34. Sawyer
SAWYER
“Looks like you’ve got yourself a pro there,” Liv said, gesturing toward the heated game currently taking place.
Beckett was the reigning champ four games in a row, but Grady was giving him a run for his money.
So far, no one had been able to knock him out, but I was curious to see how he would do against someone with experience.
Most of the people had already left, leaving just our little group, Grams, and Harold. While I might have fought against this baby shower, it’d almost been a perfect day, and it wasn’t even over. I even had a surprise up my sleeve.
“I know,” I whispered. “His sister is younger, but only by three years. It’s not like he was changing diapers as a toddler, so I have no idea where this is coming from.”
We watched as he dragged the wipe across the baby doll’s bottom and fastened the diaper before stepping back with his arms raised. He let out a triumphant laugh as Grady hung his head in defeat.
“Time!” Grams called from her perch. Liv had put her in charge of the game, ensuring no one cheated.
The woman might have been old, but no one was stupid enough to cross her.
She’d matched it to her outfit for the day, which consisted of loose-fitting leopard print pants and a bedazzled shirt that read “GILF.”
No wonder people looked at me weirdly as a kid when we were out and about. There was no telling what ridiculous things she wore.
Cleo came up to Grady, wrapping her arms around his middle. “It’s okay. You’re always a winner in my eyes,” she said, giving him a kiss.
Beckett sauntered over as Charlie and Harper reset the dolls. He leaned down, bracing his hands on the chair. “I hope my performance over there is instilling confidence in my skills.”
“I will admit to being impressed. How the hell do you know how to change a diaper, and why are you so good at it?” I asked.
His gaze snagged on something behind me before giving me a quick kiss. “Some people are just born with the skill. Don’t be jealous that I have an affinity for it.”
I turned and looked for whatever had pulled his attention, but only saw Duke walking up with a beer. “You’re going to regret that talent whenever our son wakes up in the middle of the night with a poopocalypse, and you have to handle it.”
He shrugged, completely unfazed. “I don’t mind. Especially if it means you’ll get to sleep a while longer. Seems like the least I could do.”
Lukas joined us, standing next to Duke. “You are so whipped already.”
“Yeah, so?” Beckett said. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous of my skills.”
Lukas laughed. “Uh, no. I paid my dues with those two.” He gestured toward Charlie and Harper.
“But you didn’t have to get up with them in the middle of the night,” Liv pointed out. “It’s an entirely different ball game when you’re running on two hours of sleep over multiple days.”
“Y’all are making this parenting thing out to be worse than it is. I mean, how hard can it be?” Lukas said, taking a swig of his beer.
Liv and I stared at him with raised brows, as Duke shook his head and muttered, “Oh, you’ve fucked up now.”
I had zero experience when it came to child raising, but I knew the pains of being pregnant. There was absolutely no way Lukas could withstand the strain of carrying a child.
“Care to test that theory?” she asked her brother.
“Sure,” he chuckled, setting down his drink and rolling up his sleeves. “What am I doing?”
“I’m only doing this to kick his ass for putting us all in this position,” Duke grumbled, adjusting the over inflated balloon strapped to his belly.
“Yeah, what he said,” Grady joined in, staring down at his own. “I don’t know why we’re being dragged into this when he’s the one who opened his big mouth.”
I stood back, watching with an amused Cleo and Liv as the men devolved into a constant stream of bickering. Each of them had a large balloon strapped to their center. We tried to make it as even as we could for the others, but Liv definitely gave her brother the biggest one she could find.
The rules were simple. There were three stations set up around the house.
The men would start in the living room, where they had to change their baby doll’s diaper and put them in a set of pajamas, then they’d race—safely—to the kitchen.
From there, they would swaddle it tightly and make their way to the single car seat waiting in the dining area.
Only one man would earn the distinction of being crowned Pinecrest’s Best Dad.
The losers would then take turns being strapped to a TENS machine, with the ladies getting the honor of cranking up the intensity.
Oh, and if their belly popped or they popped someone else’s, they were immediately disqualified.
My bet was that Lukas wouldn’t even make it past the second round.
He was insanely competitive. I’d watched him and Liv get into a shouting match over a Monopoly game before, and there wasn’t even anything at stake.
“I don’t care what y’all say, I’m going to crush this,” Lukas said, stepping up to the line Cleo taped on the floor.
Grams cackled from the sofa. “Better not get too cocky, boy. I’d just hate to watch you squirm under the weight of that big head you got.”
Each of the men looked at one another before zeroing in on the station in front of them. They were locked in and ready to tear each other apart if it meant not being strapped to a machine that pushed out electric currents.
The moment Liv shouted go, they took off in a mad dash, nearly tripping over one another in the process. They made it safely, tearing off the dirty pajamas and diving into the dirty diaper.
“Oh, what the fuck,” Lukas groaned.
We all laughed as Lukas began dry heaving. He was barely able to pull the old diaper off and fold it up. “Chocolate pudding with a dash of corn,” Cleo said, putting an arm around a beaming Charlie and Harper. “It was your niece’s idea. Just to make it a little bit more real for you.”
“Traitors.” He glanced down the line, noticing none of them had thrown a fit at the surprise waiting for them. Because of that, they were very nearly done with this station. He dove back in, haphazardly reaching for the pile of diapers in front of him.
Duke was the first to finish, followed quickly by Grady, then Beckett. We followed them into the kitchen as they grabbed their blankets and laid their baby down on a flat surface. Lukas came stumbling in thirty seconds later, looking worse for wear.
I didn’t want to admit I was nervous about Beckett’s chances, but if anything was going to trip him up, I thought it’d be this one. So, I was shocked to find that he not only grabbed the lead, but his swaddling definitely looked the best as he tucked the final piece away.
“Go, baby, go!” I called as he held the doll to his chest and hurried to the living room.
Duke finished his swaddle seconds later and was on his ass.
They were neck and neck. It was impossible to tell who was going to win.
Grady had already given up, joining us as we followed after them.
Lukas shouted curses from the kitchen and took off after the two men in a mad dash.
Beckett reached the carseat first, dropping to his knees and placing the baby inside the carrier. His hands flew over the straps, buckling them at record speed. Duke hovered nearby, watching him like a proud father.
Lukas barrelled in two seconds later. We tried to tell him it was done, but he lost his footing. He went down hard, popping the massive balloon beneath his shirt. The baby doll he was carrying went flying across the room, crashing into the wall with a loud thud.
“You good, man?” Beckett asked, trying to bend down to help Lukas to his feet, but his balloon kept getting in the way.
Lukas batted his hand away, rolling onto his ass. He rested his elbows on his knees and hung his head in shame. “No, I’m not.”
Duke rolled his eyes. “Ignore him. He’s a sore loser.”
“I hate when y’all say that shit,” Lukas grumbled. “It’s not a bad thing to be competitive.”
Grady wrapped his arm around Cleo’s shoulders. “There’s being competitive, and then there’s whatever the hell you are.”
Lukas turned to Cleo. “Will you please cover my niece’s eyes for a second?” The moment she did, he flipped Grady off.
“Real mature,” he said, holding out his hand for his friend to take.
Liv stepped up with the TENS machine in hand. “It’s time to pay up,” she sang, looking at Duke. “Who wants to go first?”
“I’m not scared,” he said, pulling the balloon free. “Do your worst.”
She smirked, taking her time placing the sticky pads onto his skin. “I intend to,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth.
We all ignored Lukas, who blew a raspberry in protest.
To his credit, Duke took it like a champ.
He made it all the way to level eight before breaking out into a sweat, but his strength only went so far.
A slew of curses left his mouth the moment she cranked it to level ten.
He yanked the cords free and braced himself on the back of a chair.
“Fucking hell, honey,” he panted. “That’s horrible. ”
“Try that when your vagina is the size of a bagel,” Grams said, shaking her cane. “And then rips nearly to your asshole.”
Grady went next, damn near matching Duke’s record. He only made it to level nine, but he did last for a full thirty seconds before he doubled over in pain. “Yeah, childbirth isn’t for me,” he muttered, sinking into the chair next to Duke.
Beckett stepped up behind me, running his hands along my belly and lifting slightly to support its weight.
I groaned from the instant relief. All my life, I heard about how horrible morning sickness was, or that contractions were the literal devil, but no one ever mentioned just how heavy their damn belly was. I felt like I’d been misled.
“Thank you,” I breathed. “You don’t know how good that feels.”
He pressed a kiss right behind my ear. “Do you want to sit down?”
“Please.” He held my hand as we made our way over to one of the dining chairs. As wonderful as today was, I was exhausted. My lower back was killing me from lugging this baby around.
Beckett crouched next to me, jerking his head to where Lukas argued with his sister about paying his debt. “Want me to give it a go for solidarity?”
“No, you won fair and square. Although I do wonder where you got those skills.”
His gaze wandered to the three men on the other side of the room. Duke and Grady had Lukas pinned against the wall as Liv stuck the pads on his stomach. “I might’ve had a little help from some friends. There was no way I was going to let this baby come into the world without knowing the basics.”
My jaw dropped. “You mean…?”
“You’re looking at the first graduate of Duke’s Daddy Day Camp,” he smirked.
“I told you not to call it that,” Duke called.
I was about to ask him more when the sound of a honking horn, followed by the slamming of a door, cut through the noise. Liv and I shared a knowing look as the front door swung open and a slender figure stood at the threshold holding five boxes of pizza and a pack of candles.
“Surprise!” a sweet voice sang out. “Where’s my brother?”
Beckett stared at the spot before breaking out in a dead sprint.
He grabbed the pizza, setting it aside with little regard before pulling his sister into a tight hug, picking her up off the ground, and twirling.
They both laughed as he set her down and pulled back to look at her. “Tate! What are you doing here?”
Her lips twisted into a devious smirk as she nodded in my direction. “A little birdie told me we were having a celebration today, and you know how much I hate being left out. I couldn’t let everyone else have all the fun.”
Beckett turned to me. “You called my sister?”
“I can only take credit for the idea. It was Liv’s super sleuthing that got her here,” I said.
When I found out that Beckett’s birthday had come and gone without so much as an acknowledgment, guilt had damn near eaten me alive.
I’d gone into work the next day, crying to Liv about how bad I felt, so we started brainstorming ideas.
While we hadn’t been able to make the bounce house happen, Liv called Tatum to invite her to the shower and a small gathering after.
“I know it’s not the birthday extravaganza we originally planned,” I said, pushing to my feet and waddling toward him. “That’s on the agenda for next year when this one isn’t occupying my stomach, but I thought we could still celebrate with store-bought cake and cheap pizza.”
“And beer,” Duke said. He and Grady were still holding Lukas’ arm, though Lukas had stopped struggling. His eyes were glued to Tatum, a mischievous smirk on his lips.
Beckett opened his arms, and I went without question. Being here, surrounded by friends who’d turned into family, felt right. “I love you,” he whispered, kissing the top of my head.
I laid my head on his chest, feeling his heart pound beneath the surface. “I love you, too.”
“Well, what do we have here?” Tatum asked, taking a seat next to Grams. I didn’t know Beckett’s sister at all, but that seemed like a disastrous pairing.
“You ever watched a man get shocked before?” Grams turned to look at Tatum, chuckling to herself. “You look like the type.”
Tatum smirked, crossing one leg over the other and leaning forward to brace her chin on her fist. Her eyes were laser focused on the scene in front of her, and a coquettish smirk tipped up her lips. “This is my kind of party.”