Butterfly

chapter sixteen

zeus

She's it for me. There has never been and never will be someone that makes me feel love like hers. We're in the tub now, just Aponi and me. Anton was cleaning the bed and the couch and the area surrounding them, making sure there was no proof of what just transpired. She's still asleep, leaning back on my naked chest while I wipe a washcloth over her gently, cleaning the sweat and bodily fluids off of her. The bath water is warm and bubbly, a mixture that has me wanting to drift off into unconsciousness with her, but I'm fighting the drowsiness in order to remember this moment.

Her hair was in a horribly messy braid that I tried to attempt, and was rolled into a bun at the base of her skull. There were lots of fly-aways that framed her face beautifully, highlighting her most prominent features. While she had high and defined cheekbones, there was still a generous amount of chub on her face, which gave her an angelic look with her full lips. There was no doubt that she was beautiful, but looking at her right now blew my breath away. Her naked breasts were rising and falling with the deep breaths she took, and nipples were hardened from our previous endeavors. Her scars were screaming to be seen, and I languidly brushed my fingers over the spelling on her chest, staring sadly at them. I know she has nightmares, rightfully so, and I wished we had just killed the poor excuse of a man when we saw him; however, I respected her choice to leave him penis-less chose to let her take the lead.

I rung the washcloth out before gently cleaning between her legs and her thighs, and then putting the cloth on the side of the tub. I reached my hands out to grasp hers, intertwining them together before wrapping them around her, gently squeezing her to bring comfort to myself. The door opened slowly and Anton walked in, closing the door and then sliding down beside the tub.

"She's beautiful," he whispered, trailing his finger down her face, tracing the rigid scar, her lips, her eyes, and finally laying a hand on the side of her face. While still asleep, she softly burrowed her face closer to his hand before softly sighing.

"Thank you," Aponi whispered back. I chuckled before gently pushing her off of me so we could get out. It was only about two in the afternoon, and none of us had gotten anything done or seen Nik today. "Where's Nikki?"

"He's downstairs, sweetheart. Once you get dressed, we'll go downstairs and see him," I replied. She started moving a little quicker, obviously excited to see the niño. Not even ten minutes later, everyone was dressed and walking downstairs with Aponi in the lead, walking a little faster with a bounce in her step.

Once we got to the bar/main room, we saw almost everyone already seated and drinking an afternoon beer. Ivan, however, quickly noticed our arrival.

"'Bout time we see your faces, you've hid in your apartment damn near the whole day," he commented. The entire room whooped and whistled, and Aponi's face quickly turned a dark shade of red. She flipped off her brother before spotting Nik in his arms and stealing him away. While Ivan pouted, Nik was more than happy to see his woman. She sat at the bar and sat him on the counter, blowing raspberries on his stomach. He was giggling wildly and was laughing as well. I looked over to Anton, and I was sure his face was going to split into two with the grin on his face. I couldn't help but think about Aponi pregnant with our children. They would look just like her, maybe taller though. They would be beautiful.

We start to walk over right when we hear an indescribable sound, a new voice saying their first word, "Mama." Nik was giggling but Aponi wasn't anymore. She was staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed staring at him. Her eyes were filled with tears, her hands were shaking and her mouth was opening and closing, trying to find something to say. Nik, who was getting impatient at this point, took his chubby hands and pulled her hair, "Mama." Anton and I were still, surprised that his first word was mama, however, I wasn't surprised that he was talking about our beloved. I looked over at Anton at the same time Aponi did, looking for the answer we were both asking, "What do we do?" Anton, however, had a small smile on his face and gently nodded at her.

A huge smile broke out over her face and she grabbed Nik to her chest, "Yeah, baby, I'm your mommy. I'm your mommy, you're my little boy, my life. I love you, little one." She whispered little nothings into his ear and he fisted her hair and her tank top, setting his face down on her shoulder and cooing.

"Congratulations, brothers. But, you have to know that there is no going back from this. This is more than marriage, this is parenthood. You're together for good, now," Ivan remarked. He had moved from his table and had a hand on each of our shoulders.

"She's it for us, Ivan. She's all I've ever wanted, she's all I will ever want. There's no changing my mind, and I'm sure Zeus thinks the same." Anton tiredly glared at Ivan; I think he was sick of having this same argument over and over again. We love her with all of our hearts, and that will never change.

Anton walked away from us and joined our child and partner, hugging her waist and tucking his face in the other side of her neck. I could see him kissing and nibbling it, and her trying desperately not to moan. He relented, and kissed the top of her head before reaching across the counter and grabbing something from under the bar. He pulled back three glasses and a bottle of scotch, nodding in my direction. I excused myself from Ivan and sat on the other side of Aponi. Nik had fallen asleep, and we all moved to a table near the rest of the group of people, nursing our glasses.

Everyone was telling stories of their lives, trading moments of their lives with each other, and Aponi was no exception. She would constantly burn Ivan with her comments as payback for earlier, and everyone found it funny except for him. She finally laid up and by then it was almost five o'clock.

"What does everyone want for supper tonight?" Aponi asked. Only a few said they were staying at the clubhouse tonight, so she only needed to cook for about seven people, instead of the original 35 that were there. They all decided on chicken alfredo, so she headed to the kitchen, wrapping Nik to her chest with a baby-wrap scarf that she bought earlier this week. She walked in a few minutes later, "I have to head to the store to get some ingredients. I'm going to take Nik with me for some fresh air. Ivan, do you want to come?" I pouted about the fact that she didn't ask us, but I knew she missed her brother.

He nodded, and went to start the car and hook the baby seat up. Aponi gave me a chaste kiss before handing me Nik, "I'm going to change, I'll be back soon." True to her words, she was back within ten minutes in a pair of skinny jeans, Doc Martens, and an old t-shirt of mine with the club emblem on it. In something so simple, she looked gorgeous. She took Nik from me again, giving me a more passionate kiss and then giving a similar one to Anton before heading out the door.

"Boys, I want you to tail them–make sure nothing happens, but take a few cars, no bikes for right now. Anton, meet me in my office in a few." With Aponi gone for a few, we needed to discuss how we wanted to go about the Nikhailov situation. It was only a matter of time before he fought back, and we needed to be prepared. Five minutes passed before he walked in with a questioning look on his face, "Close the door, we need to talk plans."

A look of recognition flashed across his face before he closed the door gently, "What are we going to do about Nikhailov?"

"Firstly, I wanted to say thank you for allowing Aponi to become Nik's mother. It wasn't my decision, but we're a family now, and I couldn't be happier," I smiled softly.

"Man, it wasn't even a choice. She was always going to be his ma, I just didn't know how to ask her. I didn't want to rush it, ya know? But Nik did it for me, for us, man," he chuckled, falling into the chair in front of my desk.

"Good, I love your kid, brother. He's my everything now, just as you and Aponi are," I sighed. "Now, Nikhailov was down for the count, and I'm not entirely sure what Aponi has planned but we need to talk to her about it. For the club, no one leaves without someone with them. Everyone carries at all times, and while no one is going to like it, no one leaves on a bike. It's too dangerous and we have a whole garage back there for backup. We need to check our cybersecurity and our perimeter. That's all, go give orders." Anton nodded, pulling his phone out and walking out the door, already spouting commands.

I sit in my office for another hour before feeling like something is wrong. Aponi should be home by now, but she never came to greet me, and I never got a message. Sure enough, five minutes later, I get a call from Ivan, right before Anton burst through the door.

"Nik's fine, but Oni is gone."