Page 114 of The Triple Play

“Fucking Colton,” I muttered. “Okay, Connie, respectfully, maybe get confirmation withmeand not one of them before you go and schedule things in the future.”

I moved to the couch, sinking down on it with one hand supporting Mell and the other fumbling to free a breast from under my shirt.

“I appreciate that, but we’ve made time fortoday,” Connie insisted.

“Do you want me to invent a teleporter, Connie?” I asked, my eye twitching with irritation. Mell latched fast, like he’d been starving all his four months instead of just twenty minutes. “Because I can’t just appear in Savannah in 20 minutes. We can rebook it, the producer and engineers can reschedule.”

“All right,” she sighed, but I was already lowering the phone and hanging up, letting it drop onto the table beside the couch next to a baby sock and someone’s protein bar rapper. Probably Xavi’s.

I groaned, my head falling back onto the cushion.

Cole raised a brow at me as he wiped his hands on a dish towel, soap and water dripping down his forearms. “What did Colton do?”

“Told Connie I could make it to the studio today and then failed to inform me about it,” I sighed. “To be fair, I think that was last week before the big game. He said he needed to tell me something and I completely forgot about it.”

Cole chuckled and threw the towel over his shoulder.

“I swear, the music business moves way too fast for a mom,” I grumbled, readjusting Mell on my stomach. “A day isn’t enough notice. Aweekisn’t enough notice. I need, like, eighteen years of notice.”

“Youdoknow you can shift him off to one of us if you need to do something last minute, right?” Cole grinned, winking at me as he slipped around the bar and came to sit down beside me.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But that means having to be apart from Mell, and if I’m being honest, I need at least thirty business days to prep for that. Even if that’s toxic parenting.”

He chuckled and leaned in, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “You’re doing great. It’s not toxic, darling,” he grinned. “You just love him almost as much as I do.”

I hit his chest playfully.

“Besides, you’ve got full control of your trust now. Just tell them to fuck off if they’re being too much. You can fund your own tour with it,” he grinned.

The door to the garage opened, and I heard the unmistakable stomp-thud of running shoes being kicked off and abandoned. Colton’s voice came first, low and rumbling, and then Xavi’s sharp laugh behind him.

They walked into the kitchen, sweaty and flushed and smiling like idiots. Xavi rounded the breakfast bar and dropped down on his knees in front of me, leaning in to press a kiss to my cheek before placing another on top of Mell’s fuzzy head, slipping a finger between his little fingers and palm.

“Miss us?” he asked, grinning ear to ear.

“Something like that,” I chuckled.

Colton leaned over the back of the couch, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. His lips brushed against my ear, and I had half a mind to swat him away, but I let him. “You all right, sweetheart?”

“Mostly,” I said, shifting slightly to give allfourof them more room. “He’s eating like he hasn’t seen food in his entire life. Andsomeoneforgot to tell me I was supposed to be in Savannah today.”

Colton grimaced. “Shit, that’s my bad. Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I told Connie off for not asking me directly.”

Xavi waggled his finger, making Mell’s hand rise and fall. “I really don’t understand how we made such a perfect baby. Why aren’t all babies like this? Like, what are people doing wrong?”

Cole snorted. “Everyone feels like that about their kid.”

Xavi shook his head. “Maybe, but, like, this one might not even bemine. And I still feel like that.” He leaned forward, kissing Mell’s head again, and again, and again. “He doesn’t even look like me. He doesn’t look likeanyof us except for Annie. It’s like none of us were even involved in making him except her.”

I smirked down at him. “Good. Growing him was a hell of a lot of work, I deserve full credit.”

Colton chuckled behind me, his chin coming to rest on top of my head. “She’s not wrong.”

Mell started to slow down, his sucking turning lazy and sleepy, and I gently detached him and pulled my shirt back down.

“Want me to take him?” Xavi asked, holding out his arms like he’d been waiting for this moment all day. “Chief Burper on call.”

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