CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

STELLA

I wake up splayed across Sebastian's chest, my arms stretching over to Gage. Lucy and Maverick are still fast asleep behind me. Not wanting to wake the others, I get out of bed quietly. Lucy stirs lightly but falls back to sleep almost instantly.

Standing at the foot of the bed, I take in all four people I love in one way or another. While Lucy and I have done things together for the guys, we aren't in love like that, but I love her. Hell, I was willing to give my life in exchange for hers. There's nothing I wouldn't do for her. And I know she'd do the same thing for me. She's, my person. I guess I have four people now, which is insane if you think about it. Most people are lucky to have one, but I have my best friend and our three men. Lucy probably understands me more than the guys because she's a woman. That being said, all three men have come a long way, although none more than Gage. If you had told me, even six months ago, that he'd hold me while I cried, kiss me, and tell me how important I am to him, all without getting his dick wet, I would've told you, you were insane. Don't get me wrong, he's still a psycho but he's our psycho.

For about the hundredth time in twenty-four hours my eyes get teary, and I know what I need to do. Maybe I'm simply super emotional because I'm going to start my period. Mother nature by the way is a whore. Every time I'm late, all my symptoms seem to multiply, but it's time to know for sure. Am I terrified to take the damn test? Yes. It might be negative, which would crush me, but like Gage told me, I'm not alone. I don't have to weather the storm by myself. I'm going to take the test and if it breaks me, I'll let them pick me back up, like they always do.

I grab my bag and head to the bathroom, taking a cleansing breath. I can do this.

Pulling the test out, I open it up and read through the instructions, so I don't mess it up. I don't know if you add too much urine, or not enough, it fucks it up. After peeing on the stick, I set it on the counter and wait impatiently.

Have you ever stared, waiting for the result of a pregnancy test? Five minutes literally feels like hours instead of minutes. When my answer pops up onto the digital screen, I go running into the bedroom, and jump on top of the bed like the insane person I am.

Four sets of eyes pop open, and all of them except Gage look a little afraid by my behavior, but Gage lays back, staring at me with a knowing grin on his face.

I stare at him in shock. "You knew?"

He nods. "Yeah, baby, I knew."

"Knew what?" Mav and Sebastian say at the same time.

I hold the test up for them to see, and say the words I never thought I would, "I'm pregnant."

Gage motions for me to come over to him, pulls me onto his lap and, grabbing onto my hair, he pulls my head close to him so his lips ghost over mine. "Congratulations, Mama."

Alright, someone needs to explain to me why that was so hot. Two seconds later it only gets hotter when he slams his lips to mine aggressively, like he can't wait a minute longer to taste me. I moan into his mouth, and he slides his pierced tongue against mine hungrily. Maverick pushes Gage back. "Don't hog our newest baby mama," I laugh while rolling my eyes, and he presses his lips to mine and takes over where Gage left off, and Sebastian kisses the back of my neck. After they stop pawing at me like dogs in heat, it's Lucy's words that mean the most to me. She throws her arms around me. "We're going to be mummies together!"

GAGE

I thought I'd seen Stella happy before, but right now she's literally fucking glowing with happiness. I had no idea how much it was hurting her that she thought she couldn't conceive but thank fuck our little guys got the job done, not that I lacked faith in our fucking swimmers. She takes a lot of cum, right?

"Do we need to make another one of those baby doc appointments, Stel?"

She bites her lip, and all that does is get three sets of male eyes focused on her fucking mouth.

"Stel? Spit it out, and you know that's not something we allow very often," Sebastian says with a grin. My fucking Pretty Boy knows how to make our girls smile.

"I'd rather wait and see an OBGYN back home, no offense to UK doctors, but we'll be living there, so I want to wait ‘til we're home."

I glance at the guys and see no disagreement, and even Lucy's nodding.

"Uh on that note, I wanted to see if there's anywhere else on your fucking bucket lists, or if we can get home now. I've had about all I can take of Europe right now, and we've got two babies on the way." Fuck me, two babies. I can't let myself think about that right now, because if I let my mind go further into what the hell that means, I'll… what is it Sebastian calls it? A Gage Rage. I'm not angry about growing our family. I'm pre-emptively angry about every little fucking thing that could put our babies in danger. I already know I'll kill for my family, but for my babies? I'll fucking scorch this earth. That thought isn't scaring me as much as it probably should.

"There's one place I'd love to see on our way back," Lucy suddenly says, casting her eyes to Stella before she looks at me again. What the hell's that about? If this is somewhere else in France, I'm gonna lose my shit.

"I mean, it probably isn't literally on our way, but I never got to see much of America when I first went there, so…" she trails off, chewing her lip now. Why the fuck do our women do that so much, because it just makes me horny?

"It's somewhere in America?" Mav asks, stroking his fingers through her soft blonde waves as she pushes her hair back over her shoulders with a huff.

"Yeah, is that a problem? I know America's a huge place, but I've always wanted to visit this bookstore in New Jersey called What the Smut, it's three floors of nothing but smut books."

Shit. She's not wrong about it not being on the fucking way, but at least we'll be back on US soil. The second she named it, Stella jumped in to say she wanted to see it too. If I were a paranoid kinda guy, I'd say they planned it, or it was staged. Oh wait, I am a paranoid fucking guy.

"Why there? And why now?"

Lucy and Stella exchange another fucking look, and then they giggle at some joke clearly only between them.

"Gage, we're pregnant. We're going to be getting bigger, and able to do less, plus we can't fly at some point, and then we'll have kids. When else?" Stella pipes up to say something about the third trimester, but I still feel like I'm missing something here. Should we tell them about our plans when we get back, or let them get this final fucking sightseeing trip out of the way first?

SEBASTIAN

The women want to go to this fucking bookstore, which is in a different state than where we live. They tend to get whatever they want, spoiled fucking beautiful brats , so it's not much of a surprise when the other guys agree. I don't have a problem with them getting to do whatever they want, because Lucy and Stella happy is a stunning sight. However, there's this niggling in my stomach over this little detour. I can't explain it. It sounds fucking crazy. For some reason it feels like there's a black cloud over us and we're doomed. Yet I can't say anything to Gage or Mav because, again, I'd sound insane. Maybe I am. There's a chance that I'm overthinking shit and everything will be fine.

Apparently, it's become a thing in the book world, where some authors randomly stop at a bookstore and sign the copies of their books on the shelves, and then announce on social media where they can be found, and how many there are. I had no clue but then I don't read romance books either, aside from the ones they write. I'll read everything they write together or separately. All three of us do. That's what family does. They support each other, or at least they should. So I guess we're going to the bookstore and I'm going to try to fucking relax about it. It's funny when you finally have everything you could ever want, you'd think you'd be calm and happy, but the thought of losing any of these people frequently sends me into a frenzy. I know I'm not alone with that either. Gage is the same way, but Mav is slightly more chill about it, confident that nobody is going anywhere. He's probably right, considering he's the most sane out of the three of us.

"So we're ready to leave this fucking place then?" Gage asks and we all laugh, because he doesn't like it here to say the least. I don't really know if he truly hates Europe, or if he's had the same niggling feeling I have.

Lucy gazes at him like he's a motherfucking hero. "So, we can go? To the bookshop?"

He answers with a slight nod and both women throw themselves into his arms, kissing him and thanking him. Now, I love Gage, but it pisses me off that he gets all the credit for anything that makes them happy. All because he acts like a dictator the majority of the time, giving the illusion he's in charge. I love him, and I'm happy that the women love him too, but just once I want them to look at me like I've given them something amazing. Gage catches my expression and motions me over to them, and like the lost fucking puppy I am for him, I go.

"Thank Pretty Boy, ladies, he was a big part of the decision."

I roll my eyes until Stella begins running her tongue over my neck, her teeth tugging at my ear as she whispers, "Thank you, Sebastian. Just think of all the smut books we can buy, which means more scenes for you to try out with us."

Fuck. I'm hard as a rock. The best thing about pregnancy, I hear, is some time in the second trimester when they're horny all the fucking time. I can't wait.