24. Lennox #2
Aiden pinches my side, startling me. My face heats.
Shit. He totally caught me staring at his brother’s little family longingly.
But how could I not? It’s so heartwarming to see Millie get everything she deserves.
When I met her a few months ago, she was playing coy, swearing she didn’t want Hockey Daddy, but I knew all along this was how the three of them were meant to be. A family.
My smile is wobbly when I turn to Aiden.
His responding one is gentle. “Can I get you a drink?”
“A water would be good.”
The two cocktails with the girls were enough.
Clearly, they’ve brought too many emotions to the surface.
Tonight, I need to stay grounded, and when I’m around Aiden, I need all the help I can get to keep my feet firmly planted in reality and not up in the clouds where he lives.
The fantasies he’s concocting of princesses getting their happily ever afters are beautiful, but they’re exactly that, fantasies.
Aiden plants a kiss to my forehead, and that feels more intimate than any touch we’ve shared. “I’m glad you’re here,” he says again, as if he’s reinforcing those words. Like he knows I need to hear them.
I’m wanted. Even if our relationship is fake, he wants me around.
As he disappears into the kitchen, I focus on breathing steadily, allowing that thought to settle my nerves.
The peace is broken quickly, though, when I’m hit square in the head with a Nerf bullet.
Half an hour later, we’re seated in the dining room with every takeout option available laid out before us.
“Want some fried rice with your pizza?” Aiden asks as he slides a slice onto my plate.
“Beckett, you know the rules. No phones at the dinner table,” Liv says, arching a brow at him.
Beside her, Beckett growls. “Believe me, I’d love to not have to deal with this right now.”
“Deal with what?” Gavin asks as he makes a plate for Millie.
She’s got Vivi on her lap. Beckett and Liv’s baby girls are sleeping, and Finn and his little sister Addie are set up in the playroom with trays. After Finn hit me in the face with the bullet, Liv declared that the adults needed a time-out from the kids.
I’ve been told they have an older sister, but she hasn’t come out of her room.
Secretly, I’m thankful. I like kids well enough, but navigating this fake relationship in front of the adults in Aiden’s life is hard enough. Kids are too damn perceptive and ask the important questions—like what the hell happened to Jill?
Though I guess telling Finn that she was a conniving, cheating, awful woman with a big nose probably wouldn’t have gone over well with Liv and Beckett.
It’s a good thing the kid didn’t ask me, because that’s what I would have said.
Liv holds up her hand. “No talking business at the dinner table. We have rules, people.”
Grasping her hand, Beckett gives it a squeeze. “Sorry, Livy.”
She takes a deep breath and sips her wine. “It’s fine.”
Gavin clears his throat and turns his attention on me. “How are things going on the wedding planning front?”
A little burst of excitement hits me, making it impossible not to bounce a little in my chair.
“So good. Millie found her dress today. Your venues are all set. The cake—” My heart lurches.
Oh no. The cake. Cringing, I turn to Aiden.
“Oh, shoot. I forgot to ask since Aiden is no longer the one getting married—should we stick with the white cake with peach filling or was that disgusting concoction all Jill?”
Sara snorts and Brooks grumbles, dropping his head into his hand.
Millie, mouth agape, scoffs. “It’s because Gavin calls me Peaches.”
Oh shit.
“I’m sorry. It’s probably delicious.” The glare I fix Aiden with is icy, even as my face flames. “I just assumed?—”
Aiden covers my hand with his and squeezes. “You assumed wrong. I took one look at you and ended it with Jill. Like I told you—from the beginning, we were planning a wedding for them.” He nods across the table, but his eyes never leave mine.
“Aw, that really is the sweetest,” Liv says.
Beckett puffs up, his dress shirt straining over his solid chest. “We Langfields really are the swooniest, Livy.”
Sara coughs out a laugh again. “Permission to make fun of you since we aren’t at work?”
“Permission not granted,” Beckett grumbles.
“Dammit.”
The whole group is laughing when Beckett’s phone buzzes again.
“ Beckett ,” Liv hisses.
He picks up the phone and holds it out in front of him as he powers it down. “It’s not my fault. Hannah is about ready to murder my rookie, and I’m sure there are others standing in line to join her.”
“What did Jasper do now?” Gavin asks.
“What hasn’t he done?” After a hefty sip of wine, Liv shakes her head. “He was caught with the two strippers last week. The week before that, a woman claimed he fathered her child?—”
“She was seventy. She couldn’t possibly be pregnant,” Sara interjects. “It was bull.”
Beckett nods. “The point is that the kid needs a tight leash.”
Across from me, Gavin gives a thoughtful nod. “That’s why the younger guys on my team live in my building. They aren’t getting away with shit.”
Sara points finger guns at him. “Nope. We’re there to lay down the law.”
Chuckling, Brooks cups her hands and lowers them. “Sar, no finger guns.”
“No, wait. That’s a great idea,” Beckett says slowly.
Sara raises them again, making her finger guns dance. “They are very docile fingers. Just ask your brother.”
Brooks groans. “How many times have we discussed that we don’t talk about sex with my brothers?”
Sara shrugs. “And yet you asked me to marry you? Who’s the fool here?”
I can’t help but giggle quietly at the way they all interact.
“No,” Beckett says, steering the conversation back on track. “The apartment. What’s going on with your place now that you’re living with Brooks?”
Sara’s expression sobers. “Lennox is staying there now.”
“I can move out,” I offer, shifting uncomfortably in my chair. I shouldn’t have been squatting in the apartment in the first place, and now this is just awkward.
Aiden squeezes my thigh. “No way. You have it decorated exactly as you like it.”
The grin Sara directs my way is evil. Shit. It’s impossible to be prepared for what she might say, especially when she looks like that. “Why don’t you put the new guy in War’s old place, and Aiden can move in with Lennox?”
Eyes narrowed, I shoot daggers at her. “What?”
Beckett shakes his head. “That’s okay. We’ll find somewhere else.”
Gavin rests his elbows on the table and clasps his hands, pressing them against his mouth. “I think this is a great idea.”
Liv snorts, the bun on top of her head bobbing. “You would.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Millie asks, scanning the group. “Am I missing something?”
“Oh, just that Gavin likes to force people to move in together when they aren’t ready,” Beckett huffs out, glaring at his next youngest brother.
Aiden throws an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close. “Well, that’s not us, is it, Lex? We’re ready for it all. So sure, I’ll move in with my girl, and Jasper can have War’s old place.”
“You sure?” Gavin asks, his tone full of challenge. “If it’s not that serious, you can always get your own place— not in the hockey building. Lord knows I pay you enough.”
“It’s serious,” Aiden counters.
I stomp on his foot and twist my heel. What the hell is this guy thinking?
“So serious,” he doubles down, hiding a grimace of pain by bringing my hand to his mouth and pressing a kiss to it. “Right, Princess?”
Butterflies flutter in my stomach, even as it sinks. What the hell am I supposed to say to that?
There’s only one thing I can say if we want to keep up this ruse. So with a lump lodged in my throat, I whisper, “Right.”
Sensing that I’m desperate for a topic change, Millie claps once, garnering the attention of the group.
Gavin fixes his focus on her, his expression oozing affection.
“Sara, Liv,” she says, “I was hoping you would agree to be my bridesmaids.”
“Really?” Sara squeaks, her eyes welling with tears.
Millie nods. “You’ll be my sisters, and I’ve never had sisters.”
“Me neither,” Liv replies, swiping at her own misty eyes. “But I’m so happy I’ll have you both.”
“I want to ask Winnie to be a junior bridesmaid,” Millie says.
Beckett wraps an arm around his wife and presses a kiss to her shoulder. The move makes the ache inside me grow. This is just so beautiful.
“That’s really sweet,” Liv says. “Maybe that’ll cheer her up enough to get her out of her room.” She lets out a soft sigh. “She’s only eleven, and I’m already dreading the teenage years.” She’s focused on me, likely because everyone else in the room knows Winnie, and I don’t.
“I don’t miss that age at all,” I admit.
Sara lets out a loud sob and clutches her chest. “Me neither.”
“Why are you crying?” Millie asks.
“I’ve never had a sister either,” Sara says, hiccupping, and tips her head toward me. “Other than this one. Thank you, Millie. I’d love to be a bridesmaid.”
“Perfect.” Millie’s soft smile grows wide. “For your first duty as bridesmaid, I need you to say yes to my next request.”
“Whatever you want, it’s yours.” Sara bobs her head, her tears replaced with determination. “Even if it’s getting this guy to dance at your bachelorette party. He’s got a glittery dick, so I can understand why you’d prefer to watch him shake it rather than your fiancé.”
“Crazy girl,” Brooks bellows, throwing himself back in his chair, his arms tossed in the air.
Gavin roughs a hand down his face. “My penis doesn’t need glitter. It happens to work just fine.”
Chuckling, Beckett shakes his head. “Thank god we had the kids eat in the other room.”
Millie bites her lip to keep from laughing, her eyes dancing.
“Tell them I don’t need glitter to keep you happy,” Gavin grits out.
With a roll of her eyes, Millie says, “This Langfield brother keeps me more than satisfied.” Turning to Sara, she tempers her expression. “What I need from you, Sara, is Lennox.”
“Hmm.” Sara surveys me for a second and shrugs. “If you’d prefer Lennox dance for us, I could get behind that. Her ass is spectacular. I was just telling her the other day that I’d do her.”
“Crazy girl.” Brooks covers his face with both hands.
In response, she flutters her lashes and presses a kiss to his cheek. “I’m sorry, Saint. Even your sparkly peen doesn’t get me going like her ass does in pink spandex.”
Liv shakes beside Beckett, who’s got his head tipped back and his eyes closed. “Your future wife is something else,” he tells Brooks.
“You hired me.” Sara winks at him. “And, according to you, we have you to thank for getting us together.”
“What do you need from me?” I ask Millie, steering this runaway train back on track.
Wearing a pensive frown, she looks from Vivi to me. “I was hoping you’d agree to be in my wedding.”
My heart pangs as I shake my head. “You don’t have to include me just because I’m here tonight. They’re family. I get it.”
“That’s not why I’m asking.” She takes an uneven breath and forges on. “You were my first friend when I moved to Boston. I’d only ever been seen as Daniel’s sister or Ford’s daughter or Gavin’s?—”
“ Mine .” The man himself grins.
“I was going to say girlfriend, but yeah, I guess that fits.”
He presses a kiss to her head with so much tenderness, I can’t help but tear up at the sight.
Millie turns back to me. “But you were my friend just for me.”
Nodding, I blink back tears, though the effort is futile. They won’t stop. Aiden squeezes my thigh beneath the table.
“So, will you be my maid of honor?”Millie’s golden eyes are so hopeful and pure as she asks.
My heart bursts, and tears streak down my face as I nod. “Of course I will.”
“Since I’m obviously the best man,” Beckett says, “Aiden will have to walk my wife down the aisle.” He looks pointedly at the man beside me. “No funny business.”
His warning is full of so much heat, my tears turn to giggles. The man is unhinged for his wife. I love it.
“Who says you’re the best man?” Aiden counters, crossing his arms over his chest.
Beckett tilts his head, unimpressed. “Please, I’m the matchmaker. Not only did I help cover for Gavin and Millie while they hid their damn relationship, but I got the ball rolling for Vivi’s adoption.”
Gavin nods, his expression solemn. “Sorry, bro. Gotta side with Beckett on this one.”
Huffing, Aiden spins to Brooks. “If I’m not your best man, I’ll never speak to you again.”
Beckett leans forward, his chair creaking beneath him. “I’m the one who stepped in when Gavin almost fired Sara. I even hugged him when he was down and out and worried he’d lose her.”
“I hug .” Aiden slaps the table, making the silverware rattle.
Everyone at the table laughs.
“Listen, we haven’t even set a date,” Brooks says, pulling Sara close. “But as soon as we do, I’ll accept applications for the position.”
Laughter echoes around the room, and as we all settle down, the guys launch into a conversation about the current baseball season and then the upcoming hockey season.
Despite how nervous I am at the prospect of Aiden moving in with me, this is one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time.