Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
juniper
Whatever stability our set of rules had provided us in this arrangement just crumbled to the ground. The no-sex rule was put into place for a reason—a good one, in my opinion. We’d just opened a new door, one I knew would be impossible to completely close again.
The only rules we had left—the only ones we hadn’t thrown to the wind—were our exclusivity and not developing feelings. And I was starting to worry that the fake feelings wouldn’t be so fake anymore after what happened today.
I toweled off my hair then took a comb to it, attempting to get out all of the tangles and knots.
“Fuck!” I grumbled, tossing the comb onto the bathroom counter after ripping out a few chunks of hair.
“Let me,” Mikey offered, picking up the hair tool I’d discarded and standing behind me.
“How would you know how to—” I quickly ate my words as he gently raked the comb through my hair, being careful not to tug on the strands too hard. I closed my eyes as he worked on all of the tangled parts, the teeth blissfully massaging my head.
When he was satisfied, he ran the comb through the silky locks a few times, making it look nice and neat.
“Don’t tell me you can braid hair next.” I snorted, wondering what the odds were.
“Nah, I know my limits, but if you wanted me to, I would learn.” He winked, handing me back the comb before he left the bathroom.
I quickly threw my hair in a loose braid then went into my room to change for dinner. For whatever reason, I turned around when I dropped my towel to put on undergarments, but Mikey grabbed my hips, spinning me around to face him.
“Mmm,” he hummed, wetting his lips as he took me in. “Fuck, my girlfriend is hot.”
I laughed, not bothering to correct him as I lightly pushed him away. “Let me get dressed or we’ll never make it to dinner in time.”
“Fine, fine. Ellison will have my head if we’re late.” That still didn’t stop him from reaching out to give my boobs a squeeze, flicking a nipple as he pulled his hand away.
A jolt traveled up my body to the space between my legs, but I shook myself out of it.
Dinner. We’re going to dinner.
Colter and Ellison’s place was as rowdy as I remembered it, but it would be out of character for the Silver Creek boys not to be loud and make their presence known.
“Hi! Good to see you again.” Ellison, to my surprise, pulled me into a hug when we walked through the front door. She didn’t strike me as a hugger, though from the stories I’d heard, she definitely softened up a bit when she met Colter.
“Thanks for having me back.”
“Sorry for the way the last one went. I promise we’re all cool now.” She let out a biting laugh, seemingly an attempt at a self-deprecating joke.
“Where do you want me to put this?” I held out the case of beer and a box of cookies Mikey had picked up from the store.
“I can take those from you, Juniper.” Colter appeared behind Ellison, dropping a kiss on her shoulder before throwing out a teasing, “Damn, Mikey, you make these cookies yourself?”
“Yeah, I spent all morning on them, so you better be nice about it,” he joked right back. “Wanna go sit on the couch?”
I nodded, kicking off my shoes at the door before following him to the living room. I hadn’t really been able to get a close look at the Carson house when I was here the first time. I was a bit more focused on making a decent impression.
They had a nice home, one I knew they’d done several renovations on over the past couple years. The living room was pretty spacious, with a big L-shaped couch in front of a TV stand and some small bookshelves housing only a handful of books.
Mikey plopped down on the couch next to Hayden and Jake, who had a baseball game on the TV.
“Man, my team is ass this year,” Jake grumbled.
“Who’s your team?” I asked. I wasn’t a baseball fan, so I didn’t even know the teams that were playing right now.
“The Wranglers.”
“Ah.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong. The Warden Wranglers were currently losing eight to one in the seventh inning.
“I mean, that’s what you get for rooting for a team like Warden, Wyoming.” Mikey leaned his weight onto Jake to nudge him.
“It’s called team loyalty. You should try it sometime.” Jake nudged him back. “At least I don’t switch teams every season based on who’s winning. I’ve been a Wranglers fan since they were good.”
“Yeah, and that was, what? Fifteen years ago?” Reid piped up from the kitchen.
“They’ll make a comeback.”
“Yeah, and hell will freeze over.” Hayden chuckled.
“Aye, well you guys were saying that about Mikey finding a girlfriend, too, and look what happened there,” Jake rebutted, pointing at me with his thumb. “Hey, I guess you won the—”
“Shut up about it.” Mikey glared at Jake as though he didn’t want him to finish his sentence.
“Won what?” I asked out of curiosity, even though I probably didn’t want to know.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Jake’s just mad because his team is ass and hasn’t had a winning season since he was in middle school.”
I hummed, not quite believing what Mikey was saying, but before I could say anything, something happened on the TV that had Jake jumping up from his seat and yelling.
“Let’s goooo!” He fist pumped in the air. “Home run, baby!”
“Are you a big sports fan?” Hayden asked me.
I wrinkled my nose. “Not really.”
They all laughed.
“Well, that’s going to change if you keep hanging out with us,” Colter stated, a bit too confidently.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” I gritted my teeth at the thought.
“Y’all ready for dinner yet?” Ellison called. “My stomach feels like it’s going to eat itself.”
“We’d better go, then.” Colter laughed. “Come on, guys, we all know Warden’s not going to win.”
“They could make a comeback!” Jake protested right as the team the Wranglers were playing hit a home run with a player on every base, scoring four more points. He clamped his mouth shut, snapping off the TV. “Uh, never mind, that’s enough of that for today.”
Mikey patted him on the back before standing and extending a hand. “It’s okay, Jakey. Maybe one day when pigs fly the Wranglers will have a winning season.”
Jake grumbled as we all found our seats at the table. Having a potluck dinner was the right move, because there was plenty of food for all seven of us.
Colter had grilled burgers and hot dogs, someone brought a few bags of chips, Reid—I think—brought some kind of baked mac and cheese, and we also had an assortment of fruit and vegetables. Oh, and several cases of beer.
Around the table, cans of beer were cracked open and plates were passed around. I grabbed a hamburger bun and patty, loading it up with lettuce, pickles, tomato, ketchup, and mustard.
“We doing the horse racing again this year?” Jake grinned from ear to ear.
“What do you mean we? And again? If I remember correctly, you didn’t do shit last year.” Colter gave him a pointed look.
“Horse racing?” I asked.
“Wild horse racing,” Ellison answered. “Last year, Colter, Reid and Mikey won it.”
“What exactly is it?” I asked.
“Here, let me show you.” Jake grabbed his phone and pulled up a video of the wild horse racing.
My eyes widened. “Oh?”
Jake smirked. “Looks fun, doesn’t it?”
“You and Hayden can do it with Mikey this year, then. I’m not doing that shit again.” Reid shook his head, raising his hands in defense.
Hayden also shook his head. “I’m good.”
“Aw, come on, guys. You’re no fun!” Mikey whined. “We could win the whole thing again!”
“Easy for you to say, you didn’t have to try to hold a horse last time.” Reid paused. “That’s what I don’t understand. You said you’re afraid of horses, but last year you rode one!”
“To be fair, I was pretty drunk.” Mikey shrugged.
Ellison and I exchanged amused looks as the men engaged in a back and forth debate of why they should or should not participate in the Bucking Horse Sale tradition.
“I think I have to work anyway, so I won’t get to witness it.” I spoke the realization out loud.
“There you go, then.” Reid gestured with his hand. “No need to show off for your girlfriend.”
“I’m sure ol’ Rudy would let you leave for an hour,” Mikey protested.
I shook my head. “I’m not going to do that to them. It’s all right, I’ll see it next time.”
Mikey’s head snapped toward me, surprise flaring in his eyes. We both knew there probably wouldn’t be a next time, but we could at least pretend, right?
“Anyway, no one’s really filled me in on this event, other than it gets rowdy and I can expect the bar to be packed.” I changed the subject.
“Rowdy’s an understatement.” Ellison rolled her lips. “How many times have you been arrested during it, Mikey?”
“Pfft. Only once…or twice…or thrice.”
My mouth gaped. “Three times?”
“In my defense, two of those times were because I was defending my friends. I can’t really speak for the other one, though.” He laughed, and the other guys snickered under their breath, clearly recalling whatever inside joke they had.
“Do I even want to know?”
“Probably not,” Hayden admitted with a soft smile.