my brother Chevy asks as he slips up beside me. We share a strong hug that includes pats on the back.
“Nothing,” I reply. “You?”
“Same as always.”
We release each other, and he nods at Rachel. “She’s a natural with kids.”
“Rachel’s great,” I say. At everything. I never thought much about Rachel with babies, but she is good with them. Better than good—she’s great. Rachel’s just naturally good with people. There’s no reason babies wouldn’t be included in the mix.
Rachel and babies. Rachel as a mom. Rachel the mom to my children. My heart warms at the idea, and I take a drink from the bottle I’m holding to keep any reaction off my face.
We have a plan though.
The Plan.
Five more years until we own our company and can start our life together.
Five years.
That sounds forever away.
Rachel glances my way, and seeing the smile that brightens her face is like watching the sun rise in a clear blue sky. I smile back, not caring that anyone can see how ridiculously happy I am when she looks at me.
“Can we talk?” Chevy asks, his voice pitched low.
This ought to be interesting. “What’s going on?”
Chevy scans the room. Besides us, the clubhouse is relatively empty. Razor had just pulled in, and most everyone followed him and Breanna into Cyrus’s cabin. I’m looking forward to catching up with them, but I figure that will happen later, like it always does at these parties. A few hours in, Rachel, Oz, Emily, Razor, Breanna, Chevy, Violet, Stone and I end up at the picnic table outside shooting the breeze.
“Oz wants to propose to Emily tonight.”
Seems like everyone is on this—everyone but Emily. “Sounds good.”
“Yeah, but Oz got himself into some trouble. I don’t think Emily wants to remember the night they got engaged as the night Eli killed Oz.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Eli’s motorcycle, paint and Adelaide—that type of trouble.”
Any situation with the combination of those three is damn funny—at least from the safe
side of the situation. “And?”
“Do you know how to paint a motorcycle?”
I chuckle. There’s never a dull moment in this place—never.
Chapter 39
Emily
Razor and Chevy kidnapped me from the driver’s seat of my car and won’t stop hugging me. It’s not really hugging as much as it’s a game of them passing me back and forth between them without my feet ever touching the ground, as if I weigh nothing. I’m laughing so hard that there are tears in my eyes and my sides hurt, and each time I try to slip from their grasp, it seems there’s another Reign of Terror member waiting to capture me in a bear hug, then pass me back to the duo of doom.
“Put me down!” I say between breaths.
“Nope,” Pigpen says, as he’s the next one to lift me from my feet and shake me from side to side. “This is what happens when you stay away too long.”
“I…” I’m laughing so hard I can’t breathe. “I had papers and finals. And this is no fair, Razor’s been gone longer than me.”
“Yeah,” Pigpen says. “But he’s not as fun to hug.”
Pigpen shifts me to the right, and when I’m about to scream because I’m not sure I can handle being handed off to someone else, I find myself wrapped tight in strong arms along with a delicious kiss to my neck. My heart skips several beats as I inhale Oz’s scent and I melt into him.
“Hey, beautiful,” Oz whispers into my ear.
I raise up on my toes as he leans down to kiss me. My hands glide up his back and into his black hair. Around us, people “oooh” and “aaah” in a mocking-fun way as if we’ve been caught making out in high school. I’m twenty-one now and have been to my fair share of Reign of Terror parties. Some of these men have done way more embarrassing things than what I’m doing right now, so they can shut up.
We eventually stop kissing, and he pulls me close for another hug. It’s been three weeks since we’ve seen each other, and as much as I’m happy to see him, I’m a bit sad—it’s just a reminder of how much I’ll miss him when I go to Europe for the year.
I considered not going to Europe to study for my last year of college, but then Oz pushed me for the real reason why I was passing up the opportunity since it was clear I wanted to go. When I told him it was because I was going to