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I narrow my eyes on her, arching a brow.
“Fine, you got me,” she concedes with a giggle. “I have ulterior motives. I’ve…” she glances up at Brock, correcting herself, “We’vegot some news. News that we wanted to share in person.”
Before she can finish or I can contemplate what type of news she might be referring to, Brock uncharacteristically jumps in to beat her to it, a goofy-ass grin on his face. “We’re having a pup!” he blurts, shifting Astrid in front of him and sliding his hands over her belly proudly.
My jaw drops open, my eyes pinging from Brock’s grin, to Astrid’s smile, to her flat stomach beneath his palms. “No way, really?!”
Astrid giggles excitedly, nodding, as Brock dips down to plant a kiss on the top of her head.
“Shit, congratulations!” I exclaim, rushing toward Astrid and scooping her up into a hug.
“Hey!” Brock objects as I go to lift her off her feet again, quickly realizing why he warned me to be careful before and immediately letting her go.
“Sorry,” I mutter while Astrid rolls her eyes and swats Brock’s chest with the back of a hand.
“He’s just being overprotective,” she explains, turning to him and waggling a finger. “Hugs won’t hurt the baby, honey.”
Brock pulls her in again with her back to his front, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m not taking any chances,” he murmurs, smiling down at Astrid like she’s the center of his universe.
Honestly, I’ve never seen the guy smile so much. It’d freak me out if my own cheeks weren’t sore from how hard I’m grinning.
I’m truly happy for them, and I’m trying to focus on that feeling rather than the twinge of an ache deep in my chest; a longing for something that’ll never come to fruition. Brock and Astrid’s news is dredging up those same emotions from last night when Tayla propositioned me, threatening to chip away at the sturdy walls I’ve built to contain them.
I shove those thoughts and feelings deep down as I give my sister another once-over, sighing contentedly at how damn happy she looks. Nobody deserves it more than she does. “Well I’m thrilled for you guys,” I say, reaching out for Astrid’s hands and taking them in mine. I give her hands a little squeeze. “Can’t believe I’m gonna be an uncle.”
Astrid’s smile suddenly falters as her eyes change- she gets this faraway look in them that I’ve seen enough times to know what’s happening. My sister has the gift of sight, and that’s the look she gets when she’s having a vision.
I can tell the moment she comes back, too. Her eyes refocus on me, her jaw going slack with surprise at whatever she just saw.
“No way, you and Juliet?!” she gasps.
My mouth drops open and I look around in a panic to confirm that nobody’s around to overhear, then snap my attention back to Astrid. “Shh,” I hiss, throwing a side-eyed glance toward Brock next.Shit, he can’t know because he’s close with Jax, and if Jax finds out…
Astrid yanks her hands out of mine, reaching up to rub both of her temples as she squeezes her eyes shut. “Ugh, that’s an image I can never scrub from my brain,” she grimaces.
“What’d you see?” I ask, my heart hammering against my ribs. Astrid’s visions don’t operate by a specific timeline- they can be of the past or the future. And considering Juliet and I have hooked up a few times before, she could’ve just gotten a peek of one of those instances.
I’m more interested in whether she saw something that has yet to occur, but Astrid’s known to be pretty stingy about sharing the content of her visions, citing some superstitious crap about potentially altering how things are supposed to play out.
“Oh shit, this is fuckin’ great,” Brock laughs, stepping toward me and clapping a hand down on my shoulder. The guy is downright jovial today.
I shoot him a questioning look that only has him chuckling harder, shaking his head.
“After the whole Jax and Quinn thing?”
I just stare back and him, and when I don’t reply or react, he continues.
“C’mon, man, you never heard about how those two wound up together?” he asks, nudging me in the ribs with an elbow. “You do know that Quinn is Theo’s little sister, right?”
“Yeah…” I reply slowly. “And?”
“And it was a huge fuckin’ thing,” Brock snorts. “Kinda serves Jax right to get a taste of his own medicine. Damn, I can’twaitto see his face when he finds out…”
I shoot a panicked look Brock’s way and he shakes his head reassuringly, sweeping his long tresses out of his face and combing them back with his fingers. “Hey man, I won’t be the one to say anything. It’ll be more fun for him to figure it out on his own.” He chuckles to himself as if he’s picturing exactly that, while I get a terrible sinking feeling recalling the chat Jax and I had when he dropped his sister off.
“Is Juliet staying for the full moon run?” Astrid cuts in.
“Not sure.” I swing my gaze on her curiously, squinting. “Why, do you know something I don’t?”
