Page 83 of Troublemaker: The Big Picture Edition

Forty-five minutes and two hundredare we there yetsafter leaving my house, Ryder and I pull into Shane’s driveway in the Pacific Palisades.

Willa had the baby a couple of weeks ago, and Shane’s texts have been brief hilarious shit shows of typos and random emojis. He’s battling insomnia again. I got an email from Grammie, of all people, inviting us over to meet baby Oliver and check in on Shane and Willa. Nico’s car is in the driveway too.

“Is that Tate’s car?!”

“Yup. Nico and Kat are here too.”

“Yessss! Can I stay and hang out with Tate and Lucky even if you leave?”

“Maybe.”

Truth is, I was planning on letting him stay here for the afternoon so my pulsing hot cock and I can spend some time with Emilia when she’s done at the library.

But first—good friends and babies and Grammie Todd.

“Help me carry this bag with the pies in it, okay?”

I give Ryder the shopping bag with my mom’s homemade pies in it and then grab the container of barbecue chicken I grilled this morning. The Millers have a nanny, of course, but it’sher day off, and my mom insisted that people always bring food when they visit new parents. Almost a full minute after buzzing at the front gate, we hear Grammie’s voice on the intercom.

“Hello, Vega men. You may enter.”

The gate clicks open, and Ryder looks up at me, frowning. “You didn’t tell me she’d be here,” he whispers.

I give him a wink, and so does Grammie when we walk up to the front door.

“Nice to see you again, Mr. Ryder. What did you bring me?” She holds her hands out to take the bag from him.

“Pies. From my grandma.”

“Pumpkin and apple, homemade,” I tell her, leaning in to give her an awkward kiss on the cheek as we enter the house and remove our shoes.

“I thought I told you to stop hitting on me, Tongue.”

“Old habits die hard, ma’am.”

And that’s when Grammie Todd gives me a little spank on the ass, and now I’m scared again. Even though this whole house smells like lavender, which is supposed to relax me.

“Kids are in the family room,” she tells Ryder. “Baby and grown-ups are in the kitchen,” she says to me. “Bring that meat and follow me.”

“Hey, I thought we weren’t going to hit on each other.” Ryder runs ahead of us. “No running in the house!”

“You look a little happier than you did when I last saw you at the happiest place on earth, Tongue.”

“I am. I really am.”

“I’m glad. I really am.”

Entering into the kitchen, I’m greeted with a vast picture window view of the ocean, Nico, Kat, Willa, and Shane—who’s holding the baby and looks like the Big Lebowski, if the Big Lebowski was in really great shape, wore an expensive robe, and had a better haircut.

“Vega, baby!” Nico says, relatively quietly, while stuffing a bagel in his mouth.

“Hey everybody,” I whisper, placing the food on the counter and going over to look at the baby in my friend’s arms.

“You don’t have to whisper,” Shane says. “He’s awake. He’salwaysawake. And so am I.”

I give Willa a kiss as I go over to wash my hands in the sink. “Can I hold him?” I find myself asking. The little peanut is so cute. I haven’t held a baby since I held my own, I don’t think.

“Fuck yeah, you can take him,” Shane says, smiling. “Work your magic on the little turd.”