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Late July
“Buckle up, everyone,” Beck quipped as he climbed into the backseat of Seth’s SUV and secured his seat belt. “A weekend with Gloria in Vegas is always unpredictable, but since she’s decided to get married at the last minute? Expect an epic level of crazy.”
Beck certainly did. He was thrilled his ex-wife and her plumber fiancé were tying the knot…but also a little envious. He was more than ready to begin his future with Seth and Heavenly. Certainly when he’d divorced Gloria to marry his girl, Beck had never anticipated his ex would get hitched first.
Since they’d helped River and Dean move into their place seven weeks ago, he, Seth, and Heavenly had settled into something like domestic bliss. Almost. Sure, they’d all been busy, working and helping Raine, Liam, and Hammer prepare for their coming twins, due in roughly a week. They’d also spent a stupid amount of time refereeing Dean and River’s battles. But they still had two unresolved issues that bugged the hell out of Beck.
First, Seth still hadn’t completely come clean about his past. When he’d asked the PI to explain the holes in his story, he’d ducked, dodged, and changed the subject. Beck hadn’t pried; he could give the guy a little more time. Obviously, Seth’s tragedy had scarred and shaped him. Undoing that would take time. Unfortunately, Beck was getting impatient because he was almost certain that problem fed into the other. Seth still refused to ditch the condoms. Granted, he hadn’t pushed to get Heavenly on the pill…but he wasn’t ready for a family. Beck was—now.
Something had to give.
In front of him, Heavenly buckled up in the passenger’s seat. “I can’t believe she called you yesterday to say she’s getting married on Saturday. Who plans a wedding in three days?”
Beck shrugged. “Gloria.”
Seth started the SUV. “She doesn’t seem impulsive. Obviously, you know her a lot better…”
“She’s not,” Beck confirmed. “But once she makes up her mind to do something, she wants it done right now.”
Seth laughed as he backed out of the driveway and headed for the highway to Vegas. “Meaning she wants Buddy done right now.”
Heavenly tried to frown but was clearly repressing a laugh. “That’s a horrible way to put it.”
“But accurate.” He gestured between himself and Beck. “Trust me, we heard it.”
Beck grimaced. “Don’t remind me. I’m scarred for life.” At Heavenly’s confusion, he caressed her elbow. “Don’t ask. You’re better off not knowing.”
“No. Now you have to tell me,” she insisted.
Beck sighed. “That night you stopped in Vegas and Gloria coaxed you into drinking wine, Seth and I showed up to collect you, right? While you were sleeping off your drunk, he and I had to share the bedroom next to her and Buddy.”
“They spent the entire night getting busy…loudly,” Seth added.
Blue eyes wide with mirth, Heavenly giggled. “Really?”
“You have no idea. I mean, everyone deserves a good sex life, but this time our room will be as far from theirs as possible,” Beck vowed.
“Amen. That way, we can get even louder,” Seth drawled.
“I hope so.” Heavenly blushed. “I missed you both last night.”
It had been a rare occurrence that neither he nor Seth had been home.
“Sorry, little girl. That emergency surgery was a bitch. It took a lot longer than I expected. But I’m not on call this weekend, so the next mangled artery is Dr. Simmons’s problem.”
“Will the patient be okay?” she asked.
Heavenly always had a soft heart.
“Yeah. And I’m pretty sure that kid will think twice about skateboarding in an abandoned factory while he’s high again.”
“Let’s hope,” Seth remarked. “But I still think you had it easier. When I dropped River off at his place after last night’s stakeout, I ended up playing peacemaker again. I swear, those two are like petty old women.”
“Another argument?” Heavenly rolled her eyes. “Raine says River constantly complains about Dean. What started this one?”
“Dean ate River’s leftover pizza—on purpose. So at four a.m. when I dropped him off, that snack he’d been looking forward to was gone. Fireworks ensued.”
“Jesus, the idiot couldn’t make a fucking sandwich?” Beck asked.
