Griff's Place (Havenwood #4) - Riley Hart Page 0,7

I did.

“Whatever you say, Joshy.”

“I love it when you call me that. It’s so cute, our pet names for each other.” Forget that we called Knox Knoxy too. It was a stupid joke in our group. But in that moment, it was just about us.

Griff rubbed a hand over his face. “You make me crazy. Do you know that?”

“Yes, yes I do. You need my kind of crazy.” I nudged his arm. “Come on. You’re glad we’ve gotten closer since everyone started to fall in love around us. Admit it.”

“Well, since you’re my only choice, I guess it’ll do,” he replied, making me laugh.

“Asshole.”

“Learned from the best.”

“Wait. Did you just call me the best?”

He opened his mouth to reply, but then Kellan started speaking. “Chase and I have an announcement to make.”

I frowned, wondering what he was talking about. It wasn’t often, or hell, ever, that Kell kept something from me.

Chase cleared his throat. “Things have been crazy around here the last couple of years, but the one thing I’ve always been sure about is Kell. We’ve been watching Cal and Knox, and…I realized I wanted that. Kell always knew he wanted a family, but, yeah, now we both do. Natalie has agreed to carry the baby.” Kellan nudged him. “It’s a long process, so nothing will happen overnight, but we wanted to tell all of you first. At some point, Nat will be pregnant and we’ll be dads.”

I felt Griff stiffen beside me, which meant he hadn’t known about this either. Kell and Chase were allowed to have their secrets, of course. It made sense they would make the decision together before telling anyone, but I had to admit, there was a dull ache in my chest that I hadn’t known this was something they were considering. If I was feeling it, I couldn’t imagine how much Griffin was.

“We wanted to ask Nat before we told you guys, but as soon as she agreed, we planned this,” Kellan rushed out. “And, um, that’s not all.” He turned toward Chase and lowered down to one knee. Holy shit. Was this happening? “Chase Hawthorne, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve loved you my whole life, and—”

“Yes.” Chase tugged Kellan to his feet, answering the question before Kellan could ask it. Then they were kissing and crying, and when they pulled away, Kellan’s shaky hand pushed a ring onto Chase’s finger.

Everyone was clapping and congratulating them, but Kell’s eyes searched for Griffin. They moved toward each other, almost as if in slow motion. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you first. I just…”

“Shut the hell up and give me a hug,” Griff told him, which Kellan did. “I’m happy for you. You know that,” Griff added as I watched the moment between them. It was intense, the way they were looking at each other, and I had to avert my gaze, feeling like an interloper.

“Mom and Dad…”

“Would be too,” Griff said, hugging him again. They pulled apart, and Kell came for me next as Griff and Chase hugged, slapping each other on the back.

“Daddy Kellan, huh?” I asked with a grin.

A smile split his face from ear to ear. “And future husband. Listen, I didn’t tell you first because…”

I shook my head. “Because it was something special between you and the man you love. You don’t need to apologize to me about that. Come here.” We hugged. “All I know is, I better be your best man.”

“Always. Also, you’ll be Uncle Josh,” Kellan said, and for a moment I felt strangely sad. Not because I didn’t want this for him, and not because I had feelings for him or anything, but…well, because things were changing. Before, we’d all been young and single and only worried about having fun. It wasn’t the same anymore. Kellan was going to be a dad and a husband, and Griff and I would be uncles. “I love you, Josh.”

“I love you too.” Inexplicably, my eyes were drawn over his shoulder to Griff and Chase.

We pulled away, and everyone toasted the news. I congratulated Natalie as well. She was the best kind of friend to do this for them. They weren’t going to use her eggs, apparently, so that would be part of the process they started first. They’d use a donor, but once that was sorted, Natalie would basically be the oven for nine months.

The laughter continued for the rest of the evening. Griff was chatting and laughing right along with them, and