Holden's Resurrection (Gemini Group #6) - Riley Edwards Page 0,70
question?” Bobby pressed.
“What question?” Macy, late to the game, asked.
“If Holden’s good in bed,” Kennedy repeated. “He looks like he’d be.”
“Oh, shit.” Nixon’s voice boomed and I snapped straight.
“Hey, honey.” McKenna smiled at her husband innocently.
“What’s wrong?” Holden joined our huddle.
And there it was, it could absolutely be worse.
“Nothing,” I squeaked, and Bobby snickered.
“Leigh-Leigh—”
“Did you get the box open?” I rushed to change the subject.
“Yeah. What’s wrong?”
“I told you, nothing’s wrong.”
“Baby, your face is on fire and you look like someone’s been force-feeding you lemons.”
“Oh, for God’s sake. She’s fine, macho man. We’re not torturing her,” Bobby sighed.
Nixon chuckled and Holden’s gaze went to his friend. “They’re totally torturing her. They’re on step one of the initiation process.”
Oh, Lord, there was more?
If step one had me ready to bolt, I wasn’t sure if I’d survive step two.
“What’s that mean?” Holden asked and moved closer to me.
A wide smile formed on Nixon’s face. He hadn’t missed Holden positioning himself—and neither had I. That was a typical Holden maneuver—if he’d even caught a hint someone wasn’t being nice to me, he moved in for the kill.
“Brother, you’re moving in the wrong direction. If I were you, I’d get my ass out of here. When I walked in, Kennedy was asking if you were good in bed. That’s step one.”
“I was not,” Kennedy objected. “I was repeating Bobby’s question. I told her she didn’t have to answer.”
“Nice, throw me under the bus for asking the question everyone wants to know.”
“I don’t want to know,” Micky lied sweetly.
She so wanted to know, too.
“You asked how big his—”
The growl that came from Nix had Bobby snapping her mouth closed, and once again I couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter.
McKenna narrowed her eyes on Bobby. The death stare did nothing to stop the smirk on the other woman’s face.
“I think I should leave,” Holden croaked, and I glanced up at him.
Holy sweet mercy, Holden was blushing.
“Are you…are you…” I couldn’t get the sputtered words out of my mouth to form a complete sentence because I was bent over in laughter.
“Charleigh,” he grunted.
“I can’t…believe…you…are,” I said through my amusement.
“Like I said, we need to beat feet before the scorecards come out. I know one of them has a size chart hidden somewhere.”
Holden’s groan only fueled my mirth but I was sober enough to tell him. “Don’t worry, honey, I have your back.”
“Thanks,” he grumbled.
“Great. Now Holden’s slot will go unfilled,” Bobby groused.
And I was left wondering if there really was a scorecard, and if there was, did I want to see it?
“That might work in Holden’s favor depending on the order of names,” Nixon teased.
“We sort by size,” Bobby deadpanned.
“Well, then there’s no need to shuffle—you can scratch Holden in on the bottom.”
My eyes widened at Nixon’s comment. Was he being factitious or serious?
Holden shook his head and the pink in his cheeks deepened.
“Have they seen you?”
“Baby.” Holden chuckled.
Now I had to know. Holden was unusually large; if his name would be on the bottom of the list, I feared for the safety and well-being of the women around me.
“Seriously?”
“Charleigh, he’s joking.”
“Thank God. I was getting ready to ask how any of them walked if you were—”
I didn’t get the rest of what I was saying out because Holden tugged me so hard I face-planted into his chest. One of his hands rested on the back of my head and he held me in place.
“Fucking hell.” His voice rumbled against my cheek and his body shook with silent laughter.
“Now I have to know. I heard the evidence of what Chasin’s packin’ when I lived with him and Evie. I didn’t need verbal confirmation in inches,” Bobby continued her tirade. “But now I’m worried about our girl here. If it’s been eight years for her, I’m not worried about her walking—”
“Roberta,” Genevieve muttered. “Quiet.”
Holden went still, then he started vibrating, not with laughter but with something else entirely. The pressure on the back of my head increased, his other hand on my hip squeezed painfully, and for my part—I’d stopped breathing.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I was just joking around. I didn’t mean…shit.”
I didn’t know what to say, not that I could’ve spoken when my face was smooshed against Holden’s chest, but I felt like I needed to let Bobby off the hook. She hadn’t done anything wrong. I knew she hadn’t spilled my secret on purpose, she was trying to be funny.
I felt Holden press a kiss on top of my head before he released me and kissed my