Levi
MaxwellMasterson.
A part of me begs to cry rivers at the sound of my father’s name. The other part of me demands to spit nails at the two holding that little angel. Meredith knew. Sheknewthat was the name we picked out for our child, no matter if it were a boy or a girl. It was a done deal, sealed forever just like my father’s casket. The nightmare that ensued last year plays back in my mind as if calling me out on the lie, and I push the thought rightbackout.
I force myself to take a breath, and my chest expands over Low’s sweet body, her tits pressed tight up against me, soft as cushions. As soon as I saw her in this tight red dress, I knew the hospital was the last place I wanted to take her—especially with this crew around. I sure as hell didn’t want to take her to the bar and parade her around Axel and Brody. Nope. A selfish part of me wanted to take her somewhere quiet, someplace where we could be alone. Alone has been my favorite place to be as of late, so it doesn’tsurpriseme.
“Maxwell.” I pull back, and my lids open lazily to find Low’s gaze already pinned to mine. Low has gorgeous, oversized, almond-shaped eyes, green on the outside with hazel feathers creating a whirlpool of shadow in the center. They’re complex, just like her. “That’s a beautiful name.” And I deeply regret with everything in me that I blurted out the fact it was something I would have loved to have named my ownchild.
“Is that true?” Chip cuts a dark glance to Meredith. “Did you plan to use that namewithLevi?”
Meredith’s cheeks light up, uneven and blotchy. That’s the thing about Mer. Whenever she blushes, it looks as if she took a fresh slap to the face. “I don’t know. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I thought of it. I always did have to do everything on my own.” She clips out those last words like the barb they were meanttobe.
The shrill cry of a phone disrupts the silence, and the baby begins tosquirm.
“Oh!” Mom jumps and begins digging in her purse. “Damn thing is never around when youneedit.”
“Hurry the hell up,” Mer barks. “You’ll wake her up, and it’ll be babygeddon all over again.” She grunts my way. “She didn’t sleep a wink last night, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little cranky.” She glares at both Low and me. A part of me wants to laugh at the irony. Mer herself came out of the womb cranky and hasn’t letupyet.
“She just got here.” I’m shockingly quick to defend my new little niece. “She wanted to check theplaceout.”
“Aha!” Mom lifts her phone in the air, only to have it jump from her grasp like a slippery fish. “It’s Raven! She’s trying to do that fancy face thing,” she trills, and Low hitches a breath as if she’s about to have her identityunmasked.
“You know”—she lifts a cherry red fingernail in the air—“I think I’m going to jump in the hall and find the little girls’ room.” Low gives a gentle scratch to my cheek before pinching them together. “Don’t you leave me,Boobear!” She bites down on her lips as if holding back alaugh.
“All right, Peaches.” I pull her in for a quickembrace.
“Peaches?” she mouths, perplexed bythename.
I bury my lips near her ear and whisper, “It was that or Waffles.” True story. Ever since Low walked into my life, she’s held the scent of that sweet summer fruit, but at the moment I’m craving to take a bite out of her, and the last time I craved something this bad waswaffles.
“Waffles,” she huffs to herself as she speeds outthedoor.
Mom and Raven are busy chatting it up while facetiming with Meredith, so Chip takes a moment and stepsmyway.
His arms are folded tight against his chest, and his chin is tucked down, eyes looking up at me from under his brows, all of which signify the fact he’spissed.
“What’s chewing on your balls?” I fold my arms in a mirrored response that was far more instinctual than it ever wasintentional.
“What’s with the girl?” He glances at the empty doorway, and I take astepback.
“Why? You need a spare?” A dull laugh bumps through me. It’s the first time I’ve spoken to my brother in months, and it’s about a girl—not my wife, not the daughter he just hadwithmy wife,butLow.
“Dude.” He bows his head a moment and pinches his eyes shut. “No, I don’t need a spare.” He looks over at me, the whites of his eyes lost in crimson tracks. “I was just asking. It looked prettyserious.”
“It is pretty serious. And she’s pretty hot. She’s also nice, and kind, and caring.” I hope. “Anythingelse?”
“Yes.” He shoots a quick glance over his shoulder at the melee still unfolding between Mom and Meredith, and, of course, Raven who is screaming her lungs out at how adorable her new little niece is, and she’s right. The sound of my sister’s voice is like a melody sweeping through the room. Imissher.
Chip steps in so close I can feel the anxiety radiating off him like a summer sidewalk. “I’msorry.”
And just like that, it feels as if the floor dropped out from underneath me. In truth, I had envisioned my brother apologizing to me in far more creative ways—for one, with my shoe jammed down his throat. But here in the very room where his—mywife gave birth to his first child feels a bit cheap, maybe even like acop-out.
Raven’s voice cuts out, and the room grows quiet. Low whisks back in as if on cue, and that sweet country scent that’s pulled me to her from the beginning followsherin.
“Congratulations again.” I nod toward Mer, to my mother, but my eyes snag on my brother’s, his face. I know every familiar inch of it. We have always essentially been the very same person, same taste in women, which explains his attraction to Mer, to Low—but that doesn’t mean he can freely pluck them frommyarms.
“We’ll see you later!” Low cries out as I speed us toward the door. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of one another. Boobear and I do everything together. And I do meaneverything!”
