Page 44 of Your Soul to Keep

Did the girls know we were together?

Not really.

I shifted from one foot to the other.

Did he want everyone to know?

I had no idea.

Wrapping his hand around the back of my neck, he pulled me up to my toes and planted a hard kiss on my mouth. “Happy birthday, Shae-baby.”

“Whoop!” Bridge laughed.

“So,” Noelle crowed. “It’s like that, is it?”

I rolled my eyes.

Gabe kissed my forehead before answering, “Yeah. It’s exactly like that.”

Rudy barreled out of the kitchen, Marlena and the rest of the regular staff on his heels. “Okay, okay!” he bellowed. “We’re going to sing, Shae is going to make her wish, and then I’m going to feed you.”

Two hours and copious amounts of food later, Rudy, Marlena, and the rest of the staff had gone home leaving only us sitting around the table.

Daire slumped back in his seat with his long legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed. With a lazy smile on his handsome face, his fingers tangled in Harley’s hair as usual. Laid-back and easy-going, he was Harley’s perfect counterpart. Of course, rumour had it he wasn’t always so laid-back, especially when it came to Harley.

Wren, the most reserved of all of us, sat with her elbows braced on the table. Max sprawled in the chair beside her, his dimple flashing as he told a story about Gabe who sat beside me with his head in his hands, shoulders shaking, tattoos running from his fingers clear up his arms to disappear beneath the short sleeves of his shirt.

I couldn’t wait to strip him down and see where they ended.

“Stop thinking dirty thoughts,” Bridge whispered from my other side.

I snorted out a laugh.

Max tried to contain himself to finish. “There we were, me running around at the bottom like a drunken asshole—”

“Which you were,” Gabe interjected.

Max nodded, speaking through his laughter. “And Gabe’s stuck on the roof whisper-yelling instructions thinking he’s being quiet. The door opened and we both hit the deck.”

Max begins to squeak. “Then I hear,” he chokes, “water hitting the ground.”

“I couldn’t hold it anymore!” Gabe throws his arms out in exasperation. “Six beers and stuck on that fucking roof for two hours?”

Noelle threw her head back, nearly falling out of Hawkley’s lap where she’d ended up shortly after dinner. After ten years apart, they had finally married and were now on their second kid. Most days, a piece of paper wouldn’t fit between them.

Max and Wren left first, her hand clasped tightly in his as they walked out laughing softly, his dark head bent to hers.

Bridge caught a ride home with Noelle and Hawkley a few minutes later.

“We should go, too.” Harley stood up and winced. “Whoopsie!”

Daire followed her line of vision down to her very swollen feet. He growled, actually growled, before scooping her up in his arms and carrying her out with her purse over his shoulder.

“Love your purse, Daire!” Gabe shouted after him.

Harley shot him the bird over Daire’s shoulder.

Gabe laughed then turned to me, his face softening. “Did you enjoy your party?”

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