A smile teased Holt’s lips as he laid down his cards. “Full house.”
I tossed mine onto the table. “He cheats.”
Roan grunted in agreement.
Holt raked the money toward him. “No, I just spent years in the desert, and there wasn’t a whole lot to kill time with.”
“Well, you’re making it worth your while now,” Lawson said, taking a pull on his beer.
I looked around the back room we’d conned Wildfire’s owner into letting us use until they locked up for the night. How long had it been since all my brothers were together, just the four of us? I honestly didn’t know. But now that Holt was back, this kind of thing could happen more. We’d even somehow convinced Roan to join us.
“Gonna take my girl out on a date with this cash,” Holt said. “Thanks, guys.”
I chuckled at that. “Like you’re hurting for money.”
“Hey, just because I have money doesn’t mean I don’t like taking you losers for more.” Holt sent a look in my direction. “You take Maddie out on a proper date yet?”
I opened my mouth to say yes and then realized I hadn’t. I’d brought takeout home, practically moved into her place, helped her get furniture, told her I loved her, but I hadn’t taken her out to dinner.
Lawson shook his head. “I thought I taught you better than that.”
I sent a glare in his direction. “Like you’re one to talk. You live like a monk. Do you even remember what a date is?”
He returned my glare with a scowl. “Just because that’s not where my priorities are right now doesn’t mean I don’t know how to treat a lady. Unlike my brother, apparently.”
I picked up my beer and took a sip. “Things have been a little crazy around here, if you hadn’t realized.”
Roan picked up the cards and began to shuffle. “She’s out tonight. Just not with you.”
Holt choked on a laugh. “If Roan’s giving you shit, you know you’re in trouble.”
“You guys are the worst. All of you.”
A knock sounded on the open door, and Caden stepped inside. “Got room for one more?”
Lawson waved him in. “Always. We’re trying to school Nash in the ways of women.”
Caden arched a brow. “It’s gonna be a long night…”
I picked up a leftover pizza crust and chucked it at him. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”
He laughed and snagged the crust out of the air, tossing it back onto the table as he sat. “You have to admit, you’ve been a bit of a bumbling mess where Maddie is concerned.”
“You know, the only one who’s allowed to lecture me at this table is Holt. He’s the only one who has an actual woman in his life.”
The corner of Caden’s mouth kicked up. “I’ve got plenty of women in my life.”
“Yeah, ones that stick around for two seconds,” Holt muttered.
Caden grabbed a slice of pizza from the center of the table. “I last a hell of a lot longer than two seconds.”
I snorted. “You just never keep them around for longer than twenty-four hours.”
“Not true. I’ve had a couple weekenders.”
I grinned at him. “And it made you twitchy as hell, didn’t it?”
Caden shifted in his chair. “Maybe.”
My friend wasn’t a jerk about encounters. He always found women looking for the same things as he was: no strings, casual, emotion-free. Something about how he’d been raised made him avoid true intimacy like the plague. I used to understand it, but now it made me a little sad for him.
But even when I wouldn’t cross that physical line with Maddie, we were still as close as could be. She knew me inside and out. Was the first person I wanted to go to when the world went sideways, and I needed someone to help me see my way out of things. The first person I wanted to tell when something amazing happened. Through the good and the bad, there was only one person I wanted at my side…her.
“Bet that doesn’t make your parents too happy,” Lawson interjected.
Something passed over Caden’s face, but his expression changed too quickly for me to pin it down. “My parents have Gabe for that. He’s got the appropriate fiancée. He’ll have the big wedding and give them the two-point-five grandkids they require.”
Caden’s brother had an unparalleled competitive streak. He loved to rub all the ways he was better in Caden’s face. The fact that Caden had brought their family’s east coast hotels to another level dug at Gabe.
Holt glanced at me. “What about you and Maddie? You want kids?”
Everything in me stilled at that. I waited for panic to hit, but none came. Instead, images of a little girl and a little boy running around us with a mix of our features—my blond hair and Maddie’s captivating blue eyes, her midnight locks and my green eyes—hit me. I wanted that with her. A family. A chance to create what she’d never had while growing up.
Caden let out a low whistle. “Our boy’s thinkin’ about knocking her up already.”
Lawson chuckled. “And he hasn’t even taken her out on a date.”
Caden shook his head. “You gotta up your game or Maddie’s gonna realize she can do a million times better than your ugly mug.”
It was true. She could do so much better than me. She deserved it, too. But our bond was too strong. So, I’d spend every day trying to be the person she deserved.
“I’m gonna take her on a damn date, all right?”
“We should do dinner one night, the four of us,” Holt offered.
Caden grinned. “Now that would get the tongues wagging. Can you imagine how excited the knitting circle would get?”
Roan glared at the cards in front of him. “People need to mind their own business.”
All of us were quiet for a moment. He’d been burned by town gossip in a way that none of us would ever truly understand. It had marked him and made him keep away from all those who might turn against him again.
A ringtone cut through the silence in the room, and Lawson shifted so he could pull his phone out of his pocket. “Chief Hartley.”
In a matter of seconds, Lawson’s expression completely morphed. Gone was the lazy ease of shooting the shit with his brothers. He was instantly on alert.
“Where?”
There was more silence.
“Witnesses?”
Another pause.
“We’re on our way. Thanks for the call, Abel.”
Holt was already shoving back his chair. “What’s going on?”
Lawson’s gaze pulled to me. “Something happened to Maddie.”
