by Toni Aleo
Wells scoffed as he reached around, taking a handful of Matty’s ass. “Don’t let me hear you’re dating anyone else but me, ever. You got it?”
Gazing into Wells’s eyes, Matty found himself fighting back his laughter. “Wow, I didn’t know you had a controlling side.”
Wells made a face as his eyes widened. “Look who has a controlling side!”
That had them both laughing before they crashed their mouths to each other, getting lost in a kiss that had Matty rock-hard and his body shaking with lust. When he pulled back, gazing into Wells’s hunger-filled eyes, he smiled. “I don’t want anyone else but you.”
“Is that right?”
“It’s a promise,” he said against his lips, before nipping at his nose. “Why would I want anyone else, female or male, when I have it all right here? My forever?”
Wells beamed at him, his eyes burning into Matty’s as he nodded. “Your forever, huh?”
“And ever,” Matty added with a wink. “Now, shut up, forget about Marie, forget about everything, and kiss me.”
Wells smirked as he moved to Matty, his fingers threading through his hair as his gaze seared into his. “Now who’s controlling?”
As their lips met, a soft chuckle moved between them before the kiss deepened. Soon, nothing else mattered, not Matty’s mom, not the rest of his family, not even Wells’s family.
All that mattered was the love they shared.
And Matty liked it that way.
Fifteen
The sun was hot.
The breeze was delightful.
The ocean was beautiful.
The drinks were strong and cold.
But, the company…the company was the best.
“I don’t understand why we chose Mexico, home of the margaritas, for vacation when I can’t drink.” Everyone looked to where Brie was holding a very virgin fruity drink on her growing belly, her brows furrowed as she pouted. “I want a margarita.”
Vaughn glanced over at her and shrugged. “You have one.”
She shot him an annoyed look. “No, I have a strawberry-flavored slushy.”
“But it’s a good strawberry-flavored slushy on a beautiful beach at an awesome resort,” Wren said, and Wells knew she was trying to be positive. When the tic started in her eyebrow, he scooted away and noticed that her very smart husband, Jensen, did the same. “With all our friends, our men, it’s nice.” Brie just looked at her, and bless Wren, she tried, holding that fake grin. But soon, it was gone and she was pissed, throwing her arms up, her pregnant belly moving with the dramatic gesture. “I know! This is bullshit! I want to drink.”
Everyone laughed, and Wells was pretty sure he was in heaven. “You planned this.”
She shot him a dirty look. “Because I thought being on the beach would be enough. But no, everyone else is drinking it up except me and Brie. It’s boring.”
“No, it’s fun. You guys are the life of the party,” Wells interjected, but both of the women just rolled their eyes.
“This was a bad idea. We should have gone to Scotland or something.” Wren crossed her arms, leaning them on her belly that was so much bigger than it had been at the wedding. She was thicker around the face too. She was a butterball, and it was sweet. Especially with the way Jensen looked at her. Like she was the Thanksgiving turkey and he hadn’t eaten in years.
“We couldn’t go that far with how far along you are.”
“Boo.”
“Yeah, boo,” Brie said, shaking her head. “Way to ruin everything, Wren.”
Wren glared over at her. “Hey!”
Brie giggled. “I’m joking.”
“You’re a party-killer too!”
Her giggle got louder. “I know! We’re twinsies.”
“Gag me,” Vaughn groaned, and Wells laughed.
“I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing. I can show you some pretty great stuff.” Wells was just joking, but man, the look on Vaughn’s face was priceless.
Blinking, Vaughn looked to Jensen. “Get your best friend, he’s tiptoeing the gay line again.”
Jensen was laughing though, along with Brie and Wren. Matty even chuckled as he took a long pull of his drink. “He is fucking with you,” Jensen said, shaking his head. “Plus, if you really need pointers, Wren and I can show you all kinds of stuff.”
The color red that Wren turned was priceless, but now it was Wells gagging. “Ugh! That’s my sister.”
“Ew! Freak!” Vaughn called, throwing a grape at Jensen, but he was too busy laughing. Wren was crying with her laughter, and Brie was laughing so hard there was no noise. As he laughed along with everyone, Wells glanced to Matty, but he was only chuckling. Shaking his head, Wells held up a finger.
“Barkeep, a round of tequila shots, minus two for the party-killers.”
Wren flipped him off while Brie glared. Matty said, “Tequila… Crap, that stuff is dangerous.”
“Yes! You need to loosen up,” Wells said, grasping Matty’s shoulder and shaking him. He knew Matty was nervous that Wells’s family wouldn’t like him, but they already did. Well… Wren was on the fence, but that was just the sister thing that sisters did. Either way, Matty was a part of the crew, way more than Alex had been, and Wells needed Matty to remember that. “You’re being quiet and shit.”
Before Matty could answer back, though that sultry grin that always put Wells on edge came out to play, Vaughn called, “Dude, are you even legal?”
“Yes!” Wells yelled as Matty’s face deepened with a bit of color.
“What? He’s a child.”
“He is not!”
Vaughn made a face. “Yes, he is.”
“Vaughn,” Jensen warned, probably because Wells was glaring.
“He’s twenty-three,” Wells argued. “Way past the legal age.”
“And he’s way more mature than you are,” Wren commented, and Brie nodded.
“Got that right.”
“So, what? Plus, that only makes him, what—” Vaughn held up his hand, trying to do the math, which made everyone guffaw. “Shut up, I’m trying to count,” he said, laughing.
Pushing his hands down, Brie smiled. “I hockey player, I no do math.”
“Hey!” Wells and Jensen complained, but she just laughed with Wren.
“I am very smart, thank you,” Wells grumbled. “We all went to a good school.”
“Yeah, and we all did Vaughn’s homework, obviously,” Jensen teased, and God bless him, Vaughn was still trying to count.
“Wait, how old are you?” he finally asked, and that resulted in a roar of laughter coming from their table just as the bartender appeared, setting down the shots. With a laugh and a few words of Spanish, the bartender waved and walked away as Wells reached for his shot.
“He’s thirty-four, so he’s eleven years older than me.” Matty’s voice was low, but everyone heard him, their laughter subsiding. Except Vaughn’s.
“Damn, you’re rocking that cradle hard,” he laughed, but Matty didn’t seem to think it was that funny.
“Babe, take your shot,” Brie said then, pushing Vaughn’s shot to him as she looked over the table at Matty. “He gets drunk and gets a little wild. I apologize.”
“I’m not even drunk!” Vaughn laughed, obviously not sensing the tension. “I’m joking around. If he’s gonna stick around with this crew, he’s going to have to take the razzing. Plus, he’s a hockey player! He gets razzed all the time. He’s pretty, like Jenny.”
Jensen rolled his eyes. “I’m not pretty, but he’s not wrong.”
“Jensen!” Wren complained.
But Jensen just shrugged. “Babe, really, we’re fucking with him. Right, Matty?”
Everyone’s attention went to Matty, and he sat like a bump on a log. “Right. Don’t apologize, we’re having a good time,” Matty said, but Wells was pretty sure no one believed him. It seemed like he would rather have his teeth cleaned than be sitting with Wells’s family, and that was not okay. Wells’s family was e
verything to him, and so was Matty, damn it, so everyone was going to love each other!
Yet, an awkward silence fell over the table, and Wells almost screamed in frustration. But thankfully, Wren clapped.
“Well, bottoms up, boys! To good times with family.”
After clinking the shots together and downing them, Wells leaned back, glancing over at Matty. He seemed tense, and it was killing him. This was supposed to be their vacation. Matty looked over, his gaze meeting Wells’s. They stared at each other for almost a full minute, their eyes urging the other’s, almost having a silent conversation in which Wells explained that Matty was being an uptight dick. Matty apparently didn’t feel the same, and when Wells’s eyes started to darken with annoyance, Matty slowly shrugged, which caused Wells to roll his eyes.
He was going to kill Matty.
“So, Matty,” Wren said then, stealing Matty’s attention. Wells was thankful, but then even more annoyed. He didn’t like Matty acting like this. He knew Matty got weird with people—he was very private, obviously, and he didn’t really like to talk to people that much—but shit, these people were basically an extension of Wells. Yeah, Wren could be bitchy. Vaughn was—well, Vaughn. Jensen was great, and so was Brie. So really, it was only Wren and Vaughn that Wells could understand being awkward with but not Jensen and Brie.
Hell, a rock could get along with those two!
“Wells was telling me that you got to see your sister and niece a couple weeks ago.”
Matty nodded, his shoulders unclenching a bit. It was a good start to relaxing, Wells guessed. “Yeah, Ashlyn is my niece’s name. She’s perfect.”
The way he gushed made Wells’s heart blow up in his chest. Wren grinned. “Do you have a picture of her?”
“I do,” Matty said, almost eagerly, as he pulled out his phone. As he did that, though, Wells looked across the table at Wren, confused. He had shown her the picture already, sent it in the family group text thread weeks ago. But she just shook her head slowly with a look that said, “Cool it.”
Okay, maybe she wasn’t that much of a bitch and, really, might be the best sister in the world.
Swiping through some photos, Matty’s face lit up as he held the phone out to Wren. “Scroll left, and that’s us with her. I even got one of Wells and her. He’s gonna be a wonderful uncle.”
“I’ll be better,” Vaughn announced.
“Over my dead body,” Wells threw at him as Jensen laughed.
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be Gunner’s favorite. I’m Daddy.”
Vaughn rolled his eyes while Wells laughed. Across the table, though, Wren and Brie were gushing over Ashlyn. “She is a doll baby! My goodness, she looks just like her daddy, doesn’t she?”
Matty nodded. “Yeah, but she has Avery’s eyes, and I guess, my eyes.”
Wren looked up, meeting Matty’s gaze, and then smiled. “She does. She’s beautiful,” she said, handing him back his phone.
“Thank you. I think so, and I can’t wait to meet my new niece or nephew.”
Brie lit up. “I didn’t know Avery was pregnant again. I’m surprised Baylor didn’t tell me.”
Matty clammed up, his eyes going wide. “I don’t think they’ve told anyone.”
Brie nodded. “Oh! That makes sense. It’s probably early. My lips are sealed.”
“Wait,” Vaughn said, holding up one finger. “Baylor, who played with us on the Assassins. Sinclair’s wife. As in, my captain.”
“Yes,” Brie said with a nod. “Follow me, okay?”
He looked at her and then waved her on. “Go.”
“Jace, who is Avery’s husband, is also Jayden’s brother. Avery is Matty’s twin sister.”
Vaughn blinked then looked to Jensen, who was blinking too. “So, wait. Isn’t Jace Sinclair married to the commissioner’s daughter?”
And Matty went rigid again. Fucking Vaughn.
Brie obviously didn’t know this answer, so she looked to Jensen too, who then looked over to Wells. “So, let’s change the subject.”
“No. You’re the commissioner’s kid?” Vaughn asked, pointing to Matty. “Matthew Haverbrooke, center for the Rangers. How did I miss this? Did you miss this, Jensen?” Jensen kept his lips pressed together as he held Wells’s gaze. A silence stretched between them, and Wells closed his eyes. He loved Vaughn, he loved him more than a gay man should love a straight man, but damn it, he was about to ask the one question that didn’t need to be asked at that moment.
Please don’t ask if his dad knows he’s gay. Please don’t ask.
“You look different on the ice. You wear a shield, don’t you?”
Wait, what? When Wells looked over, Vaughn had Matty in a scrutinizing gaze as Jensen looked back and forth, completely in awe. But, when Wells glanced back to Matty, he was just smiling. “I gotta protect this pretty face. You feel me on that, don’t you, Jensen?”
A long pause followed, and then everyone burst out in laughter. As he laughed, his stomach hurting from the motion, Wells glanced over to Matty, and he couldn’t believe his eyes. Matty was smiling, a true smile, his eyes light and happy. Wells knew it could all be the tequila, but he didn’t care.
Matty was joking with his friends.
It was just one damn joke, but it was enough for Wells to know things were gonna be okay.
But then, when Matty leaned over, kissing Wells’s cheek, his eyes fell shut. Damn, Matty smelled like heaven and felt like it too.
This man was all his.
“I really thought he was gonna ask me if my dad knew I was gay.”
Wells’s eyes shot open, and he leaned back a bit, meeting Matty’s gaze. “I did too.”
Sharing a laugh, Matty ran his thumb along Wells’s chin. “I’m sorry I’m weird.”
“I like you weird,” he said with a wink, which brought back that damn sinful grin of Matty’s.
Before Wells could kiss the shit out Matty like he so desperately wanted to, Vaughn asked, “So why do you go by Matty? That’s really gay.”
Closing his eyes as the table heckled Vaughn, Wells was glad when Matty laughed too. “Well, since I am gay, I figured it fit.”
When Wells opened his eyes, Matty was watching him. All Wells could do was shrug. “Welcome to the family?”
Cupping Wells’s face, Matty kissed his lips, just a quick kiss before he pulled back, his eyes dark as his lips pressed together. “Nowhere I’d rather be.”
“Ditto.”
Sixteen
“Have you talked to Mom today?”
Wren leveled him with a look. “Wells, she calls me twenty times a day. Yes, I’ve talked to her.”
Wells laughed. “Aw, it’s sweet.”
“It’s annoying,” she complained, but a grin pulled at her lips as she held her belly. “But really nice. I now feel special like your punk ass always does.”
“Hey, when you’re the favorite, that happens.”
“Oh, gag me,” she complained, smacking him as she waddled beside him. Blowing out a long breath, she grabbed her belly. “I feel fat.”
“I mean, you’re not little.”
“I hate you.”
“Aw, I love you too,” he said with a wink. “But hey, after you have my gorgeous, amazing nephew, at least we know you’ll go back to your smoking hot bod.”
Wren rolled her eyes. “According to my doctor, I have to stop eating for that to happen and exercise more. Ew.”
“Ew,” Wells agreed with a snort. “At least the exercise Jensen makes you do isn’t what he makes us do. Our workouts suck.”
A dreamy little look came over her face as she waved him off. “Actually, he’s sort of wonderful when we work out. I bitch the whole time, and he takes it. It’s rather awesome.”
He scoffed. “Only you would feel that way.”
She leaned into him. “Hey, I never said I was perfect. Jensen, yes. Me, big ten no.” Wells laughed at that. She was a hot mess, but that didn’t stop Jensen from fucking adoring her and then some. They con
tinued to stroll along the beach. It was barely sunrise, and Wells hadn’t expected to see Wren outside when he went to do his run, but she was there, claiming that sleep was evading her. Nonetheless, he couldn’t think of a better companion to walk the private beach with in the wee early morning hours. The sounds of the waves and the salty smell were intoxicating, but the conversation, that was where the money was.
“I like how we can go to civilization or it comes to us, and we can just do us.”
Wren nodded. “I wanted all of us to relax. We’re all wound so tight, especially after the non-wedding, the baby daddy issues, Vaughn and Brie moving, then Matty seeing his sister. I figured we all needed to decompress. This place was awesome. Private huts and people if we needed them.”
He laughed. “Which we do, a lot.”
“Hey, I’m hungry,” she said, striking her hips. “This guy is starving all the time.”
“He’s gonna be huge.”
“I know. I’m scared.”
Wells rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Jensen will be right there, I’ll be on the other side, we’ll somehow lock Vaughn out and maybe Mom and Dad. We might let in Emma.”
That made Wren laugh. “She’d kill you dead if you didn’t let her in the room to see her baby cabbage.”
Wells made a face. “Huh?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, she calls my baby a baby cabbage, but in French. Apparently, Jensen and I are cabbages too.”
“How did I not know this?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, it’s weird.”
“It is, but now I can call Jenny a cabbage in English just to fuck with him.”
“You’re awful.”
“I know, it’s fun,” he laughed, and she smiled as she exhaled deeply, holding her gut as they walked. Wells loved the sand between his toes, and while he knew it would be better to run, he was pretty sure Wren would take him out if he tried to suggest that. So the leisurely little pace they were going at would have to suffice.
“How are you and Dad doing?”
Wells shrugged. His strained relationship with his father had always bugged him, but lately, things had been really good. It wasn’t what it used to be, but hey, they were talking, and his father told him he loved him. That was his favorite thing, and he thought it was pathetic that a thirty-four-year-old man yearned for his father’s love, but he did. Badly. Finally, Wells had it back, and he never wanted to lose it again.