27. RYDER #2
Marcy shifts slightly to look up at me. “Yeah? How’d she take it?”
I chuckle. “Called me a reckless romantic, then asked if she needed to start crocheting onesies. In that order.”
Hawk smirks. “Sounds about right.”
CJ just nods, watching us all with that subtle, almost proud look he sometimes gets when he thinks no one’s looking.
Marcy’s smile fades a little. “I wish I could tell my mom.”
I glance down at her.
“But I don’t want my dad anywhere near her,” she adds quietly. “He’d find a way to twist it, even use her. He always does.”
No one tries to convince her otherwise. We all know exactly what Jake Hollingbow is capable of.
Then right on cue, Sam’s voice drifts from the living room. “Hellooo? Did everyone forget me mid-turn? I was crushing it, and now suddenly I’m playing Monopoly alone?”
We all blink toward the door as Sam stands there wrapped in a blanket like a little burrito, one eyebrow raised dramatically.
CJ’s brow furrows. “Sam. You were supposed to be in bed an hour ago.”
Sam shrugs, unimpressed. “And miss the moment you all quietly accepted my board game dominance? I don’t think so.”
Hawk grins. “You’re getting cocky, kid.”
“We’ll fix that,” I add, ruffling Sam’s hair as we all head back in.
Marcy laughs softly beside me, and I catch CJ shaking his head with a sigh that’s fond rather than stern.
The living room’s still a mess of game pieces, crumpled fake money, and empty mugs.
We all settle back in like we never left—CJ cracking open a new bag of snacks, Hawk dramatically reading the game rules like we haven’t played this a hundred times, and Marcy curling up between us with her feet in my lap and her smile finally relaxed.
Sam’s practically draped over the armrest of the couch, his head slowly bobbing like he’s fighting gravity with sheer willpower. His little pile of Monopoly cash is clutched in one hand like he’s guarding a national treasure.
CJ glances at the time and lifts a brow. “Ten minutes to midnight.”
Sam perks up immediately, eyes wide. “I’m staying up! I have to make it to New Year’s!”
CJ gives him a dry look. “Barely keeping your eyes open, kid.”
“I’m fine,” Sam says, blinking dramatically. “I’m just thinking really hard.”
That earns a snort from Hawk. I’m trying not to laugh. Marcy’s already biting her lip to keep from grinning.
CJ sighs and ruffles Sam’s hair. “Alright. But go get ready for bed first. PJs, brush your teeth—actually brush—and then you can come back down to ring in the New Year. Deal?”
Sam groans but obeys, dragging himself up the stairs with all the melodrama of a Shakespearean prince in exile.
The second we hear his door shut, CJ shifts in his seat and looks at Marcy. “So… we’ve got a question,” he says.
Her eyebrows lift slightly, amused. “Oh?”
All three of us move closer—me, CJ, and Hawk. Marcy sits up straighter, watching us curiously as we settle around her on the couch.
Hawk’s the first to speak, of course. “I’ve never met anyone like you,” he says.
“You crash-landed into our lives, flipped everything sideways… and somehow made it all make sense. I don’t want to lose that.
Or you. You calm the chaos. You challenge me.
Make me want to be the kind of man that deserves to stand beside you. ”
I swallow, then take her hand. “I’ve never met anyone who made me feel so understood… and still wanted. Like I don’t have to be anything but me. I want to raise this baby with you. I want to love you and cherish you and be your pillar.”
CJ speaks last. “I’ve never believed in things falling into place.
I’ve always believed in building them. But what we’ve got?
You, me, Hawk, Ryder… it’s the first thing I’ve felt was right without needing to force it.
It’s messy. Complicated. Completely insane by anyone else’s standards.
But I don’t care. I just want you. All of you. However that looks.”
Marcy blinks, her lips parting. But then she smiles.
“Well,” she says, eyes flicking between the three of us, “I’ve been thinking about it, too.”
She leans forward, cupping CJ’s face first, kissing him slowly.
Then Hawk, who grins as he pulls her in like he can’t believe it’s happening.
And then me. Her hand in my hair, her lips soft and full as my lips cover her own.
“I want all of you,” she says when she pulls back, breathless. “So, yeah… I want a harem.”
Hawk barks out a laugh. “That’s the hottest sentence I’ve ever heard.”
“Happy New Year to us,” CJ murmurs.
“Did I miss it? Am I too late?”
Sam’s voice cuts through the moment, and we all turn to see him thudding down the stairs in his Star Wars pajamas, hair sticking up in every direction, toothbrush foam still drying around the corners of his mouth.
I glance at the muted TV, seeing Times Square glow behind the reporter. The countdown clock in the corner is ticking down from 00:01:35.
“Not yet, bud,” I say, smiling as I gesture toward the screen. “You made it.”
He pumps his fist in the air, rushing over to the door. “We gotta be outside! It’s not a real New Year unless you’re freezing!”
We all laugh, grabbing coats and pulling boots over our thick socks. Marcy tucks herself into CJ’s side as we step out into the backyard, our breaths rising like fog into the dark, open sky. The cold bites at our cheeks, but it doesn’t matter.
We stand together in a loose circle—Sam in the middle, bouncing with excitement—and the final countdown begins from the TV playing through the open window:
“…Ten! Nine! Eight!”
Marcy’s arm slips around my waist.
“Seven! Six!”
Hawk throws a wink in her direction.
“Five! Four!”
CJ’s watching Sam, pride written all over his face.
“Three! Two! One!”
“Happy New Year!” Sam shouts, throwing his arms up as firecrackers burst across the sky.
The night explodes in color—red, gold, silver, blue—reflected in the wide eyes of a boy who deserves nothing but magic in his life.
Marcy turns and kisses CJ first, slow and sweet, then reaches for Hawk, who grins and scoops her up with one arm as their lips meet.
When she turns to me, there’s laughter in her eyes and snowflakes in her hair.
“Happy New Year,” she whispers.
I kiss her like the world’s just starting.