Chapter 17
Cade
The second Pip stepped back outside, something inside me tightened hard enough to feel physical.
Nobody else noticed it.
Not Ryker arguing with Knox near the grill about whether pineapple belonged on burgers.
Not Emmitt trying to launch yard hockey balls at neighborhood kids hard enough to “build character.” Not Daniel standing over the barbecue with a beer in one hand and grill tongs in the other while music drifted through the yard and smoke curled warm through late-afternoon sunlight.
But I noticed.
Because at this point, my body had become hyperaware of everything involving her, and the second she stepped through that screen door, every instinct I had sharpened violently.
Her hair was down.
Not twisted up into that messy bun anymore.
Long blonde waves spilled over her shoulders instead, soft loose strands brushing against the thin straps of her white tank while sunlight caught gold through the lighter pieces as it fell down to her waist. It looked slightly messy too, not styled but disturbed, like fingers had been buried in it.
Fucking brutal.
I genuinely hadn’t thought it was possible for her to get prettier.
Apparently hair-down Pip unlocked an entirely new level of danger to my emotional stability because suddenly she looked softer somehow.
More feminine. More undone. The little cutoff shorts hugged the tops of her thighs while the oversized Fury flannel tied around her waist bounced lightly against her hips when she walked, and damn, every male survival instinct I possessed was hanging on by threads at this point.
Then she looked at me and every bit of heat in my chest went cold because something was wrong.
Most people wouldn’t catch it because she smiled automatically when Kellen yelled something dramatic across the yard about getting gear ready.
She still laughed softly when Knox almost tripped over a cooler trying to chirp Ryker.
She still moved naturally through the crowd while neighborhood women pulled her into side hugs and little kids attached themselves to her legs like human barnacles.
But I saw it anyway.
The tightness around her eyes. The stiffness in her shoulders. The way her smile faded too quickly whenever she thought nobody was paying attention.
And her hair.
The hair bothered me more than it should have.
It was down for a reason. Not a vanity reason.
Not a cute reason. Not because she had decided to stroll out looking like every bad idea I’d ever had in daylight.
Something about it sat wrong in my gut, sharp and irritating, like a loose edge I couldn’t stop running my tongue over.
Today had been good. No, today had been fucking good.
This morning, she had tried to sell me some benefits-only bullshit with those big nervous eyes and that stubborn mouth, like I didn’t know a woman building a fence while handing me the gate code.
I had let her do it because I wanted access more than I wanted to win an argument she wasn’t ready to have.
Then she let me kiss her. Let me put my hands on her.
Let me take what she said she wanted and make her admit it without once saying the word feelings.
Fine.
We could play it that way.
I could be patient.
But watching her step back into that yard with her hair down and fear tucked under her skin made something in me lose patience with the entire world.
“What’s up with you?” Knox’s voice pulled me partially out of it.
I blinked once and realized all five Bennett brothers were staring at me now from around the driveway while Daniel flipped burgers nearby pretending not to listen.
“What?”
“You look homicidal,” Ryker muttered.
“Like mad homicidal,” Emmitt added helpfully.
Kellen squinted at me. “You constipated?”
Normally I would’ve laughed, instead, my eyes tracked Pip automatically while she bent near the cooler, reaching for a drink. Her hair fell forward over one shoulder, hiding the side of her neck when she smiled at something one of the neighborhood women said.
Hiding.
My jaw flexed.
“Mercer,” Ryker said, voice dropping enough that the brotherly bullshit thinned out. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure? Because you look like you’re about to turn somebody into a Dateline episode.”
“I’m good.”
Kellen looked toward Pip, then back at me. His expression shifted slightly. “She okay?”
That was the problem with her family. They were loud and obnoxious and half-feral, but they loved her hard enough that even when they missed things, they felt the aftershock.
Before I could answer, the back door opened again and Luke stepped out.
And there was the reason. Old Glory Days himself, strolling back into the yard like he hadn’t just dragged all the warmth out of her.
He came into the yard like he owned the place, easy smile already locked in, shoulders relaxed, one hand dragging casually through his hair like the whole world had never once considered telling him no.
Someone called his name from near the fence.
He lifted his chin. Smiled. Blended right back into the noise like he hadn’t followed her into the house alone and come out after her looking smoother than any man with nothing to hide should look.
My body went still.
The kind of still that happened right before a puck dropped or a hit lined up perfectly and every useful part of me narrowed around one target.
Luke’s eyes found mine across the yard.
Something ugly flashed across his face for half a second before his expression smoothed over into an easy smile.
There it was, the only thing I needed to switch up.
More than enough.
I didn’t know the whole story. I didn’t know the truth of what sat between them, didn’t know how old it was, how deep it went, or why every time he entered a space, Pip’s body forgot how to breathe normally.
I didn’t know why Aura looked at him like she was waiting for a legal reason to bury him alive, or why Pip tracked his moods like weather, or why his attention on her made every violent instinct in me sit up and listen.
But I knew enough. I knew she had walked into that house warm from me and walked out colder. I knew he had been in there and I knew I didn’t like him.
And for now, that was enough.
Pip was still by the cooler when Luke started moving in her direction.
Absolutely fucking not.
I crossed the yard before I thought about it, cutting through kids, cousins, folding chairs, and smoke with the kind of focus that made people move without knowing why.
Pip looked up at the last second, surprise flickering across her face, then something else.
Relief. Quick and quiet, gone almost immediately.
Not gone fast enough.
I reached her before Luke did and slid one arm around her waist from behind, pulling her against me like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like we did this all the time. Like every person in that yard already knew exactly where she belonged.
Her breath caught.
My mouth lowered close to her ear. “There you are.”
Her fingers tightened around the water bottle in her hand. “Cade.”
My name, breathless and anxious, and that only made the cold thing in my chest sharpen.
I kept my voice low. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act like you’re fine when you’re not.”
Her body went rigid against mine for half a second, and I hated that too. Hated that she expected questions to become traps. Hated that some part of her had learned concern could turn into danger if it came from the wrong man.
I wasn’t the wrong man.
Not for her.
Not ever.
Luke slowed a few yards away, his eyes dropping to my arm around her waist.
Good.
Pip swallowed. “I am fine.”
“Bullshit.”
Her head turned slightly, just enough for me to see the flash of panic in her eyes. “We are in my dad’s backyard.”
“I know where we are.”
“Then don’t start.”
“I haven’t started anything.”
“You absolutely have.”
I smiled against her hair, but there was no warmth in it. “Pip, if I start something, you’ll know.”
That made her pulse jump beneath the side of her throat. I saw it. Felt the little shift in her body where my forearm rested against her stomach.
Luke saw it too, I could tell by the way his jaw tightened.
Beautiful.
I let my hand flatten more deliberately against her waist, thumb brushing once over the thin cotton of her tank.
Nothing obscene. Nothing her family could call out without sounding ridiculous.
But it was enough. A public touch. A quiet claim.
A reminder to her and to him that whatever happened in that kitchen, she had walked back out to me.
Pip leaned into me and holy fuck, that did something to me.
Because this morning she had called it benefits like she was buying herself emotional distance, but the second she was scared, she let me hold her in front of everyone. She let my body become the wall between her and whatever waited in Luke’s eyes.
She could lie to herself all she wanted, but her instincts already knew. I gave her an impenetrable wall of protection, and Pip was starving to feel safe.
Luke stopped beside the table and grabbed a beer from the cooler with an easy smile. “Mercer.”
I looked at him over Pip’s shoulder. “Dempsey.”
“Didn’t realize you two were attached now.”
Pip stiffened. I didn’t. I smiled. Small. Calm. Mean enough that his eyes narrowed almost instantly.
“Yeah,” I said. “People miss obvious things all the time.”
His smile thinned.
Pip’s hand slid to my forearm, fingers pressing lightly as if warning me to behave.
Cute.
Really cute.
I bent my head and brushed my mouth against the side of her neck, right beneath her ear. Not a kiss that belonged in a bedroom, but close enough to make her breath break and every Bennett brother within visual range immediately start making noise.
Knox pointed at us from the driveway. “Hey. Neck region is family property until further notice.”
Emmitt yelled, “Public indecency before ribs is crazy work.”
Kellen clapped slowly. “Honestly? Respect.”