Dinner continues. Wine flows, and conversation layers over conversation.
Asher leans over and wipes sauce from Vanessa's chin with his thumb. Kade's hand settles on Alina's shoulder as he passes behind her chair. Jax says something that makes Mira roll her eyes while the corner of her mouth twitches. Miguel catches my wine glass before I can reach for the bottle and tops it off without a word, then does the same for Vanessa, then Alina, making his way around the table like he's running triage on empty glasses.
Damian is watching Chesca now, and the tight set of his shoulders has loosened just slightly.
Cole's thumb traces slow circles on my palm, the rough drag of his calluses, the constant pressure that doesn't ask for anything back.
The San Francisco skyline glitters through the windows. Wine bottles empty and get replaced.
Then Remy's phone buzzes.
He glances at the screen, and his easy smile flattens. He pushes back from the table with a murmured "excuse me" and disappears down the hallway, phone already at his ear.
I sink into the couch cushions near Chesca's sleeping form, the leather still warm from dinner. Cole's arm rests along the back behind me, and his fingertips brush my shoulder.
Across the room, Xander and Jax tackle the dishes.
"You're not even TRYING to get the corners."
"They're plates. They don't HAVE corners."
"There are EDGES. You're leaving sauce on the EDGES."
Vanessa and Alina lean against the windows with their heads bent together, and Alina laughs at something Vanessa says, soft and genuine.
Asher reads something on his phone, expression neutral. Mira sits near him, watching the room with those flat hazel eyes that miss nothing.
Damian's jacket covers Chesca where she's curled against the armrest, one cheek squished into the leather, her mouth slightly open.
Remy returns from the hallway, phone gripped in one hand. The screen is dark, but his knuckles are white around it.
He drops onto the couch near Kade.
Kade barely glances over, his voice low and casual. "How's things?"
"Not great." Remy pauses, staring at the dark phone. "Might need to head back."
"Take what you need."
But Jax's hands pause on the dish he's holding. Damian's eyes lift from his whiskey. Miguel straightens from where he's been leaning against the counter and watches Remy with the quiet assessment of someone who reads pain for a living.
Remy nods once. Kade nods back.
The conversation moves on. Xander steals the dish towel from Jax. Vanessa explains something about encryption to Alina.
Later, the gathering winds down naturally. Coats get retrieved and goodbyes exchanged, and Chesca sleeps through all of it.
Cole lifts her easily, settling her against his shoulder. She doesn't wake, just shifts closer to his warmth with a small sigh.
Alina catches me at the elevator and pulls me into a hug, tight and unhurried, her hand pressing flat against my back like she means it.
"Same time next week?"
"We'll be here."
We. Us. Ours.When did those words start fitting?
The elevator doors close on the three of us, Cole with Chesca's weight in his arms and me beside them. The skyline sinks as we descend, the windows of the building across the street blinking past floor by floor.