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ind out. The moms will probably throw another baby shower in mere anticipation of you guys reproducing.”
Bella lifted her face from my shoulder so she could look at me when she answered, “That’s okay; we’re ready for it.”
Yes, we were.
When she leaned in to press her forehead to mine, Gracen cleared his throat. “So have you decided whether to disown me or not yet?”
His sister glanced at him. “Hmm?”
He looked up at El. “Over the fact that I’m not going to give Yellow up.”
Bella heaved out a long sigh. Then she regretfully muttered, “You know what that’ll mean, don’t you? If you insist on keeping her in our lives? Then I’ll have to grovel—a lot—to get her to forgive me for the way I’ve treated her for the last year.”
“Oh, you don’t have to apologize,” El insisted. “From your perspective, you had every right to—”
“No, no,” Gray cut in, waving his hand. “Let her grovel. She so rarely does, and it’s one of my favorite things to watch.”
His sister scowled and flipped him off, only to turn back to Yellow, growing serious. When she opened her mouth to speak, however, she choked on the words.
Tears filled her eyes, and she shook her head. “I’ve been such an asshole,” she admitted, sniffing as her shoulders began to tremble.
“No,” El argued softly, her expression worried as she reached across the table with both hands. “You thought I had betrayed you. You—”
“Still didn’t need to be an asshole about it,” Bella cut in, leaning forward to take El’s hands so she could squeeze them tightly. “And I’m sorry for that. More than you’ll ever know. Please forgive me.”
“Done,” El said easily, smiling brightly as she pulled away. “You’re forgiven.”
“Wow.” Bella’s voice was dry when she answered, “You could make me squirm a little more than that, you know. I deserve it. And more.”
With a chagrined wince, El shrugged. “Sorry. But I had already forgiven you before every hurtful word had even finished leaving your lips.”
Huffing out an irritated breath, Bella shook her head as if she were disgruntled by El’s ready clemency. But then she said, “God, I wish I could be as sweet and kind as you.”
El snorted. “No. No, you don’t. People take advantage of it constantly. I wish I could be more like you, actually.”
“Lord help us all if you were,” Bella mumbled. I rubbed her arm to let her know I liked her just the way she was as she sighed again and added, “But thank you, Yellow. Someday I’m going to make all my asshole ways up to you and actually deserve your forgiveness. I swear it.”
“I just hope we can be friends again,” El said.
This time it was Bella’s turn to answer, “Done.”
As they shared a warm, affectionate glance, Gracen bobbed his chin at me to catch my attention so he could say, “Don’t expect me to say I wish I were more like you because it ain’t gonna happen, jackhole.”
My sniff told him I wasn’t holding my breath. “As if you could ever be this awesome, moron.”
“Ha ha,” Bella said dryly as she jerked her elbow back lightly to catch me in the ribs. “You two are just so funny.”
With a chuckle, I leaned forward to rest my forehead on the back of her shoulder. “We try,” I murmured on a smile, only to grit my teeth when Bella’s frame shuddered as one of those leftover sniffs from her recent tears tremored through her, reminding me all over again of why we were even here, having this conversation.
“I just wish there was some way to make that bastard pay for what he did,” I growled, wanting some justice for my woman.
“I’m warming up to your plan of taking the motherfucker out together,” Gray announced.
I nodded at him, on board to get started immediately. But El discreetly cleared her throat.
“I, um, might know of a way. After, er, after the second time, I went home, prepared to shower and clean all the evidence off me, but—I don’t know. For some reason, I stopped and went to the hospital instead. They did tests, took a report, and the only thing I never told them was his name.”
“What?” Gray exploded incredulously. “Why the hell not?”
