Page 33 of Twin Babies for the Silver Fox (Happy Ever Alpha Daddies #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Josie

I wake up to the sound of my phone buzzing against the nightstand like it’s having a panic attack.

Groaning, I roll over and squint at the screen.

Fifty unread messages.

Three missed calls.

Maya. Dee. And a number I don’t recognize.

My stomach twists. That can’t be good.

I unlock it, already bracing myself, and instantly regret it.

Because it’s everywhere.

Texts from Maya in all caps:

OMG DO NOT LOOK AT YOUR TAGS.

CALL ME RIGHT NOW.

THE INTERNET IS INSANE!

A voice message from Dee that’s mostly just her saying I can’t believe it twenty different ways.

And the rest? Links.

Screenshots.

Tweets. TikToks. Instagram reels.

It takes one tap to figure out what it is.

That video.

The one Eli and Jude took weeks ago, after I tripped outside The Marrow, and Knox caught me like some kind of slow-motion romcom movie hero. I’d rolled my eyes at it when they first posted it, and then forgot it even existed.

But now?

Now it’s viral.

Mega viral.

Someone put music over it. Someone else slowed it down and added captions like “Celebrities falling for normal people” and “Real life romance in the Rockies”. There are already fan edits. Fan edits of me. Me and Knox.

My hands shake as I scroll through the comments.

Does anyone know who she is??

I heard she works with him. Did you see @SpillTheTea’s TikTok live?

WAIT, are they DATING IRL???

I want a man to look at me like that, omg.

He’s so hot I’d fake trip too tbh.

He’s too good for her. What happened to him and Savannah?

My heart pounds in my ears.

It’s too much.

I throw the phone onto the bed like it burned me.

Because this? This isn’t cute or flattering or fun.

This is invasive.

I didn’t sign up to be anyone’s internet live stream. I didn’t ask to be part of a viral moment. And I definitely didn’t ask for random strangers to be dissecting my life.

How am I supposed to breathe, let alone talk about the pregnancy, when I’m being turned into a character in someone else’s fantasy?

I press my palms to my eyes, trying to will the tears back.

Because this was already overwhelming, navigating whatever this thing is with Knox, figuring out how to tell him about the actual life growing inside me, trying to steady myself in a town where everyone knows everyone and rumors spread like wildfire.

And now the whole internet knows me by name.

Well, not my name, not yet. But it’s coming. It always comes.

They’re already talking about us like we’re some Hollywood movie, like this isn’t Silver Peak, my hometown, and just my normal life.

I think I really underestimated Knox’s fame, and this has proved that.

But now I can’t breathe. I can’t even think.

I bury my face in my hands, trying to stay quiet, but the sob escapes before I can stop it. It comes out loud and broken, like glass underfoot.

And then the tears rush in, hot and fast, soaking into my sleeves before I can do a damn thing about it. I don’t cry pretty. I cry like I’m unraveling, like something vital is splitting open inside me.

There’s a soft knock on the door, then the creak of it opening.

“Josie?”

Dee.

I don’t answer. I can’t.

She crosses the room in three careful steps, sits next to me on the edge of the bed, and doesn’t say anything at first. She wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me in.

That does me in completely. I cry harder.

Not the silent movie kind. The real, ugly kind. The kind where your nose runs and your chest hurts and your whole body feels like it’s collapsing in on itself.

“I’m sorry,” I manage, voice all shredded and wet. “I didn’t mean… I’m just… I don’t know how to…”

“Hey.” She brushes my hair back gently. “Don’t apologize. Just breathe, okay?”

We sit there for a while. Me crying. Dee being the one person in the world who doesn’t ask anything of me except to keep breathing.

Eventually, when my sobs taper off to hiccups and shallow breaths, she hands me a tissue and says, “Let’s go for a walk.”

I nod, throat tight.

It’s still early enough that the air outside is crisp and quiet. The town’s just starting to wake up, and the sunlight hasn’t fully burned off the morning fog. We walk in silence toward the trail that winds along the bluff above the valley.

Dee doesn’t push. She walks beside me, hands stuffed into her jacket pockets, like she’s been waiting for this moment all along.

We reach Summit Ridge Overlook. The same place I was with Knox not so long ago, when everything felt so much easier.

I stop at the edge and let the wind hit my face.

And then I say it.

It spills out of me.

“I’m pregnant.”

Dee turns to me slowly. Her eyes are wide, but she doesn’t say anything yet. She just processes it.

“With Knox,” I add. “Obviously.”

She lets out a slow breath. “Oh.”

And then she does the one thing I didn’t expect.

She hugs me again. Fierce this time. Protective.

“Okay,” she says, voice steady. “Okay. We’ll figure this out.”

I laugh. A watery, broken little laugh. “I haven’t even told him yet. I was going to. And then that stupid video blew up, and now everyone’s watching and speculating and, wow, I don’t even know who I am to him. What we are.”

Dee pulls back but keeps her hands on my shoulders. “You’re you . And Knox? For all his grumpy, growly, emotionally constipated behavior, he’s not stupid. He sees you. I know he does.”

I want to believe that. I do.

But I also saw the way he froze when those influencers swarmed The Marrow. The way the tension pulled tight in his shoulders, how he retreated into himself.

I know it wasn’t his fault—it overwhelmed him, too. Still, maybe this kind of attention is just part of who he is now, no matter how much he hates it. NFL golden boy turned reluctant public figure, trying to carve out quiet in a world that won’t stop watching.

“I don’t want to be some secret,” I whisper.

“Or some scandal. I don’t want our kid to grow up in a world where everything is performative.

I just want real. And I don’t know if Knox can give me that.

I mean, all of this ... this is his life, right?

The spotlight, the press, everyone talking about him.

It just took me a moment to realize that. ”

Dee’s eyes soften. “Then tell him. Tell him everything. And if he can’t show up for you and that baby, then he’s not who you thought he was. But you’ll still have me. And Maya. Gracie too. And Mom, even if she’s always been a little chaotic.”

That almost makes me smile.

Almost.

I look back at the valley. At the fog lifting.

I don’t know what Knox will say. I don’t know if he’ll rise to the moment or run from it. But the truth is here now. It’s real. It’s happening.

And I’m done hiding from it.

“I’m gonna tell him,” I say, out loud this time. “I have to. I can’t keep this inside anymore. As soon as I can.”

Dee gives a firm nod. “Good.”

Because no matter what happens next, he deserves to know.

And I deserve to be more than a viral moment.

I shift a little, nudging her with my elbow. “So, now that I’ve completely unloaded my crisis, wanna distract me and tell me all about you and Nova?”

Dee goes very still beside me.

I glance over and catch the way her mouth twitches like she’s fighting a smile. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that you left game night early.”

She groans softly. “Ugh. Am I that obvious?”

“Painfully,” I say, laughing. “Spill it, D. What’s going on?”

She rubs the back of her neck, looking suddenly shy, which is rare for my confident, fiercely direct sister. “Okay. Fine. We’re seeing each other now. Me and Nova.”

My jaw drops. “Wait, really? Like, actually dating?”

Dee gives a small nod, eyes darting to mine. “It’s really new. Like, ridiculously early days. We’ve been texting for a while, hanging out after her shifts sometimes. But we went on a real, actual date last week. And then another one two nights ago.”

“Dee!” I grin, the first real grin I’ve felt in days. “That’s amazing. Why didn’t you tell me?”

She shrugs, a little sheepish. “I didn’t want to jinx it. And with everything going on, I didn’t want to make it a thing before it was a thing .”

My smile softens. “But it is a thing?”

Dee nods, more sure of it this time. “Yeah. I think it is. She’s easy to be around. And thoughtful. She listens. Like, really listens. And she makes me laugh even when I’m in a mood.”

“That’s rare,” I tease.

“Shut up,” she says, elbowing me gently.

“You deserve someone good,” I say, quieter now. “You really do.”

“So do you,” she replies. “Whatever happens with Knox, I just want you to remember that. This baby? It’s going to be so loved. No matter what.”

I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“Thanks, Dee. I appreciate you. More than you know.”

Even if I don’t know what’s going to happen next, at least I’ll always have my awesome sister.