“Shut it, Cap!” Mac turns and follows Eric with his eyes. “Zip it or lose it!”
Eric is a nice man. He really, really is, but he walks away now, and flips Mac off as he goes.
“I gotta stop speaking.” Mac turns back and grits his teeth. “He just overheard me.”
“I think Eric is right,” I murmur. “It’s not a very well-kept secret. We’re not in high school anymore. Ben and Evie are married, and they’ve been caught banging at the gym at least twice a week for years. This is the next logical step.”
“What’s the next logical step?” Jack – Evie’s favorite uncle – pokes his head into our group, and smiles so a single dimple pops in his cheek. “Whatcha kids talking about?”
“Um… Nothing.” My voice squeaks. “Where’s Evie?”
“She’s upstairs getting ready, I think.”
“Oh… okay. Um, where’s Aiden?”
“He’s out the back with Bobby. He’s working through his rage.”
“His rage?” My heart gives a painful splat. “Um… why’s he mad?”
The former three-or-four-time heavyweight champion of the world, Jack ‘The Jackhammer’ Reilly, only shrugs and taps my nose as he continues his way through the party. “No clue. You look cute tonight, by the way. I like your smile.”
“Um… thanks!” I stand on my toes and wave at his back. “Thank you!”
“I’m pretty sure everyone knows,” Tucker laughs. “Her dad is in the yard rage-fighting. Pretty sure that’s a red flag right there.”
“Let’s go see.”
And then it hits me.
“Wait, who is he rage fighting? Nobody said where Ben is yet!”
I break away from my little pack, and race through the kitchen. I bump into fighters as they mill about, I don’t scream when hands grab me to stop me from tripping; instead, I worry about the funeral I’m probably days away from attending.
Bursting onto the back deck, I find Aiden, Bobby, and Kane, rocking in old wooden chairs, with a beer in hand, and smiles on their faces.
They’re not fighting. They’re smiling, mid-joke, as they turn and look up to me.
“Hey, you okay?” Aiden’s eyes scour my face. Everyone is so conditioned to worry about me, it’s kind of embarrassing that he slowly lowers his foot from the foot stool. He sits forward – slowly. They treat me like a trapped animal, and do everything they can to not spook me. “You looking for Ben, or…?”
Despite the fact Ben is Evie’s husband, they know he’s my touchstone, my protector… my crutch. Instead of fighting against it, they allow me my weakness without judgment.
“Um… no.” I laugh off the adrenaline that races through my blood. “Whew. No, I was just wondering where Evie is. Uh…” I look from Aiden, to Bobby, to a smirking Kane. “You guys having a good time?”
“Sure are.” Kane waggles his brows. “Have a good time last night?”
“Um…”
“What did you do last night?” Aiden stands, pats his now-empty chair, and shuffles me over to sit down. “What’s he asking about?”
I went to Piper’s Lane! And then I had sex; dirty, filthy, verging on painful sex that lasted a hell of a lot longer than three minutes.
“I… uh… I had a date.”
“Yeah?” Aiden’s eyes snap to the men at my back. Tucker and Mac. One of them is engaged to his niece. The other… is possibly in a little bit of trouble. “Was he a gentleman?”
Do gentlemen bite a woman’s ass? Literally.
“Yes, of course.” I settle back in the wooden chair, and exhale when Aiden sits on the footstool. “Um… actually, do you know Tucker?” I wave over my shoulder. “Tucker Morris, Aiden Kincaid.”
Aiden stands again, reaches out, and when their hands meet, he squeezes extra hard, for extra long. “We know who each other are, of course. But this is the first time he’s been brought home as a date.” He tilts his head a little to the side. “What are your intentions, son?”
“Aiden!” I explode amid nervous laughter. “You can’t ask things like that!”
“Why the fuck not?” He releases Tucker’s hand and looks to me. “I’ve known you a long time, sweetheart. I don’t see anyone else asking the important questions. If any man has a problem with that question, then it’s time they were shown to the door anyway.”
“His intentions are to… like…” My heart pounds. “I don’t know! To spend time with me. That’s it.”
“I spend time with you.” Aiden’s jaw flexes with threat. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna marry you.”
“Marry?” I squeak. “What the h—” I stop and shake my head. “You gotta focus on your own