Too Sweet (Hayes Brothers #3)(77)

A text pings in the group chat while I’m gathering my things to leave the office.

Theo: GET ME OUT OF HERE! Thalia’s driving me fucking insane. I’ve been in the shop three times today for pickles and licorice. I puked twice, too, watching her eat that. I need a beer. Who has time?

Logan: Sure, I could use a beer or five. Where and what time?

Cody: No can do. We’re busy tonight.

Theo: Yeah, no shit. I’ll send Thalia your way, Logan. She’ll keep Cass company. Nico? Shawn?

Shawn: Working.

Mia’s recording with Six, getting new songs ready for another party the triplets want to throw at the start of summer.

I can’t wait to hear the outcome. She doesn’t realize the potential stirring within her. That voice? It’s mighty. A hidden gem, and she writes songs: music and lyrics. You’d expect her to tour the world and line her shelves with Grammys, but Mia’s not interested in fame.

To be perfectly honest? I’m glad. I can’t imagine thousands of men swooning over my girl. I can’t imagine not seeing her whenever I felt like it because the Atlantic Ocean was in the way.

I’d make it work if she decided it was something she wanted to do, but I’m not about to force her. She’s perfectly content recording for fun and selling lyrics to the biggest names in the industry.

Me: Alright. Country Club in an hour?

A wave of thumbs up follows. I leave the office, call my girl to let her know, and exactly one hour later, I enter the building. My brothers are already there. Theo leans against the bar while Logan shows him something on his phone.

“Stop wearing matching outfits,” Theo says. “Don’t force your questionable sense of style on the kid.”

“I have the best sense of style out of all the Hayes. You’re all boring... predictable.”

I tap the bill of his cap that he wears backward as usual. “Says the guy with eighty baseball caps and a hundred Los Angeles Dodgers jerseys.”

“At least the color scheme of my wardrobe isn’t limited to shades of gray,” he bites back, waving the bartender over.

Within three minutes, with beers in hand, we find a tall table by the window overlooking the golf course and go through a whole beer before Theo’s done listing all the weird cravings his wife’s been having.

“I’m sure she does this just to screw with me,” he huffs.

“You put a kid in there,” I say, calling out a waitress clearing a nearby table. “Get us another round,” I tell her, turning back to Theo. “Quit whining and feed your wife.”

“I’ve not had a full night’s sleep in forever, and the kid isn’t even here yet. She’s either sending me shopping, asking for massages, or waking me up because she can’t sleep. Was Cass like that?”

Logan shakes his head. “I can’t relate. The only thing Cass craved were lemons. Easy enough to find.”

“Lucky bastard. At least tell me you weren’t getting any. I’m riding solo almost since the start. No way we’ll have any more kids if this is what every pregnancy is like.”

“Can’t help here, either, bro.” Logan pinches his lips, clearly amused. “Thalia wakes you up for licorice and pickles, right? Cass woke me up for sex. Almost every night. Sometimes twice.” He smirks, then all-out laughs when Theo folds his arms over his chest like a moody kid. “Stop pouting. It was fucking awesome, but not easy to keep up with her needs.”

Theo shoves him away, feigning annoyance. “Boohoo. Cass didn’t eat weird shit, and you had sex all the time. That sure sounds like torture.” His eyes dart to me, and he automatically straightens his spine. “What did she do to you?”

I cock an eyebrow, looking at the waitress who just set another round of beers on the table. “She didn’t do anything. Why?”

“Not the waitress. Mia. What did she do to you?”

“I know you think you’re making sense, but you’re not.”

“You’re not wearing your AirPod,” he explains, explaining absolutely nothing. “You’re not barking or glaring, and... shit, man, you’re smiling.”

“Which you shouldn’t do,” Logan chips in, eyebrows pulled together. “Honestly, quit it. You look weird.”

“She didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah, she did,” Theo insists, emphasizing every word. “Spill it, bro. Is it the sex? That good, huh?”

I punch his shoulder harder than intended. “You want me to split your lip again? Mia’s just...” I trail off, searching for the right words. “I don’t know. I’ve been in the highest gear for years, working, chasing money, searching for something.”

“You mean a woman?”

I shrug, chugging a mouthful of beer. “Isn’t that what we all want? Life revolves around love in one way or another. Family, friends, that one person you come home to. I wanted that someone, but I was looking at the wrong women. I thought I needed a female version of myself... high-maintenance, career-driven. I was high—”

“High?” Theo mouths, exchanging a concerned look with Logan. “You mean drugs? You were on drugs?”

“I think you’d know if I were using, don’t you? I meant the chaos in my head. I was always on the go, never stopping, but since Mia came along, I’m low. My head is quieter. Not silent, but the chaos is manageable. She’s not exceeding my pace. She doesn’t have a pace. She rolls around in neutral, going with the flow, and I’m learning to do the same. I switched my phone off the other night for the first time in years.”