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I handed him off to Bowie, my good brother. Not that Jameson and Gibson were bad, but Bowie was a high school vice principal. He was used to dealing with emotions that terrified the rest of us.
“You live in a town where breaking and entering is considered friendly.” “Do I need to remind you that you live in a world where your friends and family backstab you to get to the top of the food chain?”
“I’ve been climbing on rooftops since I was twelve years old,” she said, rolling her eyes at my concern. “And how many have you fallen off of?” I asked. “Six or seven.” She shrugged, unconcerned.
He started to walk away, grumbling about what an epic pain in his ass I was, but only made it a few paces. “Here.” He pulled a candy bar out of his back pocket and tossed it to me. Say what you want about Gibson Bodine, but my brother has a heart of gold. It’s just under a whole bunch of thorns. And maybe some gargoyles and fire-breathing dragons. But it’s there, and it’s a whole lot bigger than anyone else knows.
Scarlett had an interesting habit of dragging me where I didn’t want to go.
“No. You all need to cut me some slack. You raised me. It’s your fault. So deal with it.”
And while the sisterly part of my heart was happy to see him getting on with Jonah, the independent woman part of me wanted to kick him in the face. I settled for the shin. “Ow! Fuck!” he held his abused shin and hopped on his good leg.
“I want to spend my evening flirting with you before I spend my night fucking you.”
“When’s that brother of yours gonna get up the courage to ask my daughter out?” the sheriff sighed. “Probably about the time they’re celebrating their eightieth birthdays in the nursing home,” Scarlett predicted.
“Mornin’ Bodines,” Judge Carwell called. “He courtin’ Scarlett?” “What the hell kind of town is this?” I hissed. Jonah shrugged and grinned. “Bootleg, man.” “Yes, sir. We’re just remindin’ him to treat her right,” Gibson said. “Carry on, boys.” The judge motored on, not even staying to watch the four Bodines toss my body into the lake.
You only get a set number of days, a limited number of sunrises and sunsets. And it’s up to you to make sure you’re taking full advantage of them,”
Cassidy laughed. “June Bug, when are you gonna start taking an interest in human relationships?” June raised an eyebrow. “Not until absolutely necessary.”
Uh-oh. Scarlett Bodine was many things. Many wonderful, good, wild things. A cook was not one of those things. Even her sandwiches were borderline terrible. I wasn’t much better in the kitchen, but at least I didn’t try to kid myself about it.
“You’re asking me to be your boyfriend?” Scarlett looked uncomfortable. She shrugged one shoulder. “I’m not really asking. It’s more like telling than asking.”
I thought the chicken was a biohazard.
I loved Scarlett Bodine. She might not know it yet, but she sure as hell loved me back.
“When I let her up, she’s gonna try to kill you,” Gibson predicted. “Me?” “You invited your ex-wife into your house. The woman who treated you like dog shit. You don’t play nice with that,” Bowie explained.
“Where’s your self-respect, man?” Gibson demanded. “Fuck self-respect. Where’s his survival instinct?” Bowie wondered.
“What in the hell are you two doing?” Gibson demanded, hands on hips. “Y’all have been best friends since birth.” “She started it,” I snapped. “I did! Because she’s a dumbass,” Cassidy growled, still fighting Bowie’s hold on her. “Bootleg Justice!”
I yanked the emergency brake and turned off the truck, leaving the keys in the ignition. Devlin had come back and hadn’t called or texted or showed up naked and begging on my front porch? He was a dead man.
“Excuse me. Did you just apologize?” Devlin asked feigning shock. “I figured I’d start with one of the smaller things and work my way up.” “Easing into it,” he teased.
I slapped my thigh. “That little sneak thinks she’s going to propose, doesn’t she?” Gibson and Jameson shared a long look. “Damn it. She’s held the fact that she said ‘I love you’ first over my head for four years. Can you imagine what she’ll do if she’s the one who pops the question?” They nodded stoically, not willing to officially break the Bodine family code of blabbing on each other.
