“Yeah, don’t stomp, or your boots will go through the flooring. You need wood to build the steps?”
“Nah, we’ve got it. I promised Gia one of those big fancy front porches with room for a couple of rocking chairs since her trailer is the one on the end and has the room.”
“Good man.” Tagan’s bright blue eyes danced as he clapped him on the back. “I like Gia.”
“You met her already?” Right now, Gia was in town with Willa, trying to track down some contraptions called maternity pants. Or “eatin’ pants” as Willa called them.
“Yeah, I had the pleasure the other day when she and Willa came begging the trailer.”
“Then you know she’s good and pregnant?”
Tagan grinned and squeezed his shoulder, shaking him slowly. “I do. It’s all my crew could talk about last night. Congratulations, man. We’re all really happy for you.”
“I’m nervous I won’t be enough,” Creed admitted low.
“Nah,” Tagan said, crossing his arms over his chest and watching the Gray Backs settle the trailer. “Everybody feels like that because they don’t know what to expect. I don’t worry about whether you’ll do right by your family, Creed. You’re practically fathering these idiots already.”
“We can hear you,” Jason said through a careless grin.
“Yeah, but what if a human mate and a baby aren’t safe here?” Creed asked, voicing the biggest concern he was wrestling with.
Tagan leveled him with a serious look. “Then you do what you have to do to make sure they are. You’ll be good at this Creed, and a baby will be good for your crew. You’ll see.”
And Tagan would know. The baby population in his crew was exploding right now. He already had a son of his own and a baby dragon in his crew. Now, Danielle was pregnant, and Riley was set to pop at any time. Even Cassie had mentioned trying for a baby the last time she and Haydan had visited Matt.
Maybe this would be easier than he thought.
Creed turned to see Clinton watering his landscaping with the water hose pulled through the fly of his jeans. Hands on his hips with a happy smile on his face, he swiveled from side to side, hose swinging like a big dick.
And just like that, one of his boys had reminded him that the Gray Backs wouldn’t make anything easy.
****
They had loaded the back seat of Willa’s truck with groceries and bags from a local maternity store in Saratoga. All the boys had given them lists before they’d gone into town, and it had taken hours to do all the shopping. Gia had always liked shopping before, but right now, her feet were aching, and her ankles were swollen up something fierce.
She couldn’t wait to get home…er…to the Grayland Mobile Park and elevate her feet on a pillow.
“Ten-ten’s here,” Willa murmured excitedly as they pulled under the trailer park’s welcome sign.
“Ten-ten?”
“Yeah, that trailer from the Ashe Crew. Brooke swears its magic for the mates who come to the crew. She said she and the girls all had some really cool experiences in it.”
A flutter of excitement drummed against her chest as Gia leaned forward and squinted. She’d seen the trailer a couple of days ago when Willa had taken her to meet the Ashe Crew, and she’d had her doubts, but already the boys had most of the sprawling deck built, and it didn’t look so bad from here. It was too far away to see the chipping paint and the hole a squirrel had chewed into the cheap, warped, red front door.
And at least with a trailer of her own, she wouldn’t be mooching a bedroom from Willa and Matt anymore. They were ridiculously loud when they fucked. She could walk around in her underwear again, hog the kitchen, and sleep on an actual bed.
Gia giggled. God, she never, ever would’ve thought moving into an ancient singlewide trailer would be so exciting. What would Brittney, Kara, and her parents think of her new life?
Whatever. Screw them. They’d ditched her immediately and, besides, she’d never seen Willa more happy or confident, and part of that had to be this place. That and the dominant bear in her middle, but still. Gia had Creed, Willa, and the Gray Backs, and that was a lot more support than she’d had a couple of days ago.
Willa pulled to a stop, and Gia got out before she’d put the truck into park. She ran a few steps, then turned back around and grabbed the bag of maternity clothes. Excitement unfurling in her chest, she jogged toward where Creed was hammering planks to the deck in front of 1010.
The closer she got, the faster she ran, a grin splitting open her face.
“Hey, baby,” Creed said, standing with a greeting smile that mirrored her own. Damn, she’d missed him.