Page 149 of For Your Consideration

We spent an hour and a half in my gym. Neither of us really said much. Jaxson worked out next to me and then put the gloves on so I could throw some warm-up combos before I moved to the bag.

I felt better afterward and showered and changed just in time for the rest of the cavalry to arrive. Knight, Quinn, and Thor were here first with coffees, donuts, and a fruit tray. Oli and Will arrived next, followed by Noah who had Iris and Jane with him.

Sutton had just been waking up when I’d gotten out of the shower. I told her that I thought we would have company this morning and she’d nodded, looking a little lost. I’d given her a kiss and told her to take her time with Soph while I dealt with everyone else.

“There’s too many of us,” Noah said as he passed Jane a coffee and then sat on the arm of her chair.

“And you go to court often?” Oli shot him a look while shaking his head and pushing his glasses up his nose.

“I just think Jaxson should stay.”

“Fuck no.” Jaxson narrowed his eyes at Noah. “Sorry, Jane and Iris.” He looked over at them sheepishly. They both just shook their heads while the arguing continued. Noah thought all of us at the courthouse were too many people for Sutton, and that someone should stay with Sophie. Iris and Jane were both offended that he thought they couldn’t handle her themselves and then the back and forth had started. I just rubbed the bridge of my nose, watching the stairs.

“We have the security system on the house and Dane and Wade are meeting us there. Everything is going to be fine,” Oli assured everyone.

“We could play rock-paper-scissors,” Noah suggested.

“No.” Quinn shot him a look from her spot on Knight’s lap.

I tuned them out when Sutton appeared, coming into the living room. She pulled to a stop as she looked around, taking in all the men here in their suits, Quinn wearing some sort of pants and a jacket, everyone looking sharp for court.

Sutton was wearing a beautiful sweater dress with a matching cardigan. Her hair was loose and curled and the tension was visible in her shoulders.

This woman was staggeringly beautiful. Every time I looked at her, she took my breath away and I wanted to fall to my knees and thank her for being with me, for giving me a chance.

Sophie was wearing little jeans that had daisies on them with a pink T-shirt. She looked so adorable. When she saw me, she started babbling, clapping her hands and reaching for me. When I got close, Sutton passed her over. As I settled her on my hip, Sutton rested her hand on my arm.

“What’s everyone doing here?” she asked, looking around the room.

“I just think we need to find a fair way.” Noah glanced at Quinn.

“How about we ask the actual lawyer?” With Quinn’s words, everyone looked over at Will who had been looking down at his phone, reading something. “Will,” Quinn called out when he didn’t look up.

“Sorry.” He looked up, pocketing his phone. “I tuned everyone out when I heard Noah starting on the rock-paper-scissors.”

“You’re all so mean to me.” Noah pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s okay, honey, I think you’ll survive.” Jane reached up and patted his shoulder as a few of us snickered at him.

“What were you asking?” Will focused back on Quinn.

“Are there too many of us for the courtroom? Because I’m not sure we can settle who stays and who goes without a million rounds of rock-paper-scissors and I doubt we have time for that.”

“You all want to come?” When Sutton spoke up, everyone looked over at her, likely not realizing she’d come in.

“That little face is just too much.” Jane pushed up from her seat and came toward me. “Don’t you start with me, Asher, I have to cross the ocean to see her—you get her all the time.” She shot me a look as she held out her hands. Sophie had clearly woken up in a good mood or was getting used to her family as she reached out for Jane and started talking to her.

“You make it seem like you have to be on a boat for weeks,” I grumbled as I looped my arm over Sutton, pulling her into me.

Quinn stood up and came toward us too, grabbing Sutton’s hand. “We are here to support you. We thought it might be nice for you to have us all there. To have your family supporting you. But if it’s too much you just tell us and we can—”

Sutton cut her off when she burst out from my side and wrapped her arms around Quinn, pulling her into a big hug. “Thank you,” she whispered, likely because she was holding back tears.

“That’s gonna get me.” Noah cleared his throat and pounded his chest a few times like he was clearing emotion.

“We can bring as many people as we want,” Will assured everyone after a moment. “No rock-paper-scissors necessary.”

“Too bad,” Oli sighed. “I felt a winning streak coming.”