The door swung open and the sound of men filled the house.
Austin tucked his arm around Ivy and escorted her through the main entrance. She slipped out of her flip-flops and leaned into him.
I shut the door and felt a burning coal sitting in the pit of my stomach, and it wasn’t hunger. We’d made a four-hour detour on the way home to eat lunch and pick up a few things at the store for Ivy. Her father hadn’t allowed her to pack very much—just a couple of bags of clothes.
The sun hung low in the sky and the smell of barbecue made my mouth water.
Maizy was sitting outside in the atrium on a bench, blowing bubbles from a wire she dipped in a tall glass. I walked past Austin and Ivy and slid open the door.
Denver turned around, wearing an apron of a nude woman’s body.
“In front of her?” I scolded.
He sniffed and rubbed his nose as a plume of smoke poured out of the grill and into his face. “What’s the big deal? She’s a chick.”
“And why is she holding a wire? She’s six.”
“Beer bubbles. Damn, where have you been? You didn’t play with those as a kid?”
I took the glass from her along with the sharp metal object. “No, we bought bubbles at the store for a dollar.”
“You wasted a dollar.”
“And you wasted a beer.”
Denver waltzed over and snatched the glass from my hand, chugging down the warm yellow beverage that had a tiny piece of grass floating on top. Then he belched, winking his eye. “Nothing’s wasted around here, honeypie.”
Who would have thought such a pretty boy with his golden locks and dashing smile—despite the scar, which wasn’t that severe—could be such a child himself?
“Did you have fun, Maizy? Come with me and tell me all about it,” I said, taking her hand.
“Uncle Denny let me play video games and we shot the bad guys!”
“Oh, goodie. How about you take this and ask Uncle Reno if he’ll put it on?”
I pulled a DVD out of the back of my jeans and handed it to her. Her face brightened with excitement and she went bounding into the living room with the Beauty and the Beast cartoon.
Then I heard her crying.
“Dammit, Wheeler,” I heard Reno bark out in his gravelly voice. He sounded like Stallone without the accent. “Let her watch it.”
Austin escorted Ivy into the living room in the same fashion as he had me the first time.
“Lexi, come meet the rest of the pack,” he said with a wave of his hand.
“Maizy, go put on your nightgown and brush your teeth,” I said. She smiled and I tried to contain my laugh due to her missing tooth.
“It’s fine,” Austin cut in. “We shouldn’t keep her in the dark.”
I glanced at the twins on the couch. Their dusty brown hair was lighter than the others—choppy and styled a little messy. Their eyebrows were dark and pronounced with a little arch to them, making their eyes stand out. They definitely inherited the Cole looks because despite their more narrow features, they were handsome men in a very stern and mischievous way—I wasn’t quite sure which. Liquid brown eyes sparkled like amber, bright and illuminating. They shared the same medium build with toned arms and lean torsos.
But here is where they differed. The one on the left wore tattoos like sleeves. One shoulder had a wolf, then I saw a dagger, some tribal, and they blended like one fantastic design. He also had a circle beard closely trimmed that he seemed to like stroking with his fingers.
“These are my brothers, Wheeler and Ben.”
I turned my mouth to the side. “Where’s that located?”
Simultaneously, they replied, “Ben Wheeler, Texas.”
“At least it wasn’t Beaver Dam.”
“Ah shit,” Ben said. He was the guy on the right who seemed to have a friendlier personality than his inked brother, and his smile was wider. “Don’t mention that around Denver; he’ll have a field day. The jokes never end with him.”
“At least it’ll get the attention off of me,” Jericho said from behind. I turned around and Jericho greeted us in nothing but a pair of black jeans. He stretched his long arms up and held onto the frame above the hallway entrance. It looked like a vacuum hose had made out with him.
Austin went on with introductions. “This is Lexi, Wes’s little sister.”
I held my tongue and mentally rolled my eyes. I would never be more than Wes’s little sister to these guys.
Ben and Wheeler didn’t talk much. They resumed watching Reno putting the movie in while Maizy plopped down on the round carpet in front of the TV. She was eating up the attention because they didn’t quite know what to do with a little girl around the house. Therefore, they spoiled her with whatever she wanted. Hopefully she didn’t pick up on some of those fun four-letter words they enjoyed using. Regardless, I got a good vibe with the pack. Despite their differences, they were unified.
“Who’s she?” Wheeler (the one with the tats) asked apprehensively.