“I’m with Logan,” I say, accepting a champagne flute from Theo. “You got the ring yet?”
“Yeah, I—”
“You should’ve fucking called us before you went shopping,” Colt groans, folding his hands. “Can you return it?”
Conor’s eyebrows bunch in the middle. “You haven’t even seen it yet!”
“Doesn’t matter. Your taste in jewelry is... really fucking bad,” Nico says. “The only good-looking accessories you buy are watches.”
“It’s a nice ring,” Conor huffs, pulling his phone to show us the picture. His face immediately falls when we cringe. “What? What’s wrong with it?”
“What’s right?” I chuckle, patting his back. “Come on, seriously? is that the biggest diamond they had?”
“No, they had seven carats, but it was square. This is six. The bigger, the better, right?”
“The diamond doesn’t have to reflect the size of your dick,” Logan chuckles, drying his champagne flute.
It takes another half an hour of innocent banter before Conor settles on a prettier and far less obnoxious ring.
Nico’s out the door the moment we call it a day, and Colt follows suit. Within the next half an hour, everyone but Theo leaves. He lingers, nursing his beer, staring into the distance like he’s got something to get off his chest.
“I’m sorry,” he finally says.
I look over my shoulder, checking whether someone’s hiding on the patio, but no. We’re alone. My eyebrows knot in the middle, not a clue what he’s apologizing for.
“You’ll have to elaborate.” I rest both elbows on my knees. “What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t want you to babysit River.”
“You didn’t? Good to know... mind telling mewhy? Am I untrustworthy or something?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s fucking stupid, Cody. I got an earful from Thalia about it already, so spare me.”
I toss back the last of my beer, setting the empty bottle on the coffee table. “You’re not explaining much, bro. Out with it.”
“I was... jealous.”
A semi-horrified scoff of amusement saws past my lips. “Jealous? What the fuck do you mean? When have I ever given you a reason to be jealous? I don’t even tell your wife she looks nice when—”
“I wasn’t jealous about Thalia, Cody,” he says, cringing before a long sigh leaves his lips. “I told you it’s stupid. You’ve always been great with kids. Josh, then Aiden, but Noah... you’ve got something special with him. It’s almost like he’s yours. I didn’t want you babysitting River because I thought you wouldn’t give him the same attention.”
As grateful as I am for his honesty, I’m fucking offended. I love all my nephews equally. But kids don’t take to everyone equally. They don’t pretend, so if they like you, they like you, and if they don’t, you’re fucked.
“I don’t favor Noah, Theo. He favors me. I’m Logan’s first point of call because Noah enjoys spending time with me best. I treat him the same way I’ve always treated Josh, and yet I’m not Josh’s favorite uncle, Logan is.”
“Yeah, I know,” he mutters, nervously toying with the bottle. “Like I said, Thalia already did the talking.”
“She said you have to apologize?”
He lets out a laugh, relaxing a bit. “You know she did, but it would’ve occurred to me at some point. Especially because you did great with him.”
“I had help,” I say, andoh fuckblares inside my head before the words are out.
“Help?”
Running my fingers through my hair, I busy my hands redoing my bun. “Yeah, a friend stopped by when River was crying, and helped me calm him down.”
He must notice I purposely omitted a pronoun. I’m not proud I let Blair in that day. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be where I am right now—very well acquainted with her gorgeous body.
