His mouth curves. He lowers his head. "We can keep playing it quiet, or we can stop."
A soft breath. "You've never been good at quiet."
"You keep me honest." His fingers tap his knee. "The girls already know. It's time."
She studies him, eyes warm. Around them, the clubhouse keeps moving. Kyle talking, Ruby laughing, a chair scraping. None of it reaches them.
"Okay," Darla says.
East straightens, voice carrying. "We have news."
Darla's hand drifts to her stomach. "I'm pregnant."
For a heartbeat, no one speaks.
Malachi steps past Darla and stops in front of East, hand coming down hard on his shoulder. "Well." Voice roughened. "That's big news."
East exhales into a laugh. "Yeah. One word for it."
Kyle's reaction comes all at once. "Wait, you're serious?" A grin cracks across his face. "Holy shit."
The room bursts into movement, handshakes and arms around Darla. Voices overlap, stacking on top of each other. Candace squeezes Darla's arm once, unsurprised. I glance at Sloane. She knew.
"Wait," Kyle says, head swiveling. "Did you all know?"
Ruby grins. "Girls' night."
Kyle throws his hands up. "Of course."
Nash mutters, "We're always last."
Frankie's mouth curves. "As it should be."
East lowers himself into the nearest chair. Darla stays close, fingers on his forearm.
"It's twins," he says, calm as anything.
"What?" Kyle blurts.
Ruby laughs, startled. "Twins. You're screwed."
Malachi exhales, a grin tugging at his mouth. "That explains a lot." He claps East's shoulder. Solid.
I step in and grip East's shoulder. "Congratulations. That's big."
He looks up, unhurried. "Yeah."
Voices stack. Questions tumble, Maggie calls out that food's getting cold. The room fills back up. East stays seated, Darla at his side, the two of them unmoving while everyone adjusts around them.
Sloane's knee bumps mine. Her eyes hold me, thoughtful. I squeeze her thigh. She squeezes back. I drag her closer, palm spread across the dinosaur-printed fabric at her waist. My thumb finds the seam and traces it.
"You're still petting the scrubs," she whispers.
"You're still wearing them."
"Because someone stole my real ones."
"Allegedly." I press my mouth to her temple. "You look good."
