by C. M. Owens
“Who are those people?” Angel asks, pointing a finger at our two new guests.
I almost worry that Bella is already too pissed to speak. The man and woman look ten years older than they did in the pictures Allie showed me, but I can tell it’s them.
Bella’s mother gives us an uncertain smile as tears gather in her eyes. Her father wipes his own eyes as he stares at us, opening and closing his mouth like he doesn’t know what to say.
Standing, I take Bella in my arms, protectively wrapping against her as they approach. Maverick and Kode walk away, offering us some privacy just as the couple reaches us.
Bella’s mother’s lip quivers, and her father clears his throat.
“We’re sorry,” is the only words her father seems to be able to speak.
“So sorry,” her mother adds, her voice breaking.
I’m not sure how it happens, but Bella is suddenly out of my arms, and she’s hugging her parents, who are both desperately clinging to her like she might vanish if they let go too soon. I decide to give them a moment, since this is definitely something she needs to do on her own.
Leaving them behind, I go to join Maverick by the tables. “We’re ready to cut the cake,” Rain tells us. “Should we wait on Bella?”
I shake my head.
“Nah. She’ll be a while. As long as things go well.”
Rain nudges me with her shoulder. “That was pretty damn good of you.”
“I have my moments,” I say absently as Bella turns and catches my eyes. She doesn’t have to say it. I see the appreciation and gratitude from here.
Allie slowly walks toward them, and I force my gaze away again, watching as Rain hands Brin the knife.
“Cut the cake. I’ll cut myself if I try to wield that monster of a knife,” she tells her.
“But we haven’t even had real food yet,” Brin states, confused as she takes the knife.
The cake is rounded on top, but there’s a lot of icing hiding the oval shape at the base, squaring it off enough to sell it.
“The kids have been begging for cake. Might as well eat dessert first.”
Brin shrugs, and Rye watches, unable to look away, as Brin struggles for a second. Just as she finally digs the knife in, the cake—or rather, the balloon disguised as a cake—explodes, and icing slings everywhere, mostly on Brin.
Her face is a mask of white as she calmly wipes the icing away from her eyes, leaving two slits in the mask of icing on her. She narrows her gaze on Rye while pointing the knife at him a little threateningly.
“You asshole!” she yells.
I notice Wren and Dane are already holding their daughters’ ears, as if they were anticipating a few words not meant for young ears.
“We said no more pranks, and you lasted all of two weeks? You think this is all a joke?” Brin yells, slamming the knife into the table so hard that it sticks into the wood.
Rye’s eyes widen, and he clears his throat. “Look at the—”
“I’ve tried, Rye. I’ve tried my damnedest to give you everything you want, and the one time I ask for something, you can’t do it.”
“Damn it, look at the—”
“I want us to be real. I want to know this is just as serious to you as it is to me,” Brin goes on angrily, verging on tears. “And you can’t do it, can you? You’re stuck here in this comfort zone, and you can’t just—”
“For fuck’s sake,” he barks, interrupting her this time as he storms over to the table and grabs the black box that has icing all over it. Yeah, it wasn’t easy to get that box inside that damn balloon. No one considered the fact that she might not see it after icing blew up in her face.
Unfortunately, Brin is already walking away, not noticing what he’s trying to hand her.
“Brin!” he growls.
She whirls around, ready to say something else, but he throws the box, and she barely catches it before it hits the ground in front of her feet.
“What is this? Another prank? A spider maybe?” she bites out, flipping open the lid.
Her eyes widen, and her entire stance changes as the cake and icing drip from her.
“I’m trying to fucking ask you to marry me!” Rye snaps. “It’s not like I could propose like a normal guy. Because we’re not normal! I don’t want to be normal! I love everything about us, and I never want to fucking lose you. Kids? You want kids? Then so do I. We’ll work it out together. You want a ranch in the backyard? I’ll buy a different fucking house. I want whatever you want, Brin, because at the end of the day, you’re all that fucking matters to me.”
Rye looks like he’s on the verge of breaking something, when Brin smiles through the icing. “You want to marry me?”
He groans. “Of course I want to fucking marry you. Did you not hear anything I just said?”
Brin sprints to him and launches herself in his arms. Rye’s so surprised that he almost doesn’t catch her.
We all start clapping when Brin starts covering him in icing, laughing as she kisses him wildly all over his face.
“Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!” she yells.
Rye smiles as his lips land on hers, and that’s when we all turn away.
“Great,” Kode says dryly. “Another couple is getting married before me.”
“At this point, I think Tria is the only person who doesn’t know you want to marry her,” Maverick points out.
He turns his beer up, drinking it as he tunes Maverick out. It reminds me that I still need to have a conversation with my cousin about her father. Fucking eh. Bella has turned me into a damn meddler.
Speaking of Bella…
She’s walking toward me as her parents take a seat near Angel. Allie looks wary, but she’s sitting with them.
Maverick and Kode walk away to join in the celebration going on around Rye and Brin, but I wait for my girl to reach me.
“I guess I missed the fun stuff,” Bella says, wiping away the lingering tears on her cheeks.
“Rye was a nervous mess, so Rain decided to put him out of his misery a little earlier than planned.” My eyes flick to her parents as they talk to Angel. My mother goes to take a seat near them, along with my dad who follows Mom’s lead. I look back at Bella. “You okay?”
She nods, and a smile spreads over her lips. “You’re pretty damn perfect, you know?”
“I’ve always known that. Glad you’re finally up to speed,” I quip, smirking when she rolls her eyes.
She tosses her arms around my neck, and I lean down to kiss her, not giving a damn who is looking on when I grab her ass and pull her closer. If we were alone, I’d already have her against the wall.
She breaks the kiss, and pulls back, amusement twinkling in her eyes. “You ready to meet my parents?”
Ah shit.
I dart a glance to the table, and her mother is looking away with bright red cheeks. My hands slide up from Bella’s ass to land on her waist.
“Well, that should test their comfort level,” I state flatly.
“I love you,” Bella says, bringing my attention back to her.
My hand slides over her stomach, and I brush my lips over hers again. “I love you,” I tell her, forgetting all about everyone watching us once again.
Fuck ‘em if they don’t like watching me maul the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Bella doesn’t seem to mind, because she’s kissing me back just as hungrily.
Before her, I felt nothing. Since her, I can’t stop feeling.
I think this is as good as it gets.
“Shit!” Rye’s voice cuts off our kiss, and we turn and looks as he spits out something blue.
His entire mouth is actually blue… In fact, there’s also a growing ring of blue that is just circling the outside of his lips. It looks like he just gave a smurf a blowjob.
Brin is in tears as she laughs. How did she already retaliate? What happened?
“Just wait. That stuff is also supposed to turn your urine blue, Papa Smurf,” Brin says through her cackles
. “I forgot I had it in my purse.”
Bella slides against me, putting her back to my front as we watch Brin start running away from Rye, laughing the entire time.
“And I thought we were crazy,” Bella says, smiling like she can’t help herself.
We’re all fucking crazy. It’s the only way to be.
My hands slide over her stomach, moving over it. Bella never minds that I touch her belly all the time.
“Just imagine how crazy our kids will be,” I point out.
Bella starts laughing, and leans against me. My eyes dart around at the growing bunch. We’re all fucking doomed if Rye and Brin reproduce.
But my kid will be perfect. Obviously.
THE END.
MAKE ME is the next book in the Sterling Shore Series.
What happens when Harley comes back for revenge on the town that once made her life hell, and the one boy she thought was different?
What happens when Dale learns why she’s in town and decides he’s sick of always taking the high road like a mature adult?
Things get awkwardly kinky and a little crazy...
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