Mason (Carter Brothers #2) - Lisa Helen Gray Page 0,16

grumbles making me chuckle.

“I need to feel this,’’ Harlow says crawling over the blankets to us. Mason grunts beside me not sounding very impressed, but I just roll my eyes at him and nod my head at Harlow.

Her reaction is the same as Maverick’s, except her eyes water as she tells me how incredible it feels.

“Malik, you need to feel this,’’ she gushes, but he shakes his head ‘no’ looking horrified. “Don’t be a baby,’’ she snaps teasingly, and grabs a hold of his hand.

“Holy fucking hell. It didn’t seem real until this moment. There really is a baby inside there.’’ Malik’s face is priceless. He has the same expression as Maverick, but looks more in awe than anything.

“What, did you think I’d just gotten fat or something?’’ I ask pretending to be hurt.

“Shut up idiot,’’ Mason snaps at his younger brother.

The only person who hasn’t felt him move is Max and he’s been quieter than usual, so I take a look over at him to find his eyes firmly fixed on my belly. Or my chest, it could be either.

“Want to feel?’’ I ask him.

“I don’t think Mason would appreciate me touching his girlfriend up in public,’’ he winks. The word girlfriend has me tensing, before I remind myself not to get worked up over it. Mason growls and curses at him under his breath.

“Come here you pleb-head,’’ I tell him, reaching out for his hand.

When he moves forward, he places his hand over the same place the others did, and nothing happens.

“I don’t feel anything,’’ he says sounding disappointed.

“Hold on.’’ I poke my stomach waking the baby back up when all of a sudden he turns, and Max flies backwards, his face pale as he stares at my stomach with a horrified expression.

“She’s giving birth to an alien. I knew it would be half alien anyway coming from my brother and all, but holy shit that felt really weird. Did that hurt? Was that a kick? I saw your stomach move doing the Mexican wave,’’ Max rambles, his voice high pitched.

“No that was definitely not a kick, he moved position.’’

“Doesn’t that hurt?’’ Mason asks and I shake my head ‘no’. The only time it really hurts is when I’m startled by a kick or get a kick to the bladder, the rest just feels foreign to me.

“That was amazing,’’ Harlow announces. “Hey, I need to get some new photos, say cheese,’’ she says looking towards me, Mason and Maverick. Both lads pull in close to me, obviously used to Harlow’s photo fetish. Before I have the chance to smile or say cheese she snaps the photo taking me off guard.

Great! I’m going to look like one of the hillbillies off ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ while Mason and Maverick are going to look like something out of ‘Magic Mike’. It’s unfair.

We spend the rest of the afternoon watching different acts up on the stage. There have been some really good acts, then some horrible ones, but even those were still entertaining.

The best part of the day has been spending time with everyone. Over the past two and a half months I’ve missed them like crazy and never imagined that we’d have this easy friendship again because of my betrayal. But they’ve all welcomed me back and not once has there been any tension or a time when I’ve felt uncomfortable being with them.

It’s coming to the end of the show and we’re all heading back soon, as the place seems to be getting more crowded now everyone is getting off work. The heat is already getting to me even though Mason moved us into some shade. The shade only lasted twenty minutes before it had moved on. After the fourth time of moving I gave up and said I was okay. I’m really hot, and probably look like a sweaty whale right now. Not that I’ve ever met a sweaty whale, but if I did, it would look like I do right now.

Fanning myself with the leaflet some pizza guy left with us, I lean against the tree Maverick stacked with the spare blanket. They’ve all been like this, sweet and attentive. It’s actually been nice and nothing to how I pictured they would react to me when I came back.

“Are you hungry again?’’ Max moans when he sees me rub my belly.

Seriously, I ate four times since we’ve gotten here. Two of those times were just to get Max to spend his money after his comment about Mason