Page 100 of Worth Every Moment

The heat of the sun is glaring down on me as I lie out on the deck, lathered in suncream. Matt, sunglasses perched in his dark hair, sits on a chair to my left; Nico lounges to my right.So much for fishing.

“You didn’t invite Dad on the stag?” Matt asks Nico.

“Fuck, no,” he mutters, taking a swig from his beer. “He’s been calling me to go over the prenup to make sure that Kate can’t take a penny from us if we get divorced. He thinks everyone’s out to fuck us over.”

“You had a prenup?” I ask.

“Yeah. Dad had the lawyers draft up a watertight one.” Nico kicks the heel of his shoe against the deck. “I burnt it. What’s mine is Kate’s. If one day she decides she doesn’t want me, she can have the whole fucking lot. I wouldn’t give a shit. She’s the only thing worth anything to me anyway.”

I half expect Matt to try to catch my eye and mock Nico for what might be the soppiest thing he’s ever said, but Matt only nods.

“If I hadn’t felt duty-bound to invite Dad to the wedding, I wouldn’t have,” Nico continues. “But… it’s his island, and it’s bloody nice, so…” He raises his beer bottle, leaving the comment open.

We’re all quiet for a moment, breathing in the hot, salty sea air and listening to the splash of the water against the hull.

“Aries doesn’t like him,” Matt mutters. “Says when we get married, she won’t have him at the ceremony.”

“Why doesn’t she like him?” I ask.

Matt tips his head back, pulling his sunglasses over his eyes. “I don’t know. Bad vibes or some shit. She gets a horrid feeling from him.”

Nico snorts.

“She’s not wrong,” I say. “He’s not exactly a bundle of joy.”

“Who is?” Nico replies.

“Aries,” Matt says, a tiny smile curving his lips, his head gently nodding. “Aries is a bundle of joy.”

Nico leans over and pokes him in the ribs. “You’re adorable now that you’re all loved up.”

Matt swats him off and we all laugh, and when we settle, Matt says, “We’re trying for a baby. We want to have kids together. And it would be nice to give Lucie and Charlie another sibling.”

“I thought Aries was pregnant already,” Nico says. “She wasn’t drinking last time I saw her.”

Matt shakes his head. “Nope. She wants to detox her body and energy system before she gets pregnant.”

Nico smirks. “What does that involve? Celibacy?”

Matt side eyes him. “No. She’s detoxing her womb space. Does it every night before bed.”

“What the fuck?” I splutter, unable to help myself.

Matt doesn’t laugh, but makes a small circle in the air with his beer bottle. “She imagines clearing out all the gunk from other guys she’s had sex with. At least that’s what she told me.”

Nico lets out a laugh, leaning forward in his chair.

“Seriously,” Matt says. “She’s big into that energy healing stuff. She claims when we have sex with people, their energetic crap gets into our systems. We’re sharing more than bodily fluids, and it’s all happening on a vibrational level.” He gestures at me. “You’re probably carrying shit loads of it around.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I grunt, and the sound is half dismissive, half amused.Maybe I need to ask Aries to detox my dick.I laugh aloud at the thought, and Matt and Nico glance at me like I might be mad.

Maybe it’s not funny at all.

Matt presses his lips together. “How is it going with Erica?”

“Why are you asking? You gonna tell me that she’s using me again?”

He takes a swing from his bottle of beer. “Is she?”