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“Blondie. Hey, I think she likes me.”
“Of course she does.” Blondie grinned up at me. “You’re a likable guy.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Fuck, yeah, I am. Chicks dig me.” This caused another smile to spread across Skylar’s face, and yep, I’d probably die for her. She had caught me, hook, line and sinker.
Blondie stayed nearby, holding on to the boy’s hands as he toddled across the grass. “Can you do that?” I asked the girl. “Walk like your brother?” They weren’t blood related, but they were being raised together, and since they were so close in age, they’d be raised pretty much the same way my sister and I had been. Like twins.
Skylar sent me a secretive smile at my question. I smiled back. “Yeah, I bet you can do anything he can.” My sister had been competitive enough to make sure she always kept up with me, even though I’d been taller, faster, and stronger. She had still kicked my ass in more competitions than I ever wanted to admit.
“Hey, Blondie,” I started in again, needing to share this cool-ass moment with someone.
But the very second I turned her way, she decided to gather up the boy and stand. Problem was, she’d been kneeling close enough to me that her pointy bent elbow whacked me right in the eye as we collided into each other.
“Motherfucker,” I howled, momentarily seeing stars as my eye exploded with pain.
“Oh my God,” she shrieked. “Oh, Ten, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
“No.” I saw nothing but a blinding white light as the bundle in my hands squirmed and started to cry. “Is she okay?” I asked. “Fuck, I can’t see shit. The kid’s okay, right?”
“She’s fine.” Pick’s voice came from my left. “I’ve got her.” The screeching baby was tugged from my arms and she instantly calmed down.
No longer needing to worry about the girl, I doubled over and clutched my throbbing eye. “God...damn.”
“Ten, are you okay?” Buttercup asked as she touched my arm.
“Never better,” I muttered.
She laughed but then quietly said, “Then give a thumbs-up or something, because Caroline looks worried enough to race over here and check on you.”
I immediately lifted my arm, my thumb in the air. “I’m good,” I called. “It’d been too long since I had a black eye. Thought I’d get caught up again.”
Someone started clapping. “Way to go, Zoey. You can now officially join the Gave-Ten-a-Black-Eye club with Quinn, Pick and me.”
“Shut up, fucker,” I yelled back to Gamble as Buttercup and Blondie grasped my arms and guided me toward the house. “I bet Blondie’s bruise will spread a lot bigger and darker than the little dink you gave me.”
After the girls fashioned a baggie of ice for me, I returned to the party and found myself talking to Pick and Mason because they seemed to be located the farthest away from Caroline. It was as if everyone was trying to keep me away from her. I didn’t like that. So I didn’t listen to much of anything the bastards said, too busy keeping track of everything she did across the yard.
This was miserable, and it got even worse when Lowe grinned and clasped me on the shoulder as he spoke to Pick. “Just look at that puppy-dog expression on his face while he watches her.”
Pick grinned rather smugly. “Ten, man. You’ve got it bad.”
“Shut it,” I muttered and just kept staring as I drank my beer.
The rest of the party seemed to drag by. But seriously, one year olds took freaking forever to open their damn gifts. They actually wanted to play with their toys as soon as they opened them without the slightest urge to move along and see what else they’d gotten. Seriously, what was up with that?
I was leaning against a fence post, trying to encourage her brother to toddle over there and help her rip apart wrapping paper when from the corner of my eye—where my Caroline radar was blaring strong—she grabbed her stomach and pitched forward, doubling over. My full attention immediately zoomed to her, and I pushed away from the wall. Her gaze met mine, her eyes wide with shock and pain.
“You okay?” I mouthed the question.
She nodded, but she was getting paler, and sweat was slipping down the side of her face. She wasn’t fucking okay at all. Suddenly, she dashed to a nearby bush and heaved over it, upchucking all her lunch.
“Shit!” I leapt forward, but Ham grabbed my arm, stopping me.
Glaring up at him, I tried to pull free. “Don’t fuck with me, man.”
He shifted closer. “Noel’s here. He’ll take care of her.”
My breathing escalated. I wanted to shrug him off and go to Caroline anyway. Pick, and Hart, and Gamble’s wife were crowding around her, as were all three of her brothers. What would be wrong if I went over there too? She was my woman, damn it.
