Page 33 of No First Kisses

“Go away, Maya. Don’t you have kids to torment or a husband to torture?” I don’t bother looking up at my friend and former boss. “It’s Logan’s stupid penis. He did all of this, and now all I want is tacos, even though I usually hate them.”

“I mean, didn’t it take two of you to make a baby?” Maya holds up her hand to get the server’s attention, and I see the familiar splash of rainbow ink on the inside of her arm.

“Hey, Maya. You eating today?” Violet Ortiz, Dom’s little sister and the woman who runs Lucy’s for Parker, walks up with an apron on. “Poppy’s already had three tacos, so you’ll have to hurry if you want to catch up.”

I stare at her, narrowing my eyes almost comically. “It’s the demon spawn in my stomach. And what happened to confidentiality.” The demon spawn that chooses that moment to flip and do some sort of acrobatics in my uterus to celebrate the food that I’m forcing myself to eat.

“There’s no such thing.” She laughs.

“I hate tacos,” I tell no one in particular and then groan when I see four more faces appear behind Violet. “Go away.”

“Oh, no chance of that.” Parker takes out her phone and snaps a picture. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” She scoots around Violet and slides into the booth next to Maya, making room for Kennedy who is right behind her.

I scoot over too, letting both Chloe and Emma sit on my side, even though I want to hide the shame of eating my least favorite food.

I know there’s no escaping these women. Even if I wanted to, which I don’t because they’re my friends.

“You know you’re eating tacos, right?” Emma leans over so that her words are barely above a whisper. “I thought you hated tacos.”

I groan again, but this time I don’t have food I’m going to shove in my mouth. “Yeah,” I tell her. “It’s Logan’s demon spawn. Maya just gave me crap about it, too. I told the universe I hated tacos and this is my punishment.”

“Well, I don’t know about you all.” Chloe pats her growing stomach. “But I’m pregnant and want tacos. Vi, can we just go ahead and get like forty of those bitches out here?”

A round of agreement from the pregnant women around the table has Vi and Maya laughing.

“Sure thing. I’ll grab some waters for you all, too. Anything else?”

“Nope.”

“No.”

“Not right now.”

“Actually, I want a Dr. Pepper,” Kennedy chimes in last. “I need the bubbles, ’cause I’m gonna go find out what I’m having.”

“Twins,” Parker snaps irately. “You’re having twins. That’s what you’re having.”

“No,” I counter with a snicker. “That’s you.”

She shakes her head and stares down at her stomach. “I really, really don’t want to have twins.”

“It’s a little too late for that,” I say around the taco that I’m eating. “You did the horizontal tango, mambo, or whatever it is, and now you’ve got two of them in there. Good luck with that.”

We are all quiet for a second, and Maya does something that takes me by surprise. She wraps an arm around Parker’s shoulders and squeezes. “Did you know that after my attack, the doctors told me I’d never have a baby at all.”

The entire table freezes, which is something in and of itself, because I’m currently trying not to stab Chloe in the hand with a fork for trying to steal the last taco on my plate.

“Poppy’s the one who sat with me afterward, telling me that the doctor was an idiot and that I’d end up pregnant… and I did.” She smiles at me. “So, I feel like she’s good luck in the baby department. I bet you’re having twins because of her. I know we joke about it, but still. Twins is a good thing.”

“No.” Parker shakes her head. “I’m having twins because my idiot of a husband is an idiot and questioned Kevin’s bucket list when we thought he was dead. And Kevin’s a fuckin’ psychic or witch and can make me have twins. I’m suffering because of Remy. That’s why.”

The entire table erupts in cackles, and I take the chance to shovel the rest of my taco into my face, chewing loudly while no one pays me any attention.

“Do you like it when there’s a crowd of people?” Chloe lowers her voice. “I gotta be honest, I hate it when there’s a crowd of people. It makes my skin start to crawl. But being around friends, and not being forced to say anything at all while everyone else has a conversation around you… It’s kind of the best thing ever.”

“It’s my favorite part,” I admit completely innocently. “I don’t need to be the center of conversation. I just get to watch, and now I can eat at the same time.”

More plates appear almost out of nowhere, and I smile up at Vi when she slides a small pizza in front of me.

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