Betrayed By Beauty - Ashley Lane Page 0,1

feelings close to your heart. Speak them freely so that you may be reminded often, that while your parents may not have given you the gift of life, they have given you many others. Laughter, love, family and friendship.”

Holly sobs and drops to her knees, holding Tobias and Falcon to her sides as Bullet stands over them, giving them his silent strength.

“And lastly, never doubt their love for you. I can assure you it is greater and deeper than either of you could ever imagine.”

“Yes sir,” the boys reply through their own tears.

Casting them one last smile, the judge picks up his pen and scribbles something across the papers in front of him before he lifts his head and addresses the court reporter. “Let it be noted that on this day, the fifteenth of January of the year twenty-twenty, Tobias and Falcon Beaumont are hereby and furthermore to be known as Tobias and Falcon Bentley. Sons of Hawk and Holly Bentley.”

The courtroom erupts in cheers as we jump to our feet, clapping and catcalling the new family.

I groan when I see Willow running to the front of the room with her new camera in hand. I swear the woman takes pictures of every fuckin’ thing. Leo takes a crap in the toilet—we need a picture! Teagan blinks, holy shit she’s never blinked like that before—we need a fuckin’ picture.

I love the woman, but the last thing I want is to be placed and posed for the next hour takin’ sixty thousand goddamn photos. I eye the exit to my left and consider how much shit I’ll be in if I bolt now.

“Don’t even think about it,” Priest growls in my ear, effectively answering my question.

“What? I wasn’t going to do anything.” I flash him my most charming smile that has his eyes narrowing on me.

“Save it,” he growls. “I saw you eyein’ the fuckin’ door, and if you even think of leaving before my wife makes us pose for no less than thirty pictures, I’ll tell Jax you were the one to put that scratch on the back fender of his customer’s ‘cuda last week.”

My jaw drops open. “You wouldn’t.” I gasp.

Priest smirks. “Try me.”

Oh, he’s playing dirty.

Of course, I didn’t mean to scratch the ‘cuda… but what’s a guy to do when Crazy Train is blasting through the garage speakers and you’ve got a perfectly good creeper lying around? I’m pretty certain my rock card would have been revoked had I not jumped on the creeper and ridden that sonofabitch like it was my very own crazy train.

Looking back, I realize that doing so in the middle of a garage that’s constantly packed with timeless restoration pieces may not have been the best idea. Add in swinging my wrench around as I played air guitar—it was literally a recipe for disaster.

“Where is Jax by the way? Seems kinda like he should be here,” Priest comments, and I try but fail to hide my cringe.

Beside me, Demon’s eyes narrow on me as I pointedly avoid the penetrating gaze of my Prez.

“Why isn’t El Diablo over here ever questioned about his love life? I don’t see y’all quizzing him on his latest fuck.”

Demon takes a menacing step forward. I second guess my attempt at turning the spotlight off me. “No one asks about my latest fuck because no one knows who they are. The bitches know better than to open their mouths if they ever want my dick inside of it again.”

Priest raises his brow at me as if to say, Was that necessary?

Choosing to ignore them both, I step out of the pew and head toward the front. An outsider would probably think there was a damn celebrity in the room with Willow’s flash rivaling that of experienced paparazzi.

“Congrats man.” I clasp Bullet on his shoulder and pull him into a hug.

His ‘thanks’ is muffled in my neck as he slaps my back before pulling away with a grin mirroring the Cheshire cat.

“How’s it feel, Dad?”

Even though Bullet has been every bit of a dad and more to the boys for the past year, I’m sure it feels damn good knowing they’re legally, finally his. I overheard him talking to Priest once about being scared the boys would be taken away. I don’t have any kids but I love all the little shits that my brothers are filling our house with, and the thought of losing any one of them makes me sick.

“Fucking good.” He laughs out loud, something he