“Don’t be ridiculous. I hate that you aren’t with Jet, too. It’s where you’re supposed to be.” Shaw would always have a heart the size of my home state.
I looked at Cora like she might be able to help, but for a pretty tough chick she looked like she was going to break apart again as well.
“Well, damn. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen. You all know I’m usually better around the ladies than this.”
Cora walked over and hooked her arm through mine and rested her head on my shoulder.
“It’s okay. She would’ve had to break the news eventually. It’s just a lot to take in. Those two are tight. It’s gonna be hard for them to adjust to not having the other right around the corner for every little thing. Honestly, we all saw this coming. Ayd needs to be where Jet is and Jet needs to be where the music is. It’ll be fine. It always is.”
“I can’t believe Rule’s gonna be a daddy.”
We both sort of laughed and she turned her head to look up at me with her multitoned eyes.
“Would serve him right if she ends up having twins.”
I barked out a laugh that had the other two girls pulling apart and scowling at us. Cora moved out of striking distance as Ayden stalked over and punched me solidly in the gut. I grunted a little and caught her up in a tight hug as well.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to spill the beans.”
She just shook her head and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Probably better it came from your pretty face than from me anyway. I would have screwed it up.”
“You’ll be here when she needs you.”
She nodded her silky hair under my chin. “Always.”
“What are you doing here anyway? Why aren’t you at the Marked?” Ever the busybody, Cora would have to be the one to point out I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.
“My last appointment canceled, so I thought I would swing by and see what was going on.”
She snorted. “You thought you would swing by and get Salem all riled up. I don’t know what the two of you have going on, but it’s like watching two boxers circle each other in the ring. One of you is going to get knocked out by a sucker punch sooner or later.”
Ayden made a noise and pulled away from me. “A sucker punch called love. Rowdy likes her. Jet told me he hasn’t been with anyone else since Salem showed up, so we know it’s serious. You never keep it in your pants for very long.”
I fake-growled at her and stepped away from the girls. “Salem and I have history, is all. She used to matter a lot to me and now that she’s back we’re just trying to figure it out. The then and the now can be a little bit tricky.”
“Does she know you swore off ever getting serious about another girl because of her sister?”
“Yeah. I told her all about it this weekend; that’s why she’s been dodging me. She says she doesn’t really know what to think of it. Salem thought it was simple puppy love.”
“Even puppy love can have some nasty teeth.” Cora’s tone was matter-of-fact. It was something we shared, a tie that bound us together the others didn’t have. Cora’s first love had cheated on her, left her broken and soured on the idea of what love should look like as well, so I just nodded at her assessment.
“It sure can, but now I think I want to see what’s past the one. What the one after might look like. Salem was my best friend when I really needed someone and now she’s here and I want her to be an entirely different kind of friend.” I wiggled my eyebrows up and down, which made all the girls laugh. “The kind with benefits and missing clothes.”
“They do say friends make the best lovers.” Shaw sighed in a dreamy way. “You deserve someone that can make you happy, Rowdy.”
I never really thought I wasn’t happy, but now standing here in a room full of good women that loved difficult and complicated men I wasn’t so sure. Then I found myself in the middle of a hug between the three of them that just made my heart swell. These were good women that loved hard and loved completely and I was a very lucky guy to have them in my life.
“Well, this is quite the love fest.”
Salem’s voice held a mixture of humor and irritation. I met her midnight gaze over the top of the girls’ heads. She stood watching me and I could tell she was trying to decide if the sight of me being smothered in love by three beautiful women was hilarious or annoying. The other girls broke away and I took a step toward her. I saw awareness flare in her dark gaze and she took an automatic step back. I reached out a hand to grab her wrist because one more step back in her haste to get away from me and she was going to topple backward down the steps. I felt her pulse thunder out of control under her delicate skin.
“I was looking for you.” I let my voice drop a little lower and made sure she could tell I was checking her out as my gaze scanned her from head to toe.
She was back in her formfitting, supersexy garb that put every curve she had on display. Her hair had a bunch of big, loopy curls in it and her face was painted in that pretty retro way that made her look like a rock-and-roll dream. I still preferred her with no makeup and less camera-ready.
“You were?” She sounded sarcastic and smirked at me as she looked at the other three girls in the room.
I rolled my eyes at her purposely obtuse attitude and pulled her a little closer so that she was the only one that could hear me when I told her, “I want to take you to do something on Sunday when we’re both off.”
She blinked at me and her glossy mouth dropped open in silent denial. I could see the indecision flash in her eyes but I just smiled at her and told her, “Don’t worry. What I have in mind doesn’t have anything to do with a bed or you being na**d in it.”
She wrinkled her nose at me and shook her arm free. “Fine.” She always had been defiant. There was no way she was going to turn me down and look scared in front of the other girls.
I nodded in satisfaction. “Don’t dress like that, though.”
Her ebony eyebrows furrowed together and her cheek twitched at me. “Why?”
“You need to be able to get a little dirty. I’ll pick you up around noon. Grab the dog; he can come, too.”
I could see I had her curiosity piqued but I didn’t give her a chance to ask any more questions. I wanted to do something that took us both back in time, put us in a place where we remembered how to be around one another without all the baggage and weight of the past holding us down. I thought I had a perfect idea.