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Watching them together, I felt my heart lift at the pure happiness on both of their faces. Ryan’s dark eyes were bright as he listened to whatever his best friend was excitedly saying, his gaze glued to her adoringly. There was no lust in Ryan’s eyes. No heat in how he looked down at her. Those feelings weren’t part of their relationship—yet, maybe not ever—although I knew Nova was crushing on him pretty hard.
“You know those Twilight movies you made Reid and me watch when you were younger?”
I lifted my head to find Max standing over me with a huge slice of cake on his plate. I’d made him, Reid, and even Elias watch a lot of movies with me when I was little. They would always whine and complain about it, but they would watch them with me, regardless. Twilight just happened to be one franchise I’d made him watch repeatedly because I’d been Team Jacob. “What about them?” I asked with lifted brows.
“It’s just, when I see Nova and Ryan together, it reminds me of that Jacob guy and the little vampire girl with the weird name.” He took a bite of his dessert then pointed his fork in the direction of our cousin. “It’s like he imprinted—or whatever you call it—on her.”
I glanced back at them and laughed when I realized he was right. “That’s adorable.”
“That’s weird as fuck,” he argued.
“Shut up, Max.” I picked up the fork Nova had been eating with and stabbed him in the stomach with it. But the damn thing was plastic, and his stomach was rock hard, causing the teeth of the fork to break off and fall to the floor.
“Ouch!” he whined. “That hurt, River.”
“Sure it did. Pussy.”
“I see it’s turning into a bloodbath over here,” Elias snarked as he joined us. He dropped down into Nova’s seat with his own plate of cake. “Hey River, you have a little something…” He touched his finger to the tip of my nose. “Right there.”
I swatted his hand away, already smelling the sickly-sweet icing he’d smeared on the tip of my nose. “Asshole.” Picking up a napkin, I wiped the hideous pink frosting away while he laughed.
Max took the free seat on the other side of me. “Have you had a good birthday?”
I shrugged. “So far, so good.”
“I got you a gift card as a present,” he told me with a smirk as he took another gigantic bite of cake. “Act surprised.”
Rolling my eyes, I sat back in my chair and people watched for a few minutes, while Max and Elias talked over my head. My mom was still cutting cake for people, while Dad was standing at the bar with Uncle Hawk, Uncle Bash, and Uncle Spider, who was holding a cranky baby Ian. They looked deep in discussion about something serious from the tense looks on their faces, but I figured it was club-related.
Across the room, Monroe was sitting with her mom as they ate cake, while Gian held one of their daughters against his shoulder, gently burping her. Lyric sat a few feet away with Mila on his lap, while Isaac lay on a blanket at their feet with Monroe’s other daughter. The two of them were on their stomachs, grunting at each other, making Mila grin down at them.
Lexa was feeding Finn dessert from her own plate while her mom stood beside her. Ben stood behind his wife with Theo, the two of them already chatting, and Tavia spoke animatedly with the two women. As they spoke, Lexa clapped her hands in excitement as Tavia and Raven hugged tightly. Tavia was one of the family, as much a daughter to my aunt as Lexa was. Rai adored just as much as Finn.
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The dull roar of voices echoed through the bar, telling me everyone was having a good time.
A tingle at the base of my spine alerted me the moment Maverick walked through the door. My heart began to pound against my ribs before my gaze even landed on him. Swallowing the lump that suddenly filled my throat, I lifted my head, looking right into those gray eyes that I loved so damn much.
The hunger and love that greeted me only had my heart rate increasing, but he wasn’t walking in my direction. He was headed straight for my dad and his own. Blindly, I reached out, my hands grabbing hold of Max and Elias, causing the two of them to stop talking and follow my gaze.
“Shit,” Max groaned.
Around the room, everyone stopped talking as their attention was pulled to my boyfriend and father, until all I could hear was the sound of Maverick’s booted steps and the blood rushing through my ears.
“Hey,” Uncle Bash greeted him. “How did everything go?”
“No problems,” Maverick assured him before turning his head to look at my dad. “Sir,” he began, only for Dad to laugh.
“‘Sir’? What the hell is this? Have you ever called anyone sir a day in your life, kid?” He looked at Uncle Spider. “You finally beat some manners into your son, brother?”
Uncle Spider didn’t share his amusement. His dark eyes were glued to his son as Maverick stood before them, and it was as if he were seeing him for the first time. I could see the puzzle pieces finally clicking into place, and he slowly turned his head, looking right at me.
“Please,” I mouthed and saw him jerk as if I’d electrocuted him.
Maverick cleared his throat. “Sir, I… I don’t know how to say this.”
Dad’s amusement quickly dried up when he saw how much Mav was struggling. “Just say it.”
