Page 60 of Inked Craving

Eli shrugged. “Anyway, you guys are perfect for each other. I’m happy. Plus, I know that you’ve been around for this whole pregnancy thing and for Emery. Sounds good to me. Not that my opinion matters.”

“Eliza sure does tell you a lot,” I said with narrowed eyes.

“Sometimes. Other times, I have to pry it out of her. Mostly, I want to know how that big oaf over there is treating her.”

Beckett leaned forward. “You may know how to kill a man with one hand, but I could still take you out. Just saying.”

Eli winked. “Not nice to threaten the brother-in-law.”

I laughed at the play-by-play, as everyone began eating in earnest. I leaned back and rubbed my stomach. “I’m going to have to work out twice as hard tomorrow. Maybe next time we do salads?”

“We did salads last time,” Benjamin put in but sighed. “Maybe soup. Or stew. No more grease. I think we’re too old for grease.”

“I like it,” Leif said with a grin as he devoured another wing. I bundled up a napkin and threw it at the kid’s head, but Austin caught it.

“Don’t throw things at my kid. Only I can throw things at my kid. And, Leif? Stop showing off how young you are and how much prowess you have. It’s not nice. Not with us old people who are thinking about arthritis medication.”

“My knee has been acting up,” Archer added. “It must be the rain.”

I snorted. “You’re in your twenties. Shut up.”

“So are you.”

We ate a little bit more and watched the game, and I looked around at my friends and figured that…yeah, I’d done pretty well for myself. There was still the unknown out there, the person who had left the notes, but they hadn’t done anything recently, so I figured that maybe that would be the end of it. We were all just hanging out and enjoying ourselves. Later, I would go home alone, but I would see Paige tomorrow. Only I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to go to Paige’s. I wanted to have the right to have that be my home. But I knew it was too soon. Just like it was too soon to tell her that I loved her.

“What’s with the serious face?” Eli whispered as the others cheered on a particularly good play.

“What? I’m just thinking.”

“About Paige?” Eli asked, his head tilted.

“Maybe. I don’t know. We did things a little backward.”

“I feel that,” Eli said, plucking a piece of lint off his jeans. “But sometimes it’s the only way.”

Confused, I turned to the other man. “How are things in Texas?”

“Different. Hard. Easy. Everything.” The other man shrugged. “It’s just the way things are. I don’t know. We’re figuring it out, though.”

“And all of you decided to move down there?”

Eli nodded. “All of us but Eliza. I figured she would want to move down with us, but then she fell in love with a Montgomery, and now she’s stuck in Colorado for the rest of her life.”

I knew Eli was teasing as he said it, but I nodded. “When you fall for a Montgomery, you’re sort of stuck with the whole family. Not that it’s being stuck.”

Eli smiled. “I don’t think there’s a single Montgomery for me, so it looks like I’m going to have to go outside of that family pool.”

“True,” I added with a laugh. “Plus, you’re just settling in Texas. You don’t want to have to move back up to Colorado.”

“Probably not. But it’s nice to see my sister and just relax for a bit. Benjamin hardly lets me do any home repairs at the house since he’s a master at it, but I can pretend that I’m helping my baby sister.”

“What are we talking about over here?” Archer asked as he leaned into us.

“Family,” we both said at the same time, and I laughed, Eli joining in.

Archer grinned. “It’s nice to have us all here. It’s good to be able to just take some time off.”

I looked at Archer, wondering at the strain in his eyes, but I didn’t ask. He would tell us when he needed to. Or we’d all give up waiting and rip it out of him. From the look on Eli’s face, maybe there was something we needed to tear out of Eli, as well. But for now, I let it be and listened to my friends talk while watching the game. I told myself that tomorrow I would see Paige and Emery.

---