Page 47

I snorted and shoved at him.

Reese leaned over Shay and spoke in a rush. “We’re all throwin’ the newlyweds in the pool after this. Pass it on to KC.”

I rolled with the punches and passed on the message, and Reese did the same to Ash and Nathan behind us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Jordan positioning himself in the makeshift aisle, and he pretended to hold up a microphone.

“Mr. Damien! What’s it like being married?” he asked loudly.

I knitted my brows. That was an awful lot of mentions of Kit’s last name⁠—

“Okay, that’s enough!” Kit cried out. All theatrically. He even stomped his foot and pretended to look mad. Everyone quieted, and confusion mingled with the approaching thunderstorm. “You’re supposed to be my friends.” He sought out Noa, Corey, Jordan, and Gael. “You’re supposed to know me—but you don’t even know my last name? How crappy is that?”

Shay’s grin didn’t escape my notice. So this was some kind of show they were putting on.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry!” Noa gasped. “We totally forgot!”

“That’s right,” Kit huffed. He assumed a superhero stance, with his knuckles on his hips and chest puffed out. “Bring me my mail, please.”

Colt looked like he was trying to solve a very simple math problem. “What⁠—”

“I have it right here!” Gael left his row and hurried over to Kit.

Kit accepted the little stack and promptly divided it in two, handing one over to Lucas and the other to Colt.

“Can you please remind my poophead friends of what my name is, Daddies?”

The whole thing dawned on me, and I had to smile. The kid had changed his last name to Carter, hadn’t he?

“Well, it’s…” Lucas trailed off, presumably having spotted the last name on the envelope. His gaze quickly found Colt’s. “Carter?”

I scrubbed a hand over my face, wiping water away. The rain had let up a little, but it was still pouring down—and the thunder was moving in.

“Baby?” Colt got Kit’s attention and placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Did you change your last name to mine?”

“Yes, Sir.” Kit smiled impishly. “I hope you like it, ’cause it’s gonna be one hell of a process to change it back. Cam had to help me a ton—and also Mister KC a little at the end. You know, he’s a lawyer. And all my friends were also there. We kept it from the big bad Sadists.”

“Fuck, that’s sweet,” Reese murmured.

I side-eyed Shay as he bit his lip.

Was that something he thought about? Was it something he might consider in the future?

After all, we’d received a nice mailbox at the Secret Santa party, and Shay’s last name could be removed from it.

I couldn’t deny Shay Tenley sounded fucking incredible.

I looked back at the newlyweds just as Colt brought Kit in for a tight hug. The boy ran a bigger risk of getting struck by lightning a dozen times than Colt wanting him to change his name back to Damien.

“To the Carters!” Greer declared.

“That son of a—” Reese stepped out in the aisle. “Are you toastmaster now, buddy? No, didn’t fuckin’ think so.”

Greer spared him a brief glance before turning back to the others. “Another big round of applause for the Carters, everyone!”

And my brother was off… He rushed over to Greer and legit jumped on his back. And I mean, Greer was a big guy at six-five or something, but Reese was only three inches shorter, so they both tumbled to the ground. Unlike when Corey tried to jump Greer and the big oaf didn’t move an inch.

“For fuck’s sake, it’s a wedding,” Lucian grated out.