“Molly’s ring costs almost as much as a car. I’m not wasting money and vacation time on a plane ticket just to have them be assholes to my face.”
“D,” she said softly, “not givin’ you shit. But just to say, of the thousand of those seventeen thousand phone calls that I took from Mom, she’s degenerated from bein’ pissed on the whole about this sitch to being pissed on the whole about this sitch and the lack of respect that you threw that out over the phone.”
“Not surprised she’s finding new ways to work herself up,” he replied. “As for me, I’m still just pissed on the whole they haven’t sent a fruit basket to share how thrilled they are I’ve set up house with the people I love.”
She grinned up at him. “A fruit basket?”
He burst out laughing.
He also let her go but tossed an arm around her shoulders, feeling hers slide along his waist, and he directed her to the escalators that led to baggage claim.
“So this ring?” she asked when they were on the escalator.
D dug out his phone, went to Mad’s text string and scrolled up.
By the time he got through all the stuff in between, they’d located her carousel and were standing by it.
He showed the picture of the ring to his sister.
Rebel took the phone, her brows went up, her eyes got wide, and her smile was huge before she said, “Holy crap, that’s sheer perfection.”
“I know,” he agreed.
She handed him back his phone, still smiling, and again scanning his face.
“You seem good.”
“I am good,” he confirmed.
“Last time we talked . . .” She didn’t finish that.
“Last time we talked I was workin’ through some shit. I worked through it. Now I’m tight.”
“Yeah?” she asked softly.
He looked in her eyes. “I’m happy as fuck. I get it now.”
She moved closer to him. “Get what?”
“How Tommy was when it all came out all those years ago. How it was this huge, nasty drama to everyone but him. How to him it was like, ‘Right, that’s your damage, I’m not gonna let it damage me.’ How that was a relief. Like lifting off a weight. Talked to him after I told Ma and that’s what he called it. A weight. You live with it, you don’t realize how much it’s holding you down. Until it’s gone. And it’s gone. And that feels fuckin’ great.”
“That’s awesome,” Rebel said quietly, still working her scan.
“It’s more, Reb,” he shared. “The weight is about me, yeah. It was bringing me down. But that wasn’t the important part. It was weighing on Mol and Mad too. The longer I hid who they were to me, the heavier it got for all of us, and that was what was draggin’ my shit so low. Freeing myself was freeing them. And that’s the best part, not that I’m happy without anything dragging at it. That we all are.”
His sister’s face finally cleared.
“Then that’s super, freaking, crazy awesome,” Rebel replied.
He hooked an arm around her shoulders, brought her in, kissed her forehead, then shoved her face in his chest.
“Glad I worked my shit out before you got down here, so it could just be good,” he said in her hair.
She tipped her head back. “I am too, even though I would have been good helpin’ you get to where you needed to be.”
“I know, honey,” he murmured.
She gave him a squeeze. They let each other go. And not long later, the carousel started rolling.
When she went for a bag, D muscled her out of the way, nabbed it, tossed the strap over his shoulder, his arm over hers, and guided her to his truck.
The airport was barely fifteen minutes from their house and they gabbed about nothing all the way there.
And like she was watching (which she probably was), Molly shot out the side door of the garage before he had his truck fully stopped.
She was in Rebel’s space, barely enough room for his sister to get out of the door she’d opened, jumping up and down, clapping and shouting, “You’re here!”
“In the flesh, sister,” Rebel replied, sliding out and into Molly’s arms.
They hugged. They did that swaying side to side thing chicks did. They laughed at nothing.
“Jesus, Mol, let a man stand a chance,” Maddox growled from behind them.
And only then did Molly let Rebel step out from the opened door to Diesel’s truck.
Maddox enveloped D’s sister in his arms, kissing the side of her head, then saying, “Fuck, good to see you, Rebel.”
Rebel held tight and replied, “You too, Mad. Totally.”
Molly shut Rebel’s door. Diesel grabbed his sister’s bag. And they all moved into the house, Molly babbling a mile a minute, Rebel attached to Maddox like D held her, his arm around her shoulders, hers around his waist.
“Not to be rude, but I hope you’re gonna feed me because I’m starved,” Rebel declared.
“Chile queso coming right up!” Molly announced, hustling to the kitchen.
“We’ll get some food in you, get you to the Valley Ho to check in, then we’re going to dinner,” Diesel told her.
“You can have my car while you’re here, if you want,” Molly put in, dumping things from the fridge onto the counter.
“We can also play chauffer if you’re not down with that,” Maddox put in.
“I’ll Uber it when we meet up so I won’t put you guys out,” Rebel said, having pulled her purse off her shoulder, her phone out of her purse, her head tipped down, her brows drawn as she stared at the screen.
“Everything good?” D asked, coming out of the fridge himself with a couple of beers, seeing her expression and thinking that took precedence over telling her she wasn’t gonna Uber shit.
“Yeah,” Rebel answered distractedly. “Got the text dumps after I turned on my phone when we landed.” She looked up, pinned a smile on her face and went on, “Was too excited to see my bro to pay attention.”
He wasn’t a fan of the way she’d pinned that smile on her face.
“And it’s all good?” he pushed.
She tipped her head to the beer bottles in his hand. “It will be, if one of those is for me.”
D gave her a look, transferred that look to Maddox who was studying Rebel. He felt Diesel’s gaze and turned his attention to D, dipping his chin meaningfully.
He didn’t like Rebel’s pinned smile either.
“Just to confirm, Rebel, you like it hot like we like it hot, right?” Molly said to a bowl she was dumping shit into.
“Girl, I totally like it hot,” Rebel replied.
Diesel handed her the beer and let shit go.
He knew what was happening.
His family knew Rebel was down for the weekend and she was getting fed all the shit.
But now it was time for beers, queso dip, family time and winding down, taking her mind off of it.
Saving his sister from that shit would come later.
“They’re up in her shit,” Maddox declared.
“Mm-hmm,” Molly agreed.
“I know,” Diesel muttered.
They were all naked. In bed. It was dark. Rebel was at the Valley Ho. They’d just finished fucking, cleaning Molly up. Now Mol was tucked up, back to front, with Maddox, tangled up with D at her front, Mad’s arm draped over both of them, D’s arm draped over Maddox’s, palming his man’s ass.