“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” she says. “Mads needs this. He needs you all together, making music and creating something new. If I need something, Wren has been on my ass, honestly. She’s awkward about the sentiment, but she really knows how to make you feel better otherwise. She even packed for me this morning because we were at the doctors first thing.”
I chuckle under my breath, then let out an exhale as I pull her into a deep hug. She squeezes me back, and I wish I could tell her that they’d get through this and it would all work out. But fuck, I’m the one living on borrowed time. I have no idea if everything will be okay.
Still, I really want it to be.
Mads quietly knocks on the door, and I slowly release Andi.
His jaw tenses as he peers at his wife. “Did you…”
Andi nods. “Yeah, I told her.”
He scratches the back of his head and then claps his hands together. “I fucking jinxed it,” he says when he looks at me.
I shake my head, on the verge of tears myself, just seeing the defeated look on his face. “Fuck that, man,” I say as I bring him into a hug. “You didn’t jinx anything. If anything, you told the universe it was going to happen. Watch out world, this kid is on its way, no matter what obstacles you throw. Get prepared.”
He huffs amusedly into my shoulder and sways us slightly. “Get fucking prepared,” he says, and I can hear him holding emotion back. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks me.
I pull back and slap him on the arm. “I’m great, Mads. Really. I need you to believe me on this.”
He nods. “Yeah, I do, Bon. You look…” His gaze moves over me, and I snicker.
“Sober?” I ask.
“Fucking happy, man,” he says, grinning crookedly.
Andi takes his outstretched hand. “Yeah, he’s right,” she agrees.
“If she fucks up, though, tell me,” he adds.
This time, I laugh. “Yeah, okay,” I say.
Gemma appears in the sliding door to the outside then, shoulder leaned against the frame, hands in her pockets. The corner of her lips lifts as if she knows I find that stance irresistible, and I push past Mads and Andi to go to her.
“I really hope that new apartment has lots of doorways,” I say when I reach her.
“Yeah? Why’s that?” she asks.
“Because if you’re going to look like this in every doorway you stand in, I’m going to need you to fuck me in each of them,” I answer.
Her smirk widens. “I can do that,” she says before our lips meet.
She tastes like freshly juiced pineapple and strawberries, and I almost groan at the taste.
“Go for a walk with me?” I ask her when we part.
“Okay.”
We exit down the balcony steps before anyone can interrupt us. Gemma gives me her hooded jacket to slip on when we’re halfway down, and I curl it around my arms like a safety blanket.
Shit, when I die, bury me in it. It’s oversized and cozy and smells just like her.
“Are you okay?” Gemma asks when we’re down the beach a little ways.
“Yeah, I just needed a minute,” I reply. “All the adrenaline and excitement, the new ideas swimming… I wanted a moment with you to calm my mind.”
She smiles as if the sentiment is surprising. “Do you need to talk it through?”
