“You do?”
“Yes. I want a mini-you with me at all times.”
I laughed. “Be careful what you wish for, Kinley.”
“I’m going to agree with him on that one,” Jax intervened, walking up behind us and making her face light up and her mouth drop open.
“Oh my God!” She jumped into his arms. “I didn’t know you were coming!”
“Of course, where else would I be? It’s my girl’s gender reveal party.”
“She’s not your girl, Jax.”
“She was mine first, Christian.”
“Oh, come on.” She pulled away from him. “Not today, guys.”
“But busting each other’s balls is the way we show our affection for each other. Don’t we, Christian?”
“The only affection I have for you is irritation.”
He smiled. “Says the man who invited me to this party.”
Kinley’s eyes snapped to mine. “You did?”
I nodded. “For you.”
“Awe!” She threw her arms around me again. “I know how hard that was for you. Thank you.”
“I’d do anything for you. I know how much you wanted him here.”
“Hey, Jax,” Autumn greeted, looking from him to me. “Don’t ruin this party.” She stubbed her finger into my chest. “Do you understand me? I have spent the last month making sure it would be perfect.”
“And it is,” Kinley chimed in. “Thank you so much for putting this together, Autumn. Everything is truly perfect. I have the best sister-in-law in the whole world.”
“My pleasure.”
I pulled Autumn into the side of my body, kissing her head. “Thank you for everything, little sister.”
“Are you ever going to stop calling me that?”
“No. You’ll always be that little girl following me around. Except back then, I thought it was for me, not my best friend.”
She laughed, throwing her head back.
“And thank God for that,” Julian added, suddenly standing beside her.
“What’s a girl to do when the guy she’s madly in love with paid attention to every other girl but her.”
“You weren’t saying that last night when I was paying attention to your pus—”
“No,” I interrupted, holding up my hand. “This will never be okay. You do not talk about what you’re doing to my little sister ever. I don’t give a fuck how old she is or how many kids you have. Talking about your sex life is completely off-limits.”
“Have you always been such a downer?” Jax questioned, tugging Kinley into his side.
Only to have me tear her away and pull her into mine instead.
“Anyway!” Autumn exclaimed. “It’s time to find out what you guys are having. Let’s go outside.”
We followed Autumn out and into our backyard, under the obscene number of balloons Autumn had delivered for us to take pictures with. If I smiled for one more photo, I was going to lose my shit.
With the help of my mom, they rounded up our guests to surround us before Autumn handed each of us a smoke bomb that would tell us if we were having a boy or girl by the colors of blue or pink.
“Okay,” Autumn announced. “On the count of three. Everyone counts with me! One! Two! Three!”
We both let it go at the same time, and within seconds a huge smog of bright blue filled our backyard.
Kinley burst into tears from happiness, and I pulled her into my chest.
“Baby,” I whispered in her ear. “All your dreams are coming true.”
We stayed like that for I didn’t know how long, wanting to enjoy this moment for as long as we could. When we pulled away from one another, the expression on Jax’s face was enough to immediately have me look in the direction he was.
It was only then that I truly lost my shit. Never expecting who I was locking eyes with.
Kinley’s mother.
She was suddenly standing in front of us.
The fucking nerve of that woman.
—Kinley—
“Mom,” I announced, almost falling on my ass from the sight of her after all these years.
I hadn’t seen or talked to her in over ten years. She looked older, wearing a dress with a cardigan, her purse on her shoulder while her hair was pinned back into a low bun.
My heart was in my throat, and I instantly felt sick to my stomach. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about her. I did often. I didn’t know how to stop worrying about her wellbeing. At the end of the day, she was still my mother.
I loved her, regardless of how volatile our relationship was.
Before I could get a word in, Christian stepped in front of me and spewed, “What the fuck are you doing here?” to her.
This time I didn’t stop him from treating her like shit. She deserved that and more.
Lifting her hands up in the air in surrender, she shared, “Your aunt told me where you live, Kinley. I’m just here to see my daughter and to tell you both congratulations.”
Autumn and their mom sprang into action, getting our guests to go inside to give us some privacy. Jax didn’t leave, not that I expected him to.