Page 54 of Idaho

"I forgot how cheerful you were in the morning," my brother said, voice amused.

"Only before my first cup of coffee. What's up?" Sometimes it was hard to remember that he was the president of a club where I was a prospect. We just fell back into the natural role of brothers. He hadn't given me too much shit about it, but I also tried to watch myself in front of the other men as much as possible.

"Rip called it, we're all here at the hospital. Sloane's having her baby."

I sat up in bed, rubbing a hand over my face. "Need me to go out and keep an eye on the perimeter?"

"Static's there watching out for everything and Syl is watching all the kids. Just check in with him throughout the day. I don't know how long we'll be here. Seek wanted me to ask if you could take care of her dogs for the day?"

"Will do. Anything else?"

"Yeah, you need to get your ass up and get downstairs. The kids are going to be here soon for presents."

"Shit," I muttered. "I'll be down there in a few."

Lockout and Riptide had funded a massive shopping trip before I'd even gotten here and the women had bought gifts for all the women and children over at the apartment complex. We were supposed to be delivering the presents this morning, but with the unexpected turn of events the mothers were going to be bringing the kids here to get them.

I didn't bother to put on anything over my boxer briefs, instead opting to stumble out to the kitchen in search of coffee. I poured a cup, debating on whether I wanted to just drink it straight from the pot. Despite it burning my tongue, I took a huge gulp. Sleep eluded me last night. I couldn't get the feel of Eva in my arms out of my head. The last time I'd looked at the clock had been four a.m., and now it was only six.

There was no point in being irritated that the kids were likely hounding their mothers to get over here this early. That was what kids did on Christmas. I'd been guilty of a lot worse when I was younger. Turning, I froze as I saw Eva sitting there, sipping on her own cup.

"Good morning."

She looked fucking gorgeous, sitting there in her pajamas—thank fuck this was a flannel set that covered everything—drinking her coffee. It was obvious our constant rubbing up on each other wasn't keeping her awake at night. And why would it? She had nothing to feel guilty about. I, on the other hand, knew I shouldn't be touching her. It was a constant battle between my need for her and the knowledge that I couldn't keep her. I wasn't going to break her in the meantime.

"Want to give me a hand?" I asked, leaning back against the counter. Her eyes slid down over my body before darting away. I used the cup to hide my grin.

"Sure," she told me. "With what?"

I explained that Sloane was giving birth and everyone was in the waiting room for moral support. "That leaves us playing Santa Claus and handing out presents."

"I'd love to help," she said, jumping up. "Just let me go get changed."

"No time," I told her. "They'll be here soon. Just put on your shoes and grab your coat."

She nodded and hurried off, returning quickly. She looked adorable with her hair pulled up into a ponytail and her face scrubbed clean of makeup, dressed up in red and white checkered flannel. Seeing her like that made me want to sit around the Christmas Tree, opening presents and drinking coffee. With her.

I took long enough to put on my jeans, t-shirt, and cut, before I dragged on my boots. Grabbing my phone and wallet, I shoved them into my pocket as I walked back into the living room.

"You changed," she accused.

"It takes two minutes for me to get dressed. You take a lot longer. Besides, I can't go down in my fucking underwear to give presents to kids. That's how fuckers get arrested."

She laughed, and admitted, "That's true. What do we need to do first?"

"Follow me," I told her, holding the door open until she walked through. I went down the hall, with her following, and opened Hush's door. My whistle had her eyebrows shooting up. Auron and Jecht came charging through the doorway, ready to be free.

We went downstairs and I let the dogs outside. Static would keep an eye on them until they were ready to come back inside. I opened up one of the rooms the club hardly used. It was stacked with gifts. Each was wrapped, labeled, and ready to go home with its new family. "We need to get all these out into the common area."

"Okay." She didn't complain, just rolled up her sleeves and started hauling presents out two by two.

I took as many as I could hold without dropping them, and after about ten minutes we had them out near the tree and sorted by name. Each kid had at least five presents. I wasn't sure whether the mothers were going to let them open all of them here, or take them home to unwrap. Whatever they wanted to do was fine by me.

"What do you think?" I asked her, standing next to her in front of the tree.

"It's amazing," she said softly. "You guys are so incredibly generous."

"It's Christmas," I told her with a shrug. "And these kids deserve it. They've been through enough."