AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sawyer picked up his phone and rang Brody to talk through what they needed him to do because he didn’t want to continue this conversation.
“We’re going to Roll Away tomorrow night to watch the game. You coming?” Ryder asked him when he finished the call.
Would Birdie be working?It was just plain wrong how pleased he was at that thought.
“And don’t say watch it here like you always do. We’re going out. You’re a fucking hermit, bro. You need interaction,” Ryder said, hurling the next ball into the water for the dogs.
“I just went to a wedding,” Sawyer protested.
“Yeah. Well, we think you need to be socialized more, so we’re doing that.”
“I’m not a dog,” Sawyer said. “And this is coming from Zoe, not you idiots.”
Ryder grinned. “It’s good having her back.”
“It is. So, what’s the second thing you wanted to talk about?”
“I’m thinking of buying the bakery.”
“What bakery?”
“Limpet’s.”
“Why? That place is run-down and infested with rodents. Limpet just sits in there all day playing cards with his buddies and throwing the occasional bun at a customer who is game enough to enter.”
“I could make it something though, Sawyer.”
He looked at his brother and saw the excitement. Ryder had been drifting between working at the timber yard and doing an online course for a while now. One passion he’d always had since the Dukes had run wild as boys was baking.
“Is old man Limpet wanting to sell?”
“I need you to come with me and ask him. One asshole to another. You speak grouch fluently, so you should be able to get him to communicate.”
“Fuck you.”
“Let’s go. I have those caramel donuts you like in the car.”
“I’m not a kid needing a treat,” Sawyer growled.
“If you say so.” Ryder walked away from him and headed to the front door.
Fuck, he loved those donuts. Slapping down his coffee, Sawyer whistled at the dogs and put them both in their run. He climbed into his brother’s old beat-up truck that purred like a tiger.
Ryder didn’t speak, just handed him the container of baked goods, and then drove out of the drive.
Sawyer bit into the donut. Crispy on the outside and filled with dough and gooey caramel on the inside, he nearly moaned. But as the last time he moaned he’d been inside Birdie, he kept it to himself.
“What’s the deal with you and Birdie, Sawyer?”
He swallowed and only just managed not to choke on air. “No deal, like I’ve said already.”
“You like her,” Ryder said as they pulled out onto the street that led into Lyntacky.
“Who doesn’t? And I thought we’d just established you want me to be her friend.”
“No, you really like her.”
“Jesus, will you let the fuck up? I do not really like her. I told you and everyone else in this family why I took her. Leave it alone!”
