CHAPTER 2
Greg
Six Months Later
“Daddddy!”
Ah. And now the fun begins.
I left Cohen sitting on my bed, harmlessly watching some ridiculous cartoon so that I could jump in the shower. We’re running late, but that’s pretty typical when Melissa leaves us to our own devices. What does she expect? The ‘bad guys’ won’t kill themselves, blanket forts can’t be constructed in a split second, and Lego fortresses won’t build themselves. My boy needs to have some one-on-one time with his dad, and with the twins fast approaching we’re squeezing in every second of ‘man time’ that we can.
I smile, drying off as quickly as possible before grabbing my boxer briefs. The last time I made the mistake of forgetting to grab some before I jumped in the shower, I swear Cohen spent an hour talking about wiener-rings after that. Melissa thinks it’s hilarious, but I keep envisioning my little dude going to school and announcing to his class that he wants to have earrings in his wiener because his daddy does. That shouldn’t make pick-up awkward.
“Daddy, Daddy, DADDY!”
When I step out of the bathroom the first thing I see is Cohen jumping on the bed, his little arms flapping wildly and his ever-present cape flying behind him. With a smile, I hook his little body around the waist with my arm and toss him in the air. Pretty soon he’s not going to be small enough for me to toss around, and just the thought of him growing up too quickly makes my chest tighten.
“What’s up, little dude?”
His tiny hands cup my face, pulling me closer until our noses touch. “Daddy,” he whispers.
I bring my hands up and frame his head, rubbing our noses slightly. “Cohen,” I whisper back.
He giggles, his smile growing larger. “Mommy has a funny belly now.”
“Yes, little man, she sure does. But, Mommy has your sisters in her funny belly, and pretty soon they’re going to be here and she won’t have that belly anymore.”
His brows crinkle for a second while he processes this. It doesn’t take long before he asks the question I’ve known was coming.
“Daddy?”
“Cohen?”
“How is mommy going to get my babies out of her funny belly?”
Shit. This isn’t something Melissa covered.
“Uh . . .”
His face loses all traces of confusion and his crooked little smile takes its place.
“You don’t know! I’m going to ask Dilbert! Dilbert knows everything, Daddy!”
Damn, Sway! There’s no way in hell I’m going to let Sway—also referred to by his given name, Dilbert, by only Cohen—give my son sex-ed. I can picture it now. Sway would have Cohen out of his cape and into a wig and heels in no time.
“Come here, son.” I take a seat on the bed and hold my arms out, waiting for Cohen to crawl into my lap. His little knees almost take out my dick a few times, and I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my nuts. He finally settles, sitting on his shins with his knees pressed painfully into my thighs and his tiny hands holding on to my shoulders. “All right, little man. When Mommy has your sisters, the doctor is going to give her a shot so she doesn’t feel anything. Then she’s going to lie down, and the doctor will carefully take your sisters out. It’s all big doctor secrets, and no one will tell Daddy. They even put up a special blue wall that makes it invisible.”
With every word I speak, his mocha-colored eyes grow larger and larger. His mouth is hanging open, and the look on his face is nothing short of amazed. Yeah, I know Cohen, and there isn’t anything he loves more than a big mystery.
“You with me, C-Man?” I laugh, tickling his sides.
He giggles, jumps down with a large chant of excitement, and takes off to find the magical invisible wall.
“Cohen, get your shoes on! I promised your mommy we wouldn’t be late.” I can hear him banging around the house, hopefully on the way to his shoes.
* * *
It takes Cohen and me forever, as usual, to get out of the house. He couldn’t find his sneakers, so my kid is rocking his red cape, jeans, a tee, and bright orange rain boots. It hasn’t rained in Georgia in what feels like years, but Cohen’s wearing those damn boots with pride. When we walk into the restaurant where we’re meeting everyone, my eyes immediately take in my beautiful wife so that I don’t miss a second of her reaction to our boy’s outfit.
As she’s mid-sentence with Asher, her eyes grow as wide as her beautiful belly, and her hand shoots up to cover her mouth. I can clearly see the laughter shining bright in her eyes from across the dimly lit room. It’s not abnormal for Cohen to end up looking like a misfit when I’m in charge of getting him ready. At least it’s better than last weekend’s bathing suit, tank top that said ‘my uncle is cooler than yours’—thank you, Maddox—his cape, and a damn sombrero.
Cohen takes off the second he spots Nate, Axel and Izzy’s son, sitting at the end of the table next to his mother. Even with almost two years between those two, they are thick as thieves. I laugh when Cohen immediately starts flailing his arms around and moving around in the wild movements he’s so fond of. Nate lets out a laugh so loud that a few diners around the table look over with smiles.
I greet the table, getting friendly welcomes from the ladies in the group and the normal chin lifts and grunts from the guys.
I walk over to Melissa, gently pull her into my arms, and hold her close. I can feel my girls rolling around in her belly when she presses closer.
“Hey, you,” she says, her lips a breath away from mine, just begging for me to close the distance.
“Hey back.” I pull her close and savor the taste of her on my tongue. I feel her lips tip up, and her moan tingles against my lips. Yeah, my girl missed me today.
“Maybe, just a wild guess here, but maybe those two will remember we aren’t in their bedroom, the porn music isn’t playing on a loop, and it probably isn’t the wisest move to start molesting each other in the family restaurant?”
I break away from Melissa’s lips, licking my own when I see the fire burning bright in her eyes.
“Shut up, Ash,” I growl and give my wife one more chaste kiss before helping her take her seat again.
“’Shut up, Ash,’ he says. No, ‘thank you, Ash, for reminding me that I can’t drive the boat into the canal in the middle of family dinner’?”
It takes me a second. For one, I can’t stop looking at him as if he’s lost his damn mind, but mainly he sounds so much like Coop right now that I have to remind myself who is speaking to me.
“HA! You just called his . . . hotdog a boat!” Dee starts laughing so hard she’s bent over, banging the table with her fist.
Beck just shakes his head with a smile, looking at his fiancée’s actions.
“I bet it’s more like a tugboat!” Izzy chimes in, gaining Axel’s and Chelcie’s laughter.
“Seriously? A tugboat?” I should have known better than to let them get the best of me, but really, my pride wouldn’t let me sit there with them calling my dick a tugboat. Melissa’s hand rubs my leg, trying to keep me from giving these fools what they want.
“No, no . . . you’re right. I was too generous with the boat analogy. I’m sure you’re still paddling around with something more like a canoe, right?” Ash smirks before taking a big gulp of his beer.
“Fucking canoe,” I grumble under my breath.
“Canoe might be giving him a little too much. Don’t they make starter kayaks? Nice and short. Not much girth to those suckers!” I gape at Dee, only making her laugh louder.
Melissa laughs under her breath. “Don’t.”
“Are we really sitting around, discussing the size of my wiener?”
Melissa’s eyes get as large as saucers before she covers her mouth with her hand and bursts out laughing. It takes me a second to figure out why the hell she’s joining in with a table full of laughter at me calling my dick a wiener because I’m too busy looking at her belly bouncing with each giggle that escapes.
“Daddy! You said wiener!” My head shoots over to Cohen, who is currently standing in his chair and pointing at me with a big smile on his face.
I’m pretty sure that every single person in the restaurant is looking over at us now. The whole situation gets even more ridiculous when two-year-old Nate starts banging his sippy cup on the table, chanting, “Wiener, wiener, wiener!” over and over.
“Jesus Christ, kill me now.” I cross my arms over my chest and wait for everyone to stop laughing so we can get this dinner over with and I can take my wife home.
Melissa leans over, kisses my cheek and whispers in my ear, “I love you—and your tugboat.”
Turning my head before she can lean back in her seat, I frame her face in my hands and bring her lips back to mine in a kiss hot enough to burn the building down. Pulling back, I look into her dazed eyes, let a smile full of wicked promise take over, and growl when her face goes soft and her eyes shine bright.
“I’ll remind you tonight just what kind of machine I’ve got between my legs, Beauty.”
Her cheeks flame, she closes her eyes on a moan, and right before she turns back to the table, I hear her mutter, “Beast” under her breath.
We’ve been lucky with her pregnancy so far. According to her doctor, we can continue our sex life—just a little more carefully. Thank Christ. I’m not sure I could last seeing her like this and not be able to sink deep inside her body.
The rest of the dinner passes by with more laughter—not at my expense—loud conversation, and a whole lot of love. These are the moments with my family and friends that I remember just how blessed I am.
I look around the table, feeling a pang in my heart from knowing that we’re missing some important people. After we lost Coop, we decided there wouldn’t be a week that passed without having a family dinner at least once. It wasn’t easy at first. The first few months, Asher was more or less a ghost, sitting there and drinking his dinner in whatever he could grab. He’s come a long way, but I can still see the fire to avenge his brother burning deep within him.
Maddox has been to a few here and there, but he’s made it clear that until he can get Emmy back home he won’t be around. It’s been about two weeks since he took off after her, and last I heard, things weren’t going well. Having both of them gone has left a large void in our group.
And of course I can’t forget Sway, who is usually always at our family dinners. Tonight he’s taking Davey out on their first date, and he explained, with way too much detail, why he wouldn’t be joining us tonight.
Looking around the table again, catching Axel’s and Beck’s eyes as they make their own sweep of the table, I know that they’re thinking the same thing. So much has changed within our tight-knit group over the last few years. Even with the added members in our ‘family,’ the loss of the ones who aren’t here is very much still felt.
I tip my chin at the guys, grabbing my drink and holding it up briefly before taking a long swallow. Even with the parts of this last year that have tried each and every one of us, I can’t help but pray that the worst is behind us. I’m not sure if this group can handle another loss.
Melissa’s soft laughter brings me back from my thoughts and I look over to see her smiling at Asher. Of course, the playboy has his charms on bright tonight. He needs a shock collar to remind him not to flirt with my woman.
I throw my arm around the back of her chair and pull her closer to my side, leveling Asher with my darkest look before speaking, “Mine.”
He throws his head back and laughs, drawing more attention from the surrounding tables. “Got it, Fido. Would you like to piss all over her now too?”
“Calm down, you beast.” Melissa laughs.
“Calm down? Melissa, I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think he’s ever going to calm down when it comes to you.” I look over at Izzy, smiling my thanks for her rational thinking.
“I know. Isn’t it adorable?”
My head shoots back to Melissa. Adorable? Puppies are adorable. Babies are adorable . . . I am not adorable.
Bringing my lips to her ear, I lick and pull her lobe in my mouth before whispering softly and reminding her just how much my adorable tugboat can’t wait to get her home, naked, and screaming in pleasure.
Fucking adorable.