Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75152 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75152 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
But the quiet didn’t last long.
As soon as the food started to disappear, the antics began.
"Hey, Bones!” one of the guys I didn’t know called out. “Where’s your girl?”
“You know something I don’t?” Wyatt looked to his side and then the other. “’Cause, as far as I know, I don’t have a girl.”
Maverick glanced around the room as he said, “Asking about Elsie. You seen her?”
“Not since this morning.” Bones looked behind him, then shrugged like he was trying to convince Maverick he didn’t care. “I’m sure she’s around somewhere.”
“Well, you might wanna check in with her later,” Maverick suggested. “You know days like these are tough on her.”
“Yeah, I know.” Bones’ expression grew solemn as he said, “I’ll hunt her down in a bit.”
“Let us know if you need a hand.”
Bones nodded, then turned his attention back to his plate. I had no idea what was going on with Elsie, but I got the feeling it wasn’t good. Wyatt sat there for a moment, then without saying a word, he quietly stood and started out of the family room.
I assumed he was going to see about Elsie, but before I could ask Quinton about it, Rooster leaned in and said, “You know, your girl should be pissed at you.”
“Oh?” Quinton asked, sounding just as confused as I was. “And why’s that?”
“You’re the reason why she missed her chance.”
“I’m not following.”
“I saw her first.” Rooster’s eyes skirted over me as he smiled and said, “The night of the bonfire. She was looking for the bathroom or something, and I found her. I was just about to lay on the charm when you showed up and ruined the poor girl’s chance to get a taste of the Rooster. No way she can be happy about that.”
“Ah, shit. You gotta be kidding me.”
“What? You fucked us both.” Rooster looked over to me as he asked, “Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah, it was a tough pill to swallow.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I told him, “But Quinton has done his best to make it up to me.”
“I certainly hope so.”
Quinton glanced over at me as he muttered, “I’m gonna need a drink.”
“How about some dessert instead?” I suggested.
“They’ve got quite a spread over there.” Maverick motioned his head toward the dessert table. “MJ brought a couple of her pies, and Henley made her famous dump cake.”
“I’m stuffed, but there’s no way I can pass on a piece of MJ’s pie.” Quinton eased his chair back and stood. “You want a piece?”
“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”
“What about you, babe?” Maverick asked as he stood. “You want some of your cake, or are you going for the pie?”
“Umm, I think I’m gonna have to go with the pie.”
“Yeah, I want some, too,” Liv announced.
“I gotcha.”
Clutch gave her a wink as he stood and followed his brothers to the dessert table. Once they were out of earshot, MJ leaned over to me and asked, “You doing okay?”
“More than okay.” I smiled as I told her, “I’ve really enjoyed today.”
“It’s always entertaining, especially when the whole crew is here.” A smile swept across Henley’s face as she told me, “You never know what they’ll get into.”
“That’s an understatement.” Liv shook her head. “They almost did me in last New Year’s.”
“Why? What happened?”
“A big snow came in, and the guys got in their head that they wanted to build a fort.” Liv looked over to Cass as she asked, “Do you remember how cold it was?”
“Yeah, it was like five degrees outside, but that didn’t slow them down. They had shovels and the backhoe. They were hell-bent on building the biggest, most bad-assed snow fort the kids had ever seen.”
“Only the kids weren’t kids anymore,” MJ added. “And they had absolutely no interest in building a stupid fort.”
“No, but they were all about it when we were done.” Smokey placed MJ’s pie on the table, then sat down as he continued, “We couldn’t get them out of the damn thing.”
“He’s right.” Cass giggled as she said, “The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever.”
“Because it was!” Maverick sounded like a kid when he said, “The thing was massive. We even put rooms in it, and Stitch put in his patio heater. And Big set up a TV.”
“Yeah, the guys took their chairs in there and pulled in one of our kegs, and it was all downhill from there.”
Henley shook her head with a giggle. “We knew it was going to be bad when the girls went out there. They started drinking, and it wasn’t long before they broke out the sled.”
“Yeah, it was definitely a New Year’s to remember.”
“It was the best.” Wrath sounded excited as he said, “We gotta do it again this year.”
“Definitely,” Stitch replied. “But we gotta make it bigger this time.”
“Bigger?” Wren gasped. “How in the world could you make it bigger?”