Chapter 182

Chapter 182
Emily's POV

I sat cross-legged on the bed, still naked from the shower we'd just shared, and watched the three of them settle into their usual spots around me. Ethan stretched out on my right, propped up on one elbow. Alex claimed my left side, sitting with his back against the headboard. Mason curled up at the foot of the bed, his eyes already soft with that worshipful look he got sometimes.

The air felt thick with anticipation, like they could sense I had something important to say.

"So," I started, reaching for the pill packet on the nightstand and holding it up, "I stopped taking these."

The room went dead silent.

Ethan's hand froze halfway to my thigh. Alex's jaw tightened. Mason's eyes went wide, flicking between my face and the empty blister pack in my hand.

"It's been a week since we talked about kids," I continued, setting the packet back down. "And I've been thinking about it every day since then. I talked to my doctor, asked all the questions I needed to ask. And I'm ready. I want to start trying."

"Em—" Ethan started, but I held up a hand.

"But here's the thing." I looked at each of them in turn, making sure they understood I was serious. "You three need to figure out who's going first. Because I'm not doing paternity tests on my baby. I'm not putting my child through that, and I'm not putting myself through it either. So you need to decide now, before we do anything else, who gets to be the biological father of our first kid."

The silence stretched out, heavy and charged.

Then Ethan sat up straighter, his athlete's instincts kicking in before his brain had fully caught up. "Okay, so here's how this works," he said, his voice taking on that decisive tone he used when calling plays. "Until you're pregnant, only one of us finishes inside you. Front only. Everyone else gets other options—back door, mouth, whatever—but the front is reserved. That way there's no question."

Alex's expression went cold and sharp. "And you're just assuming that person is you?"

"I'm not assuming anything." Ethan turned to face him, his shoulders squaring. "I'm saying it should be me because I've been with Em the longest. I was there first. I was there when everything was still fucked up and complicated, and I stayed. That should count for something."

"Oh, that's rich." Alex's voice dropped into that dangerous, silky register that meant he was about to eviscerate someone. "You were there first? You were also the first one to walk away, if I remember correctly. You want to talk about who stayed? I'm the one who found you, dragged you back, and convinced you to stop being an idiot. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be here right now. You'd still be sitting in that shitty apartment feeling sorry for yourself while Em moved on without you."

Ethan's face flushed red. "That's not—you can't just—"

"I absolutely can." Alex leaned forward, his eyes glittering. "You want to claim seniority? Fine. But let's be honest about what that seniority actually means. It means you fucked up first, loudest, and most dramatically. It means Em had to rebuild her trust in you from the ground up. I never gave her a reason to doubt me."

"You manipulated both of us into this arrangement!" Ethan shot back. "Don't act like you're some kind of saint. You orchestrated this whole thing because you couldn't stand the idea of not having control—"

"I orchestrated this," Alex interrupted, his voice cutting like a blade, "because I loved her enough to give her what she actually needed instead of what was easy for me. Can you say the same?"

I should have stopped them. I should have cut in and told them to calm down, to remember that this wasn't a competition.

But then I felt Mason's hand on my ankle, gentle and warm.

I glanced down at him, and he was smiling at me, this secret little smile that made my stomach flip. He tugged me slightly toward him, his fingers trailing up my calf, and when I didn't resist he moved closer, rising up on his knees so he could reach my face.

"They're going to be a while," he murmured, his lips brushing against my ear. "And you're just going to sit here waiting?"

"Mason—"

"Shh." He kissed the corner of my mouth, soft and teasing. "You know what they say about opportunity, right?"

I huffed out a laugh despite myself. "What are you—"

He kissed me properly then, one hand sliding into my hair while the other settled on my hip, and I felt the tension in my body start to melt. Behind me, Ethan and Alex were still going at it, their voices overlapping in a tangle of accusations and defensive justifications, but Mason's mouth was warm and insistent, and his hands were already coaxing my legs apart.

"The early bird gets the worm," he whispered against my lips, and I felt him shifting, positioning himself between my thighs. "Or in this case—A third party benefits from their conflict."

I barely had time to process what he was saying before I felt him press inside me, slow and steady and absolutely deliberate. My breath caught, my hands flying to his shoulders, and he grinned at me, this wicked, satisfied grin that made it very clear he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Mason," I gasped, but he just kissed me again, swallowing whatever protest I might have been about to make.

He moved with purpose, each thrust careful and controlled, like he was making damn sure I felt every inch of him. His forehead pressed against mine, his breath coming faster, and I found myself clinging to him, my fingers digging into his back as the pleasure started to build.

Behind us, Ethan's voice cut through the haze. "—and another thing, you can't just—wait. Wait, what the fuck?"