Page 223 of Branded
But no years.
Hell, no one had even bet on it taking longer than six months for Smitty to fix Cas’s picker and for Cas to fall head over feet for the perfect woman.
Romantics, all of them.
And I loved it, loved them, loved that the team was getting along.
All of which meant the team was playing great.
All of which meant that Raph was happy.
I was…getting there—or maybe that feeling growing in my belly, my heart, my mind was more than getting there.
Maybe I already was happy.
And maybe I could stay that way.
A month later, Hazel, Pru, Kailey, and I were sitting at a high-top table at CeCe’s.
A babysitter had been hired, seven more therapy sessions had been attended and survived and left me feeling wrung out…but in a good way. I was…dealing with it, dealing with the demons, the guilt, the worry, the past, and the pain. None of it was gone, but I was finally able to halt my thoughts, to redirect without burying.
And that felt like I’d shed a dozen pounds…all of which I was doing my level best to fill with cheese.
But my feeling wrung out meant that Raph, the lovable, overprotective lug, had decided to call an informal guys’ night. Cas, Raph, Marcel, Oliver, Theo, Walker, and Smitty had all turned up and been relegated to another high-top table on the other side of the bar.
None of them minded.
The guys were…well, overprotective guys. Plus, they didn’t cross the carefully drawn boundaries that I had laughingly put into place, sealing the declaration by laying a kiss on Raph that I knew had ensured we’d be all aboard the Breakers’ gossip train.
I didn’t mind that either.
I was feeling…protective and possessive myself.
But those feelings didn’t send me spiraling, so…progress.
Then it had been time to stop thinking and to start participating in a much-needed Cheese Night Extravaganza.
Fried mozzarella. Nachos. Cheesy tater tots. Chili cheese fries. A nod at pretending to be healthy with a Caprese salad. Grilled cheese sliders.
If it had cheese, it went in our mouths.
As I went at the cheese consumption for a bit, though my belly was happy, I could cop to missing the ability to have a beer. God, all that cheese would go just perfectly with the hoppy deliciousness of an ice-cold beer.
“I’ll bring you one in the delivery room,” Pru said, my friend seeming to have understood exactly what me staring longingly at the pitcher of beer had brought to mind.
I cackled. “We’ve clearly been friends too long.”
“Not long enough,” Pru whispered, squeezing my hand. “Lucky to have you, Bethie.”
I inhaled, eyes prickling. “You going gushy on me again?”
Pru’s mouth turned up. “Let’s just say that the next friends’ trip we take is to a spa.” A beat, her next words sounding like chewing on broken glass because they would be torture for Pru. “With lots of shopping expeditions.” I let loose a squee that had Pru groaning, her head tipping back, eyes on the ceiling as she muttered, “Heaven help me.”
I flung an arm around Pru and hugged her tight, and as I turned back to the table, I caught sight of Raph watching me, lips turned up at the corners.
“God, he’s pretty,” I whispered.
“I think he thinks the same of you,” Pru whispered back.
