Claddagh and Chaos (4 page)

I gradually made my way back up her body, but didn’t give her a second to say anything before I gently slid into her. Her legs wrapped around my waist as I slid in and out. I knew Christi’s body better than I knew my own and I knew what worked for her. I shifted my hips and felt her walls clench around me, which in turn triggered my own climax. I would never tire of making love to my Christi and knew we would always be this way. No words were exchanged as we both drifted off to sleep, naked and blissfully happy.

AS I SAT WITH MY men, I methodically pulled my Claddagh ring over my knuckle, slid it back into place, twisted it around twice, then repeated the motions. It was Saturday afternoon, the Red Wings were playing the Chicago Blackhawks, and the score was tied at zero. Books was sitting slumped on the right side of the couch while Caleb was asleep in the reclining chair opposite him, his mouth slightly open, an occasional snore escaping his throat. It was fucking strange how much shit had changed this past year. Since winning over Christi and welcoming her into the family, our lives had done a one-eighty. Once upon a time, I would have been watching this game surrounded by half-naked women, all vying for my attention or bringing me a cold beer on demand. Hell, not a word would have been said if I’d told one of them to get on her fucking knees and suck my dick. I wouldn’t disrespect my beautiful wife by doing any of that, no matter how much I silently wanted her to.

Muscles had been watching the two slugs on my couch since the game first began. With a Cheshire grin on his face, he quietly set his beer glass on the bar and made his way over to a now drooling Caleb. All open eyes were on him as he swiftly kicked the recliner, sending the head rest into the wall behind him. Caleb’s head bounced once and then it was all over.

“What the fuck ... ?”

Caleb was quick, even dead asleep, and his .45 was pressed into Muscles’s throat, the distinct sound of the gun being cocked echoed in the silent room. Muscles suddenly hit the floor with a loud thud, his arms above his head and Caleb’s socked foot in the center of his chest. I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, laugh at what we had become. Lazy assed, married men with nothing better to do than sleep, drink beer, and keep the hell out of our wives’ way.

“Dude ...” Muscles laughed as Caleb helped him off the ground. The loud thud had woken Books and even he was finding amusement with the pair. “Fuckers, what is wrong with you? The game is on and Christi made us mega munchies.” He swiped his arm in the direction of the buffet lined up beside the bar. “You can all sleep when you’re dead,” he commented. He made his way over to the table, picked up and took a huge bite of a pulled pork sandwich that my wife had made for us.

“Muscles, when your wife is in her second trimester and riding your fucking dick all night, then we’ll talk about sleeping when you’re dead,” Caleb grumbled, holstering his gun and crawling back into the recliner. His eyes once again closed and his arms crossed over his chest.

I chose to remain silent. Christi hadn’t yet shown an increased interest in having sex. I was eagerly awaiting that particular side effect of pregnancy and was getting a bit irritated that shit hadn’t kicked in yet.

“It can’t be that bad. I mean what guy in their right mind turns down pussy?”

Books piped up at his question, “Muscles, does Ms. Ammo ever wake you up repeatedly during the night to fuck her?” His eyes closed again, his tone frustrated and very tired.

“Well, yeah, dude, when we were first married.” Taking another huge bite of his sandwich, a small amount of sauce escaped and clung to his face. With a quick swipe of the back of his hand, he removed the red stain, and proceeded to drain his glass, washing it down. He then emitted a window shattering belch to announce his pleasure.

“No, motherfucker, I’m not talking about honeymoon sex. I’m talking about being woken from a sound-ass sleep to your wife riding your dick, not even giving you time to enjoy that shit.” The raspiness and look of complete exhaustion told me that perhaps I should be glad Christi wasn’t waking me to fuck my brains out.

“See, that’s the difference between you and I, Caleb.” Muscles never did know when to shut his mouth and leave well enough alone.

“Besides the obvious, please enlighten me.” Caleb’s voice was too calm, and I knew it was time to step in and defuse the situation. We had all been on edge since the warehouse break-ins. Today was intended to be relaxing and not worry about stupid shit.

“Books, how is Smiles? Nora said she had an ultrasound the other day.” Da, the true patriarch of the family, beat me to it. Right after Christi and I announced our pregnancy, Smiles and Books announced they too were expecting. Christi joked about the house turning into a mini Toys-R-Us with all the babies that would be running around the house.

When Smiles confessed to Christi about being pregnant, she told her she already knew. After they left, I questioned her on what she meant and she told me that two of them had that ‘twins’ intuition thing. When they were growing up, they instantly knew when something had happened to the other, even if they weren’t together.

“It was just a routine check-up. We had hoped to see what we’re having, but the ultrasound technician said our baby wasn’t cooperating. Everything is going fine otherwise.” Books refused to get involved with anything that had to do with the day to day running of the family. He came in everyday, sat in his office, and took care of all the legal aspects of our business. He still carried a gun and was one hell of a fighter; he just preferred to keep us out of trouble with the IRS.

“Boss, if I wasn’t already married to my Ammo, I’d marry your Christi,” Muscles spoke around a mouthful of nachos. One thing was certain, that man could eat. Caleb had returned to his snoring and fuck-free sleeping, the prior argument as dead as he was to the world.

Since Christi became pregnant, she had been cooking like a mad woman; hell I didn’t remember eating the same meal twice. She had jumped in headfirst with the decor and getting things ready for our baby. She came to me in a tear-filled confession that she felt awful that she had been neglecting me. As a result, the following week, she surprised me with the completion of this room.

When I first found this house, I pictured this room with imported rugs and stuffy furniture we would never sit on, but Christi had other plans. She had a company come in and build a television center to fit one of the solid walls, and then had surround sound in. She had a furniture maker come in and design a bar, with seating, so that no matter where you sat, you had a clear view of the game.

I was later told that Tonto helped her stock the bar and install a beer tap. She wanted me to have everything I would ever need when I wanted to escape. The day she led me by the hand into this room, I was so surprised I nearly squealed like a little girl ... nearly.

“Boss ... ?” I quickly turned my attention to Books. “I’m meeting with my college buddy this week.”

Books had recently discovered that one of his college friends was currently working for the FBI. He had been out of the country for the past few months. I told Books to make the visit worth his time. If they were snooping around, I wanted inside information as to what they were looking for. It wouldn’t be the first time an agent of theirs was able to retire from the department and start his own business. Our family was all too willing to pay for information that could be confirmed.

“Find out if there’ve been any changes in procedure,” I instructed him.

“Yeah, and tell those fuckers they’re going to get a bill for all the time I’ve spent away from my girl,” Muscles added, disdain in his voice.

I was sick of the damage to my shipments. It had been months and we were no closer to knowing what was going on than when we started. I was at my wit’s end with the waiting and staying up all night.

Tonto entered the room, a case of beer under his arm. He greeted each of the men with a one-armed hug and slap to the back.

“Boss, I love coming over to your house to watch the game. You always have a house full of very hot women.”

I gave him a puzzled look as he placed his beer in the fridge behind the bar.

“You have all the ladies upstairs and a girl I’ve never seen before.”

That got my attention.

I changed the channel on the television, bringing up the house security system. Before we had even moved into the house, I’d had cameras placed in every room. We would be having children soon and I wanted Christi to be able to have an extra set of eyes on our kids. I hadn’t told her about the cameras yet. I wanted to surprise her when we brought our baby home.

The camera in the kitchen filled the screen with a color picture of our wives sitting around the bar. They were all laughing at something; it must have been good because Ammo had her hand over her mouth trying to keep the contents within contained The counters were covered in massive amounts of food, again with my wife’s overzealous need for cooking these days. The mystery woman Tonto spoke of was none other than my new nuisance; Theresa Yancy. She had made it a point of being around Christi as much as possible. She would call at all hours of the day and night and show up almost as much. Unbeknownst to my wife, she also left not so subtle hints that she wouldn’t mind ‘getting to know me better.’

“Ugh ... it’s fucking Theresa.” Her name came out as if I had swallowed a huge bug.

Da crossed the room and sat beside me, quietly questioning me with his face. “Not sure I like your tone, Son.”

I tossed my head back and let out a long breath. I knew Da would not accept just a crass answer; he would want the entire story. I knew I would have to give him something.

“She first came over when we had our open house. Ma told Christi to invite the entire fucking block, and she did. Theresa was one of the neighbors who came, although she came with her husband. She’s been over nearly every day since to visit with Christi. She’s also made it abundantly clear that she’d like me to fuck her.”

I rose from the couch and made my way to the bar for a new beer. I hated admitting this to my da, knowing what this ring represented in everyone eyes.

“I don’t need to remind you of the consequences ...”

I didn’t let him finish.

“Da, even if I wasn’t wearing this ring and I didn’t take that oath with all of you, I still wouldn’t do that to her, to ... us.”

The room was silent as da crossed the room to join me at the bar, his stance mirroring mine. He placed his arm around my shoulder and leaned into my side, speaking to me as a father and not the former leader of this family.

“I love you, Son, and I have high expectations that you’ll honor your oath.”

I placed my glass back on the bar, before turning in his direction.

“Da, my devotion to Christi has not one fucking thing to do with this ring.” I raised my hand to emphasize my point, the ring in question on display, the heart in center glistening off the lights in the ceiling. She held my heart, from the first second I saw her, she had it.

“She’s my entire world, without her smile in the morning, my day is shit. If something ever happened to her, you might as well shoot me in the fucking head because my life would be over.”

Da did nothing to acknowledge my statement; I could see his words in his eyes. He shared the same devotion for my ma . He would not live long if she ever perished.

“So, this Theresa, what do we know about her other than she’s a card carrying whore?”

I took a drink of my fresh beer before I set down the glass and turned again to face him.

“She’s married, childless, and she lives in the house three doors over. She’s trying to get a clothing line started. I can’t remember the name ...”

My da retrieved his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text to someone.

“Do you think you need to look deeper into her record, make sure she checks out?”

I shook my head no. “I think it’s just a harmless crush. I’m no stranger to crushes.”

The Red Wings ended up winning, making Tonto a slightly richer man, cleaning house with the bet we’d had going. Everyone pitched in, helped clean up the dirty dishes and straighten up the place. Last thing any of us wanted was a pissed off wife.