SIX MONTHS_(A Seven Series Novel Book 2)

Chapter 22


Over the course of the next month, Reno’s visits to the house had become more infrequent. He’d moved to their second home so he could focus on hunting down Sanchez. That’s how long I’d been living in the Weston house. Weston was the name of Lexi’s brother who’d died years ago, someone she had never spoken of before, but Lexi opened up to me about her life during my stay. Since she wanted to spend more time with me, she offered the part-timers at the store a few extra shifts, which they eagerly accepted.
Lexi began pursuing her vision for Sweet Treats and Austin loaned her the money to expand. I told her I didn’t feel right going back after what I’d done, but she adamantly refused to let me go. I helped her review inventory to determine what wasn’t moving, and we reevaluated her strategy as a business owner.
“So here’s what I’m thinking,” Lexi began, propping her feet on an ottoman while fishing around in a bag of Doritos. “Austin wants me to move my business to the Breed side of town, but I’m concerned about the risk. We have regular customers and the store is in a prime location. What if we relocate and nothing sells? I’m going to scout the area and check out some of our competition to see what’s going on. Seventy percent of our sales come from children, and not all Breeds can have children. I’m just not sure if there will be enough to keep the business afloat.”
I reached down and scratched the bandage on my foot. After the last X-ray, the doctor had said it was healing remarkably well and told me to keep using the crutches.
“So your plan is to check out the local businesses?” I asked from the beanbag chair. I’d grown to love the cozy feel and ambiance of hanging out in the game room.
She crunched on another chip. “I’m going to open up a bakery.”
I clapped. “Woo-hoo! It’s about time.”
“I want you to run the candy store and I’m going to run the bakery.”
My jaw dropped. “Wait, what did you just say?”
“You know that store inside out, April. I want to give it over to you. Charlie left me the business and money, but maybe it was just because I’d been there the longest.”
“You can’t do that.”
She laughed and crunched on another chip, licking the orange dust from her finger. “Oh, can’t I? Look, I’m the one taking the risk with the bakery. I have no idea if these immortals are going to want cookies, and I plan to keep it open twenty-four hours a day, which means I’ll have to hire someone who can bake. I’m thinking about a Vampire because they don’t need to sleep. Austin says ‘hell no,’ but he’s not the boss of me.”
A throat cleared in the doorway and Austin leaned against the doorjamb. I caught Lexi biting her lip as he gave her a loaded glance.
“No Vampires,” he said firmly.
“Austin, I need someone I can depend on who doesn’t have a family to go home to, who can work all hours and—”
“Ladybug, I’m not having my woman working in the middle of the night with a Vampire. They may not require blood to survive, but it’s too much temptation for them to work in close proximity to someone as tasty as you,” he said with a dark laugh.
There was that chemistry, quietly zinging back and forth between those two like Ping-Pong balls.
“Who’s up for horseshoes?” Denver yelled out from the hall.
Austin moved aside when Denver appeared in the doorway and reached for the top of the doorframe while cocking his eyebrow. His dark blond hair looked messy, like he’d just woken up. He gripped the frame and it punctuated the muscles in his biceps.
“It’s too cold to play outside,” Lexi complained.
“I smell bullshit,” he said. “Sounds like you’re afraid of losing.”
Her face tightened.
“C’mon, Lexi. Put on your big-girl panties and see if you can swing with the men.”
She angrily rolled up her bag of chips and Denver sauntered off with a wide grin.
“Lexi, you’re just going to get yourself worked up,” Austin said. “Last time you gave me the silent treatment for two days.”
“That’s because you took his side,” she said sharply, walking toward him as I rolled over to stand up.
Austin grabbed her ass and kissed her hard. While they swapped tongue, I gathered my crutches and managed to climb to my feet.
“I took his side because you were cheating.” He lightly patted her backside.
“How do you cheat at horseshoes?” she said gruffly, wiggling out of his arms and vacating the room.
Austin shook his head and centered his eyes on mine. “By screaming every time it was his turn to throw. Denver bought a bag of earplugs this morning, so I have a feeling this is going to get ugly real quick. Want to join?”
“Sure.”
When I made it to the hall, Austin took the crutches from me and handed them to Wheeler, who headed downstairs. Then he threw me over his shoulder, and with a squeak, I held on to his back.
It was weird, but that’s how they moved me around the house—like a sack of potatoes. I could walk on the crutches just fine, but anytime I got near the stairs, one of them would appear and end up carrying me up or down. I accepted their kindness without question. It was evident that Shifters respected women, looked after them, and had healthy relationships with the girls in their pack. They heeded their advice and treated them as equals. The only hierarchy going on had to do with the Packmaster, but Lexi said she was an alpha female and had some pull.
Over the past few weeks, I’d been growing out my platinum hair. I’d decided to change some things and give myself a fresh start. On the night of the fire, Trevor had found my purse in the back seat of his car when he arrived at the restaurant. It had slid beneath the passenger seat and only the strap was poking out. So he sent it over to the house along with my phone.
Yeah. Sent.
As much as I pleaded with him, Trevor refused to visit me at the house. So Lexi drove me into town quite frequently and I’d meet up with him for coffee at the bookstore or lunch. No matter how many times I kissed him and told him how much he meant to me, he’d pull away as if I’d rejected him by choosing to stay with Reno’s family.
I couldn’t talk to Trevor about Shifters, even knowing that he was one, because I’d given Reno my word and wanted to earn back his trust. Trevor must have sensed Reno and his family were Shifters too, and that’s why he’d never liked them. I started to recall things he had brought up in conversation that hadn’t made sense then but did now.
Austin carried me downstairs and out the front door, setting me down at the foot of the porch steps. I followed behind him on my crutches, frowning at the mud that began to stain the rubber bottoms. Now I knew why they always piled their shoes by the door.
Jericho was sitting on the hood of Denver’s faded yellow truck on the left side of the yard. Denver and Lexi were milling around, preparing to throw. Austin snuck up behind Lexi, turned her around, and zipped her jacket all the way up to her neck.
It was a crisp sixty-two degrees, but with the breeze and no sun, it felt a lot cooler. Lexi had been lending me her clothes, so I wore a beige knit shirt with quarter-length sleeves. It didn’t really go with my grey sweats and sneakers, but I didn’t want to impose by getting picky about fashion.
Lexi threw the horseshoe and spun around, letting out a holler.
“Doesn’t count,” Denver said.
“The hell it doesn’t!” she protested.
He threw out his left arm and pointed at the pin. “That was a woody. It doesn’t count.”
“What’s a woody?” I asked Jericho.
He arched his brows suggestively and I shook my head.
“Austin, tell him it counts,” she said, hands on her hips.
“Sorry, Ladybug. He’s right.”
She glowered and began to retreat. “I’ve changed my mind.”
Austin snatched her wrist and spun her around. “Since when is Lexi Knight a quitter?”
“He takes it too seriously. I just want to have fun.”
Jericho leaned toward me and lowered his voice. “This happens every time. Lexi hates losing. Austin said when they were kids she used to cheat her ass off at checkers by distracting him and moving the chips around.”
“So why did Denver invite her to play?”
He reached around and tied his long hair back, but a loose strand slipped in front of his face. Jericho smiled with his jade eyes. “Denver likes to ruffle feathers; it’s his hobby, in case you hadn’t noticed. He has a way of getting under your skin because of how casual he is about things. Most of us can kick his ass at horseshoes, but he’s a sport about losing, so this is actually fun for me to watch.”
“You should let her win,” I whispered.
“April thinks we should let Lexi win!” Jericho shouted and laughed all at once.
Oh yeah, these men were pure evil, trying to stage a catfight. I hit him in the shoulder with my crutch and Lexi turned around as if I had betrayed her.
“Sorry, Lexi,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe it’s just not your game.”
“I’d like to see you try it,” she dared.
“Fine.” Challenge accepted.
Denver gave me a brief rundown of the rules and how to score points. Then he threw his horseshoe and it spun around the peg.
I handed my crutches over to Lexi. “Okay, go easy on me because I have a disability here,” I said with a wide smile. All eyes were on me. Careful not to smack someone in the head with that thing, my inner voice teased.
When I swung my arm forward, the horseshoe hit the ground and rolled off to the right.
Austin whistled with his fingers and Jericho clapped. I had to laugh because that was a truly embarrassing first attempt.
Ben leaned against the truck and I caught him staring at my ass. It made me uncomfortable, and I flushed as Denver handed me a heavy horseshoe.
“I’ll let you practice and throw a few,” he said.
“Swing low,” Ben suggested. “You need to bend over a little.” He was drunk by the glazed look in his eyes, and it was only three in the afternoon. I didn’t care for Ben, and even though Wheeler had a sharp tongue, I felt like I could trust him. The rest of the house favored Ben because of his light humor, but underneath, I don’t know. I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Jericho smacked him in the back of the head, a look of annoyance on his face. Ben instantly shifted into his wolf and growled before trotting off. Wheeler leaned against the house, watching Ben’s wolf from the corner of his eye.
I swallowed hard and tossed another one. This one cut short and hit the ground with a thud.
“Do you guys want to play laser tag tonight?” Denver suggested, stuffing his hands in his pockets and glancing toward Jericho.
“Sounds like fun,” Lexi piped in, her voice mysteriously cloaked with politeness. “Can I be on the opposite team as you?”
“Yeah, but dickhead’s on my team.”
Dickhead was Denver’s nickname for Jericho. It didn’t seem to bother him.
“Well, I’m not having Ben on my team,” Jericho announced. “He’ll be tanked by then.”
While they rattled on about their plans, I threw another horseshoe. This one landed on one of the wood planks that bordered the pit and I frowned.
“What about Mom and Maizy?” Lexi asked.
“Bring ’em along. Your mom can go in the arcade with Maizy while we mature adults are left to our devices,” Denver said, tucking his hands beneath his armpits.
“What about…” Lexi didn’t finish her sentence, but she didn’t have to.
Austin’s eyes skidded over to mine.
“I’m fine,” I said. “If they have a place to sit, then I’m good.”
Reno’s badass motorcycle roared up the driveway, the engine throttling, but I couldn’t see around the cars. The blue truck belonged to everyone, but the gunmetal-grey Chevy Camaro belonged to Wheeler. It was a classic beauty and he’d spent many mornings washing mud off the tires.
A thrill moved through me every time Reno drove up on his Triumph. We hadn’t been intimate outside of a little friendly touching since my arrival. Lexi said Shifters respected privacy and, if asked, would travel to the other end of the house when they were doing the deed. I wasn’t about to announce to anyone we were doing anything. I was a guest in their home—what kind of impression would that make on a family I was trying to make amends with?
Reno appeared, looking dangerously handsome. I loved it when he wore all black. Today he had on black cargo pants with a tight shirt that fit his body so perfectly, and the way it outlined his sculpted arms was downright sinful. Long sleeves, of course. His jaw was covered with stubble and he had on his mirrored aviators. He kicked a small rock with his boot as he stalked forward and then stopped short, looking me over from head to toe. I could feel his hot gaze behind those glasses and my knees weakened.
“Is this how you take care of my girl?”
All eyes fell on me and then swung back to him, confused.
Reno peeled off his shirt.
“Oh, Jesus. I think I’ve had enough of family hour.” Jericho slid off the truck and swaggered off.
Reno slipped his shirt over my head, pulling my arms through the sleeves, which were still warm from his body heat. I dropped the horseshoe on the ground so he could roll up the sleeves, which went past my fingertips.
I could have objected. But that would have meant him covering up, and I loved staring at his bare chest. He was fit and strong—slender ropes of muscle along his arms and a broad torso with just a light dusting of hair. The chilly air hardened his nipples and I smiled at him.
He smiled back.
“You guys are a bag of nuts.” Denver tossed his horseshoe to the ground. “Eight o’clock, everyone. No excuses this time,” he said, his voice fading in the distance.
The pack dispersed and headed inside.
“What’s he going on about?” Reno asked.
“Laser tag.”
“Again?”
“He went with Jericho and Austin last week and they wouldn’t shut up about it. I think Lexi is itching to kick his butt Platoon style.”
“I could kick all their butts,” Reno said with a wry smile. “How’s your foot, princess?”
“Better. I tested my weight on it, and I don’t feel any pain.”
“Keep using the crutches,” he ordered, straightening my shirt and pulling the tips of my hair away from the collar. “Damn, I love the new color growing out. Are you keeping it?”
I shrugged lightly. “It’s looking that way.”
“Has someone been showing you how to play horseshoes?” he asked, brow slightly arched.
“I’m doing pretty good.”
He glanced over my shoulder at the horseshoe by the house and the other three feet away. Then he gripped my shoulders and turned me around. I hopped in a circle and he bent down and put the horseshoe in my hand.
Every inch of Reno was pressed behind me. His fingers curled around my wrist as he gently swung my right arm forward and back, left arm tight around my midriff and his mouth lightly grazing the back of my right ear.
“Like that,” he said in a caged voice. “It’s all in the release.” His words heated my body, and as if sensing it, he seductively ran his nose along my neck and inhaled deeply.
Tingles spread across the lower half of my body and when I shifted my hips, he moaned, tightening against my back.
Reno swung my throwing arm forward and I opened my hand. The horseshoe tumbled and hit the side of the house.
“You really suck at this,” I said, deciding I needed more lessons.
Then his mouth was on my neck, and the short bristles of whiskers on his jaw scratched my skin. “Do I?”
I leaned against him and threw my head back. “Yeah. You’re terrible.”
His right arm journeyed south and his fingers slipped inside my sweatpants. My breath caught.
Three hard claps sounded to our right and I jumped, straightening my shirt like a busted teenager when I saw Lynn on the porch with an oven mitt tucked beneath her arm.
Reno didn’t let go and I wriggled against him.
“Supper is almost ready,” she announced with a hard glare. “This isn’t a brothel, so let’s keep that behind closed doors.”
I snorted and turned around. “You are not going to get me on that woman’s good side if you keep this up. She used to like me until you started spending the night in my bed.”
“Good point,” he said, kissing my mouth. “Next time, you come to my bed.”
I placed a delicate peck on the tiny scar on his lip, something he hadn’t caught on to, but that was my special little place I’d claimed as mine.