Page 54 of My Brother's Forbidden Friend

“Are you really suggesting this?” There’s a softness in her expression for a moment, but the doors to the hospital open and we overhear Ethel arguing with a nurse, so that softness disappears. “It was just sex, Cam.”

She walks away to join her grandma at the counter.

“Still hitching rides with my little sister?” Fisher comes up to me holding a squirmy Laurie.

“Hey, man, we need to talk.”

His forehead wrinkles. “What about?”

“Well… eh…”

“How nice of Cade and Presley to include us,” Ethel says, glancing at Jed and interrupting the conversation I want to have with Fisher.

But as eager as I am to get his blessing, this probably isn’t the time.

Jed throws his hands in the air. “For the love of…”

Molly rocks their baby boy, Joshua, shaking her head at the continued guilt trip the family is still laying on her and Jed after they didn’t tell anyone when she was in labor a few months ago.

“You made me miss seeing one of my great-grandchildren being born,” Ethel says.

“I told you, he came fast. We didn’t have any time,” Jed continues to argue.

I’m fairly sure he’s lying. He and Molly probably just wanted it to be the two of them. Emelia was already at Cade and Presley’s for the night since Jed and Molly were doing a date night. Hell, they probably had sex to induce labor.

“There’s always next time,” Posey says.

“And I called you as soon as it was over,” Jed says.

Marla sits in the corner, rocking Shay, Posey and Gavin’s new little girl. She doesn’t look bothered that Jed didn’t call them. Except for Chevelle, every one of the Greene clan is married, and the majority have kids now. Xavier and Clara are in San Francisco since it’s football season, and Mandi and Noah are out on one of his photo shoots, so the waiting room isn’t as crowded as it normally would be when one of them is having a baby.

Chevelle sits on the floor next to Axel and plays with the toys the hospital has for children. Soon, Noah, Nikki’s son, joins, and Leighton, Cade’s daughter, whines to get out of Hank’s lap. She’s wearing her “Big Sister” shirt. Before she realizes it, Chevelle is surrounded by her nieces and nephews, all vying for her attention.

I sit in a chair and watch her interact with them. How natural it is for her to take a book out of Axel’s mouth or put the rings in the right order with Leighton. She’s going to be a great mother.

Chevelle looks at me, and I smile, but she turns away. She’s really struggling with the fact that we slept together. I’m not gonna lie, it was the best sex of my life. I don’t know if it’s because it’s Chevelle and I’ve waited years to have her, but I want her again and again and again. I don’t know that I could ever get enough of her.

For the next couple hours, people pace, get coffee, go for walks.

Allie has to start her shift, so when Fisher becomes responsible for both twins, he says, “We’re out. I have to work in the morning, and if I don’t get these two asleep, they’ll be nightmares tomorrow.”

I stand to walk Fisher out, and Chevelle narrows her eyes at me.

“Well, I’m sitting right here. I’m not going to miss another birth,” Ethel says.

Jed rolls his eyes with Emelia asleep on his lap. Molly holds Joshua and gives Jed a knowing look. He rises from his seat, Emelia draped in his arms. “We’re out too.”

One by one, the siblings leave with their babies, leaving me, Chevelle, Ethel and gang, Hank and Marla.

“You can go,” Chevelle says.

“I’m good.”

“But you don’t have to be here.”

I shrug. “Cade is my friend.”

“Fisher’s your friend.”

---