Laying in Matt’s arms is literally the best feeling in the world. I’ve wanted this for so long, and as I snuggle into his neck, kissing his skin tenderly, he stirs with a slight moan. He shifts his weight looking down at me and smiles, his eyes sparkle when he sees me. His hand moves out and caresses my cheek as he makes a beeline straight for my lips, kissing me without a second’s pause. His tongue dances with mine and his body rolls on top of me in my bed, making me giggle against his lips, as his morning erection presses into me. I grin as I kiss him, pressing my hips up and into him letting him know I’d like to take this further when he suddenly pulls back, breaking the kiss and looks at his watch.

He appears startled and then looks back at me. “What time did you say you needed to be at the airport?”

I lazily smile. “In about twenty minutes,” I reply.

He exhales with a huff, and jumps off me in a rush, the bedsheets falling from his body as he exits the bed completely naked, and starts moving about the apartment. “Shit! We’ll never make it on time!” he says while grabbing at random things, and starting to put them in boxes as he moves about in a mad dash, as I lounge back in the bed watching him with a large smirk.

He looks to me and finally stops his movements with a scowl. “Why the hell aren’t you getting up?”

I shrug. “Because I’m not going,” I say matter-of-factly.

He stands taller, and his eyes light up like all his Christmases have come at once, and he grins wildly. “You’re not?”

Shaking my head, I raise up on my elbows. “Nope! Canceled it all while you were snoring in my ear.”

He lets out a bemused laugh, and drops the pile of clothes in his hands, storming back to the bed. He grins, crawling on the bed and over the top of me. I fall back to the mattress, running my hands up his arms as he looks into my eyes.

“Shit woman, are you joking with me right now?” he asks, his mouth moves in planting firm kisses all over my collarbone and neck making me giggle.

“No jokes. I just hope Nate will have me back. I fucked him around, and treated him like crap for the last three weeks, so I hope he’ll forgive me.”

He kisses up my jaw then pulls his head back looking in my eyes. “I’ll talk to him, let him know we’re all good and that he needs you back. Because the guy you hired is a pompous asshole and you’re the only girl for his gallery... Wait, we are all good, right?”

Nodding, I run my hands through his hair and pull him so his lips are about to touch mine. “Yeah, we’re great… but I could really go a breakfast burrito.”

He chuckles and nods. “God, I’ve missed you,” he says then slams his lips to mine, kissing me fiercely. His body molds against me and I hold onto him for dear life.

I’m not letting him go again.

Not for anything.

 

***

 

We pull up at the gallery and already I’m pissed off. Francois has the signage set up all wrong. Idiot.

“I should never have hired that guy,” I murmur to myself as Matt and I get out of the car and head toward the store.

Matt chuckles and nods. “Yes, you’re right there, but that’s my fault completely. I take full responsibility… in all of this Alex.”

I reach out for his hand while shaking my head. “No. If we both stopped being so stubborn and just talked to each other, then I think we could have sorted this whole thing out a hell of a lot sooner. But you know us, stubborn as each other. But hey, the make up sex was so totally worth it,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows up and down as Matt raises his and grins salaciously.

“Stop, you’ll make me hard.”

I snort with laughter as we make it to the door, and Francois is standing there like a pompous git in his three-piece suit, goatee, and a turned up nose.

He spots me approaching and grimaces. “Alexandria, I thought you were leaving for France today?” he asks in his clearly fake British accent.

“Sorry Frankie boy, no can do. Matty Moo came and fucked some sense into me and bam, just like that, all my Hail Mary’s and Hallelujah Choruses came at once,” I reply and he gasps as Matt chuckles beside me.

“Pardon me?” Francois asks.

Robert walks over with a giant grin. “Alex, oh my God is it good to see you!”

I drop my hand from Matt’s and rush inside the gallery to hug Robert. I never thought I’d miss a mullet so much.

“Robert! Is Nate here?”

He grins wide and nods. “Yes ma’am, hiding out the back.”

“Hiding?” I ask, and Robert subtly glances to Francois, and I purse my lips and nod in complete understanding.

“Alex, why are you here?” Francois calls out, and I chuckle grabbing Matt’s hand and yank him along with me toward Nate’s studio.

Matt leans into my side and clears his throat. “You chose that guy for my brother… were you drunk or something?”

I snicker and shake my head. “I went on qualifications, not personality. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have never left in the first place.”

He wraps his arm around my shoulder and nods. “Agreed. Never leave again.”

I look up at him and smile. “Never.”

We walk into the studio and Nate’s painting but has a set of headphones on.

He never paints with headphones on.

I furrow my brows and huff. Obviously, Francois is utterly annoying. I’ve really fucked that one up. Well, I’m about to make up for it now. I step up behind Nate, grab an earmuff and pull it back from his ear and let it snap back into place causing his paintbrush to swipe over his canvas, smearing paint all over the white material. Luckily, he was only just starting, so it hasn’t ruined his artwork. His head snaps around like he’s rearing and ready to yell obscenities, but he spots me and his eyes flash open in shock. He grabs at his earmuffs and pulls them off his head as he stands up from his stool and takes in a deep breath.

“Alex? Wait… and Matt… in the same room? And you’re not on a plane to Paris?” he asks in quick succession.

We both chuckle and I shake my head reaching out for Matt’s hand. “Nope, no plane, no Paris. Just me, Matt, and you… one big happy unconventional family. If you’ll have me back that is?”

He lets out a long drawn out sigh and slumps his body like it’s the best news he’s heard all day. “Fuck, I swear if I had to listen to Francois for another second babble on about… well fucking anything, I was going to sell this place.” He swipes his hand through his hair. “Alex, don’t leave, ever! I’ll tie you up if I have to!”

I glance to Matt subtly thinking about last night when he actually did tie me up.

He must be thinking about the same thing, because he shifts slightly and grins widely, moving his hand down to rest on my ass.

“Well, I need to see if I can keep my apartment. I told them I was moving out, obviously, so I’m not sure if they have rented it out yet or not. So if I can have today to sort my shit out, I can come back tomorrow, and then be completely at your disposal. To do with as you see fit.”

“I have an idea to help with the rental side of things, leave that with me,” Matt says, as I eye him suspiciously.

“Take however much time you need, just as long as you come back to me. Fuck! I’m so glad you two sorted your shit out… you have haven’t you?” Nate asks.

I look up to Matt and smile wide. “We have. Turns out, I kinda love your jackass of a brother.”

Matt chuckles and nods. “Turns out I kinda love this crazy, manic, perfect woman, too.”

Nate exhales deeply and wraps his arms around us both pulling us into a group hug. “Well, thank fuck for that. You guys needed to seriously pull your heads out of your asses, you were almost as bad as Ria and me.”

Matt and I let out a loud laugh, and I roll my eyes. “Yeah, well at least we’re all on the right track now, hey?”

“Absolutely. Oh, hey, by the way, I spoke to Tillie this morning, Matt, she wanted me to talk to you about Charlie.”

Matt tenses up, and I furrow my brows, cocking my head at him.

“Charlie?” I ask.

He exhales. “Charlotte, the Maggie lookalike from Lovepessimist. Fuck! That’s a story I need to discuss with you.”

My body tenses and I nod as Nate smiles and shakes his head. “No, it’s all good, Matt. Don’t worry. Tillie said that Charlie called her and told her about what happened. That you said to talk to Tillie about the story for Rolling Stone Magazine.”

Matt nods. “Yeah, so did Tillie go for it?”

Nate grins wide. “Better. She told Charlie that the band is going to be suing her for illegally obtaining the information. That if any of the information gathered while with you, is released to the public, Tillie will do everything in her power to discredit Charlie as a reporter. Tillie said she’d ruin Charlie’s career. Tillie went full badass on her. It was epic. She took her down, Matt. Nothing will be printed, and you’ll receive damages once it all goes through.”

I furrow my brow obviously knowing there’s way more to the story that I’m missing. I really want to know what happened here, but it can wait till we get home.

“Holy shit, that’s amazing. I have to buy Tillie something. She really is a little powerhouse that woman,” Matt says and I chuckle.

“She so is…” Nate pauses and with a smile. “We beat the bad guys. You guys are together. I’ve gotten my best employee back, and I can fire Francois. Everything is perfect. So we should celebrate. Let’s go to Finlays, a round of Guinness on me?” Nate offers, and I bounce up on my toes and nod.

“God yes. Here’s cheers to the frothy parts.” I take delight in my words and Nate chuckles as Matt looks at me with nothing but love and adoration in his eyes.

I stare back at him, lean up and press my lips to his tenderly.

 

A MONTH AND A HALF LATER

 

We pull up at the hospital and rush inside. Paparazzi are camped outside the emergency department, and we have to push our way through the swarm as they frantically take our photos. Matt shields me from them, and we scurry through. They’ve obviously heard the news too, but Matt and I are late. We were a little occupied seeing as it’s getting into the evening, and I had finished at the gallery for the day. We were getting busy experimenting with ice cream, and well, I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. We finally came up for air to see all the missed calls from Nate.

So we’re here now, and we hope everything’s going okay. We rush frantically through the halls of the hospital trying to find the right ward. Eventually, we run in to see Danger and Lunar pacing the floor.

“Oh my God, where have you been? Nate’s been trying to call you for like three hours,” Danger calls out as we rush up to him, and Lunar visibly relaxes seeing me. I run and hug her as Matt shakes his head and sighs.

“Sorry, we were distracted, had our phones off, and had no idea what was happening. Any news?” Matt asks looking around obviously for Nate.

Danger shakes his head. “No. Ria’s in full labor, though. When Nate last came out, he said she was fully dilated or some shit. I don’t even know what that means, but it sounds fucking painful.”

Lunar nods and places her hand to her tummy looking a little pale. I furrow my brows as Danger looks to her wincing as if to apologize.

I open my mouth wide and let out a shocked laugh while staring at Lunar. “Oh, my tittie loving God!” She looks to me and freezes dropping her hand as Matt glares at me. “Are you?” I ask Lunar, and she looks to Danger, and he rolls his eyes and shrugs.

“Go on, Ryan is supposed to be here, but I have no idea why he’s so freaking late too. So he can find out when he gets here,” Danger says, and I turn back to Lunar, and she smiles at me and nods.

I jump up on my toes and race forward, taking her into a giant hug while I giggle and rock her from side to side as Matt murmurs to himself.

“Umm… what just happened?” Matt asks.

“Lunar’s pregnant,” Danger clarifies for a very slow Matt, and he laughs and high fives Danger as I slide into Lunar’s side cuddling her.

“Wow! Danger a father. The world’s gone crazy!” Matt says, and I chuckle as Ryan and Tillie race in. They’re dressed rather strangely. Well, not strange as such, but Tillie’s wearing a really nice white dress and Ryan’s in dress pants and a white shirt.

“What the hell’s with all the fucking paps out there, man?” Ryan asks, coming in and looking around at us all.

“You know… celebrity power couple having their first born… seems like big news and all that. Even though Ria isn’t acting anymore, she’s still a major celeb, so this is big news, and the paps want the first glimpse of baby Levine,” Danger says, and I nod. It makes sense.

“I can’t believe they went the whole pregnancy without finding out the baby’s gender. I need to know as soon as I can, so I can buy all the clothes in the right color,” Lunar says, and I smirk.

“I pity if it’s a girl, Lunar. Danger having a princess. Can you imagine if she brings a boy home?” I say, and Lunar laughs as Danger’s face turns into a scowl.

“My daughter is never dating. Period. Like ever. You know that right, Lunar? Tell that tadpole in there to be a boy, ‘cause I can’t handle the head fucks of her being a girl,” Danger says and Ryan’s head jolts back as he looks to Danger.

“Wait! What? Tadpole in there…” he points to Lunar’s stomach, “… you telling me you knocked up my Aussie girl?” Ryan asks.

Tillie gasps, smiling so wide as she bounces up on her toes looking to Lunar, as Lunar and Danger both acknowledge the baby news.

“Yep, my man junk officially works,” Danger says, and Lunar scoffs, throwing her hand out and slapping Danger upside the head, making us all laugh. Tillie rushes forward taking Lunar into a hug and Ryan leans into Danger for some sort of man hug, back slapping exercise.

“Good job, man, proud of you. Fucking daddy Danger, hey… who would’ve thought?”

Danger smiles looking Ryan up and down and then furrows his brows. “Did you guys have a function on or something we didn’t know about, this fine Saturday night?”

Tillie pulls her bottom lip in by her teeth and looks to Ryan as she slumps her body slightly like she thinks we’re all going to be annoyed by what’s about to be said.

Ryan takes a deep breath and holds out his hand for Tillie, and she goes to him. “Seems like tonight is a big night for news all round,” Ryan says, and we all focus on him completely as they hold up their left hands showing us unmistakable wedding bands on their ring fingers.

We all stand here in shock, and I’ve known them the shortest amount of time, so this doesn’t really affect me, but by looking at the faces of Matt, Danger, and Lunar, all I can see is a mixture of confusion and hurt.

“Are you telling us you guys got married?” Danger murmurs his voice slightly breaking.

Ryan winces and nods.

Tillie stands taller and clears her throat. “I didn’t want a fuss. I didn’t want anything huge. I didn’t want reporters and paparazzi invading our day. I just wanted something intimate. Ryan’s already had a wedding, so we just wanted something super simple…” she pauses for a breath. “We know you all would have liked to have been there, but to be honest, it really was a spur of the moment decision. We didn’t want to offend anyone. Honestly, that was never our intention.”

I can see everyone’s a little on edge, so I decide to try and slice through the tension. “Well, I think you guys getting hitched is amazing. I’m super happy for you, and you know it’s not about the day, it’s about the marriage itself, and as long as you guys are happy that’s all that matters in the end,” I say leering at the other three and they all sigh.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry. I was just a little shocked. I wanted to do an epic best man speech,” Danger says making us all laugh.

“Well, we’re gonna have an awesome party at our place anyway to celebrate in a week. So you can do it then, yeah?” Ryan offers and Danger grins.

“You’re gonna regret that. You know that, right?” Danger states and Tillie chuckles along with Lunar.

“We’ll have the pitter patter of children with you guys next then?” Lunar says, and Tillie’s smile falters as Ryan wraps his arm around her shoulder.

“That’s ah… something else we kept from you guys,” Tillie says, and we all look up in shock. Surely she isn’t pregnant too? “So while Ria was around shooting the music video, Ryan and I were trying to decide if we should have kids in our future and we thought we should maybe give it a go, considering his past, and how awesome he was at being a dad. We both decided we should try, and if it was meant to be it would be, but nothing happened. We had some tests done, and I actually have trouble producing eggs… it turns out. So the likelihood of us falling pregnant is pretty much impossible. We’ve decided that we’re happy having our fur babies. We just need each other, right, babe?”

My heart sinks watching as her eyes mist up while she looks at Ryan. He weakly smiles at her and gives her a cuddle as Danger and Lunar both exhale heavily.

“Fuck, man, I’m sorry,” Danger says.

Lunar just shakes her head as tears fall down her cheeks.

“Hey, don’t be. We’re okay with it. We said if it was meant to be it would be, and it’s just not, so like I said we’re good with our animals,” Tillie says.

“Adoption?” Lunar murmurs.

Ryan shakes his head. “No. We figured if we were meant to be parents it would happen. Honestly, guys, we’re fine. Truly, we really are okay with just animals.”

“We really are. Sure, I would have loved something that was part me and part Ryan, but we’ve made a home for ourselves, and the love we share is enough. Now we’re married and that’s enough for me,” Tillie says looking up at Ryan lovingly.

“You guys are amazing! Truly, you’re inspiring,” I say.

“Thanks, Alex,” Tillie says as Nate walks down the hall with the biggest smile on his face. We all turn to him, and he opens his arms wide like he’s the proudest man in the world.

“It’s a girl!” he shouts, and we all cheer as we rush to Nate and crowd around him. Honestly, he’s on cloud fucking nine. I think if there was a cloud higher than that, then he’s on that one.

“Oh my God, you’re a dad,” Matt exclaims, hugging his brother so tight.

My stomach flutters watching the two main men in my life celebrate together.

“It was so utterly terrifying and fucking amazing all at the same time, Matt. There’s no words, man, no fucking words,” Nate says, as everyone else high fives or kisses his cheek.

“How’s Ria?” Lunar asks, and Nate practically glows with euphoria.

“She’s a fucking champion. I didn’t think I could love her more, but…” he sighs dramatically, “… she’s perfect. Our baby is perfect. You all need to come and meet her. She’s so adorable. Fuck. I didn’t know I could make something so gorgeous.”

“Look at you all smitten,” I tease poking him in the ribs, and he smiles at me and nods.

“I am, I’ll admit it. I don’t even care. Just come… see my daughter,” he says turning and leading us down the hall.

I look to Matt and reach out grabbing his hand as he looks at me with a bright smile, and Nate races away while the rest of us try to keep up.

“He seems really good,” I say, and Matt nods.

“This suits him. I’m so happy. Nate’s finally found his groove. I’ve got an amazing woman. Life couldn’t be much better than it is right now, Alex.”

I chew on my bottom lip and rest my head on his shoulder as we walk into Ria’s baby suite. It’s almost like a hotel room in here. The area for the baby is like her own little luxury five star suite, and I’m assuming the adjoining room is where Ria is currently resting. I look down to the tiny little baby and she’s wrapped in a blanket that has drum sticks all over it, which makes us all chuckle, but her cute little button nose is utterly adorable, and she’s the perfect mix of Nate and Ria.

She is, in fact. Perfect.

Matt steps between Nate and me, and wraps his arm around me. “Wow, man! My niece is going to be so spoiled. Does she have a name?” Matt asks.

Nate sighs, turning and looking at Matt. The mood has suddenly turned serious and I tense up slightly as Nate swallows hard. He takes a deep breath and puts his hand on Matt’s shoulder.

“Sarah,” he simply says.

Matt lets out a deep sigh and replies with a simple nod. I look at my boys and see their eyes welling up, and I try to wrack my brain but then it hits me. Sarah… is their mom’s name. The mom that died when they were five. The mom that died on Nate’s bed while she was teaching him to read. I purse my lips together and try to hold back a sob, as Matt leans in and embraces his brother, and I look to the others who’ve figured it out too.

It was only at a dinner party a few weeks ago when everything came out in the open about Nate not being able to read because of his mom. The guys had a vague idea, but they didn’t have any idea to the extent it went, and that Ria had helped him learn how to read and write.

It feels like the band has become closer as a whole now that they all have stable women in their lives. Because we all keep them in order, keep them under control, and tell them when they’re being douche bags. We’ve tamed the rockers, and in doing so made them even better at what they do.

“Okay, Ria would love to see you guys,” Nate says, and everyone nods.

Matt chews on his bottom lip. “You guys go. Alex and I will catch up. I wanna look at Sarah for a little longer,” he says, and I smile. Nate bumps into his side and winks at him as he walks off with everyone else leaving me here with Matt.

Taking a deep breath, I wrap my arm around his waist as we look down at his niece, and he holds onto me tightly, resting his head against mine.

“She’s beautiful, Matt,” I murmur and he clears his throat and nods.

“She is. I wasn’t expecting that… for her to be named after Mom.”

I tighten my arm around him and sigh. “Are you happy?”

He chuckles. “Undeniably… you think we will get here? To this stage?” he asks, and the question doesn’t freak me out. It doesn’t scare me. It fills me with hope and excitement that he’s on the same path I am.

“Yes, we’ll get there… in a few years. Let’s have some us time first. I’m selfish, I want you all to myself.” I chuckle and turn, pressing my lips to his neck.

He tightens his arm around me while still staring at Sarah. “I’m gonna marry you, you know?” he says and I gasp a little.

“Umm… is that a proposal?”

He looks down at me. “No, just a promise. Your proposal will be much better than that. Just know I have every intention of marrying you, Alex.”

“Well, just know that when you do ask, I will say yes.”

He nods matter-of-factly. “Good to know.” He smirks and turns, looking back to Sarah. “I think we should get a pet. The apartment needs a pet, I think?” he asks, and I chuckle.

“You don’t like my apartment anymore? You said that you couldn’t let someone else rent that apartment, so you bought the entire building because you loved the place so much. Then you moved in with me, and now you’re saying it’s not good enough?”

He laughs. “No, not at all. I love our place. I’m just saying I think now that I’m the owner of the apartment, and I make the rules, I say we can have a fish or something.”

I nod. “Oh, a fish. Well, a fish I can do.”

“Or maybe a stick insect?”

“Oh yes! I want a stick insect!” I say excitedly bouncing up on my toes.

“Okay, we’ll get a stick insect.”

“Yes!” I fist pump the air.

He chuckles and shakes his head.

“What?” I ask.

“Just us. One minute we go from talking about marriage and the next to stick insects… You know we’re weird, right?”

I turn him to face me. “You know I love our kind of weird?”

“You know I love you?”

“I know. I love you, too. You’re kinda perfect for me.”

“A ten out of ten?” he asks.

I roll my eyes and nod. “Yes Matt, you’re my ten out of ten.”

He chuckles and pulls me to him, holding me close and resting his forehead on mine. “And you, Alex, will always be, undeniably, one hundred percent perfection.”