Page 182 of Sebastian's Baby

“What the hell? That didn’t happen before,” I say in confusion.

“Didn’t it?” Lita asks and gives me an innocent smile as the cartoon Hayden proceeds to sink three balls in a row.

It doesn’t take long for everyone else to realize what’s happening as the mini-me plays an absolutely horrendous game of pool that’s more in line with Hayden’s real-life skills, while he’s kicking my ass.

“This is brilliant,” Hayden tells Lita while laughing so hard that he has tears in his eyes.

“It’s very satisfying to see Sebastian having his ass kicked,” Blake comments with a smirk at me.

“Traitor,” I tell Lita as I narrow my eyes at her.

Lita blows me a kiss. “I’m just trying to make sure your ego isn’ttooover-inflated.”

“It’s a bit late for that,” Heather tells her while laughing.

Everyone cheers when Hayden beats me by a mile in the game. I shake my head, then walk over to Lita and wrap my arms around her from behind as I pull her against me. She’s so beautiful and perfect in my embrace.

I lean my head down to her ear and whisper, “You’re lucky I love you, princess.”

“You’re not supposed to be saying shit like that,” Lita says quietly.

She’s wrong because she didn’t agree to go back to our old arrangement, so I get to tell her whenever I want, but especially today.

“It’s my birthday. Surely I can tell you I love you on my birthday?”

Lita sighs, but it’s not an exasperated one, and she sounds content with being here in my arms, so I don’t let her go. I just want to pretend today that everything is good with us, and with Mirabella. I kiss Lita’s head and softly rub her baby bump as I watch Hayden finish out the game.

“Shall we go play pool now?” I ask as the final song plays.

“Okay, I’ll let you beat me at pool, but only because it’s your birthday, otherwise I’d kick your ass,” Gabriel teases me.

“Sure, sure,” I say as I roll my eyes at him.

I finally let go of Lita, but I link my hand with hers and stroke her skin with my thumb as I lead the way back out toward my pool table. As soon as I see the balloons, I groan because I’d forgotten about them while we were playing the computer game.

“How the hell am I going to clean this shit up?” I moan.

“Do you regret putting my face on a balloon now, Sebastian?” Heather asks with a wicked grin.

I laugh as I remember the moment when she saw those balloons at her engagement party. “Nope, the look on your face was priceless.”

“So was yours,” she grins back.

“I have to make a phone call,” Blake says and walks away toward the kitchen.

We wade through the balloons to the pool table, where I rack up the balls so Gabriel and I can play a game. Lita heads to the side of the room, and Hayden takes a seat next to her before striking up a conversation. I love that she fits in with my friends and she hasn’t seemed to have any fangirl moments tonight.

I smile as Gabriel takes the first shot of the game because it’s been the best birthday ever. Better than I could’ve hoped for. I felt my baby girl move for the first time, Lita made me an amazing present, and on top of that, she organized a surprise party with my friends. I couldn’t have asked for more.

Gabriel gets down the red number eleven, but doesn’t get another ball down on his second turn. I easily sink the purple number four and am bent over, aiming for the yellow number one when I hear the familiar sound of Lita crying.

I look up, and my heart breaks at her obvious distress. I immediately drop my cue on the table, stride over to her, and wrap my arms around her so I can hold her while she cries.

“Andrà tutto bene, principessa,” I whisper. “It has to be.”

She cries harder, and I keep reminding her that it’ll be okay, giving her all the hope that I can’t manage to find for myself. I lie to her with assurances that I can’t quite bring myself to believe because I want her to not worry about our baby girl. It’s over five minutes before Lita finally manages to calm down and stop crying.

“Are you okay, princess?” I ask, and Lita nods. “Do you want me to get you a drink of water?”

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