Chapter 12
REECE
After another week of routine that didn’t feel like routine, I now found myself at a rented out park in the middle of summer for the Montgomery family picnic. Bella stood by my side, practically latched onto me, and I couldn’t help but notice her wide eyes.
“Are they all really Montgomerys?” The incredulity in her voice made my lips turn up into a smile.
“Not all of them.” A group of brunettes with blue eyes and wide smiles walked past, each with plates of food in their hands, and waved even as they continued their conversation.
“Perhaps a majority of them are Montgomerys, but like us, there are more than a few friends of the family invited.”
The morning after Brooklyn had spent the night, we had woken up and made breakfast. Bella hadn’t blinked an eye at the fact that Brooklyn had still been there.
In fact, the kid had just been ecstatic that she didn’t have to eat my breakfast. I hadn’t thought I’d been doing badly, but of course, Brooklyn was the best. She made cinnamon rolls from scratch, and I swore if it wasn’t for the fact that my job took a lot out of me, and I spent so much of my time fucking Brooklyn, I would probably gain weight by being with her.
She made such damn good baked goods, that it was a little stressful.
But I knew interesting ways to burn calories.
She’d ended up inviting us to this picnic, and I knew she had been nervous.
Because she would have invited us no matter what.
I had been to countless Montgomery events like this, where they would invite the entire family and as many friends as they could possibly fit and feed.
There wasn’t an entrance fee, but everybody did their best to pitch in, because it wasn’t as if the Montgomerys were millionaires or anything.
Of course, I knew a couple were thanks to their jobs and families.
But what made the Montgomerys work was that they were a blue-collar family that worked their asses off for each other.
So everybody pitched in, and Bella and I had brought drinks.
Heading down to the Costco in order to buy in bulk was really the only way to make certain things work.
We dropped them off when we had first come in, and a few younger Montgomerys had shown up and taken everything off with their dolly, as if they had done this a thousand times before.
And frankly, they had this down to an art at this point.
So that was probably more true than not.
There was a bouncy castle for the kids, a full beach volleyball section, another place for flag football, soccer, and field hockey. I had a feeling if there had been a way to do something like this at an ice rink, Montgomery hockey would be a thing.
There were different food stations surrounding the park so there wasn’t a hold-up in one area.
As well as drink stations, and seating areas for those who needed a moment to breathe.
The elder Montgomerys were usually found there, with a grandchild or great-grandchild on their lap.
And if my eyes weren’t deceiving me, I knew there were more than a few pregnant Montgomerys at this event.
“You made it,” Brooklyn said as she moved forward, and I held up my arm. She slid right next to me, as if we had been doing it a thousand times, and we froze at that moment.
We hadn’t actually spoken about the fact that we would be coming to this, not quite together.
But as soon as one of the Montgomery cousins caught the action, the cat was out of the bag.
“Oops,” Brooklyn whispered, and now the Montgomery wildfire grapevine would be quickly approaching its magnitude for the fact that Brooklyn had just held on to and kissed the cheek of Reece Fox.
“Well, this is going to be interesting,” I said dryly.
“My parents love you. Don’t worry. I mean, I would worry a little bit.”
“Oh, is this one of those meet the parents things?” Bella asked.
I coughed and Bella grinned. Brooklyn moved away from me so she could hug Bella tightly. The way that those two leaned into one another as if they’d known each other their entire lives did something to me I couldn’t quite name.
They were friends. My relationship with Brooklyn made things tricky, but I knew Bella could rely on Brooklyn no matter what.
I would just have to do everything in my power to make sure that stayed the same even after I ended up fucking things up with her.
Because I didn’t do serious relationships well.
And I was more than likely going to fuck this up.
That was why dating somebody I worked with, who was practically my boss, and connected to my life in multiple ways was a bad idea.
And yet all I wanted to do was bring Brooklyn back to my side so the three of us could walk through the picnic and spend the day together.
I was in quicksand up to my neck, and there was no getting out.
“This isn’t going to be awkward at all,” Bella said with a laugh, and I glared at my daughter before kissing the top of her head.
We both froze in the action since we were still getting used to this whole connection thing, but she smiled up at me.
“I see Wyatt and Natalie over there. Can I go?”
I looked over at the soccer area where Bella’s friends who I had met a couple of days ago stood and waved.
I nodded and pulled away. “Sure. Just stay on the grounds and where a Montgomery adult can see you, okay?”
“Even if they’re strangers?”
“A Montgomery is never a stranger,” Brooklyn sing songed.
“I bet you have that embroidered on a pillow,” the dryness in my voice could not be matched.
“My mother does.” She fluttered her eyelashes, before hugging Bella tight.
“Seriously though, if you need anything, all the Montgomerys look alike, so you’ll be able to figure out who’s who.”
“You need name tags.”
Brooklyn snapped her fingers and pulled name tags and a marker from her pocket. “I have those. Sorry, I forgot to give them to you.”
“I’m not wearing a name tag.” I raised my brows when Brooklyn merely wrote my name out and slapped it on my chest a little harder than she should have.
“Deal with it.”
Bella put hers on and grinned.
“Aw, you look great, Reece.”
“Thanks. Glad to know who’s in charge.”
“Brooklyn. Duh.” She rolled her eyes like the twelve-year-old she was and skipped to her friends.
I looked down at Brooklyn and put my hand over her name tag.
“Just making sure it’s on correctly.” I patted her breasts a couple of times, and she rolled her eyes.
“Nice.”
“Hey, stop pawing at my cousin,” Dash whined.
I froze, and remembered exactly where we were.
“Oh. Hey.”
“Hey there. So, bringing the boyfriend. Should be interesting.” He ducked Brooklyn’s fist, but didn’t get out of the way of Riley’s kick to the shin.
“What the hell. Why am I going to be bruised at the end of this?”
“Because you suck at sports,” Addy said with a roll of her eyes. “Seriously. Why are you so mean?”
“You guys are the ones hitting me.” Dash rubbed his shin and gave me a wink.
“Good luck with the Montgomery gauntlet.” He dove through the crowd then, both cousins chasing after him, and I gave Brooklyn a look.
“Is there a gauntlet?”
“I would like to say no, but maybe.” Her eyes widened, and the blood drained from her face. “Well, maybe there will be a gauntlet.”
I turned, afraid to see one of her parents or brothers there with a hatchet or something, but instead I just blinked as my parents and three brothers walked towards us.
“Did you know they were coming?” I asked.
“No. Did you?”
“Of course not. I would’ve warned you. And it’s not a Fox gauntlet. I promise you.”
“I don’t know if I actually believe you with that,” Brooklyn said softly, and then my mother was there, her arms wide.
“Your mother called me and invited us, and so I’m here to annoy my son.”
My mom leaned down to hug Brooklyn. The woman I was falling for smiled brightly. “I like the sound of that, Mrs. Fox.”
“Call me Kathy.”
“Maybe we’ll stick with Mrs. Fox because I’m afraid.” Brooklyn laughed, and my chest squeezed.
“Whatever you’d like. Do you know my sons?” she asked.
“We’ve met. Hi, Fox brothers.”
“So, which of your cousins is single?” Aiden asked, and thankfully Denver slapped the back of his head so I didn’t have to.
“Maybe we should have color coded our name tags for that,” Brooklyn said before sliding her tongue over her teeth.
“There are name tags?” my dad asked. “Thank God. I thought keeping you four straight was hard, but the Montgomerys are ridiculous.”
“We really do like to procreate, don’t we,” a deep voice said and I turned, not realizing I was still holding Brooklyn to my side as I did.
Storm Montgomery moved towards us, broad shoulders, sure stride, and looked as if he could bench press a Mack truck. Or maybe I was just seeing things.
“Good luck,” Rowan whispered, and I stepped on his foot.
“Hello there, Mr. Montgomery.”
The other man just rolled his eyes. “I have been Storm to you since we met. Don’t go all Mr. Montgomery now that you’re seeing my daughter.”
“Dad…” Brooklyn began.
“No no no, let him tease. This is what I like,” Brooklyn’s brother Nate said as he came forward. Then Nate’s twin James as well as James’s wife came over, and finally, completing the mass introduction, Everly Montgomery moved forward.
“It’s good to see you, Reece.” She kissed my cheek, and I hugged her tightly.
“Good to see you too. Thank you for the books, by the way.”
“I mean, there’s a new reader in your life. Of course I’m going to make sure Bella has books. Where is she?” Everly asked as she searched over the crowd.
“She’s hanging with her friends on the soccer field,” Brooklyn said, as she pointed. “And I do believe Lexington and Mercy are keeping watch.”
“Oh, good. While we don’t have security, all the adults are on watch to make sure the kids are safe.”
“Considering you have a security company in the family, I’m pretty sure you have security,” I said dryly.