Pit Stop: Baby! (Crescent Cove 4)

“He has no right,” Gage muttered. “I’m not a fucking child.”

“No, and neither am I. But no one thinks we can do this.” I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat. “Maybe we can’t.”

Fourteen

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Dare giving me attitude was nothing new. In fact, I’d expected it.

Same with Rylee’s sister. She’d married my brother, hadn’t she? So, it wasn’t a stretch to think she’d see things the way Dare did.

But for Rylee to join in with them? It felt like a betrayal.

I knew she was scared. This was all so new to her. Hell, I was too. But what she’d said sounded dangerously like giving up. And Christ, we’d barely gotten started.

“No one gets a manual on how to have kids. Not even Oscar over there. He had to figure it out as he went along just like everyone else does.” I squeezed Rylee’s suddenly cold hand. “Just like we will.”

She didn’t get to reply before Kelsey rolled down her window. “Dare has to get back to the shop, guys.”

Even that held a note of reprisal.

Stop screwing around, kids, and get in the car.

“We could get an Uber,” I said to Rylee.

She tugged on my hand. “The car is already here. Besides, does Crescent Cove even have Uber? I’d think it would have to come from Syracuse and that would be forty-five minutes. And sorry, I have to pee.”

I didn’t remind her the store she’d just come from had to have a bathroom, since some women were touchy about public restrooms. Whatever. It wasn’t that long a ride. And Dare would probably temper his reactions due to witnesses.

Not that I gave a shit what he had to say. He was my older brother, and I’d always looked up to the guy, but I didn’t need any more grief about ho

w I was living my life. I was doing my best. It wasn’t as if I’d screwed up yet, for fuck’s sake.

Minus knocking up Rylee in the first place, but stuff happened.

We got in the back of Kelsey’s sedan. The silence lasted approximately until the first turn out of the parking lot.

“So, you going to let Mom and Dad know about the blessed event any time soon? Since I was just there and Dad sure didn’t mention you needing a car seat for your pussy mobile.”

“Nah, I figured I’d wait til Rylee popped and bring the kid to Thanksgiving instead of cranberry sauce. Surprise!”

Rylee was not amused by my comment. She punched me hard in the thigh and then tucked her hands under her arms.

United front? Okay then.

“It just happened,” Kelsey said in a low tone to Dare, clearly trying to calm him down.

Though why he was so agitated, I had no idea. He himself had knocked up Kelsey long before their marriage ceremony—hell, even before they were dating. As I recalled overhearing, he’d delivered her a pizza, with a side of dick. Who was he to act so high and mighty?

“Really? Though they interrupted our wedding with their shenanigans? I find that highly unlikely.”

My brother used to not speak. Now he was using words like “shenanigans.” I blamed Kelsey for this new and unwelcome change.

“She doesn’t mean ‘it’ just happened,” Rylee said. “She means we just found out.”

“What are your plans?” Dare asked as if his wife and her sister had never spoken.

I started to reply, but Rylee cut me off. Probably a good thing, because I’d been about to say some shit that most likely would’ve gotten me banned at the family dinner table for the foreseeable future.