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Rage, the need to drink...all of it.
His father had been a horrible man. A worse dad. An awful husband.
Given to fits of anger and violence. Dark, destructive violence.
Gus had never wanted to be a husband or father, but he had also purposed early that he would be everything his dad wasn’t.
His dad would have found a way to crush Alaina in this moment. He excelled at that. Hurting people when they were at their weakest.
It made Gus more determined to shield her.
“Then let’s go,” he said. “Hunter and Elsie won’t be the only ones making an announcement tonight.”
Something in her eyes sparked then, and he knew she liked that. Knew that whatever feelings she had for his brother were still strong enough that she wasn’t above taking another chance to get at him.
Luckily, Gus didn’t care. Because he might be willing to marry Alaina, but he didn’t have any feelings for her.
Angus McCloud didn’t have feelings at all.
CHAPTER TWO
THISWASINSANE,and so was Gus. But she didn’t know what else to do.
You’re actually going to marry Gus McCloud...
She hated all her other options. She was afraid of doing this on her own. Afraid of everyone’s reactions. Yes, her sisters would help her, but things were challenging enough as it was. And it might be the modern era, but people were still judgmental as hell. Not even Sawyer and Wolf had let their babies be born into a situation where they’d remained unmarried. And they were men. And the thing was, Alaina had spent so many years telling herself that she didn’t care what anybody thought. Telling herself that she didn’t need to sit in bad feelings. That she could change things. For the better. That all it took was determination and a strong will, and everything would be okay. But nothing about this had gotten better. Not for any of the amount of time she’d let it sit. It just hadn’t gotten better.
She had hoped that it would. She had hoped that something would change. That something would come to her. Some new idea of how to spin this. Maybe part of her had even hoped Travis would come back. Not because she loved him but because...it just seemed like it would make things easier. At least then her baby would have a father.
At least then she wouldn’t have to admit that she’d gotten pregnant having sex one miserable time with a guy she wasn’t in a relationship with.
And what were they going to do? What were they going to tell everybody? Most of all, who would believe it?
“You’re not seriously going to announce this right now,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said, looking at her with deadly serious eyes. “Everyone’s here. And it seems to me like it’s got to happen sooner rather than later.”
They stepped back into the crowd, and Fia went to them immediately.
“I cannot believe this.” Fia looked between Gus and Alaina. “In fact, I don’t believe it. What’s going on?”
“What’s going on,” Gus said to her sister, “is that I’m marrying her. That’s it.”
“But are you...?”
“Do you think that’s any of your business?” he asked.
“Yes, Angus,” Fia said. “I do in fact think it’s my business. She is my youngest sister, and I think you owe me an explanation. We have known each other since we were in diapers. And you can’t just randomly...”
“There’s nothing random about it,” Gus said. “If she needs something, I’m there for her. That’s how it’s always been. That’s how it always will be. So chill out, Fia, and let me handle this.”
“Alaina?” Fia said.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Alaina said.
And Gus took her hand, and started to lead her up toward the position at the bonfire where Sawyer had just stood. His hands were rough, different than Travis’s. Travis was a ranch hand, but Gus was shaped on the ranch, like iron forged in fire. He had been working since he learned to walk. Everything about him was...rough.
“Hey,” Gus said. “Alaina Sullivan and I have a little announcement of our own. We’ll be having a wedding here at the ranch right quick. So buy us a toaster or some shit.”
