Chapter Fourteen

Savannah

AFTER GETTING BACK to the clubhouse yesterday, Zach claimed me as his ol' lady in front of everyone at the clubhouse. Some of the guys were missing because they were out searching for any sign of Conrad or his father. I once again cried because I honestly never thought the two of us would get to this point. Yes, I believe him when he tells me he loves me and that he doesn't love Kasey. I might be stupid for forgiving him, but that's my mistake to make. No matter what, I know the girls will never feel pain from losing him because Zach will always remain in their lives even if something happens between the two of us. However, I also know that becoming his ol' lady means for life. If we were just married, one of us could walk away instead of fighting to make our relationship work. Becoming his ol' lady means we fight together every single day to prove this is what we want and we'll do everything to make it work. It's a fight I'm willing to have because Zach is worth it. Our relationship is worth fighting for and that's something I'm not willing to ever stop doing.

This situation with Conrad and being apart from Zach for so long has proven to me that life is too fucking short not to live it to the fullest. I want to be happy and have the man I love at my side regardless of what anyone thinks. The girls and I talked about everything and they want Zach in our lives so I'm not pushing my thoughts and feelings on them and just doing what I want without taking into consideration what my sisters want. They were there when we got married and when Zach claimed me. It wouldn't have been the same if they weren't involved and at our sides. Zach feels the same way and made sure they were included someway during the ceremony and when he claimed me. That's the kind of life this man is going to give us moving forward and it's all the simple, small gestures he makes that fill us with happiness and love.

All the ol' ladies made sure I sat for the day as they all worked to put together a feast to celebrate our wedding and Zach adopting the girls. There was no way in hell they weren't going to do anything with us. Shy is adamant that we have a party once everything is taken care of, and I'm not going to argue with her. I'd like to have a party to celebrate marrying the man I love. For now, dinner with everyone we care about is more than enough for me. There will be time later for a true celebration filled with even more people we love and care about.

Vault and Annabell kept the girls at their house last night so Valor and I could be alone in our home. He moved all of my stuff to the master bedroom with his stuff so I have no choice but to share a room with him. If it were up to me, I'd leave my stuff in the guest room I chose when we moved here so the girls wouldn't see such another large change between the two of us so soon. Zach didn't feel the same way about the situation. Today, we're going to talk about it again because I'm not sure this is okay for the girls to see.

Getting out of bed, my body is sore as fuck. It feels as if I ran a marathon and that's not the case at all. Zach spent all last night worshiping my body and continuing to explore every inch of me. We only stopped long enough to eat, drink, and take short naps before one of us was waking up the other one again. The two of us were insatiable last night and my body is paying the price for that today. Still, I grab my robe and tie it closed around me before heading downstairs where I can smell someone making breakfast already. Since Zach wasn't in bed with me, I have a feeling it's him. He's always trying to feed us and make sure we have enough to eat.

By the time I get to the bottom of the stairs, I can hear him talking to the girls. They're excitedly telling him about spending the night with their aunt and uncle. About how Annabell made them the largest ice cream sundaes they've ever seen because she wanted one. Or the baby wanted one according to Ava who's laughing as she tells the story to Zach. Then they tell him about Vault letting Miracle put make-up on him and painting his nails while they watched all the chick flicks. Vault didn't make them feel horrible about wanting to do make-up or watch girly movies. He got right in there with them and let my baby sister put make-up on his face. Not every man would do the same thing, but with these guys, I know they'll do everything to make my sisters feel like family.

Stepping in the kitchen, I find my family around the island in the center of the kitchen. Zach is cooking a feast while dancing with the girls. Ava just turned on some music and it fills the lower part of the house. I lean against the wall and smile as I watch Zach dance with each of my sisters. Everyone is laughing and having the best time. For the first time, I can almost forget Conrad is still out there and he'll be coming for us. Nothing else exists but the five of us right now and I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Good mornin', Sleepin' Beauty," Zach says when he finally notices me standing and watching them. "We were tryin' to make you breakfast in bed. Can't do that if you're not in bed, Love."

"Fine. I'll go back to bed. Did you girls have fun yesterday?" I ask before turning to make my way back upstairs.

"Yes!" they all call out at the same time, breaking into a fit of giggles with how in sync they are.

Climbing back in bed after putting on some pajamas, I cover myself up and wonder how the rest of the day is gonna go. Honestly, I want to spend it in bed, but that's not feasible with teenage girls in the house. Or almost teenage girls. They're old enough to realize what's going on and I won't ever put them in a position to catch Zach and me in a compromising position. That's not something they ever need to see.

I grab the remote and turn the TV on, flipping through the channels while waiting for Zach and the girls to bring our breakfast upstairs. Before I can find something worth trying to watch, the door of our bedroom opens and I look up at Zach standing there and the girls nowhere to be found.

"Where are the girls?" I ask, trying to look around him into the hall.

"They're with Vault and Slim. The kids are havin' a movie day at the clubhouse. Told them we'd be down after we got done eatin'," he answers me, entering the room and closing the door behind him with his foot. "You look like you wanna talk about somethin'."

"I do. I still don't think it's the right time for me to move into the master room with you, Zach. Yeah, I know the girls were at our wedding and know you claimed me as your ol' lady. It's one thing to watch that happen and a completely different thing for them to realize we're sharing a bedroom in the house we're making a home for them," I tell him as he steps up next to me and places the tray of food over my legs before walking around and climbing into bed with me.

Zach made us pancakes with bacon and sausage. He's got us both a glass of orange juice and he's drinking coffee. Yesterday and earlier this morning, he brought a cup in the bedroom and I got sick to my stomach. Right now, it's not too bad, but my stomach does roll a little bit. No coffee for me if I've got some kind of stomach bug right now. I'm okay with that.

"Love, the girls and I talked about it. You and the girls talked about it. They're more than happy with us sharin' a room and know that's what married couples do. No, we might not have a traditional relationship, but I feel they're overrated. Our relationship is our own and what we choose to do is up to us. Yes, we have to make decisions with the girls in mind and we've done that. They're all old enough and understand that we'll share a bed and have sex. That was the conversation you had with them, Love. The girls aren't stupid and we're not gonna act as if they are. You're in our bedroom, our bed, and the girls don't have a single problem with that happenin'. If they do, they know they can come talk to us and we'll work through it as a family," he says, sounding so sure of himself and the girls that I have little room to doubt what he's saying because it's the truth.

"Okay. I'll drop it for now. If the girls give one inkling that they're not comfortable with the situation, we'll have to fix it one way or another," I say, picking up my fork and digging into my pancakes because I'm starving.

Zach and I eat our breakfast in silence with only the low volume of the TV in the background. Once we're done eating, we take a shower together and spend time washing one another as if we didn't spend all of last night wrapped up in each other. I've never been naked around someone so much in my entire life before as I have in the last twenty-four hours with Zach. Still, I wouldn't change a single second of it for anything else in the world. This is how I want my life to go moving forward with this man at my side. Nothing else will be okay with me. So, I will do everything in my power to ensure Conrad doesn't get his hands on me or the girls so we can live our lives with Zach where we're meant to be.

Finding the girls at the clubhouse was easy as hell. All the kids were in one of the large entertainment rooms set up with TVs, gaming systems, board games, and everything else a kid could want. They even have their own pool table so they can play. Hell, I've heard the guys talking about putting one of those air hockey tables in the room for the kids. I think it's more for the big kids instead of the ones currently occupying the space.

Ava, Hope, and Faith are sitting together talking about school and boys. Not a conversation I want to listen to as I walk away from them. Miracle is sitting by herself with a book in her hand. She doesn't even look up as I squat down in front of her.

"Miracle, you doing okay?" I ask her, finally pulling her out of her book long enough to look at me with a smile on her face.

"I'm good, Vanna. I love you, ya know," she tells me, closing her book after placing her bookmark on her page.

"Love you too, Miracle. Is this too much for you?" I question her, needing to know if she's too overwhelmed because it's happened in the past and the outcome hasn't been good.

"No. Everyone is leaving me alone for the most part. I'm enjoying reading and listening to the boys fight over the game because I could beat them all with my eyes closed. They're playing my favorite game and don't think I know how to play. I'm just waiting to prove them all wrong," she says, smiling even larger at me while looking over my shoulder at the boys who turn to face her.

"Miracle, if you think you can beat us, then get over here. I want to see you beat Dylan and Kingston. They're the ones who think they're unbeatable," Carson says, laughing as his twin puts him in a headlock before turning to face my baby sister.

"Come on, Miracle. You know you can play games with us anytime you want. We'll never exclude you because you're family. You've always been family and that's just how things are. Put your book down and come play with us," Dylan says, not letting go of Carson as Kingston makes everyone move over on the couch so my sister has room.

I stand back up and watch on as she makes her way over to them and takes the controller Carson holds out for her. They get the game started and I don't need to watch them play to know my sister will kick ass. Zach and her play this same game all the time. He got everything hooked up online before moving to Pine View just so he could keep playing with Miracle after he moved. I don't understand why the kids love this game, but that's okay. As long as they're happy, who am I to question things?

Looking around the room, I finally find Chloe sitting with Wade. They're listening to music on his phone, each wearing one earphone. My sister's eyes are closed as she listens to the song before Wade looks over at me. He's close to Chloe's age and I know they've never had more than a friendship. They're honestly more like brother and sister than anything else. It makes me happy to know she's got a male friend who will watch over her when I'm not around. I just hate that I had to move here and pull them apart because she's lost her friend and has no one at her new school when the other kids are assholes and try to bully her. Yes, it's happened in the past and Wade has always stepped in to protect my sister. Now, it's up to her to defend herself and I hope she's doing that. Chloe isn't ever one to back down from anything except when it comes to bullies. Then, she freezes and doesn't know how to get them to stop for some reason.

Without saying a word, I smile at Wade before leaving the kids to what they're doing in here. I thought they were going to watch movies all day, but maybe that's after they get tired of playing games and everything else they've been doing in here. Making my way back to the common room, I find Shy, Gwen, and Annabell at a table together. None of the men are in the common room any longer. They must be in church. I didn't know Vault was calling for a meeting, but with everything going on, it doesn't truly surprise me either.

"Everything good with the kids?" Gwen asks me as I sit down with them and Martin brings me over a bottle of water. Everyone here knows I don't drink and never will. I won't turn into my mother.

"They're good. The boys just got Miracle to play a game with them. Carson wants to see her beat Dylan and Kingston. She will. It's the same game Zach plays with her on a daily basis. She's almost as good as he is because he's taught her almost everything he knows about the game and how to win," I inform them as we all start laughing because none of the boys like being beat at anything. All of the kids are competitive, but the boys are so much worse than the girls.

"I'd pay money to see that shit happen," Shy says when she can finally talk again as tears still roll down her cheeks from laughing so hard.

"Well, they're right in the room beyond church. Go watch them," Gwen says, a smile on her face because Shy is just as competitive and will get right in there playing with the kids. It's so fucking funny to watch her do everything with them as if she's there age.

"Nope. I'm not falling for that shit again, Gwen. I go in there and I'll start playing and they'll show me up because I suck at video games. Now, if we were gonna play pool, that would be a different story completely," she says, making us all laugh at her because Shy truly is horrible when it comes to video games. Even most board games she's horrible at. I don't know what the deal is with her, but it gives the rest of us a good laugh.

For the next few hours, we sit and talk while the guys are in church and the kids remain in the room they've taken over for the day. Martin walks around asking us all what we want on pizza before placing a large order for delivery. I'm sure the guys are trying to give the ol' ladies a break from cooking because that's all they've been doing since they got here. Unfortunately, they're not taking into account the kids all together and their need for snacks of all kinds. So, we still end up in the kitchen making all kinds of desserts and other snacks for the kids and men when they get out of church. I spend the day laughing and just relaxing with my chosen family because this is where I'm meant to be. If Conrad thinks he can take this away from me, he'll find out really quick how wrong he is.