“Jace—”
“I love you,” he said again before walking toward his car.
Chapter 14
Kin
Lucy’s five-bedroom house felt suffocating with all the people there to attend her baby shower. Every member of her father’s band, as well as Harris’s father’s band, were in attendance, along with their wives and the majority of their children. I knew most of them, considered them all family.
That was what I loved the most about Lucy’s misfit family. Each and every one of them had taken me in without blinking. I was Lucy’s friend, and that made me special. It meant I was family to them. With the Demons and OtherWorld, you didn’t have to be blood to be a part of their inner circle. You just had to love at least one of their own, and you instantly became one of them.
“Daddy, Devlin,” Lucy said with a laugh as she stood still so both grandfathers could touch her stomach. Their hands were so big, they swallowed up most of her expanded stomach. And it was so damn cute, I melted a little.
A look of wonder crossed both drummers’ faces as they stood there, feeling their granddaughter kick against their hands. I’d only been there an hour, but it wasn’t the first time I’d witnessed them doing this. It was like they were moths and Lucy’s pregnant stomach was the brightest flame in the universe, too irresistible not to be drawn to.
“Let’s get her into karate,” Devlin suggested. “Then we won’t have to worry so much about anyone messing with her. She can just kick their scrawny asses.”
“Good thinking,” Jesse told him with a grim nod. “Don’t they have classes near the gym?”
“We should check it out tomorrow. Maybe have Emmie do a background check on the people who run it.”
“It’s okay, I’m not really here,” Lucy said with a roll of her eyes. “Please continue mapping out my daughter’s future karate career.”
Jesse’s gaze finally landed on her just as Devlin’s name was called from across the room and he went over to speak to them. “How are you feeling, Lu? Maybe you should sit down. You look tired.”
Her smile was warm, but she shook her head at him exasperatedly. “I’m fine, Daddy. I’ve told you that five times already. How about getting yourself a drink? Kin helped me make some punch earlier, and it’s really good.”
“Please sit down for a little while,” her dad urged, concern lacing his voice. “It’s your baby shower. Let everyone pamper you. You still have a week before your due date. Here, sit down.” He grabbed one of his sons by the back of his shirt and jerked him up out of the chair where he was talking to one of the other kids.
“Jesus, Dad,” Lyric complained, straightening his shirt and moving to sit on the arm of the couch beside his twin. “You could have just asked me to move.”
Lucy started to move toward the chair, but apparently she wasn’t waddling fast enough, because Jesse picked her up and deposited her in the now-vacant chair. Grabbing a decorative pillow off the couch, he pulled the coffee table closer and propped Lucy’s feet on the pillow.
“Mom!” Lucy called out. “Daddy’s freaking out again.”
“You sit here. If you need anything, someone will get it for you,” Jesse instructed her. His dark eyes landed on me. “Won’t you, Kin?”
Unable to hide my amusement, I nodded. “Of course, Mr. Thornton. That’s why I’m here.”
“Daddy, could I have some ice water?” Lucy asked him with a flutter of her lashes.
“Of course, baby.” He kissed the top of her head and practically sprinted into the kitchen.
Lucy fell back against the chair. “This pregnancy is going to give him a heart attack.” She rubbed her hand over her stomach. “Hurry up cooking in there, little one. We have to get you out into the world so Poppy can stop freaking out so much.”
“Poppy?”
Lucy grinned up at me. “They have all picked out the names they want Hayat to call them. Daddy is Poppy, and Mom is Gammy. Devlin is Pop-Pop, and Natalie will be Nana.”
“It feels really weird to me that Natalie is only in her early thirties but will be called Nana,” I told her, glancing across the room to where the woman was currently standing with both her brothers. She was gorgeous with her long dark hair and those killer blue-gray eyes that seemed to be a Stevenson trademark. Every one of them, including the children, with the exception of Violet, had those same eyes, even Drake’s newborn son, Damien.
“Everything about my family is weird,” Lucy said with a laugh. “I mean, my sister’s sister-in-law is my mother-in-law. But it’s perfection to me.”
“Here, Lu,” Jesse said, appearing as if by magic, and thrusting her glass of ice water into her hands. “Your mom needs my help in the kitchen. Kin, I’m trusting you to make sure she stays right here and wants for nothing. You hear me?”
I patted him on the arm. “Of course, Mr. Thornton. You go on and help Layla. I’m going to be right here with your daughter.”