming to get you?”

Leo shakes her head. “I told her I’d meet her there. Justine wouldn’t confirm it but she’s been crying already and I don’t want her driving like that.”

“Are you ok to drive?”

“I’m pregnant, Lucky, not drunk.”

I roll my eyes as we get to the door, crouching down to help her with her boots. “I know, I just meant after everything, you’re comfortable?”

“Yes, my love. It’s a quick trip and the new car is safe.”

You can bet your ass it is.

After we said farewell to the beast, I decided it was best to get a vehicle that was child friendly, which led to the purchase of a Jeep Grand Cherokee L. The ratings and space made it a no brainer, plus it’s a sexy ride.

So between that and the other ways I’m still obsessive when it comes to Leonor’s safety, I’m sure everything will be fine.

“I love you,” Leo says as she kisses me a little slower than before. “I’ll be back for your appointment.”

“I love you, too, baby cakes.”

But as my girl says goodbye, promising to call me later to check in before she disappears into the hall, I can’t help but feel like I’m wrong.

Wrong for letting her go alone, wrong for thinking things are normal.

They have been, aside from still living in a hotel while our building is being overhauled, things have been calm. Too calm.

But I try to push that feeling away and instead hope for once, I’m actually right.

“Still nothing?” Mark asks through clenched teeth as he angrily slams his phone down on the counter. “You haven’t heard from anyone?”

I shake my head and stare at my screen, fighting the urge to pull up the Find My app and start searching for our people who we haven’t heard from in hours.

Leo text me when she got to Justine’s, even sent me a selfie walking up the driveway so I didn’t question things but that was the last time I heard from her.

I’ve been trying very hard to be a good, trusting, not over protective boyfriend and father of the babies she’s carrying by not freaking out the way I always do.

Then Mark got back and asked if I’d heard from Norm or Pete.

I had not.

Not in about the same amount of time I’d heard from Leo and considering they told me they were going to swing by Justine’s to see if the girls needed help because they, too, are overprotective baby daddies, I’m starting to panic.

The fact that Mark is getting nervous has me seconds from imploding.

“Did you try Justine?”

I nod, still staring at my blank screen. “Twice.” With no answer. “Do you think we should?—”

“Do it,” Mark grunts as he grabs his keys and phone. “If we’re wrong, we can apologize later after we know they’re safe.”

But he doesn’t think we’re wrong.

Judging by the lack of argument and the way he’s tugging his beard, Mark doesn’t think we’re wrong in assuming the worst,

Something confirmed when I get into the tracking app and pulled up Leo’s Air Tag to find she isn’t at Justine’s house. None of them are.

We all share our locations after everything we’ve been through and while I can see not one of them are at the house, they are all together.

Too bad that doesn’t exactly make me feel any better.

“So?”

I zoom, not believing what I’m seeing, then take a deep breath as my stomach flips. “They… They’re at the mansion.”

“What?” Mark grunts as he tugs his beard. “The Bissonnette mansion?”

“Yeah.”

“Get your fucking shoes on and grab Leonor’s gun.”

Twenty minutes after following Mark’s order, we’re flying down the long ass driveway, heading right for the circle drive and when we get there, I’m pretty sure my heart stops beating.

Our Jeep and Pete’s truck are both sitting there but that’s not what has me seconds from flipping out. All the doors on both vehicles are open, so is the tailgate on the truck, and the keys are inside.

“I’ll go in through the back, you go… what?”

Shaking my head, I shift my gaze between Mark and the front door. “We go together. I don’t know what’s happening and I can only pray everyone is okay but if you’re feeling the same thing I am I think the worst thing we can do is split up.”

“Ok,” Mark says as he looks me in the eye, gripping the side of my neck before kissing me. “We stay together. They’re going to be fine, Luck; Leo, our babies, Peter and Norman, Justine. Everyone is going to be fine.”

I just nod, pressing my lips to his one last time before I take a deep breath. “Let’s go get our family.”

Pulling out Leo’s gun, I follow Markus up the front steps, covering his back while he aims his SIG toward the door.

Ever since the shit with Dirt Sack in the corner fields, all of us have brushed up on our marksmanship but I never thought I’d have to fucking use it.

If I wasn’t terrified for what we’re going to find when we get inside, I’d laugh at us, checking the front porch and windows like we’re FBI or some shit.

It’s not funny, though.

Especially once we go through the open door and walk into an eerily silent, completely dark first floor.

This place is creepy in broad daylight and full of people but right now it’s fucking terrifying and you can practically feel the negativity and sadness shifting around and filling the darkness.

Clearing the library and formal dining room, we keep going past the sitting room and staircase toward the kitchen.

Every room looks untouched, the first floor closest to the original before they shut everything down, and walking through feels like we’ve stepped into a Time Machine.

The most fucked up Time Machine ever, but still.

We check the sunroom and hall closet and just when we’re about to walk into the kitchen, we both jump and take a swing at what we see.

“Sorry,” Chase whispers, his own gun now pointed away from us. “I didn’t know anyone else was here.”

I frown. “What are you doing here then?”

“Collinsworth called. The team he hired for the property are in between shifts and someone set off the alarm so he got a hold of my boss who sent me out.”

Mark and I both nod, resuming our previous stances as I glance behind Chase. I can tell Markus isn’t buying this dude’s story and quite frankly, neither am I but aside from being a little creepy he seems harmless enough. And honestly, I don’t mind the extra help.

The three of us finish the first floor and make our way to the second, carefully checking bedrooms and closets, Pierre’s office even though it’s obviously empty. The third floor is about the same; no signs of any people, not even the restoration crew. It’s quiet, way too quiet, but the further we get from the only safe escape, the more uneasy I feel.

Then I hear it.

A muffled thump comes from somewhere above us, then another followed by what sounds like something heavy being dragged and bum shoulder or not, it has me running.

“Where’s the entrance to the attic?” I bark as I start checking rooms again.

“Through here.”

We follow Chase into the bedroom that supposedly belonged to Mr. Bissonette’s first mistress, a woman his wife took a liking to and let live in their house while she got an education. She was rumored to have hung herself in this very room and if things were different, I might see the morbid irony in that.

They aren’t, and I don’t.

“Here,” Chase says as he reaches for the rope, pulling down the more modern ladder that leads to another pitch black space. “I’ll secure it, you two go up.”

I look at Markus, reading his expression loud and clear. Put the gun in your pants and get your knife ready.

At least that’s what I’m assuming since that’s what I was planning to do.

Then I’m climbing.

My shoulder is screaming at me, my heart is pounding, but I’ve come this far and there’s no fucking way I’m leaving here without my family.

I hear another thump and drag as I get closer to the top and that’s when I see the orangish glow from what has to be candlelight.

Barely poking my head up enough to see, I scan my immediate surroundings, turning slowly until I find the source of the light. When I do, my stomach pitches and I barely fight the way I instinctively want to rush in.

Norm and Pete are in the far corner, bound and gagged, propped against the wall and each other, neither of them conscious. They look rough, I can tell from here that they put up a fight and seeing them this way, it hurts my heart.

A hooded figure dressed all in black walks across the room, coming from the shadows to move across my line of sight. Hood, mask, he looks exactly the way Leo described him and…

Leo .

He throws her onto the floor, our girl alive, breathing and relatively unscathed. Her hands are bound behind her back and she’s been gagged but aside from a nasty bleeding bump on her forehead, she looks ok.

Terrified and crying, but ok.

I blow out a breath then look down at Mark, giving him a quick nod before he does the same, then I’m moving.

Clearly the ladder and quickly and quietly as possible, making room for Markus to do the same and just as I pull my gun and cock it, the fucking floor creaks under my feet.

“Stop right there,” the man in the hood says as he grabs Leonor, yanking her to her feet and using her as a human shield. “Don’t take another fucking step.”

His voice is distorted, he’s obviously using one of those modifiers so it can’t be recognized, and as Leo’s eyes go wide and a few tears slip down her cheeks, I raise my hands.

“I’m not moving,” I glance back at Mark, who’s doing the same, realizing Chase is still hidden. Good. “Nobody’s moving.”

“Drop the guns.”

Keeping my hands raised, I reach over and let the clip fall to the ground, hoping that’s good enough because I have one in the chamber I can use when the time is right.

“Everything is cool, man.” I take one step but freeze when he jerks Leonor’s arms further behind her back, only now seeing the blood smudged all over her arms. “No one needs to get hurt.” I hear Chase come up the rest of the way and hope like hell this guy stays focused on me and Mark. “Tell us what you want and?—”

“Don’t you fucking get it?” He spits. “ This is what I want. Leonor Allan at my mercy, the four of you sick fucks dead.” He looks behind him and laughs before shoving Leo to the side to clear the way. “I was going to wait, I wanted to make sure you saw how we took care of Pierre but the bitch wouldn’t stop screaming.”

Justine .

My stomach rolls as I gag, barely able to comprehend what I’m looking at because what I’m looking at is a nightmare.

Justine is lying on her back, arms spread and legs pointed toward us. Her mouth is open, her eyes are wide. But she’s not moving.

No, our girl’s mother, the only mother she’s ever had, has a goddamn Bowie knife shoved through her neck, inserted just below her left ear and protruding all the way through so the tip is visible under the right.

Justine is dead, and this sick son of bitch not only killed her the same way he killed Pierre, he did it right in front of Leonor.

“I saved her eyes, though. Figured once the rest of your bullshit band comes to I could show you what I do with them. Then I could make you watch as I slowly do the same to the rest of them and just before the sweet Leonor watches me kill you, I’ll make sure you watch what happens when freakshow faggots decide to reproduce.”

The bastard in the hood chuckles and my girl’s eyes go wide as I frown, a thump coming from behind me that causes me to turn just in time to see Chase standing over Markus, who’s knocked out on the ground.

“What the?—”

“Quit fucking around,” he barks, walking past me like I’m no threat before grabbing Mark’s ankle to drag him toward the boys. “We don’t have all fucking night.”

I don’t understand.

Two?

There’s been two of these sick bastards hunting Leo all along and… Wait. What did he just call me?

“Hurry up.” Chase aims his gun at Pete but he’s looking at his partner. “If you want to pull off any of the shit you were talking about, now is the time.”

“Right.” The guy in the hood nods before his free hand moves to the top of Leonor’s pants, his gloved fingers pushing under the elastic and moving lower. “If I want him to bear witness to everything, I better get a move on.”

He shoves her yoga pants down to the floor and the second she’s exposed, I lunge.

“I don’t think so,” he yells as he yanks her to him again, producing a knife that he points at her stomach.

He’s threatening our babies.

This motherfucker is threatening our babies and our girl, and I am fucking done .

Suddenly, one of the candles to the far left toward the boys hits the floor, the distressed wood immediately catching on the flame and when both Chase and the bastard holding Leo look, the shit hits the fan.

Markus kicks Chase in the knee, the pop of cartilage audible to everyone and while the bastard in the hood lets go of Leonor long enough to draw his gun, I act.

I throw myself at him, taking him down in one forceful slam, his gun skidding toward Leo as his knife flies toward the boys.

But I don’t bother checking on them.

They can hold their own, passed out or not, and I have one thing on my mind.

Eliminating this threat once and for all.

Baring down on this fuck’s chest, I use my knees to pin his arms to his sides then I’m hitting him.

Relentlessly.

Mercilessly.

I punch him in the mask over and over until it breaks, then I keep going even when I see skin and blood.

“Lucius,” he gurgles from under me as I grab his good and hit him again. “Lucius!”

I pause briefly as the mask falls away, hesitating when his real voice is choked out at me. “Franc?”

He spits a mouthful of blood as well as a few teeth, looking up at me through shards of PVC and swollen flesh.

“Don’t.”

I frown. “Don’t?”

Franc nods the best he can. “Think of Mama.”

“ Don’t ?” I sneer as I lean toward him.

“You can kill him, he’s Colin Hastings brother,” he says as he spits some more blood. “He planned this for years. Wanted to get back at you for killing his brother.”

I can’t even process what he’s saying right now, how he’s giving me the big reveal in hopes it’ll save him.

It won’t.

“Don’t kill me, Lucius. We’re family?—”

“ Family ?” I growl. “You stalk, terrify, rape and try to kill the woman I’m in love with and you want to sit here and say we’re family?” Then I spit in his face and yank him up so we’re nose to nose. “You have never and will never be my family, Francesco. You are disgrace to the De la Grange name and I can promise you, it will not follow you to the grave.”

Then I reach behind my back and pull out my knife, shoving it through Franc’s windpipe and twisting until he stops breathing.

“Spero che il diavolo in persona ti porti all'inferno, e prego che quando arriverai lì, non conoscerai mai un giorno di pace finché questo mondo girerà.”

I hope the devil himself takes you to hell, and I pray when you get there, you never know a day of peace for as long as this world turns.

“Lucky.”

I stare down at my brother, shocked but not really surprised.

“Lucky.”

I can’t believe it was him, him and that piece of shit’s brother. I look over to see Chase laid out on the ground, the man having met a fate very similar to his brother.

“Lucius, we have to go.”

I shake my head and blink a few times, looking up to find Leonor standing over me. “Leo?”

She nods and swipes her eyes. “I’m ok, love, but we need to leave.”

“But…” I look around again, just now realizing that half of the attic is on fire. “Justine?”

“We got her, baby,” Pete says as he nods toward Markus and Norm who are carrying her down the ladder.

“And them?”

Leonor looks around, stopping in front of the men who have been terrorizing her for longer than we really know, then looks me dead in the eye. “Let them burn.”

Which is exactly what we fucking do.

I might not have been able to save her before, might not have stopped all the shitty things she’s been through from happening but as the five of us stand in front of the Bissonnette Plantation and watch the flames consume it, us boys holding our girl while she protectively holds her baby bump, I know this is how it was supposed to be all along.

Not necessarily the loss or the pain, the grief or sadness, but it was always supposed to be the five of us, and we were always supposed to rise from the ashes of our own personal hell and burn the world to the ground in order to have the life we deserve.

The devil came to collect tonight, and the ghosts that have haunted us are finally free because of it.

And that is something I will never feel guilty about.

Sad it’s over? Wanting a little more from Leonor and her boys? Click Here to see what happens when those twins make their musical debut… And if that’s not enough, you can find Nevermore’s Playlist on Spotify !

Looking for some more dark and spicy contemporary poly RH? Check out The Butcher , my dark omegaverse poly RH coming soon!