After that upsetting conversation with my mom a few nights ago, Nathan indeed found a way to sneak out of his house and into my room. Even though I was thrilled to see him when he got there, he knew something was wrong.

Nathan stroked my naked back as I laid my head against his chest. "What's wrong, gorgeous?"

I was still trying to catch my breath after he made love to me slowly and very thoroughly. "Nothing, baby."

"Come on, Karma. I know you were upset when you sent me that text. Tell me why."

"How do you know I was upset?" I asked even though I knew how obvious it was.

"I know you, baby. That text was a distress signal."

With a heavy sigh I ran my fingers up and down his chest. "I got into a fight with my mom."

At least it was the truth. Or some of it. If I did decide to tell him everything, it wasn't going to be tonight. And not with my parents under the same roof.

"What was the fight about?"

I shrugged one shoulder. "Just more of her trying to control my future. But I don't want to talk about that, Nathan. I just want to enjoy this. It's been so long since you spent the night in my bed with me."

Nathan put his fingers under my chin and guided my eyes up to meet his. "If that's what you want, gorgeous, consider it done." Leaning down, he kissed me nice and slow and deep.

"Make love to me, again. Please, Nathan."

After grabbing another condom, he rolled me onto my back before shifting his body between my legs. Looking down at me, he thrust inside me and we both both moaned. Nathan cupped my cheek with his hand. "I love you, gorgeous."

My heart tightened in my chest and it took all my willpower to not cry. "I love you so much."

"Where's the cake already? I'm wasting away over here!"

Harper and I laughed while Lanie's mom shot her a look. Today was my best friend's birthday and we were currently standing in her backyard where the party was being held. Surprisingly she wanted to keep it just us, so the only ones here were Harper, myself, Nathan, and their parents.

Mrs. Jenkins pointed her finger at Lanie. "The cake is coming, Lanie. Why don't you start getting your gifts ready by your seat so you can start opening them after we have cake."

Lanie's frown over the absent triple chocolate cake was replaced with a giant smile. "Okay! I'm so excited for the presents." She glanced to the right when she saw Nathan coming out of the back door with an envelope in his hand. "There better be something really interesting in there, Nate."

Nathan responded with an amused snort before throwing the envelope on the table. "That's no way to treat someone who gives you a gift on your birthday."

"It's my party and I can act how I want to."

I shook my head as the two siblings bickered. Something told me that no matter how old they got in the future, the constant back and forth would never change with them. It was still amusing to watch, though.

Nathan stood in front of his sister and poked her in the shoulder. "Maybe I'll go tell mom that you aren't being nice. Then you can say by to your cake. And probably your gifts."

Lanie's lips flattened into a grim line. "You wouldn't."

The smile on his face was answer enough. "Oh, believe me, little sis, I so definitely would."

Lanie's hands fisted at her side as she mumbled, "I'msorry."

"What was that, L? Didn't quite catch it."

"I'm sorry," she said more clearly.

Nathan's smile of satisfaction had me shaking my head at him. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Lanie rolled her eyes and ignored her brother while she finished organizing her presents. Nathan came over to where I was standing and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked with a frown.

"That was so mature, Nathan. Can't you cut your sister some slack on her big day?"

Nathan took a deep breath before he chuckled a little. "Fine, baby. You know I can't say no to you."

"Good boy," I breathed against his lips when he tried to kiss me.

"Hey!" Lanie snapped, causing us to pull apart. "I told you the one rule on my birthday was no smooching." Her expression meant all business as she pointed a finger at the two of us. "Why don't you guys put a little space in between you?"

As we did what she said, Nathan's sighed and I just smiled. In all fairness, we did both promise her that we wouldn't be all lovey dovey on her birthday. Naturally, it took a little more convincing with Nathan before he agreed. It was probably because I understood where Lanie was coming from a little bit more than he did.

Laney's birthdays were always spent with me and Harper and usually lasted all day long. It was just us girls, no boys. And no Nathan at the time. Yeah he would pass by her party because his mom would get on him if he didn't, but she wasn't stupid. Lanie knew that the main reason he was here for the whole day was because I was.

I knew he loved and cared about her very much. Hell, Lanie even told me about how protective he got when he walked into her room and saw her crying over a boy. I was so glad when she told me she convinced him not to do anything stupid so he wouldn't end up back in front of a judge again.

"Who's ready for cake?" Lanie's dad called as he came through the back door carrying a very large triple chocolate cake with seventeen lit candles on top of it.

Lanie clapped her hands before jumping up and down. She was probably the only one out of everybody here who got super excited about her birthday. "Me! I'm ready!"

Everyone gathered around as we all sang happy birthday—including Nathan. And when Lanie made a wish and blew out the candles, everyone clapped.

"Let's cut this bad boy," Lanie said loudly before taking the cake cutter from her mom. She cut a giant piece for herself and then took a seat with a plastic fork in her hand.

"I guess we are cutting our own pieces," Harper quipped before reaching for the cutter. She ended up cutting pieces for the rest of us and then we were all sitting at the large table enjoying the birthday cake while sharing classic Lanie stories.

Nathan sat next to me, and even though we were supposed to be following the rules, he reached under the table and stroked my thigh as we ate. That's how it always was between us. It was like no matter where we were or what we were doing, one of us always had to be touching the other.

Mrs. Jenkins rose from the table when everyone was done eating and started collecting the empty plates before throwing them in the garbage. "Okay, Lanie. Are you ready to open your gifts?"

"Um, heck yeah! Bring them on."

She ended up opening the gift that Harper and I bought her together. When she pulled the tissue paper out of the large gift bag revealing the jean shoulder purse and matching wallet, her mouth dropped open.

The sight of my best friend so happy made me smile and it warmed my heart. "Harper and I noticed you looking at it that day at the mall."

Lanie looked completely taken by surprise. "But that was like eight months ago. You remembered?"

Harper glanced to me before looking back at Lanie with a smile of her own. "The two of us went back the next day and got it."

She clutched the purse to her chest and sniffled. "You guysssss. Thank you so much!"

When Lanie reached for the gift bag from her parents, Nathan spoke up. "Open mine next, L."

She cast him a sideways glance as she reached for the envelope he dropped on the table. "Open your card you mean?"

I tried asking Nathan before we got to the party if he got her an actual present or some kind of gag gift. As usual he wouldn't tell me.

"This better not be an empty card," I whispered to him.

"Trust me, baby," he whispered back to me followed by a wink.

We all watched as she opened the envelope and pulled out the card. When she opened it, something fell out onto the table. Setting the card to side, she picked up the items that fell out and she froze in her seat.

"Nate, what did you do?" Lanie asked, her tone astonished. "These are..."

With a sly grin, Nathan filled in the blanks for us. "Three tickets to the Three Days Grace concert. Front row."

Lanie wasn't the only person surprised. Everyone except Nathan had expressions of pure shock and surprise on their faces. No wonder he didn't tell me what it was.

Lanie looked down at the tickets before she looked at her brother again. "But why is there only three? I figured there would be four because—"

"I'm not going," he said suddenly. "Those are for you, Harper, and Karma."

"But Three Days Grace is your favorite band."

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, but there will be more concerts." His eyes met mine before adding, "I know that ever since Karma and I started dating, I've been taking up a lot of her time that would normally be spent with you. So I wanted to give some of that back to you for your birthday."

Lanie jumped up from her seat, ran around the table, and all but tackled her brother in a fierce hug. "Thank you so much, Nate. This is the best gift you could have given me."

"You're welcome, L." Nathan's eyes met mine again as he hugged his sister. I was so astounded by the thoughtfulness of his gift, all I could do was mouth the words I love you to him.

He mouthed the words right back to me and I smiled. It was so good to see Lanie this happy. And in this moment, surrounded by some of the people who meant the most to me, my heart never felt so full.