by Nicky James
Startled, Max opened Rigger’s and my messenger thread and scanned the texts Rigger had sent including the five or six more that had come in after I gave up and shut it down.
Max’s frown deepened.
“Give me five minutes,” he said, pressing the call button and dialing Rigger’s number.
And oh damn, Rigger was in deep crapola because I knew that look on Max’s face. It was the one he used with me when he’d tolerated enough of my shenanigans and needed me to stop.
I knew the second Rigger answered. I heard his high-pitched frantic voice come through the line, but Max didn’t let him get more than five words out before he stopped him in his tracks.
“Enough talking.” His voice was deep and commanding.
Silence followed. Eerie silence. The kind I knew came from Rigger having swallowed his tongue. Max used that tone that bore no argument and stopped people in their tracks. It gave me shivers. The good kind of shivers. Max was going all Daddy Dom on Rigger and Rigger ate that shit up. He knew better than to argue.
“Now you listen to me, Rigley Montgomery Atkins.”
Oh, snap! Usage of a full name in Max’s world was never a good thing. Poor Rigger.
“You are going to tell Jace that you are taking a five-minute break. I want you off the floor while we speak. Go to my office and sit down. Do you understand?”
I didn’t hear Rigger agree, but Max waited. After a time, he spoke again.
“Head between your knees and five deep breaths. Close your eyes and listen to me. No interrupting. Are you listening?”
He must have got acknowledgment because Max said, “Good. You’re doing really good.”
Our eyes clashed for a second and Max thumbed over his shoulder, indicating he was going to take the call somewhere quiet. I mouthed a thank you and watched him walk away as he spoke soft, reassuring words to Rigger.
Alone among a crowd I mostly didn’t know, I decided to slip down the table to an empty seat next to Raven where I leaned on his shoulder, wrapping my arms around his sturdy bicep. “Hey, hot stuff.”
I caught the attention of their little group, breaking their conversation, and they all turned to me. Raven chuckled, used to my antics, as Ireland laughed.
“Well, shit.” Ireland glanced around. “Where’s Max?”
“He left me unsupervised. You’re all in trouble.”
Grayson grimaced and flashed a look at Beck.
“I’m sure you can control yourself for five seconds,” Ireland said.
“You don’t know me by now? That’s doubtful. I was disappointed you two didn’t join us upstairs earlier.”
Raven patted my cheek. “It was oh so tempting, baby, but maybe another time.”
“You keep saying that! I swear you both are just placating me.” Since Gray looked more and more uncomfortable, I winked at him and leaned over the table. “You into threesomes, doll? I have yet to convince Max, but when I do, you’re on my list. Mmm…” Then I waved at his boyfriend whose eyes had blown wide. I had that effect on people.
“Ignore him,” Ireland said. “He’s a tease and nothing more. He likes to get people going.”
“It’s true.” I sighed.
“Where’s Max?” Raven asked.
“Putting Rigger in his place. The guy was losing his mind.”
Speak of the devil.
Max reappeared and joined our table, sitting beside me. He greeted Ireland and noted the way I clung to Raven. It was expected. I always clung to Raven and threatened to cling to Ireland.
“Rigger will be fine for now,” Max explained. “How about you unglue yourself from poor Raven and we head upstairs.”
“But he’s so snuggly.”
“And he’s taken,” Ireland informed me, his tone laced with humor and not nearly as possessive sounding as he seemed to think.
“But not officially until September. I’m invited to the wedding, right?”
“Of course. I like my balls intact. I know better than to leave you out.”
I winked at Ireland and kissed Raven’s cheek before unhooking myself from his arm. “All right. I’m out. Mind the Do Not Disturb sign on my door. Unless you’re naked and willing to join in.” I pointed a finger between Raven and Ireland then veered it to Gray and Beck. “That goes for you two as well.”
As Max and I wandered to the elevator, I asked, “How’s my cat?”
“Doing well. He’s taking care of Samson better than he’s taking care of himself.”
“That’s a relief… kinda. Is he going to be okay?”
“He will. He’s definitely showing a side of himself I was unaware of, but I don’t like it when he upsets you.”
I tilted my head back and groaned as we waited for the elevator to take us to our floor. “I know. He doesn’t mean it. I just can’t figure out what the deal is with him. Why do I have to make all his decisions? I got my own shit to worry about.”
Max stayed quiet, but the weight of that silence told me there was something he wasn’t saying.
I nudged his side. “Talk.”
“Just thinking. I have an idea, but I want to make some calls first before I share it.”
“Ugh, I hate waiting.”
“I’m well aware. I could make you forget if you’d like?”
The elevator doors opened, and I sized Max up and down. “How pray tell? Do tell me. Preferably in text form since we really need to work on your sexting.”
He chuckled and clasped my hand. “How about I show you instead. It might involve ordering room service and getting more of that lava cake.”
“Oooooh! I like this plan!”
I skipped along after Max, all the Rigger issues and thoughts of threesomes long forgotten. I loved my undivided Max time more than anything.
Especially if it involved chocolate syrup!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Finnley
“So Brian?” Aven asked as we took the elevator back to our room after dinner. He didn’t sound so sure. There was an underlying note of skepticism in his tone.
“I was thinking for a middle name it’s not bad. Like how we thought of using Bryn for the girl’s middle name.”
“That I can handle. Not sure I want Brian as a first name.”
“This baby better hope it’s a girl,” I said. “I don’t think we’re gonna settle on two names in this century at this rate.”
Aven tugged me into his arms and kissed my nose. “Does this mean we are only ever having one baby?”
“How about we get through adopting one to begin with and talk about more in a couple of years.”
“Agreed.” He deepened the kiss, swiping his tongue along my lips until I opened and let him in. His hands drifted down my back and cupped my ass, dragging me closer. “Before this baby comes,” he said between pecks, “I want to take my time and make love to you while I can.”
I groaned and pressed against him, showing him my enthusiasm for his suggestion.
Dinner had been nice, and the day had been busy, so it was about time we shared some alone time in our room.
The elevator dinged and we pulled apart as the doors slid open on our floor. Aven laced our fingers together and guided me down the hall as he pulled the room card from his pocket.
Once inside, he took me by the hips, walking me backward toward the bed with a wicked grin on his face. “Now, Mr. Hollins-Woods, I’m going to relieve you of your clothes and all the stress you’ve been carrying around these past few weeks.” He nipped my lips, grinning facetiously. “Will you let me take care of you?”
“I like this plan.”
His hands were everywhere, gliding down the back of my dress shirt, over my ass, touching my hair, my cheeks, my lips, fondling the growing interest still crushed uncomfortably in my trousers.
Then he diligently unbuttoned one button at a time on my dress shirt as I swam in the rich brown color of his eyes. The hunger on Aven’s face matched the one growing inside me. Once my shirt was open, he slipped it down
my arms and off, tossing it over the back of the chair at the side of the room.
“Now this,” he said, plucking my phone from inside my pocket, is going to get turned off and put aside for the next hour.”
My eyes grew, and I shook my head, making a grab for it. “You can’t. Aven. What if—”
“One hour, Finn.”
“But… I’ll never be able to relax. I’ll be thinking about how we could be missing her text or her call.”
Aven’s face turned sympathetic. “You really can’t, can you?”
“Please don’t ask me to.”
“Okay. I’ll leave it on. But try to take your mind off the baby for five minutes. You’re a ball of tension. I want you to relax.”
“I’m sprouting gray hairs already, aren’t I?”
Aven feathered a gentle touch over my scalp, messing my hair and making my eyes close. “Not yet,” he breathed against my temple. “But I wouldn’t care if you were. You’re gorgeous, Finnley. And I’ll think so even when we’re old and gray.”
“I love you.”
He answered with a full, possessive kiss that made my knees give out, and I landed on my ass on the bed. Aven was right there, pressing me down and pinning me underneath his weight.
Without looking or breaking from his mouth, I rid him of his shirt and worked the button loose on his pants. When I got my hand around his straining length, he moaned and shuddered in my arms.
“God, Finn. Want you so bad.”
I shoved his pants down as far as I could manage and stroked him, pulling all kinds of pleasured sounds from deep in his throat. He fumbled with my pants as well, dipping his hand inside and returning the favor.
Our kiss lost all rhythm as our hands worked each other, but it didn’t matter. Aven buried his face in the crook of my neck and worked me as I tugged him. Both of us lost in the bliss of the moment.
So when my phone blared its ring tone into the room, we both startled. My body went taut, and had I not been crushed under Aven’s weight, I’d have scrambled to answer it, but Aven had me pressed down.
“Stop,” he panted when I tried to move him. “Every damn time I get you like this. I swear. Stay here. I’ll check it, and if it’s anyone but Bryn, I’m silencing the call.”
My skin tingled as I slapped his shoulder. “Okay, deal. Hurry and check before they hang up.”
Aven shuffled toward the bedside table, awkwardly and with his pants almost around his ankles. He grabbed the phone and stared at the screen. His cheeks were flush from our activity, but I watched the color drain away as he stared at the phone.
And he kept right on staring at it, and it kept right on ringing.
“Aven! Who is it? Answer it!”
My blood burned as it flowed through my veins. My heart ramped up, and I knew… I knew even before he said…
“It’s Bryn.”
“Well, answer it,” I squeaked, falling over the tangle of my own pants as I launched myself toward him.
He pressed the “accept call” button, and I didn’t miss the way his hand shook or the way his breath stuttered out of him.
“Hello?” Aven’s voice broke on the single word, and I didn’t think I’d ever heard him so nervous.
“Put it on speaker,” I hissed, but it was like he didn’t hear me.
Aven stared off into middle space, eyes wide, pupils blown, and mouth parted. “Uh huh… Okay… yeah.”
This wasn’t helping.
“Aven!” I yelled, snapping him out of it.
His gaze shot to me and he blinked a few times before telling Bryn to hang on. His mouth moved, but his words didn’t come out as he pointed uselessly at the device in his hand.
I knelt beside him staring from him to the phone. “Aven, you need to say something.”
“B-Bryn’s water broke. S-she’s on her way to the hospital. It’s time. Oh, God! It’s time, and we’re all the way in another province. Oh shit! The baby is coming. It’s time.”
His eyes pooled, and I saw the exact moment it all became real for Aven. It’d been real for me for months. It was why I’d been apprehensive about going to Alberta, but now, for the first time, it was real for Aven too.
I peeled the phone from his hand, registering he wasn’t capable of anything more than scattered thoughts. I took his hand in a tight grasp as I continued where he left off.
“Bryn?”
“The baby is coming. It’s time. Did Aven tell you? You guys need to be here.”
“We’re on our way to the airport right now. We’ll get the first flight we can. Oh, wow! This is really happening.”
“It is. And you guys need to be here. This baby needs his or her dads.”
Bryn sounded surprisingly calm—for which I was grateful because Aven and I were a wreck.
“Are you okay? Do you have help until we get there?”
“Mom is on her way. I’ll be fine. Can you guys tell Arden? I need to get my stuff together and get moving. I don’t want him left out. He needs to know too.”
“We’ll find him and tell him. No worries. Be safe. Take care of that little one. And, Bryn?”
“Yeah?”
“If we don’t get there on time, tell him or her we are on our way and Dad and Daddy love them very, very much. We can’t wait to meet our little baby.”
“I will. But you’ll make it.”
I hoped so.
I hung up, and I focused on Aven who was paralyzed with shock beside me.
“Well,” I observed as I studied his and my state of undress. “Our sex life just ended for the foreseeable future. We need to get dressed and get moving. Our baby is coming.”
Aven shook his head, his eyes clearing as he met my gaze. “But we don’t have a boy name yet. What if it’s a boy? We’re not ready.”
“We have a flight home to decide. We’ll figure it out. Come on.”
It was funny how the tables had turned. All the scrambled, anxious pieces I’d been carrying around for months fell into place, and a calmness enveloped me. Whereas Aven didn’t seem to know where to put himself.
We were both half-dressed in our more formal outfits from the conference, so I tugged more comfortable clothes out of our bags and instructed Aven to undress. I tossed him casual jeans and a T-shirt while pulling on the same. Once I’d packed our bags and scanned the room, Aven was more clear-headed.
“Does she have someone with her?” he asked as he pulled on his light jacket. “Tell me she isn’t alone.”
“Yes, her mom was on her way over to get her. We have to find Arden and pass on the news. I bet he’ll want to leave too. Maybe we can share a cab to the airport.”
“We better hurry. I don’t want to miss this, Finn.”
I clutched Aven’s face and kissed him soundly. “We won’t.”
The enormity of the moment dampened all outside senses. It was like maneuvering through a dream as we raced down the hall toward the elevator, luggage bags trailing behind us. My heart thudded with excitement and nerves as we made our way to Arden’s floor and his room.
The pair of us pounded frantically on Arden’s door until it was torn open and Iggy peered back with a look of confusion.
“It’s time,” Aven blurted, peering past him. “Arden! Bryn is in labor!”
Arden flew off their bed and ran up beside Iggy, his eyes wide. “What? Seriously? Now?!”
I nodded frantically, bouncing on my toes and eager to get going. “We’re heading to the airport. Gonna try to get the next available flight.”
“We’re coming with you!” Arden squealed. “Two minutes.”
He yanked Iggy’s arm back into the room, and the two managed to pack up their belongings in record time.
The four of us raced down to the lobby, and Aven and Iggy checked us out of the hotel while Arden and I waited outside for our cab. Arden checked his phone repeatedly and typed a few messages I assumed were to Bryn or one of their siblings.
“Ugh, she’s not answering me!” he whined.
/> “She’s in labor. She has other things on her mind.”
“I know, I know.”
The ride to the airport was agonizingly long. All I could picture was us being stuck waiting for a plane while Bryn was birthing our baby. We never should have left Dewhurst. We should be there by her side, not two thousand miles away.
We were supposed to cut the cord. We were supposed to be the first thing that baby saw when he or she opened their eyes.
What if we missed it?
Finally at the airport, we ran to ticketing and took a spot in the long line. While we waited, I pulled my phone out, seeing I’d missed an update while we’d been on the run. I waved Aven, Arden, and Iggy over to read with me.
Bryn: I’m only two centimeters dilated. The doctor said it will probably be a while yet. My contractions aren’t too strong either. Still pretty spaced out. Please tell me if you get a flight.
Aven wrung his hands and nodded, his gaze flicking to the line ahead of us. “If we ever get through this damn line,” he growled.
“We will.”
We were next up, and Arden and Iggy came with us, hoping we could manage four seats on the next flight.
The woman behind the computer typed and scanned her screen for a few minutes before grimacing.
I held my breath.
“I have two seats, not together, but that’s it. The flight leaves in forty minutes, and it’s packed.”
Arden’s face fell, his gaze darting between Aven and me, but Iggy rested a hand on his back and whispered something in his ear before turning to us. “You guys take them. We can go on standby or grab the next available flight.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
Arden nodded and gave us a small half-smile before ducking his head. “Yeah. It’s you guys’ baby. Go. Tell Bryn I’m right behind you.”
Aven didn’t miss a beat and made the arrangements with the woman behind the desk while I thanked Iggy and Arden, hugging them both as the first emotional tears trailed down my cheeks. Everything inside me was upside down and shaken up. We’d been waiting for this day for a long time. It was here.