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“What about me? What do I get when you all lose?” I ask them.
“What do you want?” Kennedy asks me.
“When I win, when we make it to the New Year and Sterling and I are still just best friends, you all drop this ridiculous notion that we’re more.”
They all look at one another, and it’s Kennedy who answers. “Done. But I really don’t think we’re going to lose.”
I look over at Jordyn. “You see what I have to deal with?”
She smiles. “I love the dynamics. I love how close you all are. It’s nice to see.”
“We’re family,” the four of us reply.
I might not be related to them, but in my heart, they are my family.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Sterling
“Stop feeling up my wife,” Brooks grumbles. He wraps his arms around Palmer’s waist, where she’s snuggled up on his lap.
“Stop.” Palmer laughs. She swats at his hands playfully, but it’s no use. He’s still trying to push our younger brother Maverick’s hands from her belly.
“Say something else, B. She moves around like crazy when you talk,” Maverick says, his hands still embracing Palmer’s baby bump. He doesn’t seem to be the least bit fazed at Brooks’s attitude.
“Because she’s my daughter,” Brooks counters.
“Oh! That was a big one. Did you feel that?” Maverick asks Palmer.
“I felt it.” She smiles at him.
“Move over,” Merrick tells his twin. “I want in on this.”
Maverick drops one hand to allow Merrick to replace it with his own. “Come on, baby girl,” Merrick whispers. Not two seconds later, a smile lights up his face. “You love your uncle Merrick, huh?” he asks Palmer’s belly.
“Enough.” Brooks swats their hands away again, and this time they let him. Only they don’t go back to their seats. Instead, they move to Kennedy, who’s also snuggled up on Declan’s lap. In fact, that’s how we’re all sitting. Alyssa included. She’s on my lap as well. She insisted she could sit on the ground or go up to the house and bring down a chair, but that wasn’t happening. There are only ten chairs down here by the lake, and there are fifteen of us. My brothers and Deacon were all too happy to have the women in their lives sitting on their lap. I pulled Alyssa onto mine. It’s not like she’s never sat like this before. She protested, but I won in the end.
She’s finally relaxing with her head resting on my shoulder as she laughs at my twin brothers and their antics. My arms are resting on the sides of the chair, but I’m not gonna lie. They itch to wrap around her. To have that closeness that my brothers have found with a woman. It’s not a feeling I’ve ever had watching them with their wives until now. I keep my hands to myself because Alyssa isn’t mine. At least not like that.
“How about little man?” Merrick asks Kennedy. “Is he moving around too?”
“Dec, say something and get him moving,” Maverick instructs.
Declan just shakes his head and grins. “Fine.” Maverick pouts. He turns and smiles at Jade. “Any activity over there, Momma?” he asks her.
“Sorry.” Jade smiles. “Baby is sleeping.” She pats Orrin’s hands, which are already resting on her belly.
“Is it time?” Palmer asks her.
Jade looks over her shoulder at Orrin, and he nods. “It’s time,” Jade agrees.
“Time for what?” Rushton asks.
“We found out what we’re having yesterday,” Orrin tells him.
“What?” my brothers and I reply all at once.
“What?” Deacon says, laughing. When we all turn to look at him, he shrugs. “I felt left out.”
