Ten minutes later, Cole was tightening the last bolt – again. He’d just pushed back to his feet when he felt the presence of someone behind him. Turning slowly, he noticed Alex McDermott standing there with a huge grin on his face.
“What the hell are you smiling at?” Cole asked, an answering smile splitting his face.
“Nothing,” Alex said with a chuckle that belied his answer. “I was just called over to supervise, but now that I see you’re finished, I think this calls for a beer.”
Supervise? Cole would’ve laughed if the underhanded scheme was even remotely funny. “I’m thinking more like a six pack. Have you heard from Tag and Luke?”
Cole followed Alex out of the small room that Sierra had set up as the nursery and down the main hall to the living room. When he walked in, he stopped abruptly, staring at the mess of shit hanging from every possible place they could reach.
Lord, he was so glad that Luke would be responsible for the cleanup and not him. That was the deal. He put the crib together, Luke signed on for cleanup. Even if he didn’t know it yet.
“They’re going to meet us at the club in forty five minutes. Logan’s on his way now.”
Thank God they had managed to get out of having to attend the baby shower. At one point, Sam tried to convince them that this was a couple’s baby shower and that he and Luke needed to be there for Sierra. For once, the men managed to win that argument when they practically boycotted going. Needless to say, Sam probably wasn’t all that happy with them, but, if Cole had to guess, Logan more than made it up to her later that night.
“Mind if I catch a ride with you?” Cole asked as he continued staring around the overly decorated living room, streams of pink and white ribbons everywhere.
Yep, he was definitely not going to clean this mess up.
~~*~~
“Put your damn phone down,” Luke growled. “Leave that woman alone and let her enjoy the damned baby shower.”
Cole glanced over at Logan and grinned. The man had been glued to his cell phone for the last twenty minutes, and by the look on his face, it was clear he was texting Sam. Or knowing them, sexting.
“Screw you,” Logan laughed. “You’re just jealous because yours is too busy opening presents to want to have anything to do with you. Or him.” Logan grinned, glancing over at Cole.
“Well, you better enjoy this while you can, that’s all I can say. Before long, you’ll be pulling diaper duty, and there’ll be no running out of the house for a beer with the guys,” Alex said before downing the rest of his beer.
“And what the hell do you know about diaper duty? Aren’t you supposed to be planning a wedding?” Cole countered.
“I think Ashleigh’s got that one covered. She asks my opinion, I nod, and she goes on about her business. It’s not like she’d care if I disagreed with her anyway.”
“I’m still trying to convince McKenna to run off to Vegas,” Tag chimed in.
“Bullshit.” Luke didn’t even bother to hide his opinion behind a cough the way Logan did which incited a round of laughter at the table. “That’s not how I heard it. I was told McKenna wanted to run off to Vegas, but you insist on a real wedding.”
Cole wanted to see his stepbrother get out of that one. There was no way Tag could deny that he was the one who insisted they have a normal wedding. Whatever the hell normal meant.
Cole happened to know that Tag was getting a little antsy about when they were going to get married. They had yet to set a date, and even though Tag said he hassled McKenna about it – good naturedly of course – she hadn’t committed to anything. Cole was pretty sure they didn’t have a valid reason for the delay, aside from Tag being so busy.
“I noticed you two were hanging at the club last Tuesday,” Logan commented, his eyes intensely focused on Tag.
That caught Cole’s attention, and he turned to stare at Tag, fighting the urge to smile. He lost. That was a fascinating tidbit of information if he did say so himself. Considering Tag was as possessive toward McKenna as a man possibly could be, hearing that he was hanging out at the club made Cole wonder whether he might be reconsidering some of his rigid rules.
“Does that mean y’all are looking for something more?” Luke asked, suddenly looking somewhat interested in the direction the conversation was headed.
“We’re always looking for something more,” Tag replied snidely, and Cole sensed a wealth of hidden meaning behind that statement.
Over the last few months, the five men had managed to meet up at least once a week. It seemed as though they all had the relationship thing in common, which somehow equated to some sort of bond – or so Sam and Sierra tried to tell them.