“What?” Gage doesn’t bother hiding his disdain. “You will not. We’re not tipping anyone off about anything that might actually lead them in the right direction.” He offers a peaceable smile as if we were simply talking about the game at hand.
“You heard the boss.” I offer Coop a fist bump. “Stay alive, man.” And in a well-timed move, Laken appears in our midst. There, I get to be the hero, after all.
Gage takes a breath and holds it as if he just remembered something. “On second thought, talk to Ezrina.” He slaps Coop on the shoulder. “Consider it a gift.” He looks to Logan. “To all of you.” And that’s exactly who he’s trying to protect. Logan. If it were just Coop, my antennae would go up. But Gage’s incessant need to protect Logan makes perfect sense just as much as it pisses me off. Here we had the perfect opportunity to watch Coop disintegrate and he yanks it right out from under me. But then, that’s par for the course when it comes to my brother. The only brother Gage Oliver has is Logan.
The fog rolls in, and soon enough you can’t see your hand in front of your face, so we end the party. Laken and I have tucked Tobie in. Charlie is sound asleep in the room next door.
Laken lies naked in my arms, the way it should be—the way it will be until kingdom come.
She scratches lightly at the stubble on my cheeks as she looks up at me. “Do you really think Coop will be okay?”
My stomach sours at the mention of his name in our bed.
My lungs fill to capacity with my next breath. “Ezrina knows what she’s doing more or less.”
“It sounds like trial and error.”
“It is.” And what a damn relief, too.
Gage was right. I couldn’t kill Coop. It would come back to haunt me. And now what I tell Ezrina might be just as crucial. But it doesn’t mean I have the answer. And if I did, would I really want to give it?
I guess I need to weigh exactly how much I want Cooper Flanders in my life.
If I want him there at all.
“Wes,” Laken whispers my name like a secret. “I know where your mind is. I’ve chosen you. What could you possibly do to make me change my mind? Nothing at all.”
Charlie begins to fuss and we listen as she quiets herself back down.
It’s not what I could do. It’s what I have done.
I pull Laken over me and we indulge in a mouthwatering kiss, the appetizer to a promising meal.
We don’t talk about Coop anymore.
21
Black Water
Skyla
Sometimes the most dangerous people you know are those you know most intimately. That’s one lesson I’ve learned more than once in my short life. But today, we’re celebrating someone I know intimately and is the least dangerous person on the planet, Logan Oliver. It’s July twenty-first, and I’ve invited everyone we know down to Pike’s Reef for a day of sun and fun—and as luck and a quick chat with my mother would have it, Logan indeed has all the sunshine he wants on this, his twenty-third birthday. But as luck and my moronic generosity would have it, I’ve invited some of the most dangerous people I know.
Chloe sits beside me on a folding chair and Laken next to her as we sink our feet into the sand and watch the kids play at the shoreline. Giselle and Ellis are the self-appointed lifeguards since none of us could waddle our way to save a single soul. Logan, Gage, Wes, Coop, Brody, and Marshall are hitting the surf off in the distance. At this point, they’re as small as ants and I couldn’t tell you which one was catching a wave. I hope it’s Logan. I hope Gage is spending most of his time under water contemplating how to drown himself for the misery he’s putting us through.
Chloe’s belly is obnoxiously big, much like her ego. Laken, however, still looks lean and mean, a tiny bump that looks as if it might put her somewhere around the six-month mark, definitely not the nine months that she is.
Both Chloe and Laken are due in three weeks. Go figure. I, however, am as large as I was with the boys—and Sage, although I lost her somewhere just before the middle of my pregnancy. But the doctor has assured both Logan and me that there is just the one baby floating around in this Olympic swimming pool I’ve provided.
Nathan and Barron have decided I’m having a T-Rex and they can hardly wait to play with their dinosaur. Nathan cried himself to sleep the other night because he was sure the baby was going to eat his toes. Logan has been such a good father to them. Half the time it’s Logan who wants to push their bedtime just so they can continue playing their war games with his old army men and Hot Wheels set.
Gage seems okay with it. But he’s present, too. Just not during those sweet moments in the night, those precious groggy hours of the morning. But we’re adjusting.
He doesn’t ever ask to have the boys spend the night, and I don’t pry and ask why. I know why. He’s got a real live wicked witch taking up residence in his bedroom. I’m sure he doesn’t want the boys exposed to the toxin he’s allowed to leach into his life any more than they have to. But oddly, the boys seem to tolerate Chloe well. And Chloe seems to tolerate my instructions as if her life depended on it. I hate that Chloe is proving to be a decent stepmother to the boys. I hate that some part of me admits to it. Every cell in my body is still screaming, shouting with all they’ve got, how is this my life?
I certainly don’t know. I may never know.
The sun might hide from Paragon, but the heat has certainly found us. It’s already been a long, emotional summer, starting in early June when Mia and Melissa graduated from West Paragon High. It seemed as if it took an eternity for me to do it, and with them it felt like a whimper. I suppose they would have a different story to tell. And a part of me wonders if it would be as alarming as my own high school scholastic tale.
Laken shifts uncomfortably. “God, I can hardly move. It feels as if my pubic bone thingy is splitting in half. How about you, Chloe?”
Chloe shifts her dark eyes my way. “My husband splits my pubis every single night and I don’t mind a bit.”
“What?” Bree and Em come upon us with Bree kicking up sand with every other step. “So he’s finally giving you the baseball bat, huh?”
“Oh, shut up, Brielle.” Chloe struggles to rise before hulking her way down to the waterline and Michelle is quick to join her.
“It’s diastasis symphysis pubis—the thingy. That’s what it’s called,” I say to Laken, trying my best not to get my blood boiling over the baseball bat comment. My jaw tenses as I look to Bree. “What do you mean he’s finally giving her the baseball bat?” I happened to know that baseball bat is basically code for Gage’s abnormally long fifth appendage. But as fate and my delicious luck would have it, Logan is just the same size. Those Oliver boys really are hung like horses.
Bree’s cheeks are pinched red from the sun, but if I had to guess, they’re picking up color due to her discomfort as well.
“Never mind.” She’s quick to wave me off. “There are some conversations you’re simply not privy to. Chloe is my other bestie, and I need to be there for her when the going gets tough. And let’s just say, it’s not all wedded bliss at the Oliver residence.”
“Huh.” I glance her way and my heart thumps wildly as if it had a shred of hope Gage still loved me somewhere deep inside. Not that it would change anything between Logan and me, but my pride likes the idea of him pining for me.
Lex bops over and lands in the sand before us.
Em grunts over at her, “Someone is chipper. I’m guessing you heard the news?”
“News?” I crane my neck to get a better look at her. Em has the tiniest red bikini on and her left boob is totally exposed as baby Ella suckles off her. “What news?”
“I don’t know.” Em is suddenly playing it coy. “Lex, why don’t you tell us the latest developments in As My Oliver Turns.”
“Uh-oh.” I cringe because I can feel it coming. Lex and Michelle have been warring for months now.
Lex shrugs it off. Her skin is just as copper as her hair, and her tiny body looks like s
omething I could only dream to have again one day. She’s wearing a one-piece with so many cutouts and zigzags it looks alarmingly sexy. But I’m not worried about Logan taking a second look at her, no sirree.
That sweet spot between my legs seems to have put quite the spell on that boy. Gage used to make love to me with an ardent desperation. But Logan is fierce, like an owner who’s come back to claim what’s his. And he does claim it. Night after night. I’m too big for the butterfly room, so we’ve had to get creative with the boys sharing the same air space. Let’s just say I’m intimately familiar with my closet and bathroom. And thank God that the boys wake up at the crack of dawn and head downstairs to their Mee-maw because Logan and I have grown to appreciate the finer points of morning sex, too. Good thing, because all these hormones have me craving a good long, hard Oliver baseball bat. And Logan is hitting a homer each and every time.
“What is it?” Laken kicks her swollen foot at her.
Lex blows out a huge breath just as Michelle and Chloe come back.
“I’m going to tell them,” she smarts at Michelle. “But only because they’ve dragged it out of me.”
“Fine.” Michelle scoffs while pulling her hair up into a bun. Michelle is gorgeous with her deeply bronzed skin, her lips glowing a healthy shade of pink. “Tell them how you threw yourself at my husband. How you propositioned him. How you brainwashed him into thinking I wanted a three-way with you. Then tell them about the compromising position I found the two of you in and the fact I’ve contacted Olivia Harrison to represent me in the divorce because I am not tolerating your bullshit another second longer!” she bellows that last part out.
“Oh my God, Lexy!” I bark over at her. “Could you not control yourself?”
“I couldn’t help it,” she shouts right back. “I want me an Oliver, and God knows you and Chloe aren’t giving up the ones you’ve got.”
Chloe chuckles. “Now, now. Skyla’s got two gorgeous sons coming up in age. Soon enough, they’ll be the studs of Paragon every girl at West will want to ride.”
“Stop.” I kick up sand her way. She’s right, though. Nathan and Barron are as gorgeous as can be. Dare I say, their looks are just a tad more refined than that of their father. Take that, Gage Oliver. You needed my genes to take yours all the way to perfection. Not that he’s not perfect, but my mother found a way to improve upon it. “The boys are taken. I’ve got one for Charlie and one for Tobie.”
“Ew,” Chloe grunts. “They’re practically siblings.”
“They are cousins,” Laken muses.
“I don’t care. I like those girls. I’m the mother and I’ve spoken. I don’t want more trouble in my life.”
Laken chuckles. “You are delirious. Speaking of delirious.” She looks out at the waterline and I know she’s scouring the surface for Coop. “They sure have been gone an awful long—”
Before she can finish, a couple of pale, rather overdressed familiar faces land their chairs in our midst, Ezrina and Nev. I sigh as I see them. I’ve spent so much time trailing Ezrina in the lab these last few weeks, I feel as if I’ve grafted myself right into their family. And in turn Ezrina has been siphoning stem cells from me, from my bones, my skin, my blood. Every last part of my genetic material is needed to help fight the bastards who have gutted my people. And hopefully soon, we’ll hide the markers completely.
Lexy grunts, “Heathcliff, what in the hell are you wearing? Capris?”
“The sun shorts of my generation.” He pulls off his shirt and blinds us with his paper-white skin. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to affirm the fact the sea is still salty and wet.” He takes off as Ezrina plops beside me. Little Alice waddles out of her arms and busies herself with a bucket and shovel. Alice is just as much a fiery redhead as Ezrina is, was, and is again thanks to a box of hair dye.
Alice is the only child I know who can keep herself occupied for hours without uttering a single peep. And the way she follows her mother around the lab assures me she’ll take over one day soon.
“Ladies,” Ezrina grouses as she inspects us one by one. “Chloe.” Her head tips back and I sense trouble. “Have you heard the news?”
Chloe settles back in her seat with a thunk and twitches her inflated feet. “Yup. Lex is gunning to be the new Mrs. Liam Oliver. Where is the two-timing rat so I can drown him?”
“Not that news.” Ezrina slits her gaze my way. “Skyla has opted to have a home birth.” She bleeds a dark smile and my heart grows cold at the thought. Ezrina has mentioned it once in passing and I’ve since declined, but I see she’s motivated to taunt me with the idea.
“No, I’m not. I’m giving birth at the very same hospital that brought Nathan and Barron into this world. As much as I hate hospitals, they have all the right equipment to ensure a safe delivery—that and the fact a drug-fueled time is had by all, and when I say all, I mean me.”
Ezrina’s lips twitch. “I’ll give you the best quality medication I can provide. I’ll have you numb from the waist down as soon as your earliest request. You won’t feel a thing.”
“Ooh!” Bree waves a hand. “Count me in. I get to hold the shit net.”
“Nobody is holding the shit net.” I cringe at the memories of my mother giving birth in a tiny toy swimming pool set up in our living room. Of course, Demetri was there to greet his baby daughter with wide-open arms, devil’s horns, and a tail. “Ezrina, it sounds as if we got our wires crossed. I don’t want to have the baby in the Landon house, nor the lab.” I decide to cut her off at the pass in the event she wants to prop me up next to Gage’s floating head. By the way, that head belongs to me no matter how much baby Alice has taken a liking to it.
“What’s this?” Marshall pops up in our midst, dripping wet and shaking his hair out like a dog. Half our circle moans with delight. His abs are the things that dreams are made of. They were mine. But now that Logan and I enjoy a healthy sex life, I seem to have found the off button on the teacher-student porn session that spanned for years. “Ms. Messenger, feel free to give birth in my chambers. My bed will be ready when you are.”
I bite down on my lower lip, hoping that last sentence won’t sponsor another regularly scheduled coital collision later tonight.
“Hear that, Skyla?” Chloe manufactures a grin. “Mr. Dudley is volunteering to strap your limbs to his bedposts. It will be just like old times. I hear sex makes labor move along quicker. I’m sure he can help in that area, too.”
“Maybe you should get it from him?” The words eject from me faster than I can process them. “Rumor has it, you’re not getting it from Gage.” Bree hinted at it a few times and I can only pray it’s true.
Her eyes flit to Brielle just as Gage and Logan come up on us. The rest of the guys are treading behind them.
Gage casts those cobalt eyes to mine and they widen just a notch. Huh. I know that look on his face. He’s been caught red-handed—and I do mean red-handed. If he’s not giving it to Chloe, he’s putting Rosie Palm to the test. I bet he’s thinking about me. Wow, wouldn’t I love that. Repaying him torment for the torment he’s given me.
“What’s going on?” Logan sets his towel down and falls next to me. Logan is tan, olive skinned, and his eyes glow resplendent. Nobody has ever looked at me quite the way Logan does. Not even Gage. There is no hesitancy in his eyes. No wavering, guessing about our love. It’s just there, immovable as a boulder, forever implanted in both our hearts.
Lex leans forward, her tiny little boobs jutted out at Logan as if they were a snack just waiting to be devoured. “Skyla just agreed to have the baby at Dudley’s house. In his bedroom while he lashes her with his tongue.”
Marshall lifts a finger. “Only upon her request.”
Logan winces as if he were in on it. “Yes, that sounds perfect.”
“Logan!” I smack him over the arm.
“Not the part about Dudley.” He takes a moment to glower at this older look-alike. He looks to Ezrina. “Not a thing is allowed to go wrong.”
>
“This is happening?” I ask as I look to Logan, but Ezrina answers for him.
“Yes, child. It is.”
Logan takes up my hand. Ezrina thinks she can use every part of your afterbirth to help put the finishing touches on the elixir. And poor Coop keeps having a reaction. She thinks the key to helping him out might lie in another component from your body.
Chloe smirks as she takes up her husband’s hand. “Thank you, honey, for not forcing such barbaric measures on me.”
Ezrina sputters a dark laugh. “My medicinal alleviation is something the women bound in hospital beds could only dream of. And there is no aftereffect on the child or mother.”
Chloe flinches as if Ezrina just struck her. “In that case, I’ll happily procure your services. I’ll be delivering in my own bedroom. You’ll be there, Ezrina. You’ll get to bring Tobie’s new little sister or brother into this world. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”
Ezrina is quick to agree, and a little too enthusiastically—and come to think of it, perhaps a bit over animated as far as Ezrina goes. I hate how Chloe and Wes have Ezrina by the lady balls just because Tobie holds her DNA. It’s sickening. I wish Chloe had never heard this conversation. The last thing I want is her having an easy princess delivery in my freaking bed.
“I’m certain I’m having a girl.” She looks to Gage and bats her demonic eyes his way. “It’s my privilege to gift my husband his very first daughter.”
“He has two,” I’m quick to point out. “Sage and Tobie. Aren’t they his children, Chloe?” I don’t dare look at Gage. Damn coward should have piped up himself.
Gage growls as if he heard my thoughts. “I was about to say the same. But yes, I am thrilled to have another daughter, if that’s what fate brings us.” Something catches his eye in the bushes and he cranes his neck a moment. “Excuse me.”
All Hail the King (Celestra Forever After Book 6) Page 41
