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"Poor Eli," Fee repeated the mantra of the day, exhaling hard. "This must be kind of disorienting after so long."
I was pretty sure that was a huge understatement.
"I can't believe Helen slapped him," Dusty said as she moved in, seeming a bit more relaxed than she had a moment before.
"Really?" Lea asked with a smirk. "She whacked Shane across the shoulders last Easter because he went to reach for the food before she finished serving. Broke the wooden spoon," she added with a smirk.
"So," Fee said, looking over at me. "What has Eli been doing? I mean, aside from you," she said with a smirk.
"And on that note, I'm out," Kingston declared, walking over toward a woman who was sitting on the floor playing with one of the kids.
"Um, mostly he's been working on his pieces for the show."
"Pieces? Show?" Lea asked, brows together.
Crap.
That really should have been his information to hand out.
He was so proud of himself for getting on his feet with his art.
And, judging by the few small non-gallery pieces he let me see, he had every right to feel amazing about himself. Even from the wonderful sketch he had done of me, he had come so far.
"Oh, ah, Eli has a wall at the gallery in a couple days."
"What?" they all asked in unison, eyes wide.
"You mean he finally did it?" Dusty asked. "He's been passionate about art all his life, but just never pursued it."
"He, ah, pursued it in prison. It was his, um, hustle while he was inside. He used his commissary money to buy art supplies, then did pieces for the other prisoners. For a profit. One of the guys liked him enough to drop his name at the gallery. When he got out, he went and showed them some pieces, and they wanted him on the spot. So, yeah, he's been working on his pieces for that since he's been out. And doing some renovations on his place."
"That's one thing about these Mallick men," Lea said with an appreciative smile, "they all know how to swing a hammer. It's obnoxiously hot."
Okay.
That was so true.
I mean I was always progressive about gender roles, and often dated men softer, sweeter, more clueless about plumbing than me. But I was sure there was something primal about seeing a man who could fix things. Like maybe we saw them as better protectors and providers or something.
I had totally jumped Eli one night after watching him lay flooring at his place. All those muscles clenching. The hint of sweat. The big strong hands. Oh, yeah. It was effective.
"Autumn," Eli's voice called, making me jump and turn on my low heel. "Come here for a sec," he asked, holding an arm out.
"Aw, he wants you to meet his brothers," Fee declared, smile going warm. "Go on. We'll discuss aphrodisiacs later."
I moved away from a group I was somewhat comfortable with and across the room to one I didn't know, aside from Ryan thanking me.
But then Eli's arm went around me, pulling me in close. I think, just as much for his comfort as mine, and all felt better in the world.
"You met Ryan," he said nodding his head toward him. "This is Hunt, Fee's husband. And that is Shane, Lea's. And finally, Mark, Scotti's husband."
"It's nice to meet all of you. I'd say I've heard a lot, but that would be a lie," I admitted, and I could feel Eli silently chuckle as he gave me a squeeze.
"So you're the one who stole Coop," the big one - Shane - accused, smirk toying with his lips. "Know how many animals shelters I've trolled these past six years?"
"No one put up any fliers!" I accused, big-eyeing them.
"No one had any pictures," Shane said with a shrug. "Though Hunt did draw some shit up, but I dunno. Guess they never crossed your path."
"He's had a good life eating shoes and destroying copies of Die Muthafucka," Eli supplied, giving me a knowing smile. He had totally hunkered down, went searching, and tracked down a signed copy of the book for Peyton that he planned to give her for Christmas.
Because he was thinking that far ahead.
About her, so therefore about me.
My heart squeezed every time I thought about that.
And maybe I wondered what he was going to get me.
"And I got updates."
Oh, shit.
I felt myself stiffen, not knowing why he would bring that up. Things were going smoothly. That was a huge bump in the road.
"Updates on what?" Mark asked.
"Coop. How he was doing."
There was a strained silence as that sank in. "You took her letters while you were inside?" Ryan asked, jaw tight.
"The first one because I had no fucking idea who she was," he admitted, obviously just wanting to clear the air. "She told me she had Coop and that he was okay. Then there were other letters after that."
