Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Tonight, I learned a fool’s lesson. From this day forward, my heart will remain on lockdown. The pain isn’t worth it. I’m moving to Nashville, and I’m going to make something of my life. I don’t need Violet or her empty promises.
It’s time to change the play.
Chapter One
Foster
* * *
Staring down at the baby in my arms, a pang of longing washes over me. The last five years, I’ve felt that particular feeling more often than not. Watching my four best friends meet the loves of their lives and start families—not always in that order—reminds me of the life I had planned.
The one that went up in smoke.
“Is it my turn yet?” Landry whines.
“Nope,” I say, popping the p as I start down at the slumbering baby.
“He’s my nephew. He’s named after me,” Landry huffs.
“He’s my son. He’s named after me,” Knox counters, making us all laugh.
“He might not be named after me, but he’s my nephew, too.” I whisper the words, but I know they hear me.
I don’t know what I expected when I stepped on Tennessee soil and onto the field at the Rampage Stadium, but I do know it wasn’t to find four best friends, who are my brothers—not by blood, but by heart. For someone who didn’t have a true family growing up, these guys and the brotherhood we’ve formed mean everything.
It took me some time to let them in. Well, at least as much as I was willing to let them in. Some pains are better left in the past. The ones that you bury deep inside your chest, never to see the light of day. Everything else, they can have. Knox, Landry, Reid, and Baker have shown me over and over again what true friendship and family really mean.
They didn’t let my grumpy-ass attitude steer them away from bringing me into the fold of their lives, and they don’t know that they saved me from drowning in grief and regret.
“Alexander Landry Beckett loves his uncle Foster,” Corie says, smiling at me. There’s a softness in her eyes, as if she’s reading my mind.
That’s something else about my best friends. The women they’ve chosen are their perfect match, and they’re like sisters to me. Our family is growing, and I can’t help but wonder if it will ever grow because of me. I don’t date much. It’s been longer than I care to admit since I’ve hooked up with anyone. I want what my friends have, but putting my heart on the line again doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I don’t know if there will ever be a tiny human walking this earth calling me Dad.
“Seriously, we should have a time limit,” Landry says. “Reid’s had Camden’s attention since we all got here, Knox has brainwashed Coral, and now Foster is hogging Alexander,” he grumps.
“Maybe you should have your own,” Sloane tells him.
Landry grins and turns toward his wife. “It’s only fair,” he tells her, waggling his eyebrows.
Rowan tosses her head back in laughter. “We’re not having a baby so that you have one to hold during family functions. Wait your turn.”
“I mean, we’re really good at the mechanics,” Landry tells her. “I think we’ve practiced enough, and it’s time to shoot our shot, or my shot.” He laughs.
Rowan shrugs. “Okay.” She’s smiling at her husband, because I think for the first time in Landry Reynold’s entire life, the man is speechless. He sets his small paper bowl of pretzels down on the table. If you can keep the man from eating, you’ve done something.
“Rowan, I think you broke him,” Knox teases.
Landry stands, walks over to the huge sectional couch, and holds his hand out to his wife. “It’s been fun, but we’re leaving.”
“You want to hold him?” I ask Landry, and he turns to glare at me over his shoulder. “I’m sharing.”
“I’m going home to make one of my own,” he fires back, and we all laugh.
“We’re not leaving. Go take your turn, grumpy pants.”
He leans down and kisses her before whispering something in her ear. We can’t hear what he says, but her face is beet red, and she smiles up at him as if he’s her entire world.
I used to know what that felt like.
“Fine, hand him over,” Landry says, standing to his full height and stalking toward me.
“I think I changed my mind,” I say, barely holding on to my laughter.
“No takebacks,” he says, bending down and scooping Alexander out of my arms. He coos down at the baby before going to settle next to his wife on the couch.
“We need more babies around here,” Sloane says, smiling at Camden, who’s playing with blocks in the middle of the floor with Reid.
“Cam needs a sibling,” Baker tells her, kissing her temple.
“And another cousin,” Reid says, winking at his wife, Bellamy.