Payton nods. “He likes to squash my lungs.”
“Pretty cool, huh?” Mason steps up.
I cut him a curious glance. “Yeah, it is.”
“When are you due? I feel like you’ve been pregnant forever.”
“Next week. Your cousin and I just finished getting the nursery together. You’ll have to come see it.”
“Kenra?”
“No,” she sighs playfully. “Nate.”
A laugh flies from me, and she grins.
“Trust me, I was just as surprised while it was happening.”
“I bet.” I nod, turning to Noah as he steps up, taking Mason’s outstretched hand.
“Riley.” He raises a brow. “Looks like my sister’s still in one piece. This shit serious now, or what?” He frowns.
“It’s whatever she wants it to be.”
Mason’s lips curl up. “Good fucking answer, my man.” He chuckles, turning to Payton. “Payton, Noah, Noah, Payton.”
“Hi Payton.”
Her cheeks grow a little pink, and I hide my laugh.
“Hey.” She eyes him.
“Okay, intros are over. Inside. It’s getting cold as fuck out here.” He turns, slipping in front of me and we follow behind.
“Ari, did you know your brother is the bossiest person on the planet?” she calls out.
“Yeah, you get used to it.” I grin.
Mason groans, flipping me off over his head and I can’t help but smile. He’s feeling better.
Cameron runs around the corner, jump tackling me onto the couch, and Mason takes Noah into the kitchen, re-introducing him to the gang, in case his small stopover during the summer is out of their minds.
“Sara and Ian didn’t make it,” Cam tells me of my aunt and uncle. “Nate said his mom hurt her back when they took the quads out a couple days ago, so he lied and said they’d be out of town for Thanksgiving so that she wouldn’t feel bad and still travel while in pain.”
“Sounds like Nate. Why didn’t he tell me?”
“In case you blabbed about coming this way, I’d bet.”
My head jerks her way, and we laugh, because yeah. I might have done that on accident.
Payton pushes to her feet, only moments after sitting, and puts one hand on her lower back, the other lowering onto the table. Mason beelines her way, passing a water and pulling over the chair with cushions stacked inside it.
“I’m fine,” she tells him, but Mason being Mason, doesn’t move.
Payton lowers into the seat.
“He looks good.” Cam nods.
“Yeah. I think so too.”
“Think it has anything to do with the pregnant mama he’s hovering over?”
“Cameron. Stop.”
“I’m just saying,” she whispers. “He hasn’t left her side.”
“She’s about to pop. Her brother and Kenra probably asked for help.”
“True. I didn’t think about that.”
Piling into the kitchen, I hug everyone hello as Cameron goes over the tasks for tomorrow.
Everyone is assigned a job, and I flip the others off when I’m stuck with peeling potatoes.
“One day, I’m going to knock all your socks off with a Riley family recipe.”
Several eyes widen, teasing glints flicking along the others, and I stutter.
“I meant… I was only saying I can cook something he—” Grins pull along their faces, so I laugh. “Oh, fuck you guys.”
Noah squeezes my thigh under the table, but I don’t look at him.
I’ll blush like a mad man if I do, and he knows it.
“Well, we’ll see just how good the man’s family recipes are cause he’s on turkey.”
“What?!” Brady whips around, half a breadstick hanging from his mouth. “I wanted the turkey.”
“You got the ham,” Cam argues.
Brady nods and turns back to the open fridge.
We chat a little more, enjoying the fact that we have nowhere to be and no need to rush around.
A little while later, Mase takes the others home, since it’s dark out now and they didn’t want to walk the half mile in the cold with Payton.
Once Mase gets back, Brady looks around, realizing the third piece of their puzzle is missing. “Where’s Chase?”
“He went to bed an hour ago,” Mason tells them, pushing to his feet. “Speaking of bed. I’m beat.”
Everyone nods in agreement, and we make our way to our rooms, but not before Mason pins Noah with a glare. “You’re in the guest room, fucker.”
“That’s what he’s trying to do.” Brady rocks in his chair, eyeing us.
Noah simply laughs. “My bags are already in the extra room. Thanks for letting me stay.”
“Um, it’s my house too, and so not up to them.”
With a smirk, Noah says, “Yeah, it is.”
I give him the evil eye and Mason pushes on my head, clamping a hand on Noah’s shoulder, as he repeats his earlier comment. “Good fucking answer.”
“Go to bed already,” I tease, relaxing into the space beside Noah.
Several of us settle into the living room for a movie and not an hour after we’ve split for bed, does Mason’s shouts wake up the entire house.
“Payton’s in labor, and she’s scared!”
Just like that, to the hospital we go.
“Does it always take this long to have a baby?” Cameron stands, stretching her neck.