Bella snorts. “You cried over a commercial yesterday.”
“It was emotional,” Bri insists. “There was a dog.”
I shake my head, still smiling. “You’re both pregnant and hormonal.”
Bella shifts against her pillows and grins at me. “I’m really happy for you though. You deserve this.”
Something warm settles in my chest. “Yeah,” I say quietly. “I really am.”
Bri points at me with a piece of popcorn. “Okay but if he ever messes up, Blade and I get the first punch.”
Bella nods seriously. “Second punch.”
I laugh. “Noted.”
Bri reaches for her phone and squints at the screen. “Blade just texted me again.”
Bella groans. “Let me guess. Another reminder not to open the door for strangers, delivery drivers, wildlife, or the ghost of Christmas past.”
Bri reads it anyway, lips twitching. “ ‘Doors locked. Windows locked. Alarm armed. Don’t answer the door for anyone, including us.’ ”
I snort. “We already promised.”
“Twice,” Bella adds. “With eye contact.”
Bri shakes her head, thumbs flying as she types back. “I swear, if he checks the cameras one more time like we’re teenagers throwing a party…”
“He’s absolutely checking the cameras,” I say.
Bella points a piece of popcorn at me. “They’re all checking the cameras.”
She’s not wrong. The guys are all holed up at Bella and Switch’s place tonight with the baby, and they made us lock every window and door before they even pulled out of the driveway. Blade walked the house himself, tugging on locks, testing the alarm panel, checking the back door twice like it might suddenly decide to betray us. Rev lingered in the hallway pretending not to hover while absolutely hovering. Switch did a slow sweep of the yard before he left, eyes scanning shadows that weren’t moving.
And then the lecture came. Don’t answer the door. Don’t open windows. Keep your phones on you. Text if anything feels off.
Bri laughs softly, setting her phone down. “They’ve got the security feed pulled up on the TV over there. Blade said he’s got all the camera angles on split screen.”
“Of course he does,” Bella says dryly. “Nothing says romance like surveillance.”
I smile into my drink. “At least if someone walks past the mailbox wrong, we’ll know about it in under three seconds.”
Bri grins. “Protective idiots.”
My chest warms at the word even as a small, quiet part of me stays aware of the locked doors and drawn curtains. Not afraid. Just alert in the way you get after something shakes your sense of normal for a while. The house feels safe, full of laughter and snacks and sisters, but I still know exactly why the guys didn’t want us answering the door tonight.
Bella tosses a piece of popcorn into her mouth. “Honestly, I kind of love it. We’re basically in a very well-guarded snack bunker.”
Bri lifts her drink. “To the bunker.”
I clink mine against hers. “To locked doors and overprotective bikers.”
I roll my drink slowly between my palms, watching the ice shift in the glass before I glance between them. “Does all the secrecy ever bother you guys?” I ask, keeping my tone light even though the question isn’t. “Do you ever want to know exactly what’s going on with the guys?”
Bri leans back against her pillows and exhales through her nose. “Sometimes,” she admits. “Not because I don’t trust Blade. Just because my brain likes answers. Silence gives it way too much room to spiral.”
Bella nods slowly. “Yeah. Same. There are nights I catch myself wondering what they’re dealing with, if they’re safe, if something’s about to spill over into our world.”
She shifts, one hand settling instinctively over her stomach. “But then I remember they don’t keep things from us to control us. They do it to protect us. There’s a difference.”
