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“Lindsey, you, Autumn, and Artemis are rubbing off on our Vivie,” Blaze mentioned, shaking his head as his own woman slammed into his lean frame.
“We’ve come to invite you to a cookout at the farm this weekend. We’re inviting all exiles from assholes,” Ali-kat spoke, and I choked.
“Rage being the assholes,” Lindsey explained.
“So, I see,” I stated quietly.
“Oh, we’re outlaws, too,” Savage grinned, and I laughed.
Fuck, even though they still wore their cuts, they were my brothers. Rage hadn’t been able to break that bond. There was a knock, and Savage opened it and let Mac in.
Everybody glared at Mac, including Vivie.
“I don’t know if I’m safe on a ranch Ali-kat; look what happened last time!” I winced, as so did everyone else. No sooner had I set foot on Ali-kat’s and Blaze’s home than I’d fallen over an escaping puppy. And then landed face down in a mud pit before Ali’s favourite horse charged me. And I hadn’t even stepped inside her house!
“We are Klutz proofing it!” Ali-kat said with a grin.
Yeah, I would like to see that.
“Someone take this kid!” Gauntlet growled as Blue yanked his hair. Gauntlet winced as Blue pulled hard a second time, and Casey reached out and snagged Blue.
Blue sent Gauntlet a baleful look, and I saw guilt cross his face, which disappeared, and Blue grinned toothily. Oh, Blue was learning how to work the adults around him.
How cute, not!
“Will you stop that woman?” Mac asked Vivie, who was muttering in French again and eyeing Mac balefully as I tried not to laugh. “I voted against kicking Calamity out. Man loves who he loves. Same as my brother here,” Mac said, but there was hesitation in his tone as he looked at me.
Blue heard his dad’s voice and stared, and Mac shifted, looking guilty. With a huff that his dad wasn’t bowing to his every whim, Blue snuggled into Casey and sent Mac a smug look. Little fucker! Mac glowered, and I hid a laugh.
“You got a difficult and fine line to walk, brother,” I said and reached out to clasp arms with Mac.
Mac looked relieved at my acceptance. “Yeah, well, they fucked up, and they realise it. Although Drake refused to vote. And I think that’s because he knew we were making a mistake. Man, is he pissed and depressed. Phoe is giving him hell, and Drake’s running around trying to catch his tail,” Mac said with more than a hint of malicious glee.
“Lex can…” Vivie broke into a torrent of French as I grabbed a chair and sat her in it. I was her alternative, and while Lex was in the doghouse, it was my job to look after her. Vivie glowered at the Rage cuts and then spat on the floor before looking horrified.
“Oh, Aurora, I apologise. Give me a mop and bucket!” Vivie exclaimed as everyone laughed.
“Lowrider is wailing every night that he is missing his family. That cocksucker can suck it until he realises what a motherfucking idiot he’s been. Seriously, after all the shit with me, he jumps on Calamity like that?” Lindsey said and folded her arms. Lindsey had a point, I realised, as Mac nodded, red-faced. He’d been a massive part of that misunderstanding, but Lindsey adored Mac without reservation. That was why Casey had received such frigid treatment.
Lindsey knew Mac as well as she did Lowrider and had known my brother had been deeply hurt over Casey’s initial date with him. Mac had one of the softest hearts around, although he hid it. She’d come out fighting and being a total bitch in the effort to protect Mac and had made Casey’s life hell. Yet, from what I saw, the two women appeared best friends. Who the fuck understood a woman’s mind? Not me.
Lindsey and Casey swapped glances.
“Our man is the only one with his head screwed on out of the old guard,” Casey said, and Lindsey nodded vigorously.
Mac preened, and the rest of the brothers hid a smile.
“Fuckers, let me in!” a voice demanded from the door, and Calamity, Micah, I should call him Fanatic, and Rosie stood outside.
“Got the newspaper in Spearfish, so rode straight over and bumped into this clown,” Fanatic said, greeting me. His warm hug lifted part of the cloud from my shoulders, and Calamity’s removed it. I was the eldest of the three musketeers. These two guys were closer than my real-life brothers could’ve ever hoped to be. And now we were in the same room, I felt freaking invincible.
Rosie shoved past and hugged Aurora tightly, checking her over and making a fuss. Rosie had become to Aurora what Calamity and Fanatic were to me.
Conversation rose about the article and then about the shop, and Aurora spilt the beans about my returning to college to study to become a vet. Rosie’s eyebrows shot into her hairline, and she began talking to me about offering me a partnership in the clinic she and Calamity were having built on her land.
I knew there’d been trouble when Calamity found a wounded dog and took it to Rosie’s old workplace. A guy there was harassing her, and Calamity explained it was all in the hands of lawyers as Rosie was suing them for sexual harassment. Rosie had struck out alone, and Calamity, now exceedingly wealthy, was funding her. They were a striking couple.
I listened and nodded in the right places; I could afford the buy-in, although Rosie offered me a payment plan. But I’d plenty remaining from the lawsuits. Money was not an issue. Rosie soon suggested that on the days I wasn’t attending college, I could work alongside her and hone my skills even quicker. Damn, I loved this woman’s big heart. But she and Calamity would both need watching because of their generous natures. People might try to take advantage.
