“Three, two, one!”
Lilah slams her thumb down on her computer, and with that, Maddison Sinclair Designs is officially launched. She throws her arms around her very pregnant best friend, who seems like she’s due any day now, and they hold on to each other tightly as we burst into cheers around her.
Hayes and Quinn blow into noisemakers, Flora doing the same at their side. Locke and Keller clap loudly, the latter nearly smiling even. I look at Hutch over them, and he grins at me like we’re the ones in on a secret, and this time, I know exactly what it is—we’re lucky as hell to have them.
He’s right. We are lucky. We needed them bad when we lost game seven of the conference final. It was rough. I don’t think the group chat was active for a good two weeks afterward, everyone licking their wounds, but I was glad when the team that beat us at least went on to win the Cup. They deserved it, but next year… Next year is ours. I can feel it.
Lilah moves toward Hutch and Auden toward me.
“Congrats,” I tell her, hugging her as best I can with her round stomach between us.
“Couldn’t do it without our girl.” She smiles, referring to Lilah.
I really don’t think Auden would have gotten this off the ground and planned her wedding without Lilah’s help. Why she decided to take on two life-changing endeavors while being extremely pregnant is beyond me. But she did, and she has Lilah to thank for the success of it all.
When my girl finally steps up to me, I can’t wipe the smile off my face.
“Hey there, sugar,” I say, the tips of my shoes pressed against hers.
“Hi.”
“How do you feel?”
“Honestly? Still stressed, but also relieved. It’s weird and hard to explain.”
“You don’t have to. Not with me. Never with me.”
She tips her head to the side, squinting at me. “Why are you so good to me, Arthur Fox?”
“Because you deserve it, Lilah Maddison.”
With that, she hurls herself into my arms, and I catch her just like I will every time. Our lips connect like old friends, and I slip my hand up her neck as I hold her to me, not wanting to let her go. Not because I’m afraid I’m going to lose her—I don’t fear that anymore—but because I can’t get enough of her.
When we’ve kissed long past what’s appropriate, we finally pull apart.
“I’m proud of you,” I tell her.
That earns me a blush. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Yes, you could have. You can do anything, and you don’t need me for any of it.”
“Well, I didn’t want to, and I don’t want to. I always want you by my side.”
I sigh, dropping my forehead against hers. “I like the sound of that, being by your side.”
“It does sound nice.” She huffs out a laugh. “God, can you believe we did it?”
“Yes.”
“It’s been a busy summer. The playoff run, the proposal, the wedding planning, the baby that’s due any day now, and launching the company.”
“And yet, you did it all.”
“In heels, too.”
I laugh, thinking about the nights those heels were digging into me as I helped her relax through it all. “I told you, you’re an incredible woman, Lilah Jane.”
“You believe in me too much, Fox.”
“And you don’t believe in you enough.” I kiss the tip of her nose.
She sighs. “Keep saying things like that and I’ll…”
“What, sugar, what will you do?”
“I don’t know. Marry you or something.”
I pull away, looking down to see if she’s serious, and fuck me, but she is.
“You’d let me put a ring on your finger? My ring this time?”
She nods slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I would.”
Her words nearly knock me down. The thought of seeing Lilah walking down the aisle toward me rattles something deep inside me, something I’ve been holding on to for a while now, and the urge to drop down on one knee like I did all those months ago hits me. But I don’t. I keep the desire tucked down, buried away for another day.
This day is about her company, her accomplishments. I can wait. I can ask Lilah to marry me another day. Besides, I have a feeling she’ll say yes.
“Okay, break it up, break it up.” Lawson pulls me away from Lilah. “This is a party, not your sex den. Let’s celebrate!” He picks up a red cup and holds it in the air. “To Lilah!”
“Hey!” we all say, holding our cups up as well.
“To Auden!”
“Hey!” we cheer again.
“And to Hutch’s inability to pull out, which means we’re getting a second generation! Long live the Serpents Singles Group Chat!”
“What’s pull out mean?” Flora asks, sending everyone who is not Hayes and Quinn into a fit of laughter.
Hutch smacks him on the back of the head, and even Rory shakes her head, annoyed, though I see her smile as she takes a sip of her drink.
The doorbell chimes through the house.
“I got it!” Lawson calls, racing toward the door.
“Anyone else think he’s getting extra exhausting lately?” Hayes asks.
“He’s always extra exhausting. It’s like you people never listen to me,” Keller grouses.
“That’s because you hate everyone and everything. You don’t count,” Locke says.
Keller shrugs, indifferent as usual.
“Uh, Hutchy?” Lawson calls, walking back into the room.
“Yeah?” our captain answers.
“Someone’s at the door for you.”
“Who the hell is it?” Hutch growls, irritated by Lawson’s vagueness.
“Was hoping you’d tell us.”
Our star forward steps aside, revealing a tiny blonde woman standing behind him. Auden gasps, then looks up to her fiancé, but he’s too busy staring at the woman clutching a bag to her side.
“Uh, who is that?” Lawson asks in a hushed voice, which for him isn’t so quiet. Everyone hears it.
Hayes speaks up. “I think that’s his sister.”
“Stepsister,” Hutch corrects, brows tilted inward. “What are you doing here, Vanessa?”
“Sorry, I…I didn’t mean to intrude,” she says, pushing her hair behind her ear. “It looks like you’re having a party. I just…”
Her eyes slide around the space, looking each of us over like she’s looking at a room full of strangers, and shit, I guess she is—that is until she lands on the man standing at the back. The one with the salt-and-pepper hair at his temples, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. The veteran.
Locke stares back, looking like he’s seen a ghost from his past.
And I think maybe he has.
