she was six or seven months along while Wren was barely showing, so I asked, “When are you both due?”
Henley answered, “In an eternity from now.”
Cassidy shook her head. “Not an eternity. You just have two and a half more months to go.”
“That’s an eternity! This little twerp keeps kicking my bladder. I’m in the bathroom every five minutes,” Henley groaned. “But it will be worth it in a few months to have a little Maverick running around.”
“Are you sure you can’t do something about that?” Cassidy teased. “One Maverick is enough.”
“I’m so gonna tell him you said that,” Henley growled, and then out of nowhere, she suddenly turned her attention towards me. Her lips curled into a mischievous grin as she said, “So you’ve heard our stories from Clutch. You know I’m with Maverick, and Guardrail is with Allie. You know Wren is Stitch’s ol’ lady and Cassidy is with Cotton.” She waved her hand in the air as she continued, “Their stories are old and boring. We’ve heard them a hundred times. Now we want to know all about you and Clutch. How’d you two hook up?”
I shrugged, suddenly feeling shy with all four sets of their eyes on me. “I don’t know. We met at the diner where I worked. Other than that, I guess there’s not much to say.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Henley said. “With Clutch, there is always something to say.”
I glanced at Henley, giving her a small smile. Stalling for a minute, I sat circling the top of my water bottle with a fingertip, trying to find the words. I didn’t know how to explain to these women how deeply I felt for Clutch, how powerful our love felt to me. I didn’t know these women, and they were all his people … his family.
“Well, to tell the truth … we had a bit of a rocky start,” I confessed. “I was just trying to keep my head above water when he showed up. Starting something with anyone was the last thing on my mind at the time. At first, I was kind of ticked at him for being so good-looking … No, I take that back. I was really, really mad at him for being so damn good-looking,” I said with a smile. “From the second I met him, he completely unhinged me. Just his presence alone awakened something uncontrollable inside me. I felt a pull towards him like I’d never felt before. He was so hot, I couldn’t keep my eyes or my mind off of him, and I hated feeling so consumed.”
Their eyes were all on me.
So I continued. “It didn’t help that he was there every time I turned around. He was a distraction that I felt for certain I didn’t need in my life. I was sure he was nothing but hot as hell trouble, and I knew we were a whole different level of trouble he definitely didn’t need. But I was selfish, and he kept pulling me in with that sexy little smile and all the sweet things he’d do. He seemed to understand what we were going through without me even telling him—better than we even understood, truthfully. We all became attached to him pretty fast. He … made us feel like ourselves. His presence awakened what we didn’t even realize we’d lost after my parents’ deaths. He pulled us into the present. I couldn’t help myself. He was just too easy to fall in love with. It was like he was my knight in shining armor, but instead of riding on a big white horse, he was riding a big black iron horse.”
Cassidy gave me a strange look, then said, “You really love him, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I really do.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Clutch is a really good guy. I’m glad he found you.”
“I’m glad he did, too. And he couldn’t have come at a better time. We needed him in more ways than I could ever imagine.”
“Maverick said you’ve been taking care of your brother and sister after your parents were killed. That had to be hard,” Henley told me.
I shrugged and said, “They’re my family. There’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for them. And honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to make it through this whole thing without them. Maybe this will all be over soon and we can get back to a normal life.”
“You will. It will just take some time,” Wren assured me.
Just thinking about it made me miss