Page 91 of Messing With My Brother's Best Friends

Kendall’s tone was as sharp as her knife.

“Kids…?” I knew that gleam in Van’s eyes because I felt the same damn thing every time I saw a family walk past. “You pregnant?”

“It could happen,” she said, waving the knifepoint in his direction. “Not right now because I’m on birth control, but—”

“Oh my god, that’d be so fucking hot,” Van groaned, and Gage and I clustered closer in response. “Your belly…” He made a curving motion with his hand. “And your tits. Like I already want to bury my face in them every minute of the day, but pregnant? They’d get bigger, right?” He glanced at us. “Right?”

“Shut up, idiot,” I told him, right before I pressed a kiss to Kendall’s neck. “You’re beautiful, period. Pregnant or childless, old or young. I promise I will stand to attention any time you decide to get naked for the rest of our lives.”

I’d meant that kinda light-hearted, but I didn’t do jokes well. She peered back over her shoulder at me, her eyes searching for the truth of the matter, but it was just there. There might be a game playing and the dads might cluster in the lounge room to watch, but not me, not Van, and not Gage. It didn’t matter how long we managed to stay together; I’d be by Kendall’s side. So I told her just that and apparently that was the right thing to say. Her smile spread as slowly as the sun’s dawn, lighting her up by the second, before she turned back to the salad she was preparing.

“We can do this,” she said.

“Yeah, we can.” Gage looked down at her chopping board. “So let us help you prep.”

Hours later, freshly showered and dressed, we walked up the driveway to Van’s parents’ house.

“Shit!” When Kendall froze to the spot, so did we.

“What?” Van asked, glancing around. “Did we forget the salads?”

“You’re holding one of them, dickhead,” Gage said with a dark look.

“OK, so did we make them wrong? Did we forget drinks?” Van looked around, seeing we had all the things we needed.

“What then?” Gage asked that gently, approaching Kendall like she was a frightened horse, not willing to make any fast moves.

“They’re gonna know.”

It wasn’t hard to work out who ‘they’ were because I’d already had this thought before we even got into the van. I had to admit, I liked it. If we walked into this BBQ with all of our families present—well, except mine—then everyone would know about our relationship. They’d see us together and know that Kendall belonged to us now.

“Your mother would’ve put two and two together when we asked for the shepherd’s pie recipe,” I told her.

“Yeah, but…” My girl turned around, and I soaked in the sight of her pretty, little, floaty top. I made sure my eyes didn’t drop down, meeting only her gaze. “They’re gonna know.”

“What?” I passed my burden over to Van as I ran a hand down her cheek. “That you’re ours. That we love you to fucking distraction?”

“I did nearly cut the top of my thumb with a circular saw the other day,” Van said with a nod.

“What?” Kendall’s attention snapped sideways, but I directed it back to me.

“That you’re our girl and we’re not going anywhere.” Gage said that, stepping forward, the two of us sheltering Kendall from the view of the house. Van moved quickly to join us. “This is who we are now, and they can either accept it or they can’t, but it won’t change anything.”

“If years of pining didn’t, then some grumpy parents won’t make a difference either,” I added.

“Right.” She let out a long breath. “Right. This is fine. Everything will be fine.”

But of course, it wasn’t.

“Here he is!” Van’s mother, Heather, got to her feet and came over, arms outstretched. “My boy! And you brought salad.” She shot it a wary look. “Is it edible?”

“Hello to you too, Mum.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Kendall made it, so yeah, it tastes amazing.”

“Kendall!” Heather turned to our girl and rushed towards her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “We haven’t seen you for ages. How are you, darling?”

“Ah, good…” Kendall replied. “I made a couple of salads.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that!” Heather said.

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