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“Bro,” Ballsack says, voice a low growl.

“What?” he shouts, eyes wide. “No! It’s a blindfold.” His words come out in a rush. “They want to surprise you with something upstairs.”

“Oh.” A laugh bubbles up. “Okay, that makes more sense.”

“Does it?” Ballsack asks, skeptically. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Tommy rolls his eyes, but I turn and give him my back so he can tie the blindfold over my eyes. I consider this part of the process—showing him that I trust his best intentions lay with our house and kingdom.

And that trust, so far, hasn’t been misplaced. Once the blindfold is secure, he takes my hand and leads me slowly, carefully up the stairs, pausing for me on each step. As weget closer to the landing, I catch the scent of fresh paint and sawdust. Did the workers come back?

“Okay,” Tommy says, nudging me forward. “You can take it off.”

Pushing the blindfold off my eyes, I gasp at the sight that greets me.

It’s a garden, filled with blooming flowers and butterflies.

Monarchbutterflies.

“Oh my god,” I whisper, taking in the gorgeous mural on the wall.

The wall where we’ve decided the crib should go is decorated with a sprawling live oak, its Spanish moss seeming almost alive, as if I might catch it swaying in a breeze. Scanning the room, I gape at the new furniture—particularly the rocker in the corner—until my eyes fall on the three men huddled in the corner in paint-splattered clothes, watching me.

“You guys did this?” I ask, overcome with shock and emotion.

“With some help,” Lex says, wiping his hands on a rag. He jerks his chin at the wall. “Remy’s been working on a design for the mural, so he and Sy came over today. The Lords showed up unannounced with the rocker. We were on a time limit, so we all pitched in and helped to get it finished.”

Now I’m even more shocked. “You worked with the Dukesandthe Lords on this?” I ask, eyes darting to Pace. I can’t believe he even let them all in the house.

“They passed security.” He shrugs, looking strangely unconcerned. “And to be fair, Payne and Mercer just showed up bearing gifts.”

“It wasn’t as terrible as you’d think,” Wick says. There are paint smears all over his expensive jeans.

Gently, I wonder, “With Remy?” I’m being vague on purpose. Ballsack and Tommy have no clue he and Remy are related.Luckily, when I glance at them, they throw us all a salute and retreat back into the hallway. “Was it… er, difficult?”

Wicker scoffs, toeing at a dried paint drip on the floorboard. “I might not know how to paint, but I’m sort of an expert at having brothers.”

Lex cuts in, eyebrows hiked up. “So now that this is all done, you can relax and finish gestating our son.”

Pace lurches forward, slamming his fist into Lex’s shoulder. “Don’t say ‘gestate’! It’s fucking gross.”

Lex doesn’t even flinch. “Except for the name,” he adds, mouth strained. “You still need to decide on that, because every week from now until delivery is a melon, and if we start calling this kid ‘pumpkin’, I’ll throw myself off a cliff.”

I look around the room, overwhelmed by how easy it is to picture myself in here with the baby. Rocking him to sleep in the chair. Standing over his crib as I caress his fine hair. Leaning over the rail to brush a kiss against his perfect head.

“Don’t worry.” A small, soft smile touches my lips. “I’ve got a name all picked out.”

15

Wicker

“We pay people to clean.You know that, right?” I say as Verity steps out of the pantry with an armful of canned goods to add to the pile on the counter. When one starts to fall, I jolt. “Shit.” Reaching out, I snag it out of the air before taking a few more that look on the verge of toppling.

“Thanks.” Her smile is grateful.

“And weusedto pay people. Then Pace fired them all—or locked them up—because he doesn’t trust them.”

“True.” I add the cans to the rest of the items she’s cleared off the shelves. “Doesn’t explain what you’re doing.”