29. Thalia
Chapter twenty-nine
Thalia
Addison:
Stop being strangers and come to Dale’s for a few drinks.
I pocket my phone as we walk across the compound grounds. Reed’s hand is wrapped around mine tightly as we swing our arms between us. The gentle buzz of crickets can be heard in the distance as I chuckle at the leaf sticking out of his hair.
I reach up and pluck it free. “We definitely look like we’ve been running through the woods.”
He smirks. “They don’t have to know what we were doing in the woods.”
I blush as I tuck my head with a smitten smile. Dale’s comes into view, the music muffled from the outside as warm light trickles through the windows and door. Boisterous laughter and glasses clinking bleed out of every crevice, and I feel my heart trip at introducing this to Reed.
“Okay, before we go in, I just want to warn you,” I say carefully. “The back wall is what we call the Kill Catalog. It cycles through hits and who’s currently working them.”
Intrigue peaks in him as he lifts a brow. “That sounds really efficient.”
“You’re not freaked out by it?”
He snorts before wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. “My girlfriend is an assassin. Nothing freaks me out.”
I roll my lips in as we step into utter chaos.
All across the bar, assassins are enjoying their drinks while examining the Kill Catalog for their newest hit.
A few patrons shout at Dale as he dips back and forth behind the bar, and there’s a rather loud game of pool going on in the furthest left corner.
Heavy metal blares over the speakers, and someone belts along with the lyrics, sounding like a dying cat.
Theo notices us first from their table in the right corner of the bar. He waves us over with a crooked smile. “Glad you could make it! How’s it going, Reed?”
They do that weird man handshake where they slap each other’s backs and pull away quickly.
“Doing good,” Reed smiles.
Addison wiggles her fingers at me as she sits perched on Rowan’s lap, who’s kissing her neck and moving her hair aside for better access. I make a face akin to disgust, and she waves at me.
“Ignore him,” she grins with flushed cheeks. “He’s a little drunk right now.”
“Drunk, stressed,” Theo shrugs. “Same thing.”
Dom nods silently as he sits beside Bailey. The South branch leader looks as if she’s seen better days as she grumbles over her glass of beer and barely acknowledges anyone. I’m sure this whole situation has had her in knots, and staying with Dom and Theo isn’t helping.
Alana bounces off Connor’s lap, dragging him after her as they greet Reed brightly.
“Hey!” Al exclaims. “So good to see you again, Reed.”
“Welcome to the family, man,” Connor nods as he rubs his wife’s back.
“Thank you,” Reed says genuinely as he shakes hands with Connor.
Taryn and Emma appear to our left, drinks in their hands as they talk quietly among themselves. As soon as Taryn notices us, her eyes light up. “Reed! Have you seen this place?”
He glances down at me with heat in his gaze as he answers. “Yeah, I’ve seen a little…”
I elbow his side as we chuckle quietly at our inside joke.
Taryn nearly spills her martini as she spreads her hands wide. “There’s at least a solid thirty to forty acres on this compound!”
Emma places a hand at the small of her wife’s back as she appears amused. “She’s been talking nonstop about this place. It’s in a great location and there’s a hospital not even twenty miles from here.”
“Hospital?” Theo snorts as he wraps an arm around Taryn’s shoulder. “Why even bother with professionalism when you two could work for the compound? Rowan pays well.”
My brother’s head shoots up as he frowns. “And who said I was hiring them?”
Addison rolls her eyes with a slight smirk before she whispers in Rowan’s ear. His brows hit his hairline before his tune changes. “You’re hired. Start whenever the fuck you want.” He tucks his head into her hair, nipping at her skin. “So…are we doing that now or?”
Eww.
The door to the bar opens, and in waddles poor Loxley, her belly straining against her Sweet Haven shirt and poking out of the bottom of it. She huffs as she stops in front of our table, a sour expression on her face. “Still no baby.”
Atlas comes up behind her, offering a hand of support on her back as he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s early, Short Stack. The doctor said to give her a few more days.”
Loxley groans, her eyes screwing shut as her head rests back against her shoulders. “I’m evicting her. I can’t get comfortable at night, everything tastes wrong, and I can’t even put on my own shoes.”
Atlas kisses her temple. “And that’s what you have me for. Do you need another body pillow at night? I’ll get one. I know you love the taste of ramen right now, and we’ll have it every meal if we have to. And your shoes? I can put those on, baby.”
My sister-in-law opens her eyes, her face softening into something fond. “What would I do without you?”
Atlas tilts her chin up before kissing her slowly and sensually. “I’m here to make things easier.”
Loxley smiles before grabbing his ear and dragging him down to her. “If you do this to me again right after I push this baby out, I’m going to fucking end you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he swallows.
She pats his cheek before pulling away and noticing us. “Oh! Hi, Reed!”
My boyfriend waves awkwardly. “Hi.”
Loxley claps her hands together before motioning to the man at my side and Taryn. “Great. Two doctors. I have questions.”
Taryn shrugs as she looks at Reed. “We might have answers.”
Everyone takes a seat at the table, and it’s a little crowded, but it feels…
right. My family is here, before my very eyes, and it makes something grand swell inside my chest. I’m going to be an aunt; I have everyone I love in one spot, and I can’t imagine a future where this isn’t always happening.
The bar. One of our houses for a cookout. Just all of us.
It’s all I’ve ever wanted, and seeing Reed blend so seamlessly and fit right in is making me emotional. Everyone loves him, and by the look on his face, he’s loving them too.
I slide onto his lap, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and placing my head next to his as I let everything wash over me.
He’s finding little ways to touch me the whole time, his hand lingering on my knee while the other rubs my back affectionately as he discusses possible ways to help induce labor.
“Curb walking is a good one,” Taryn says around her glass. “Getting plenty of exercise can make labor easier.”
“Eating dates,” Reed adds as he tips his beer towards his colleague.
Loxley is frantically typing everything up in her notes app on her phone, her brow drawn in concentration as Atlas scowls.
“What the fuck is a date?” My brother asks.
“It’s a fruit,” Rowan says with a bored tone from across the table.
“Exactly,” Reed says. “A fruit.”
Atlas stares at him. Then at Taryn. Then back at Reed. “You’re telling me my wife has been carrying a whole human being for nine months and the solution is fruit?”
“It’s not a solution,” Taryn laughs. “It just might help.”
Atlas huffs. “That sounds stupid—”
Loxley cuts him off sharply with a finger pointed in his face. “You don’t get opinions. You aren’t pregnant.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Connor is laughing so hard he’s trying not to choke on his beer. Even Bailey has lightened up, her mouth quirking into a smirk as she sips from her whiskey glass. Addison is trying to offer some kind of help to her best friend as she throws out ideas from her searches on her phone.
Loxley turns back to Reed and Taryn with a fresh wave of determination. “Okay. What else?”
“Spicy food,” Reed says.
“I’ve tried that.”
“Walking,” Taryn suggests.
“Tried it.”
“Yoga,” Reed pitches.
“Tried it.”
“Sex,” Taryn says casually.
The table goes silent. Atlas immediately straightens. “Now we’re talking. We should do that now.”
“Oh,” Addison’s mouth twists unpleasantly.
“Not here,” Alana says quickly.
Loxley glares with the fire of a million suns before fisting Atlas’s shirt and dragging him so close their noses bump. “That got us into this in the first place.” She grits. “What did I say about having opinions?”
My brother gulps. “I don’t have a single one. I’m sorry, baby.”
She releases him before sighing and flicking a finger across her phone’s screen. “Next.” Everyone is silent for a moment before Loxley gives the table an impatient look. “This baby isn’t coming any quicker, people.”
“Uh,” Addison scrolls further down her list, “using a yoga ball to keep yourself moving.”
Everyone keeps tossing ideas out there, and I’m shaking with silent laughter the whole time.
I catch Reed trying to hold it together, and it all breaks loose the moment he looks at me and sees the same restraint on my face.
We break out into hysterics, tucking our heads as our laughter fills the bar.
“I’m so glad my suffering amuses the both of you,” Loxley croons from beside us.
Reed wipes a stray tear, his gaze caught in mine as his face softens. “I’m not amused by your suffering. I’m just…feeling fulfilled is all.”
I sober slowly, everything melting away until it’s just us. Warmth radiates through my chest as I smile at him. “Same here.”