Guests mingled, sat, and ate in the yard and around a fire pit that Xavier had talked Anton into letting him put in. Somebody had brought a piñata for the kids and had set it up hanging from a tree branch.
I even spotted the neighbors, meaning that Xavier had the foresight to invite them to head off any complaints.
“Damn man,” Xavier said, dropping onto the chair next to me. “These cookies your cousin’s mate made are amazing!”
I smiled. “The chocolate chipotle raspberry ones?”
“Yeah!”
“One of Roland’s favorites. He makes them a lot for parties.”
“I can see why. And those babies? Hella cute.”
I grinned. Jace’s babies were adorable. “Yeah, Jace is a proud papa.”
Xavier reached over and squeezed my knee, sending an unexpected jolt of desire up my spine. “I’m glad you invited them all. Parties are always better when nobody feels left out.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
A black man whom I didn’t know walked over, hand outstretched. “Xavier! My man! Killer party.”
Xavier stood, grasped the other man’s hand, and pulled him into a hug, thumping him a couple of times on the back. “Donny! Glad you could make it man!”
Xavier turned and motioned to me. “Donny, this is Owen, one of my housemates. Owen, Donny. We shared a room in college.”
I stood and shook Donny’s hand.
“Nice to meet you,” I stated.
“Back at ya!” He grinned, then turned to Xavier. “Hey man, where we setting up the food? I brought bread pudding.”
“Aw hell yeah! We’ve got tables on the patio. Need a hand?”
“If ya don’t mind.”
Xavier turned and squeezed my shoulder. “Later Owen.”
I waved him off. “Later.”
They strode off across the yard and out the side gate, and I took a seat again, watching everybody mingle.
Jace and the babies had immediately become the center of attention with all the omegas in attendance, each cooing over Ellie and Ethan. They were somewhere in the vicinity of the piñata, everybody taking turns holding the twins.
In the far corner, I spotted Jace’s and Ryan’s mates deep in discussion. Over what, it was hard to say. On the surface, it would seem they had little in common, with Ryan’s mates being self-made millionaires and Jace’s everyday men. But they always seemed to get along well when they got together.
One person I didn’t see was Ryan. I looked around and spotted him about three seconds before he plopped onto my lap.
“Too much?” I guessed, wrapping a steadying arm around his middle.
He leaned his head against my shoulder and nodded. “A bit.”
“You don’t regret coming, do you?”
He shook his head. “No. I just need a minute to recharge is all.”
“Do you want to go downstairs?”
“I’ll be ok.”
