26. SIX MONTHS LATER
SIX MONTHS LATER
BAILEE
This had been the best decision of my life. Three days after deciding to stay on the island, I walked into the youth center and applied to be a mentor for young kids. It had been a perfect fit and I was pretty sure the kids I took under my wing were helping me just as much if not more than I was helping them. They became the reason I jumped out of bed every morning and raced down to the beach. The problem children were my favorite because I saw myself in them and while ultimately, I wanted to fix them, I also wanted to let them know that their feelings were valid.
And that I saw them.
Add in Nala’s contact here at the center, continuing my therapy appointments became a way for me to truly deal with emotions I had been storing away for too long. I was finally thriving because I was seen.
Mason, Benji, and Angelo had been so romantically attentive to every whim I needed that it was impossible to want for anything. The entire process of uprooting my life had been way easier with their help. Every hard call home, every disastrous therapy session, and the one major freakout I had had two weeks after moving here – they had been here for comfort, for parties, for late-night talks…
Mason had since secured a new piece of property for the four of us, gushing about the interior design and woodwork, none of which I understood, but was delighted that he was excited about it. Benji had bolstered his surfing business with additional teachers, which gave him more time for surfing competitions. And Angelo, my sweet, sweet DJ was still playing all the big gigs while slowly switching out the popular sounds for his own. He was a natural at it and people loved the new stuff.
It was a perfect moment in time that I had stepped into but I knew things came to an end and as happy as I was, it couldn’t last forever.
Sitting on the beach, I hugged my legs to my chest, leaning back into Mason with his legs spread on either side of me, as I watched Benji catch yet another difficult wave. His attention snapped over to me and I shot him a small smile before his board took him farther down the coast. Angelo was in charge of the set a few feet to our right, yelling at some newbie who was having a hard time understanding any of the buttons. Apparently, kids kept telling Angelo that they knew how to run a set and then showed up with no skills.
I cracked another smile watching the softest of my three men turning beat red while trying to curb his anger. A small kiss pressed against the back of my neck as Mason pulled me back to the moment in hand before standing up. “I’ll be right back. Want anything?”
I shook my head and waited for him to leave before panic dialing my sister, “Elissa,” I whispered, tears threatening to unearth themselves. Over the past six months, I had caught snippets of my family’s lives. Mom and Dad weren’t doing well, Dad finally standing up for himself and everything he wanted to do. Mom didn’t take well to opposition and the fissure in their relationship widened since most of the arguments ended up being about our last vacation.
Malia’s new baby daddy had decided to wed the woman and from what I heard was just the right amount of parental guidance those demonic kids needed. Zak had moved out to California to go back to school, briefly meeting up with Phoenix, and Elissa had left her husband behind, taking her daughter in the divorce proceedings. Elissa had never sounded happier, and she had been my rock throughout these six months.
“Sis, you have got to tell them. It’s killing you and you won’t know unless you say something!” Elissa had been the only person I had been able to share my new life with over the past six months. Phoenix was available sporadically but the brief moments we did speak, although they boosted my spirits, weren’t enough to spill about my life.
Elissa, though, knew everything going on, including the fact that I had missed my period last month. Seven pregnancy tests later and I was pretty damn sure that I was holding a secret that would break up our romantic quad. As much as I loved children, we hadn’t talked about bringing little lives into our makeshift family.
"You need to tell them, Lee. You have to tell them." My hands started shaking as I cradled the phone in my hand, trying to convince myself that everything would be okay. But it wouldn’t. It never was. This whole thing was a fairytale but in the end, that’s all it was, wasn’t it?
"You'll tell us what?” My eyes widened as Mason plopped back down behind me, pulling me into his chest. I hung up and tucked my phone back into my bag by my side as I tried to bury my face in my lap but Mason turned me around to face him, roughly gripping my chin between his fingers, “Don't hide from me, Lee. We've all been worried the past few weeks. What's going on?"
"Don't hate me," I mumbled, the first of many tears running down my cheeks. His hands moved to wipe them away, and he smiled, worry settling in his expression.
"Never."
Here goes nothing. "I'm pregnant." I blurted out.
He stilled against me and for a moment, I thought that I had been right, that this would ruin everything . "Wait, seriously? Shit, I'm going to be a dad?" Wait… what?
Benji bounded over, shaking his head, small droplets flying over the both of us. He found a seat on my side, pulling me in so he could kiss my cheek. "We playing with new kinks now? Daddy ? Wouldn’t have taken you for-"
"Nah, Lee's pregnant." Mason stuck out his chest as if the news were the best thing he had heard all day.
Benji’s silly grin widened, his entire face brightening in a way I didn’t know the Russian’s lips could move. "Fucking hell. Our child?" Mason and Benji shared a high five before Angelo appeared, hovering over us. He was still a little red-faced from all the yelling but it was like the moment I needed comfort or extra attention, all three of them were there.
"How do you know it's yours? Could be mine." Angelo found a space across from Benji on my other side. When had he even started listening?
"You wish ." Mason and Benji said at the same time before all three burst out laughing. This wasn’t the reaction I had been expecting and now I was just thoroughly confused. Mason grabbed me and kissed me soundly until I was moaning against his lips, effectively clearing all the negative thoughts from my head. "Did you think we were going to drop you if you told us? Baby girl, we're in this for life. We told you that six months ago. We told you that when we hoped you could love us. And now you're bringing our child into the world? Fucking heaven."
Benji took his turn, kissing me thoroughly until I was a puddle in his arms. Angelo followed next, taking his time to memorize my lips in the sweet way he always did. I shouldn’t have worried that these men – my men – wouldn’t have wanted to be here every step of the way.
Angelo placed another soft kiss on my lips, his arms tightening around me as he pulled me into his lap. "I hate that you were worrying about this, babe."
Benji broke the tension by chiming in again, "We all know it's my kid.” Mason jokingly punched him as Benji added, “You're going to be fucking gorgeous all swollen." I blushed bright red, hiding my face in Angelo’s bare chest. I could feel their heated gazes on me, imagining my figure in nine months. A groan slipped through my lips at the beached whale I would have to pull off with these fucking gorgeous men surrounding me.
The next groan that escaped from me had nothing to do with embarrassment but desire as I felt Angelo’s interest grow against my ass. He stuffed his face into my neck, placing tender kisses along my collarbone, “Sex won’t hurt the baby right? Because, god, if I have to get off in the shower for nine months-”
This time, I burst out laughing. “God, I love you all so fucking much.” The way they shifted around me told me I didn’t say it nearly as much as I should, even if they knew how I felt. So, I said it again, beaming up at them. “Mason, Angelo, and Benji, I love you so much. I love the life we’ve built, the future we’re starting, the baby we’ll bring into this world even as terrifying as that notion is. I’m not sure where I would have been if I hadn’t stayed but I’m glad I did.”
They all murmured their own versions of ‘I love you’s, complete with kisses and tugging me from one lap to another until I was dizzy with need, unable to fulfill my desires out here on the beach.