25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
Robert
The last three months had flown by, and I didn’t know where the time had gone. Summer had been spent with Jackson and I making plans for our future, in a whirlwind that still had my head spinning some days.
Suddenly it was September, and we were finalizing details for me moving in with Jackson and Aiden. At this point, it was just a formality, as I pretty much had already been living with them, even if we hadn’t made it official.
Last weekend, Jackson had finally broached the subject, by saying, “So, when are you just going to move your stuff in and stay awhile? And by a while, I mean the rest of our lives.”
Dropping Aiden’s shirt I had been folding, I had just stared at him, like I hadn’t understood his question. He was casually lounging in the doorway of our–his–bedroom, like he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell of a question on me.
Sure, we had basically been living together for months. After announcing our pregnancy to our kids, it had been a natural progression of me pretty much staying at his place every night. I really only went back to my cabin to get more clothes, or small things of comfort I wanted with me. My favorite blanket, my favorite mug, a framed photo of me, Wyatt, and Julianna.
Jackson had given me a drawer, then another, then half his closet. He had never made a production out of it, but rather had just opened an empty drawer and placed my things in it one weekend. Casually moving clothes in his closet and making a wide empty space.
We cooked meals together, though mostly it was Jackson that cooked. My skills in the kitchen weren’t great, so I usually took care of the clean-up.
Coming from wealthy, New York societal elite parents, I had never had a chance to learn any life skills like cooking and cleaning. Jane had come from the same world, and we’d had staff for the entirety of our marriage. My days had been filled with sitting on the boards of a few non-profits, charity work, lunching with friends that had all vanished when Jane and I had separated, and not much else of use.
I had been surprised to find how much I had enjoyed cleaning my small cabin. Finding the routine of dusting somehow relaxing. Not minding sinking my hands into a sink of soapy water, though I did enjoy Jackson’s dishwasher, or the feel of folding still warm clothes from the dryer. And while Jackson did have a cleaner once a week, that still left laundry and meals to us.
His question shouldn’t have startled me as much as it had. Not really. It was a natural progression of our quick relationship, and just finalizing something that had basically already happened.
“You do realize you pretty much already live here, don’t you?” Pushing off the doorway, his strong arms encircled me from behind. Pulling my back to his chest, his hands rested over my round baby bump. A firm kick against his palm had us both chuckling.
“He agrees,” he whispered, his sharp teeth nipping my earlobe and causing me to shiver.
Jackson made me want more than any person ever had. A single touch from him could light me on fire.
“She,” I corrected stubbornly, leaning into him, and closing my eyes.
“He, she,” his breath ghosted over the skin of my neck and goosebumps erupted over my skin. “It makes no difference. But say yes.”
Without thought or hesitation, I breathed out, “Yessss.”
“Mmmm,” his teeth skimmed down the column of my neck, and I arched it, giving him better access. His hands roamed the mound of my belly, then lower, palming my aching dick.
“Daddy! Robert!” Aiden’s loud voice cut into our sexual haze like a cold shower. Jackson didn’t release me though, just yelled back.
“What?”
“You said we were going to play a game!”
Blinking my eyes open, the mound of clothes I had dumped on the bed fresh from the dryer stared at me. “We did promise him, but I really need to fold these.”
Jackson turned me in his arms, his palms resting on my ass cheeks. He gave my lips a quick, hard kiss. “Cock blocked by my five-year-old and laundry.” Laughing, I let him pull me from the room. “The laundry can wait.”
“But–”
“Robert, you just agreed to move in with us,” he gave me a grin over his shoulder, tugging me into the living room. “Let’s celebrate with a rousing game of Sorry or Trouble, or whatever he wants to play. I’ll help you fold the clothes later.”
Now we were pulling up next to my cabin, navigating around the many cars filling the yard space, Jackson’s trunk full of empty boxes. Aiden practically vibrated from the back seat, as we came to a stop.
“There’s Patrick and Rory,” he exclaimed, quickly getting his seatbelt off. “I don’t see Charlie. And who is that bigger boy? ”
Looking out the windshield at the yard full of adults and children running around, I scanned until I found who he was asking about. “That is Matty. He’s their cousin. And Charlie is over there, look.” I pointed to the large, brightly colored blow up castle in the corner of the yard. “Her papa is helping her go on the slide.”
“Can I go?” His voice was pure excitement and energy.
Jackson opened his door, waving his arm in a flourish. “Be off with you. Mind your manners!” He called after him as an afterthought.
Popping the trunk, he filled his arms with empty boxes and placed them up on my porch, while I busied myself getting the gift bags out of the back seat.
Today was Julianna’s second birthday party, and it looked like all of Wyatt and Becks’ friends had come out for it. Jackson came back over, and I instructed him to make sure to grab Aiden’s overnight bag. Wyatt had asked him if he would like to stay over tonight. He knew we were going to be packing up some of my belongings and moving them, and it was also a good chance for Aiden and Julianna to spend more time together, as well as Aiden getting to know Wyatt and Becks better.
Aiden had been hesitant at first, especially since Julianna was still “a baby” as far as he was concerned. Wyatt had told him he could invite Charlie to spend the night too, and now they were all having a sleepover. Personally, I thought Wyatt was nuts having a sleepover with three kids all five and under, after hosting a birthday party, but what did I know? Just thinking about it exhausted me, but that might also just be pregnant me talking. Exhaustion was my perpetual state lately. Whoever said you had a trimester where you had a ton of energy was a fucking liar.
It would give Jackson and me a chance to pack and move things without Aiden under foot, and we’d have a kid free night. We weren’t stupid enough to turn that down, even if we ended up being too tired to do much more than sleeping. Though I was really hoping that wouldn’t be the case, because I felt like all I did lately was fall asleep on Jackson. Or, like when he had asked me to officially move in, anything we started always got interrupted. Which was likely a problem most parents with small children faced, and we’d better get used to it.
Jackson grabbed Aiden’s backpack in one hand, then wrestled the gift bags from me.
Rolling my eyes at him, I huffed, “They aren’t heavy.”
Crooking his arm, since his hands were full, I linked my arm around his, pleased by his chivalry. “It’s not about them being heavy.”
We made our way to a table already filled with gifts, then surveyed the yard full of people.
“Wow,” Jackson said quietly, “I knew there were four of them, but seeing them all together is something.”
I looked over to where he was staring, seeing Brendan Sinclair standing at the end of the inflatable slide, flanked by his three identical brothers. The wolf shifters were tall, broad, and imposing.
“You know Brendan and Finn,” I said, squinting against the sun. “The one all in black is Jamie, and the other one is Lachlan. He’s married to the owner of The Sweet Spot.”
Jackson nodded, “Quinn, right? He’s waited on me a couple of times.”
“Yeah. Rory and Patrick are theirs.” I pointed over to a group of omegas, sipping drinks, and watching as the kids ran around. “Quinn’s over there with Wyatt and Ryan. The smaller one with the teal in his hair is Wade, Finn’s husband. They have three kids, Logan, Remy, and Sammi, who you’ve probably heard Aiden mention.”
Jackson nodded. “I have, I just didn’t realize they were our doctors’ kids.”
“And the alpha with them is Gabe Carmichael. His husband, Asher, is a pediatrician in town. I’m not sure where he is.”
“I’ve actually met Asher a few times through Brendan,” Jackson commented, before Brendan called his name, waving him over to where the alphas were keeping an eye on the little ones playing on the castle. It also had a bounce house, besides the slide, and I could see several children inside it, jumping up and down.
“Go,” I urged him, “I’m going to waddle over to say hi to Wyatt. ”
Jackson bent and kissed me softly. “You don’t waddle.”
When I snorted, he winked at me. “It’s a sexy waddle.”
Rolling my eyes at him again, but laughing, I made my way over to the group of omegas and the one lone alpha that was part of their little group.
Wyatt handed me a cold bottled water. “I have lemonade if you want it.”
Shaking my head, I thanked him. “No, this is perfect. I wish it would start cooling down soon.”
The summer had been brutally hot, and I was more than ready for cooler days. The heat zapped my strength, making me irritable, and I didn’t like being snappish. For the most part, my pregnancy was going well. My only complaint was the exhaustion that never seemed to go away, which I couldn’t remember having with Wyatt. That I did contribute to my age.
Two other cars arrived, and couples emerged with gifts and more children. I recognized them both, having met them on a couple occasions.
Bennett came over, his son Brodie perched on his hip, while his bestie, Seth, carried a pink wrapped bundle in his arms.
“Becks filled the baby pool yesterday,” Wyatt told the group, “so it should be warm enough for the little ones, if anyone wants to let them splash.”
“Perfect,” Bennett inclined his dark head to his babbling son. “This one will get antsy soon and want to be down and occupied. He is crawling all over the place. Keeping up with him is a fulltime job.”
We all took a few minutes then to ooh and ahh over the newest addition that Seth was holding.
“How old is she?” I asked. I had known Seth was expecting, which had been a surprise. The few times I had met the outspoken omega, he hadn’t seemed that interested in settling down with any alpha anytime soon, let alone having a baby. But then, nobody would have guessed I would be doing the same.
“Four weeks,” he smiled down at his daughter, who was sleeping peacefully. His face was tired but glowed with love when he looked at her.
“She’s beautiful.”
We all chatted about mundane things for another ten minutes, then Wyatt declared, “I’m going to round up Julianna. We’ll do presents, then cake and ice cream, and the kids can play some more and wear themselves all out. Aiden is still staying tonight?”
I nodded. “He’s excited. Asking Charlie to spend the night helped.”
“What are you going to do with your kid free night?” Wade Sinclair asked me, waggling his dark brows.
Grinning, my eyes found Jackson, talking to all the alphas, while he kept one eye on Aiden as he slid happily down the slide. Resting a hand on my bump, I sighed. “Probably fall asleep, honestly. We’re going to pack some of my stuff and move it into Jackson’s, but my energy level is like at a minus five most days.”
There were understanding murmurs, with Seth agreeing. “I’ve never been more exhausted in my life than when I was pregnant.” Glancing down at his daughter, he amended, “Well, I’m still exhausted.”
Wade laughed, “Get used to it. I think I’m going to be perpetually tired until my last one turns eighteen.”
“Just don’t go popping out any more,” Quinn chided his friend. Wade and Finn’s kids were all very close together in age.
Wyatt was calling everyone over to the gift table, where I could see Becks with Julianna. She had been busy playing since I had arrived, but now I saw she was wearing a pretty lilac colored dress. Her dark curls were a mess around her head from running around, and her cheeks were rosy.
Tires crunching on gravel had us all turning to see who the late arrival was. I was pretty sure all of Wyatt and Becks’ friends were already here, but it could have been someone that attended the daycare.
A black SUV, with dark tinted windows that obscured the occupants, rolled to a stop behind Jackson’s BMW. The driver, clad in a dark suit and sunglasses, got out and opened the back passenger door.
When I saw who emerged, my heart sped up and I felt like I couldn’t breathe .
“What is she doing here?” Ryan whispered behind me, and my brain screamed the sentiment.
“Who is that?” Seth asked.
“My ex-wife,” I muttered, not believing what I was seeing.