“How weird. I think I’ve pinched one, too. I’ll rub yours if you rub mine?”
Alex moaned in relief as I drew circles on his back with the heel of my palm. “Where’s yours?” he asked.
“My dick.”
He rolled his eyes and shoulder bumped me. “I can’t believe I actually fell for that.”
I told him about Elle and we headed up to the office. The regular bar staff and door bouncers had arrived and were waiting around on the main floor for us to open.
In the office, Jake arrived first, followed by Ryder. Mason was heading a photo shoot in Sawyer and Jake’s studio so couldn’t make it. After clueing them up, Jake and Ry agreed with Sawyer, but Ryder placed another bet on Mason’s behalf as the only other person who sided with me.
I was anxious for Elle to arrive, not only to gather my winnings, but because if she didn’t get here before opening I wouldn’t have adequate time to gloat.
When Elle eventually strolled through the door, hand in hand with Kip, I sat back in my leather chair behind the desk and rubbed my palms together.
“Why do you all look so…” Elle pouted while she searched for the word. “Eager?”
I winked. “Just happy to see you, fuck bunny.”
“Um, okay,” she said, raising a suspicious eyebrow. She totally stole that look from Sawyer. “Kip and I have some news for you.”
Here we go. Show me the money, assholes.
Elle clamped her hands together and bounced slightly on her toes. “We’re having a baby!”
“Boom!” I yelled, jumping to my feet and taking a bow. “Pay the piper, motherfuckers!” I sang, rubbing my fingers against my thumb.
“What’s going on?” Elle quizzed, her brow furrowing in confusion.
“I just made eight hundred dollars, that’s what.”
“Six,” Sawyer cut in. He pointed to himself, Jake and Ry as he spoke. “Two times three is six, dude. Alex didn’t bet.”
“Bet?” Kip repeated, laughing. Elle, however, crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at me.
“I’ve known for ages,” I said, grinning like the winner I was. I pointed at Elle’s cantankerous expression. “Look at her face. She’s been walking round like a psychopath on her period for weeks. It was obvious.”
Fearing Elle might actually kill me, I walked cautiously over to her and threw my arms around her waist, “Congratulations, girl,” I said, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around. “Shit! I didn’t squash it did I?”
I panicked as I placed her back on the floor. I took the snicker and roll of her eyes as a no.
Stepping to the side, I wrapped Kip into a tight hug, clapping his back. “If it comes out with light-brown hair and devilishly good looks I swear it’s a coincidence. Well done, dude.”
I’m gonna make a fucking awesome uncle.
The atmosphere was light, hopeful, filled with a positive energy that you could literally feel as we all took it in turns to congratulate them. If love was something you could see, you’d see it whenever you looked at Elle and Kip. It glistened in their eyes, seeped from their pores, and for the first time in my life, I actually understood what I was seeing.
Looking at my friends around the room, our lives, our journeys, our stories, couldn’t be any more different from our days in the band. We’d changed, developed, grown up. The only thing that would never alter is that these guys were my family.
“I propose a toast,” I began.
“We don’t have any glasses,” Ryder interrupted.
“Pretend. You’re ruining my moment.” I raised my invisible glass in the air. “I propose a toast, to Kip and Elle. To all of us. I love you guys.”
“To family!” Sawyer cheered. Always stealing my fucking thunder, jackass.
Falling into a circle, we linked arms, raising each other’s hands.
“To family!”
Epilogue
~Matt~
Six months later…
“YOU LOOK UTTERLY fuckable.” Adjusting Alex’s silver tie, I devoured his body, wrapped in a crisp suit, with my eyes. “I can’t wait to be taking this off you later.”
Biting his lip, he swept the hair off my cheek, tucking it behind my ear. I’d gotten used to keeping it off my face with a hair-tie, but I recently cut it in preparation for our performance at the GMA’s last month.
We were approached to do it just weeks before the event and despite Sawyer’s initial reservations, the rest of us convinced him to go ahead. It was only one night, and then he could go back to the normal life he craved for so long. I felt crushed when the band split. Lost. It’d been part of my life for so long I didn’t know what to do with myself when it was taken from me. I always saw those as the best days of my life, but that was before I knew better. Performing at the awards, the sweat bleeding from my pores as I pounded the drums, people chanting my name and screaming for more…it just wasn’t the same anymore. I appreciated the memory, but it didn’t give me that buzz I used to crave so much.