"Looks… like a room someone lives in.”
I touched the crib rail. “It does.”
He stepped behind me. Arms sliding around my waist carefully, mindful of my stomach. His chin rested against my shoulder, his breath warm against my neck. “We did this.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “We did.
......
The band came over two days later.
Unannounced. Like weather.
Jake carried beer like it was part of his personality. Holland balanced three pizza boxes against his chest. Kei followed last, hands tucked into his hoodie pockets, nodding once when he stepped inside.
They sprawled across the living room like muscle memory, shoes kicked off, voices filling the house with familiar noise that bounced off marble and glass.
Jake whistled low when he noticed the nursery door open.
“Damn. Nursery’s coming along. You two playing house for real now?”
Cal shrugged from the couch beside me, his arm draped loosely across the backrest behind my shoulders, not touching me, but close enough that I felt it.
“Trying.”
Holland grinned around a slice. “I’m just glad to see you not hungover for once.”
Cal flipped him off without looking up from the TV.
Kei stayed quiet longer than usual.
He watched.
Not obviously. Not in a way anyone else would clock. But I felt his gaze settle and linger in brief intervals, when Cal passed me a glass of water without asking, when I laughed at something Jake said and leaned into Cal’s side, when Cal’s fingers brushed my knee absentmindedly while he talked.
When Jake and Holland eventually raided the fridge, leaving grease fingerprints on every cabinet, Kei leaned forward slightly.
“Hadley,” he said low. “Can we talk?”
I gave him a small nod, looking back at Cal then following Kei out.
We stepped onto the terrace. Night air cool. City lights below.
The night air wrapped cool around my skin, carrying faint city noise and distant sirens that reminded me paradise vacations don’t exist in real life.
Kei leaned against the railing, arms folded loosely, staring out over Beverly Hills lights stretching like a constellation flipped upside down.
He didn’t speak immediately.
When he did, his voice stayed low.
"I love Cal like a brother. He’s the oldest friend I’ve got. But I’ve seen him careless his whole life. No boundaries. No off switch. I’m happy for you two, really. But keep your walls up. Be ready for anything.”
I crossed my arms. “You think he’ll hurt me.”
“I think he doesn’t know how not to. Yet.” Kei exhaled. “I’m rooting for him. For you. Just… don’t bet everything until he proves it.”
I nodded. “I won’t.”
