AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll sit this one out because I’ve kicked both of your asses.” Aiden dragged a stool to the table.
“Or you’ll sit because you’re out of practice.” Thatch couldn’t miss a chance to harass him. “You even remember how to play?”
“I’ve got more important things on my schedule these days.” Aiden tipped his beer in their direction. “In fact, there’s something I wanted to tell you.” The tone suddenly turned serious.
Thatch paused from racking up the balls and gave his friend his full attention.
Silas had frozen too.
“We’re having a baby.” Aiden said the words like he almost couldn’t believe them.
“Hells yeah!” Silas rushed him and nearly took him down.
“Hey, congrats, man.” Thatch shook his hand and then pulled him in for one of their half hugs—the only kind either of them ever offered.
“It’s still early.” Aiden wore the stress in his eyes. “And it wasn’t easy to get to this point, so we’re not making any huge announcements. But I figured it was only a matter of time until you two figured it out.”
Because they didn’t lie to one another. They didn’t hide things. Thatch snatched up his pool cue again. “You guys are gonna make awesome dads. Both of you.” That was a club he wasn’t going to be a part of for a long time. He wanted in. Don’t get him wrong. Family had been everything to him once. He’d grown up around his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a whole lot of cousins in Iowa. They’d gotten together for birthdays and holidays and sometimes even random Sunday suppers. In his estimation, family was the best kind of chaos. But he was nowhere near building one of his own.
“Since we’re on the subject of family…” Silas rested his pool cue against the table. “Now that I’m gonna be a dad, I want to make that same pact with you two that we all made before we went on our missions. That if anything happens to me, you’ll take care of Tess, Morgan, Willow, and Baby Beck.”
“It goes without saying,” Aiden added. “I’d ask the same for my family.”
Thatch lined up the cue ball and prepared to take his first shot. “Nothing’s gonna happen to either one of you.”Both Aiden and Silas had found their places. At one time, Silas had been the most restless of them all. He didn’t have much family growing up and had never put down roots in his life before he’d moved to Star Valley. Aiden had been plenty wild too. They all had. But they’d sacrificed and worked hard, and now look what they both had to show for it.
“We’ll all pitch in and help each other out.” That was what these last few years had been about. Thatch hit the ball, sending the others scattering while he pocketed the striped eleven.
“Exactly.” Silas took a good long look at the table before aiming his cue. The solid seven ball missed the side pocket by a mile. “You know I’ll return the favor for both of you. I’ll be watching out for Kyra and the baby. And for Lyric too. That’s my sworn duty now.”
After serving in an elite branch of the navy, none of them knew how to let go of duty. But Aiden and Silas didn’t owe anything to Lyric. She wasn’t part of his life like that. “You don’t have to make any blood oaths to me yet,” Thatch told them. He took another shot, this time sending the striped fourteen ball too wide. “I’m not sure what the future will hold for Lyric and me.”
“Oh, come on.” Aiden walked to his side of the table. “It’s so obvious you’re head-over-heels.”
He wished they would stop saying that. The truth hurt. “It’s complicated.” He had seen a possible future with Lyric. Before the Christmas party. Before she’d looked him in the eyes and told him she wasn’t interested. Though now he understood why. After the kind of abuse she’d endured during her marriage, he didn’t blame her for not wanting to be with anyone.
“Bro, I married our late best friend’s wife.” Silas pocketed the five. “Thatwas complicated.”
Yeah, but both Tess and Silas had been willing to work through the mess to find something worth building on. “I think Lyric is still dealing with a lot from her divorce.” Enough said. It wasn’t his place to divulge the details.
Aiden went back to his stool. “I thought her divorce happened a long time ago.”
“And it doesn’t sound like they were even married that long,” Silas added.
A protective instinct pulled his jaw taut, but he couldn’t lash out at them. They didn’t know what she’d been through. “It doesn’t matter how long they were together. Sometimes betrayal sticks with you.” Even he understood that. “I don’t know if we can get past everything she’s been through.” That was the bottom line.
“Bullshit.” Silas marched to him and stared him down. “I know you. Because you’re like me. Like us. Loyal to a fault. You would do whatever it takes to get her through whatever it is she has to deal with.”
“Yeah. I would.” But what if his loyalty didn’t matter? Lyric had started to open up to him in the studio the other day, but could he go all-in and get rejected again?
“Then there’s your answer.” Silas gestured for him to take his turn. “You’ll do whatever it takes.”
Thatch lined up his shot but found it difficult to focus. He hit the cue ball too far on the edge and sank the eight ball, scratching the game. Yeah, he couldn’t play right now. He hung up his pool cue. “I might do whatever it takes, but I don’t know if she would say the same thing.” And he hadn’t been enough for Sienna. He’d tried. He’dbeen loyal. He’d been understanding. He even might’ve forgiven her for cheating on him.
“So ask Lyric if she’s in for the long haul.” Silas hung up his pool cue too, for once letting go of his competitive nature.
“No, no, no. You can’t ask her and put all that pressure on her,” Aiden countered. “Be patient. See how the next few months play out. It’s not like you two have to head straight to the altar or anything.”
“But communication is key,” Silas insisted.
