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Lo runs Hailstorm? Lo? The pretty blond-haired, brown-eyed bombshell with boobs that made my sister's look minuscule actually ran what Paine had referred to as a "lawless military"?
"So are you the one who is going to turn me into a badass?" I asked, meaning it as a joke.
Lo smiled. "Damn straight. Between me and Janie, you're going to be a force to be reckoned with."
"Janie?"
"Her husband refers to her as 'hell and headaches' when she gets on a tear," Breaker explained with a smile that said he agreed with Janie's husband's comment. "She makes all the rest of us look like teddy bears."
Lo rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to them. She's only like that when you piss her off. In which case," she said, looking back at Breaker, "you deserve all the piss and vinegar." I felt myself smiling. When Lo looked back at me, she smiled back. "Don't worry. The girls club will take care of you."
"The girls club?" I repeated.
"Yeah. When you get yourself wrapped up with one of these," she said, waving a hand to the group of guys as a whole, "you automatically get pulled into the fold. Me, Janie, Amelia, Alex, Summer..."
All the names I recognized but one. "Summer?"
"My brother's wife," Cash supplied.
"How is she?" a short, curvy woman with long, dark hair and dark eyes asked as she walked up. There was a hint of Spanish ancestry in her skin tone and features, giving her an exotic and understated sexy look. She wore light wash skinny jeans and a roomy pale pink cardigan over a white tee, assuring me that I hadn't made a mistake with my wardrobe. Judging by Paine's sketch, she was Shooter's girl, Amelia. This was verified a couple of seconds later when she joined him and he reached out and wrapped up her pinkie with his. I repeat: he held pinkies with her. Pinkies.
"Tired. Ferryn seems to have taken after her father. She's been a handful," Cash said with a smile.
"Are we serving dinner on the front lawn?" a voice called from the steps and I turned to see a tall, thin woman on the steps. She was all legs and torso with Paine's perfect skin tone and a mass of curly black hair that she had in a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. A few tendrils had escaped to frame her face. Needless to say, she was the product of Gina who was an attractive woman, and the sister to both Paine and Enzo... so yeah... she was extremely good looking.
"Kenzi," I heard myself say, looking up at Paine. "The ball-buster."
"That'd be her," he agreed, with a happy sparkle in his eye, like he was pleased I remembered what he'd said about his sisters.
"Sugar, honey, darlin'," Shooter said, sending her a charming smile.
"Don't 'sugar, honey, darlin' me, Johnnie Walker Allen. I have food to serve and an empty table. You don't get your asses in here in two minutes, I am locking this front door and you can all starve. Hey, Elsie," she called to me, giving me a warm smile despite her firm words.
"Hey," I called back, but she was already turning back into the house.
"You guys better go," Cash advised. "She means business."
"No shit," Breaker agreed, already moving back toward the front door.
"So that was Kenzi," Paine said as we trailed behind all the others.
"I like her," I decided immediately. How couldn't you like a woman who could open her mouth and make a group of big, scary, badass dudes fall in line?
"She's a pain in the ass, but she had to grow up dealing with me and Enzo so..."
"Speaking of," I said, stopping at the top step. "He'll be here today, right?"
"I should have run that by you first..."
"No. Of course not. He saved me. He's your brother. I'm happy to get to know him better. I was just wondering if things would be... tense here with your family."
"Nah, baby. They've all kept in touch on and off. Not super close, but Ma felt like she owed it to Annie to keep an eye on him no matter what he got himself into."
"That's sweet of her. Oh, this is probably none of my business but..."
"It's all your business," he brushed away my worry.
"Was it Kenzi?"
"Was who Kenzi?"
"The one who Enzo gave..."
"Yeah, it was Kenz. She had a wild streak until she got her life on track. But just to clarify, Enzo wasn't the one who gave her the shit. But his guys never should have either. They should have known she was off-limits just like they knew when I was running things."
"Got it," I agreed just when another new face popped into the doorway.
This woman was long and leggy like Kenzi, but not related to Paine in any way. She had pale, perfect skin over her delicate features. Her brown hair brushed her shoulders and her brown eyes gave her an almost doe-eyed look. She, like Amelia, had on jeans. But she had a black long-sleeved tee on with it. And flats. Because she was already tall. From the picture, she was Alex. Paine had told me that she was some kind of hacker and that she was, a lot like Kenzi and apparently Janie, a real ball-buster. It was what Breaker liked best about her.
