Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
So the fact that he was doing so now said a hell of a lot.
"I get you," I agreed, nodding.
"Good," he agreed, tension leaving his body. "Now on the other hand, thank you for keeping an eye on Ferryn. I get wanting to keep the surprise. I'm glad she had one of us to take her in when she needed it."
"If you think your niece needs anyone else to get by, we must not be talking about the same woman."
"Christ," Cash sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Woman. That is a hard one to swallow, y'know? Especially because she was still firmly in kid territory when she left."
"Yeah, she's done a lot of growing up," I agreed.
"Yeah. She's still passed out, but some of the girls are filing in. And I'm being sent out to grab eggs. My advice is to stay out of the kitchen or they'll have you running out too," he added, moving off into the hallway.
"Whoa," I said, nearly slamming into Peyton—the mermaid-haired, fully tatted, pierced woman of one of my brothers—standing in the middle of the hall, holding up two pairs of pants.
"Oh, hey, good. Which pair do you think she'd like better?"
"She being Ferryn?" I asked.
"Yeah. Summer asked me to pick up something for her to wear."
"Are those pussy flowers on the pink pair?" I asked, raising a brow.
"I know. She'd probably like the cock ones better, but they were sold out."
"I think Ferryn would prefer pants without genitalia on them."
"Really?" she asked, brows pinched like this information made no sense. "Alright. I guess the black and white plaid will have to do."
"Much more her style," I agreed, nodding.
"Not allowed in the kitchen, huh?"
"Not after the baby shower thing," she agreed, nodding.
The Baby Shower Thing was when the others put her in charge of cake decorating since she tended to have a good hand with it. And then she went ahead and did an anatomically accurate close-up depiction of a baby coming out of a woman.
The children were scarred for life.
I was scarred for life.
"Well, Ferryn is in Finn's room. She might still be sleeping. I think she was up late."
"I heard she looks like some badass GI Jane type person."
"She does," I agree. "Really works on her."
"You've been looking, huh?"
"She's an old friend."
"Mmm-hmm," she agreed, sending me a knowing look as she let herself right into Ferryn's room without knocking.
Christ.
Was I being that obvious, or were all the women just basing this off of Ferryn's old crush on me back in the day?
Pretty soon, there were too many voices in the space—those who had known Ferryn and those who had joined the ranks after her departure alike. Even if I had any of my own thoughts, they would have been drowned out by all of those voices around us.
For the most part, Ferryn seemed to relax after the first hour, though a case could be made for the very liberally poured mimosas for her level of calm.
Brunch turned into lunch which turned into dinner before everyone seemed to get their fill. Or simply needed to get home to get their kids to bed.
Everyone filed out.
And after a long day of cooking and cleaning, Summer headed to bed.
Which left me, Ferryn, West, and Reign in the living room.
I wondered if Ferryn sensed it before it came. I sure as fuck did. But I had been around Reign a lot more over the past few years than she had. Maybe tapping into his very subtle mood shifts was not something she knew how to do anymore.
She seemed comfortable enough with the company, switching to the whiskey West supplied her with, after tossing the first one back at him because she knew he had fucked with it, trying to get back at her for her fools' errand the night before.
Reign, though—Reign was ticking.
I wasn't sure what he was waiting for until he finally turned to his daughter and started speaking.
"Didn't want to do this in front of your mother, kid, so had to wait for her to pass out."
I couldn't help but wonder if he had some sixth sense about her being asleep already or if he simply knew she'd had an exciting few days and likely was drained from it all.
"Get into what?" Ferryn said, jaw suddenly tight, a trait she inherited from her father, making it clear she had missed his tension before.
"I know your mom doesn't want me to start any shit or rock any boats. She's happy for you to be home and she doesn't want me fucking with that."
"Okay..."
"For the record, I'm happy you're home too. But I think we both know I am not someone to let shit pass."
"You let a lot of shit pass that mom wouldn't have let pass," Ferryn reminded him, trying to lighten the mood, sending him a little smirk, making me wonder what she had gotten away with that I didn't know about.