Bourbon & Secrets (The Bourbon Boys, #2)

by Victoria Wilder

To discovering that you’re allowed to fall in love as many times as possible in your lifetime. Whether it’s with a new lover or an old friend. Whether it’s with the same person, but new versions of each other as you grow. Fucking fall. Do it loudly. Do it at your own pace. Rush. Ease in. Enjoy an instant lust, a slow burn, or a happy for now. Rebound. Fall again. And if you’re craving a little something extra… Lincoln Foxx has a few creative suggestions during your discovery. They may include some bourbon…

She rolls her eyes, but instead of letting her fall down the rabbit hole of catching an attitude from this my-dad-is-so-lame moment, I open the top of the ice cream tub and try to throw her off her game. “Come, tell me if this is poison before I try it. You’re younger, you’re more likely to survive.” A small smile cracks out. Got her.

“Crocs and rocks, lady. You scared the sparkle right out of me.”

lolol llily

Grant opens the front door to his place. There are only three things that make my baby brother smile like that: my sister-in-law, making barrels, and my girls. “Are my little flowers turning into weeds? Why’d we skip school today?” he yells out, with a little too much amusement. “That doesn’t sound even a little bit like tough love,” I tell him.

“See, Ace, I never thought I’d need to explain this to grown-ass men. But you and that one over there”—I nod to Lincoln. He crosses his arms and glares at me—“should know that most women nowadays don’t lead their lives based on the expectations of men. Maybe if you realized that, then you might walk around less surprised by our choices and more aware of yours.”

Hadley throws open the slider. “I can’t do it anymore,” she says dramatically. “I might actually die.” Releasing the loudest, most exaggerated sigh, she drops into the oversized chair that Grant just left. After a few beats of silence, Ace asks her hesitantly, “You alright?” She turns her head to him and smiles. “Yeah, Daddy, just fine.” “Jesus Christ,” he huffs out and stands up. “Quit it with that shit.”

Lark with her EarPods in, wearing a vintage NSYNC t-shirt, which I’m pretty sure I got at a concert on the original tour. Lily’s behind her with a crossbody bag that reads: Hufflepuff State of Mind. It’s hard not to smile at them.

A smile starts to take over his face as Maeve leaves him. He glances at me and that smile gets wider, like he just caught me doing something I’m not supposed to be doing—which, to be clear, I was. I was checking out his ass.

“My great grandbabies in there right now? Or are you hanging around looking for women?” Lincoln squints at him like that last question was ridiculous. “Post-therapy manicure day,” he says to his grandfather. “Rough one today?” Griz asks him. “Depends on what they talked about,” Lincoln says. I feel like I shouldn’t be here for this discussion, but he looks at me and says, “We’re a pro-therapy crew.”

“Sometimes standing is fun. But”—she sighs—“I prefer a good ol’ slam.” She winks, and I can’t help but laugh. “Totally appropriate conversations happening in here among the girls,” Ace says as he pulls down rocks glasses from one of the cabinets. Hadley doesn’t miss a beat. “You’re going to have to do a little more than roll your eyes and grind those teeth, if you want to call me your girl, Daddy.”

“It’s official. You are the coolest person I know, and I’m in love with you,” Hadley laughs out. Laney shouts, “Hey, what about me?” “Always and forever, babes. But, c’mon, a burlesque dancer?! She’s sexier than the Cher movie with one-third of the ultimate trifecta, and she’s fun.” Hadley looks at me and squeezes my forearm when she says, “Faye, you’re a lot of fun.”

“What should we toast to? Punches and pepper spray?” With an unexpected chuckle, she studies the color, swirling the bourbon in her glass. “To bourbon and secrets.”

Laney leans her shoulder into me as she starts to say, “I know it’s horsemen and bourbon boys, but especially with those hats on, and inside this stadium, all three of you are⁠—” She gets cut off and starts laughing as Grant picks her up by her waist and moves her to the other side of him on the bleachers. “You mind not hitting on my wife for a change?”

“Hadley Jean,” Griz barks out. “You be nice over there.” In a monotone response, Ace says, “Yeah, Hadley, be nice.” “Now you want nice?” She tilts her head to the side. “You feeling soft in your old age, Daddy?” Ace stands up like his ass is on fire and starts down the metal bleachers. “Quit it with the ‘Daddy’ shit, Hadley.” She smiles, wiggling her eyebrows. “Why? Does it give you a little poke in the panties?”

“I mean, just look at her.” Hadley hums, nodding with exaggeration. “Oh, I am. I have a big, fat crush on her. Don’t tell Laney.”

“Oh Peach, are you going to give me a private show?” Without thinking, I let the words fall from my lips. “I’ll give you anything you want, Foxx. You just have to ask.” “And if I ask for more?”

“Ew, why? Do you mean kiss her?” Lily says. “Dad, is she a kissing friend like Jordan?” Lincoln says, “Yes—Wait, who the fuck is Jordan?” “Curse purse,” the girls say in unison.

He points at Lily, eyes narrowed with suspicion. “We’re going to talk about Jordan.” She gives him a wide-eyed look and shakes her head. “Faye, please tell my dad that I’m nine. I do not have kissing friends . . . yet.”

“People always think that you get one great love of your life, but I think whatever asshat said that never considered all the different kinds of love that could show up over the course of a lifetime.”