Arianna

As we pull out of the restaurant parking lot, Payton in the back

seat beside me, her hands fall to her stomach and I shift in my seat to face her a little better.

“Have you felt the baby kick yet?”

“I think, but it’s hard to tell,” she shares. “It sort of feels like I’m a bowl of water and every time I move, it splashes around.”

Mason and I chuckle and look to her tiny belly, just beginning to show through her clothes.

“You want to feel, don’t you?” She lifts a perfectly manicured blonde brow.

My smile is instant, and I laugh. “I don’t want it to be weird, but yeah.” She shakes her head. “You guys are too much,” she muses with a grin,

and my eyes narrow, but then she grabs my hand, placing it on the highest point of her stomach.

Warmth spreads through me instantly, my skin pricking as I gently cup her belly over her shirt. I glide my palm forward and backward, and then down the bubbled slope a tiny bit.

“It’s so hard,” I whisper. “Perfectly round and tiny.” I lift my gaze to hers.

She nods, moisture building in her eyes as she tries to smile, but I imagine she’s all over the place. Happy she has a piece of the man who won’t be here to see their child come into the world, and sad for the very same reason.

I can’t imagine.

“My mom and Aunt Sarah,” I mention Nate’s mom. “Are going to have a heyday. Seriously, he—”

“Or she,” Mason pipes up.

“Is going to be so spoiled. You’ll basically have a babysitter anytime you could possibly want one.”

That makes Payton chuckle, and her head falls to the headrest. “Yeah, your mom literally calls or texts every day to see how I’m feeling and all that.”

“She’s been talking about grandbabies for like four years now. As soon as Nate got engaged, I swear she flew out to see Aunt Sarah, just so they could go celebrate the fact that a baby was in the near future.”

“Have they met Lolli?” she teases. “‘Cause that girl won’t even share Nate’s hoodies. His baby? Forget about it.”

We chuckle and then Mason pulling up in front of the driveway of Payton’s place.

Her brother meets us in the driveway, opening Payton’s door before she has a chance.

She climbs out and Parker pokes his head inside.

“Lolli said you’re headed down to the beach bash?” He looks to Mason, then glances behind him to make sure Payton isn’t in earshot. “What happened, she changed her mind?”

“She only agreed to brunch beforehand, and she kept yawning and shit, so we didn’t push,” my brother tells him.

Parker nods. “She says she’s sleeping fine, but she’s been up as early as Lolli all week. She keeps reaching out to Deaton’s mom and people back home about where he was buried, since there was never a funeral announcement, but no one knows a thing and that shitty woman won’t respond.”

“Can Kenra ask around now that she’s back?”

“She’s asked a couple people but got the same answers.” He shakes his head, knocking on the roof. “All right well, have fun. I’m staying home with her, but Nate and Lolli headed that way about ten minutes ago.”

“Let us know if we’re needed,” Mason tells him, a frown pulling at his brows.

“Yup.”

My brother nods and puts the car in gear. “We gotta pick up our shit at the house. See you later.”

With that we head home.

Cam, Brady, and Chase pull up at the same time, having stopped for gas on the way home from the restaurant.

We’ve got the paddle boards and ice chest loaded into the folding wagons in minutes, and then we’re on our way.

Cam wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Beer, barbecue, and beach boys, here we come.”

 

 

An hour later, we’re dancing in the sand to a live hipster band,

our paddle boards laid out and ready to hit the waters. The boys decide to have a drink before joining us, so me and Cam head out on our boards to play around.

A little while later, Lolli joins us, so we make our way to the small cove where a large group has formed.

“Okay, Ari,” Lolli begins, dropping back on her board to sunbathe. She cups her hand over her eyes to shade them from the sun and looks to me with a smirk. “Share the dirty deets. There’s a reason that Abercrombie model of yours keeps glancing this way and it’s not the same reason Mason and Nate are.”

I grin, glancing over my shoulder, and sure enough, he’s staring, but they all are at this point, each pushing their boards into the water, so who knows. “He has been a little more—”

“Frisky? Touchy? Noticeably horny?” she fires off, making the three of us laugh.

“Something like that.” I chuckle. “I don’t really know what to think of it. On one hand, he’s just Chase being Chase, and on the other he’s…” I lift my shoulders, unsure of how to explain it.

I try not to read too much into things, but it’s getting harder and harder not to wonder what if.

Lolli nods, facing the sun with her eyes closed. “I say you grab his junk underwater and see what happens. Bet he pokes you with it.”

Cam and I laugh, mimicking Lolli’s position on the board, but it’s not long before the others join, and we’re all playing around in the ocean.

Brady and I race from the flatland to the cove, Mason, of course, paddled out to the middle point ahead of us, and hovers there just in case I get a cramp.

Got to love him.

The boys play a game of paddle board dodgeball with a group of guys and we sit back to cheer them on.

Brady is last man standing, so when Chase knocks Mason’s leg with his hand, and the two slowly begin to climb to their feet, Cam quickly pulls her phone up from around her neck—waterproof sleeves are a must when you live ocean life.

Brady faces the crowd, gloating in the way only Brady can, and the boys throw their bodies at him, tackling him into the water.

“You sons of bitches!” He laughs, as he goes down, and then takes turns catching each in a headlock, swiftly dunking them under.

Prepared for what always comes next, we ready for them, quickly covering our faces as we’re flipped into the water and tossed from one to the next like hot potatoes.

Lolli shrieks when Nate does the same to her, and then she’s shoving us. “Thanks for the warning, assholes!” She laughs. “Handsome, you’re so not getting any tonight!”

“Baby, I’m sorry!” Nate grins, grabs her face and lays one on her, effectively changing her mind.

“All right, we ready to hit the sand, eat and toss a couple back?” Brady grips his board, pulling himself up into a sitting position.

“Yeah, I’m starved.” I move toward my board but lay across it longways to use my feet rather than paddle to get me back.

Everyone agrees and it’s back toward the shore we go.

Brady pulls out a few beers, pouring them into Solo cups, so the beach patrol has no reason to come over and question us. They know what’s up, but it’s a ‘no harm, no foul’ kind of thing.

Once our hands are dry enough to wipe the sand away, we head over to the barbeque station set up and grab some Tri-Tip sandwiches.

The sun falls behind a wall fog, not long later, and the firepits are put to use, so while the others dance around to the music, refilling their cups for the third time, I move toward the flame.

It’s not exactly cold, but there’s a light chill in the air and my hair is still wet, so I wrap it in my palms and hold it away from my skin, spinning so the heat warms my back.

“Smore?”

I glance to the side to find a blond guy, his hair tied back in a tight man bun and a grin on his lips.

“Yeah, actually.” I turn, lifting my hair fall and step up beside him.

He hands me a stick and I poke it into the bag of marshmallows. “Thanks.”

His smile deepens. “No problem. I’d offer you a hot dog to roast, but I ate the last one already.”

I chuckle. “You roasted a hot dog right here?”

He holds his finger to his lips. “Don’t tell, technically this fire belongs to the food truck, and I don’t think they’d be cool with me grilling my own and not buying theirs.”

Glancing around, I nod and hold my marshmallow over the flame. “I think they’re doing just fine without your sale.”

“It is a pretty good turnout, huh?”

I blow the fire out over my stick and he squeezes it between two graham crackers, right over a slab of chocolate and hands it to me.

“You here on vacation?” he wonders, perching himself on the edge of the rock.

“More like a quick trip. We come here all the time, so it’s become a second, way better home, than a vacation spot.”

He chuckles, looking out over the party. “I hear you. I’m here during the summer mostly, but I try to make it this way a couple times a year other than that.” He bends, digging into the small ice chest near his feet and pulls out a beer. “Want one?”

“She’s got one,” comes from behind me and the guy’s head snaps toward the voice.

Chase slips between us with a glare, completely blocking me from the surfer boy to my right and holds out a freshly filled cup.

I lean forward to meet the man’s eyes and smile, lifting my cup. “Thank you, but I’ve got one, and thanks for the s’more.”

The guy nods, an easy-going grin on his lips. “For sure, you guys have a nice night, huh?” He waves, grabs his bag and moves over to a group of people a few feet away.

I face Chase, bringing my drink to my lips. “What?” He frowns.

“That was rude.”

“You don’t even know the guy, why would you take anything from him?”

“He was just being nice.” Chase scoffs, facing away.

Now I’m the one who’s asking, “What?”

“Nothing.” He shrugs. “Didn’t think Cam was being serious about the whole beach boys thing, that’s all.”

My mouth opens, but nothing come out, so I busy myself with my beer.

Is that jealousy?

It can’t be, can it?

It’s just him being an ass, mimicking Mason as usual. Before I can think about it anymore, Cam walks up.

“’Bout ready to head back? It’s getting dark, and I’ve got sand in places eyes have never seen.” She laughs.

“Yup.” Chase kicks off, and Cameron raises a brow, but quickly wipes it away before anyone can see.

The walk home from the party feels twice as long as the walk there.

We’re beat from the sun and surf, and the bit of day drinking didn’t help.

Nate and Lolli wave us off as they head toward their place, and we drag ourselves down our driveway.

Cam and Brady beat us at rock, paper, scissors, so they got dibs on first showers, leaving us to clean up.

Together, we haul the ice chest onto the deck and head back down to secure our equipment.

Mason and Chase drop the paddle boards into their slots, and I follow, threading the lock through the fin boxes. I get them all laced together, but the lock itself has sand in it and won’t clamp.

“Piece of crap.” I sigh, trying to jam the stupid thing in place.

Chase wipes his hands on his shorts and comes up behind me, his arms coming around, caging me in. His hands cover mine as he gently takes the lock from me. “Here, let me.”

I’m not sure if he whispers, but it feels like it, his warm breath rolling over my wet skin with slow precision. I look up over my shoulder and his eyes meet mine, a covert smirk trying to break free.

He brings the metal item to his mouth, blowing into it, and my eyes fall to his lips.

I want to feel them again. I want them to glide along my neck as his breath does.

The lock clicks, and Chase chuckles when I jump from the sound.

I jump again when the paddles are tossed at our feet, Mason’s body pushing in front of us to start sliding them into their posts.

Chase backs away and does the same, so I slip away, heading up the dock.

As I reach the platform, my eyes find his once more, and sure enough, Chase is watching me.

I pinch my lips to the side and continue into the house, where my smile breaks free.

As I cut an apple and scoop some peanut butter into a small bowl, I can’t help but remember the words spoken in the dark only a few nights ago.

Nothing forces a man to face his feelings for a woman like the interest of another man.

I’m not sure if that’s what’s happening here, but bless you, Noah Riley, for your man knowledge.

You might be the very reason I get everything I’ve ever wanted.