Chapter Six

S prite leaned against the counter, waiting on the coffee pot to finish. Roam had said someone could bring it, but she wanted something now. Although the house was relatively small, they'd all chosen to stay there instead of getting hotel rooms. Clara had offered her house too.

Cannon and Bear had pitched a tent they'd brought and offered to have a special sleepover in the yard for the older girls. Ellie had mentioned she'd never camped in a tent and asked if she could join.

With the size of the tent they'd brought, everyone could have stayed out there. It had a ten by twenty main area and then another ten by twelve area hooked onto it. When they were all ready for bed, the only people sleeping in the house were Roam, Sprite, Beth, Flick and Oakley. Kennedy had headed to Clara's because she didn't want Clara to feel left out. Sprite and Beth had gone to sleep on Sprite's queen size mattress, which was on the floor. Her bed had already been taken apart and loaded. Roam and Flick grabbed pillows and bedded down on the floor of the girls' bedroom since it had carpeting.

Oakley woke up crying at three and Roam had been cuddling her before Sprite was awake enough to get up. When he couldn't get her calmed down, he brought her in to sleep between Beth and Sprite. Oakley had calmed once her head was against Sprite's neck, but she'd been restless and kicked Sprite and Beth on and off for the rest of the night. When Sprite's alarm had gone off, Beth had gotten up and headed into the bathroom, dropping a kiss on Oakley's head.

This morning, she'd need a gallon of coffee to wake up. Yesterday morning, before everyone arrived, she'd started to worry she'd made the decision to relocate to Bluff Creek too quickly. But observing the family atmosphere of Roam's MC and the way they treated the kids, she wasn't worried at all that she'd made the wrong decision.

Roam walked in and filled one of the disposable coffee cups. He'd thought of everything when he'd shopped. Once he'd sipped his coffee, he sat down at the table.

"How's Oakley?"

Oakley's sperm donor had never asked that question, but Roam, who she'd known less than seventy-two hours, was asking.

"She's okay, I think. She was restless the rest of the night, but it could have just been because our routine was out of whack."

"So, I'm thinking with all of us helping, we can probably finish loading late afternoon and then get on the road. Maybe pick up sandwiches and eat on the way. If we got one of the towels, we could sell it as an evening car picnic to Blake and Phoebe. We could be in Bluff Creek tonight. What do you think?"

Seriously, how the heck was she going to keep this man at arm's length when he was so thoughtful about her kids?

"I think Blake will think it's the coolest."

Roam nodded. "Okay, we can get..."

The back slider slid open as Phoebe and Blake ran in the house.

"Mama Sprite, a big ole bug got on Winnie's arm, and she screamed and woke everyone up. Cannon screamed louder than Winnie cuz Bear knocked if off her and it landed on Cannon."

Bear, Winnie and Ellie were laughing and giggling as they walked in. Cannon's face was red as he followed.

"It wasn't that funny," he grunted.

"Oh yeah, the big, bad biker guy screaming when the spider landed on him wasn't funny? Oh yes, it was. You hit octaves I don't think twelve-year-old girls can," Ellie teased.

"I don't like spiders. I especially don't like them on my bare stomach running toward my sleep pants and it was a big fucking spider."

"Swear jar," Phoebe put her hand out.

Cannon stared at Phoebe's hand, then tilted his head a little, pouting. "Come on Pheebs. I helped with the most fantastic sleepover in a tent. I brought the tent. Not your dad. Don't I deserve a pass this one time? I was really, really scared of the spider. Please."

Phoebe and her cousins had quite the racket with the swear jar. Cannon had said he had enough self-control that he wasn't paying for their subscription service and could just stop swearing around the kids. Roam guessed he hadn't banked on a spider landing on him. War had mentioned to not tease Cannon about his spider phobia because it went back to a bad time during his childhood.

"I did really like staying in the tent with my new friend Blake. Thank you. So this one time is a pass."

Sprite covered her mouth so Phoebe wouldn't see her smile. She was a crack up with her telling one of the brothers in the MC what he could and couldn't do. Sprite wasn't super familiar with MCs beyond watching Sons of Anarchy and reading but she guessed Roam's MC wasn't like those.

"Okay, if we're done with the spider incident, let's get some food and get to packing."

The front door opened, and Clara and Kennedy walked in carrying food. "I figured everyone was up when I heard one of the girls screaming."

At her words, Ellie bent over at the waist, laughing again with tears leaking out of her eyes. "Oh my. I can't breathe. I told you that you sounded like a girl," she sputtered.

Cannon glared at her, "I'm going to go rinse off quickly and get dressed." He walked toward the bathroom.

"Are you scared you still have spider cooties on you?" Ellie yelled, then hi-fived Beth as she walked into the room and then leaned over to Sprite. Sprite felt more at home with these women she'd just met than she had growing up. Besides Clara, Sprite had always been ready for someone to look down on her because of who she was or what people assumed.

"No backing out now. You have a contract with Bluff Creek Ink, and you can't back out now because my family is crazy," Roam cocked his eyebrow in the sexy way she was coming to like.

Sprite couldn't help but giggle before she grabbed a muffin. "Your family is great. I'm still in."

Everything she'd seen was exactly the type of atmosphere she wanted to raise her girls in. Now, if she could just keep Roam in the friend zone so nothing jeopardized their new home.