Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 110694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Maui began running toward someone about the time I heard footsteps, and I turned to see Jayda carrying a glass of lemonade and a child’s cup, which I assumed was filled with the same thing.
“I thought you might need drinks,” she said, placing them on the table to my left.
“Thank you,” I told her. “I meant to grab something from the refrigerator out here, but—” I stopped.
“But the guys were talking shit, and you wanted to escape,” she finished and gave me a knowing look. “I don’t blame you. Unfortunately, they will be here until late. More could also stop by. The younger guys most likely. The other two older men in the fam—uh, circle of friends won’t show up. Fender is more uptight, and he rarely comes here for game nights. He spends more time with Gannon, who has Parkinson’s, and it’s progressed to the end stages from what Linc says. They are close, and it’s been harder on Fender; plus, he lost his youngest son two years ago in a shooting. He’s not been the same since.” She said all this as if I knew who in the heck she was talking about.
But I listened. This was Linc’s world, and I wanted to know about it. These would be people in Stevie’s life.
“Anyway, it’ll probably be Hale’s oldest, Ransom, and Mal’s oldest, Locke, who stop by, if any of them do. Jonas’s oldest is the bookie among them, and he will be working all night. The younger crowd…well, from what I’ve heard, there are topless women—mostly strippers from Glow—and light drug use involved. But I guess they won’t be doing that at Cash’s house anymore. Not with Bane married and the baby.” She shrugged. “I’m rambling. I’d better get back to the kitchen. I have cookies to put in the oven and Rice Krispies treats to make.”
“Thank you for the drinks. I’d help you if I didn’t have Stevie wanting to live on this, well, whatever it is,” I said, waving a hand at the massive structure.
She grinned. “It is something else. She’s loving it though.”
That she was.
Determined to go back outside and tell Linc good night before going up to bed, Stevie went out onto the patio, and I had to follow. When I had brought her inside for dinner and a bath, they had all been wrapped up in the game, and Linc hadn’t done anything but nod and wink at her. Facing them again seemed exhausting because I never knew how Linc was going to treat me.
Stevie opened the door and went running out to him, wearing her Bluey pajamas and slippers. Her blonde curls were still damp and hung longer in the back because of it. Linc had moved from beer to whiskey, and there was a cigar in his mouth. When he saw Stevie, he put his glass down and immediately put the cigar in an ashtray, then shoved it toward Mal to move it away from her.
She scrambled up into his lap. I stayed silent as I waited by the door.
“There is plenty of room here if you want to sit,” Luther told me, patting the space between him and Mal.
Mal repressed a grin and shook his head, as if Luther was crazy.
“I’m good, thanks,” I replied. “She just wanted to tell him good night.”
Luther waved at the table full of food. “Get something to eat. No rush.”
Linc appeared tense, as if he was afraid I’d take him up on it and invade the party.
Not something I want to do, bud. Chill.
“We ate in the kitchen with Jayda,” I replied.
Mal let out a small groan and closed his eyes for a minute.
Hale chuckled, and Luther grinned wickedly. I was missing something here.
“What the fuck is wrong with y’all?” Jonas asked, frowning at them.
“I’ll explain later when the little ears have left,” Luther told him, then glanced back at me with a glint in his eyes that made me nervous.
The door opened behind me, and I turned, expecting to see Jayda, but instead, two younger men walked outside.
One had dark brown hair, cut short, but there was a hint of a curl to the flipped-up edges that could be seen from under his cowboy hat. His face was chiseled with a firm jawline and a cleft in his chin. The stubble on his face looked like he hadn’t shaved in a week.
The guy behind him was taller, maybe even six-five, with a slightly lighter shade of brown hair and a beard. He didn’t wear a hat, but he looked like he’d just walked off a ranch or maybe a calendar shoot for sexy cowboys. When his eyes met mine, he did a complete up and down of me, and then the corner of his lips quirked.
He reminded me of the one I believed was Mal. That would make this one his oldest, Locke. Which, if Jayda was correct, the other would be Ransom.