He had been coming in with a smile and a bouquet of roses withmystore’s wrapping, but then his eyes stop on mine. They’re dark and kind of scary, and though everyone in the room watches him watch me, he doesn’t blink for a full minute as his eyes track down to the baby in my arms, and then back up to my eyes.
“Abigail.”
“Spence, come in.” Sensing the tension in the room, Jess tries to sit up on her bed, only to squeak and fall back again. “Shit, man. Have you ever been chopped in half before? Because I have, and this isn’t okay.”
Finally, Spencer’s gaze leaves mine as he turns toward the bed. He does what I did; he leans over Kane and presses a kiss to Jess’ cheek. Standing tall, he drops the flowers into an empty vase on the bedside table, and gently claps the back of Kane’s head. “You guys fuckin’ rock. You made babies. Twice as many as regular people.”
“That’s because we aren’t regular,” Kane scoffs. “We’re extraordinary and do the razzle dazzle shit with everything in life.”
Spencer chuckles and steps back from the bed. His eyes continue to shoot back to me, but he pulls them away so fast, it makes me doubt myself.
I haven’t called him. I haven’t seen or spoken to him since he was in my bathroom last night. If not for a single towel and some bubbles, he would have seen all of me. He would have seen way too much and broken my heart before it even fell.
“Twink.” Spencer nods to Laine, then to Ang. “Riggs.”
Mitch must sense the tension in the room, because he steps closer and rests his hand on my shoulder, which draws Spencer’s fiery gaze.
“Who the fuck are you?” Spencer demands.
I stand with the baby in one arm and move in front of my brother. Mistake? Protection? Poking the beast, perhaps? I don’t know, but when Spencer stalks forward like a lion on the prowl, I turn and pass the baby to Kari with gentle movements.
When I turn back around, I step back onto Mitch’s shoes when I realize how close Spencer has come. He’s so large, and Mitch is so large, and I’m the tiny idiot in the middle as Spencer stares at him the way he stared at Nix.
“Get lost and come into the wrong room?”
“Spencer.” I press my hand to his forearm, not because I want to touch him, but because I need him to give us space before the titans clash. “Uh, Spencer Serrano, this is Mitchell.”
Spencer’s eyes narrow to slits when Mitch pulls me back so that my body presses against his chest. “Who the fuck are you, Mitchell?”
“Who the fuck are you?” Mitch retorts. “And why are you in my face?”
“Nope.” Luc jumps up and squeezes himself between me and Spencer. “We aren’t doing this while my sister is two hours post-op. Spence, Mitch is her brother. He’s my coworker, and he’s cool. Mitch, Spence is our friend and doesn’t like people looking at him weird.”
“Why’s he looking at my sister like that?” Mitch skillfully grabs my shoulders and pulls me out of the huddle. “Why is he looking at you weird?”
“I don’t kn–”
“Because she’s cute,” Luc says. “She’s cute, she was seated beside him at the wedding, and she was at the wedding alone. They became friends, and now he’s making sure she’s okay.” Luc turns to Spencer. “Confirm.”
“Affirmative. We’re friends.” His eyes come to mine. “We hung out at the wedding. And the last time I saw a dude towering over her, I thought he was an abusive boyfriend. Now I find myself somewhat… invested.”
“Abusive?” Mitch turns to me. “Who the fuck were you with, Abigail?”
“Nixon! I was with Nixon when Spencer came into the store with Jess. Nix was on his way out and demanding I come to dinner. Spencer thought it was something that it wasn’t. Now, everybody needs to sit down before you wake the babies, and you need to stop saying the F word!”
Kane ominously clears his throat, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room. Jess is still pale. She’s curious, but she’s not particularly scared. But Kane watches us with a lifted brow and something I might consider threat in his eyes.
“Do we have a problem here?” he asks slowly. “Because you’re sure as shit gonna take it out of this room while my wife is recovering after surgery. If my daughters’ first memories are of two fuckwits arguing over a girl who can look after herself just fine, we have problems. If my daughters cry because two fuckwits woke and scared them, we’ll have trouble.” He sits up taller, slowing his movements when Jess hisses. “Do we have trouble?”
“I have no trouble,” Mitch grumbles. “My sister dragged me here. I said congratulations. Now I’m waiting for my sister to be ready to leave.”
“So maybe you wanna sit in the corner and close your lips.” Kane Bishop is a formidable and terrifying man, even while half-lying in a hospital bed. “Spencer, walk back into the hall, count to ten, then knock and come back in. You better leave your attitude at the door. We’re brothers, but my daughters and wife trump all of you motherfuckers. Behave, or fuck off.”
I want to cry out at all of the cussing. I want to lecture them on the difference between the mother-eff word, and something a little less… horrible. But Kane’s hand flexes by his side, and Jess is too sore to step between her man and whoever he wants to hurt.
Swallowing, I bring my gaze back to Spencer and gulp when I have to arch my neck back to meet his dazzling black eyes. “We’ll leave.”
I turn to Kari and smile at the baby, then I do the same to Jay, who’s not laughing or being silly anymore. He holds his niece, but his eyes burn the back of Spencer’s head.