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“You still have to cut the cake,” Flick reminded him. “Do that, and then you can sneak out through the kitchen.”
His arms lifting me off my feet had me squealing, catching the attention of everyone in the room. “Hey,” he called out. “I’m cutting this damn cake, and then I’m taking my wife far, far away from you fuckers. So get your cameras out and take your damn pictures because I’m not waiting around a second longer than I have to.”
My happy laugh filled the room as he carried me over to the table where the cake was, and he reluctantly placed me on my feet. Keeping one arm wrapped around my back, he picked up the knife. “Let’s do this, beautiful.”
With my hand over his, we cut the cake and then fed each other a small bite of it. I heard cameras snapping, flashes going off in all directions, but they weren’t enough of a distraction to keep me from seeing just how hungry my husband was for me.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door, needing to be alone with him just as much as he did.
Behind us, everyone was already throwing birdseed and confetti as we ran from the clubhouse to my car that was parked right in front. Raider opened my door, making sure I was safely inside before jogging around to the driver’s side. Thankfully, the rain had stopped for the moment. Everyone was screaming and cheering around us, but all I could see was him.
Today had been perfect, but tonight—that was going to be epic.
Chapter 29
Willa
Twenty weeks pregnant
I fought back a yawn as the bar filled up with MC brothers and their families. Today was going to be a celebration for everyone, and not just as a way to finally unwind from all the crazy that had been pressing down on us.
Shifting in my chair, I went to reach for my glass of lemonade on the table in front of me, only to have James beat me to it. He was standing two feet away, talking to Bash and Hawk, and his eyes hadn’t even been on me. Yet as soon as I so much as thought about moving, he was there, anticipating my every need.
It was annoying, but every time he did it, I fell a little deeper in love with him.
His lips touched my brow before he returned to his conversation with the other two like nothing had even happened.
Rolling my eyes, I took a sip of my lemonade and set the glass on top of my stomach. With all three babies thriving, my stomach was growing more and more every day, but I was still months away from being full term. The other women who were just as far along in their pregnancies were barely showing, yet I looked like I could pop any day.
I was sure there were three beasts in there and not three tiny babies. No one could convince me otherwise. But I loved them with every fiber of my being, and I was anxious to meet each one of them.
Lexa pulled out the chair beside me, moving it close so she could lean her head against my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head, wishing I could take away the new sadness that had invaded my precious little niece’s heart. If I didn’t know that the man responsible for this new Lexa was already dead, I would have sent James out to slaughter any and all who’d had a hand in it, even inadvertently.
Raven set a paper plate full of all Lexa’s favorite foods in front of her. “Here, baby. Eat and then we will have cake after the big babies’ gender reveal,” she said with an encouraging smile. “It’s your favorite. Strawberry shortcake.”
“Not hungry,” Lexa mumbled, hiding the side of her face that was still red and tender against my stomach. “I just wanna go home, Mommy. Everyone keeps looking at me.”
I felt Raven’s tension, but she didn’t let Lexa see a single sign of it. “No one is looking at you. They’re looking at Aunt Willa’s ginormous stomach. Can you believe you have three cousins in there? How is that even possible?” Raven placed her hands on my stomach, and I didn’t mind her manhandling my belly for the sake of distracting the little girl beside me. “Holy crap, feel here, Lexa. This one is trying to kick his way out already.”
Curious, Lexa lifted her head. Her dark hair fell forward, shielding the scar from onlookers. Carefully, she placed her hand beside her mom’s and waited. As if on cue, one of the babies kicked at her hand, making her gasp in awe.
“Does that hurt?” she whispered in amazement.
“Nope,” I lied. Yes, it hurt. Sometimes I was fairly sure those three were bruising my insides. Not that I would tell her or James that. “T
hey kick me like this all the time. The only time it bothers me is when they kick my bladder and I have to go pee.”
Considering I was on modified bed rest, that was more annoying than anything else. And considering it was hard to so much as wipe, I had to have constant help. Raven spent a lot of time at my house when James was at work, though, and when she wasn’t around, one of my other friends was. Flick was just as much of a godsend as Raven was, and I would have died of mortification if my husband had to do half the things those two women helped me with every single day.
I picked up a slice of pineapple from Lexa’s plate. “Sweet baby Jesus, this is so good,” I groaned. “Taste, Lexa. Your momma picked the best pineapple in the entire grocery store.”
Reluctantly, she took a slice and nibbled. Before long, she was eating a second piece and then moving on to the sandwich. Raven and I shared a look as Lexa quietly ate her lunch, both of us hurting for the little girl we loved more than life itself.
“Where do we put these?” Jet asked as he carried a huge box, one of three.
The week before, we’d done a gender reveal for both Quinn and Gracie, both of whom had left the bar overflowing with blue balloons. In the coming weeks, we would be doing one for Rory and, not shockingly, Jos. The way Tanner couldn’t keep his hands off his new wife, it didn’t surprise me that he’d already knocked her up again.
Raven straightened, directing her brother and the two other men to place the boxes full of balloons in the middle of the bar where a space had already been cleared. My hands began to itch, needing to know what color balloons were in each of those huge boxes. I had my suspicions they were all boys, but I really wanted there to be at least one girl swimming around in there. Not for my sake, but James’s. I knew he wanted a daughter so bad he could taste it.
