Chapter 8 #2
Ethan: About time I found a way to bother my favorite humans.
Cas: @Summer I told you not to leave him alone with a phone.
Summer: Oh Lord…
Penny: Oh! A group chat. Fun!!!
Grace: Why are y’all bothering me? I moved away to avoid talking to you lot!
Jace: Dude, these stupid messages woke me up! It’s fucking ten thirty a.m.! I do not wake up before noon!
Dex: Ethan… no. Just… no.
Penny: Why not? Scared we’ll use the chat to gossip about the woman you have living in your apartment?
Grace: Woman? What? Who?
@Dexter Hawthorne you live with a woman and did not tell your baby sister?!
Jace: She hot?
@Penny send me a picture!
Jude left the group chat.
Ethan added Jude to the group chat.
Dex: I am not living with her! She is my employee and needed a place to stay for a few months!
And @Penny, don’t you dare send @Jace pictures.
Jace: Why? You jealous? Hahaha.
Grace: Another sister-in-law! I’m so happy!
Dex: I do not have a girlfriend!
Ethan: Sure you don’t…
Cas: Keep telling yourself you don’t have a crush on her.
Summer: She is gorgeous in that natural beauty kind of way, and you did stare at her all evening, @Dex.
Dex: So you created this group just to fucking annoy me? @Ethan
Ethan: No. I created this group because I don’t see y’all much anymore and I miss my delulu fam.
Dex: You fucking see us every single day!
Ethan: Yes, you, but not Grace and Jace.
Jude: Can I leave this chat?
Grace: No!
Summer: Nope.
Cas: No way!
Penny: This is fun. @Jude come on! Don’t be a Karen!
Jude: Putting y’all on silent.
Ethan: Well, at least he’s still in the group chat.
Ethan: Now back to Lexy, Dex’s flame.
Grace: Ooooh, I love that name!
Grace: Is she there? Can we video call? I wanna see her!
Jace: Lexy… only hot women are called Lexy…
Jace: @Dex if you’re not dating her, then… can I have her number?
Dex: NO!
Ethan: Well, that sounded jealous.
Cas: Very jealous.
Grace: Extremely jealous.
Jace: Possessive even.
I immediately turn the group on silent and shove my phone into my backpack. “Should’ve been an only child,” I grumble.
No… wait.
Me and Jude.
He always minds his own business anyway.
By noon I check my phone again and sigh.
Seventy six unread messages in the Delulu Fam group chat.
The back door opens.
My head lifts just as Lexy walks into the bar.
Her hair is loose around her shoulders today instead of braided. She’s wearing her usual jeans and one of the Midnight Rodeo T-shirts Stephen gave her yesterday, the fabric tucked into the waistband like she’s been doing it her whole life.
She freezes when she sees me.
“Hello, Boss.”
“Just Dex.”
“Okay… hello, Dex.”
“Five minutes to start up, Tinker.”
My gaze shifts away before it can linger too long, the echoes of the group chat still sitting wrong in my head.
Then the tote bag comes to mind.
“Tinker,” I say, turning back to her.
“You’re never going to call me Lexy, are you?
” She puts a hand on her hip, her full lips pursing as her blue eyes flash with something close to thunder, and it pulls a hint of a smile from me before I can stop it.
Her head barely reaches my shoulder, and the attitude on such a tiny person is… entertaining.
The remark gets ignored.
“My mama came by. Brought this for you… Tinker,” I add, just to watch that fire spark behind those ocean-blue eyes again.
She takes the bag but doesn’t open it. Just stares.
“Are you an asshole to all your employees, or is it just me?” she grumbles.
“You calling me an asshole, Tinker?”
A frustrated sound leaves her before she sighs and opens the bag.
She pulls out two pairs of jeans, three long-sleeved shirts, three T-shirts, two hoodies, and a pair of tennis shoes that don’t look used.
She turns the shoes over in her hands.
“These are new…” Her voice softens.
“How did she know my shoe size?”
Her gaze lifts, shock written all over her delicate face.
A shrug comes easy. “My mama has a way of knowing things…”
Her fingers run over the shoes again, slower this time, careful.
Something shifts in her expression. Subtle. Barely there.
My attention drops without thinking.
Her feet.
Small. Swallowed by worn-out sneakers that look like they’ve been through hell and back.
Something tightens in my chest. Hard.
Jaw locks.
A breath pulls in slow through my nose.
Missed that.
Should’ve noticed.
Should’ve done something about it sooner.
The thought sits wrong.
Heat creeps up the back of my neck, irritation snapping into place fast enough to bury it.
I clear my throat. “Oh, and you’re invited to my parents’ ranch for lunch this Sunday.”
She looks up.
An O forms on her full lips, making me want to kiss the shock right off her face.
Why the fuck am I thinking about kissing those lips? This woman is messing with my head. I turn to the bar. “Mama’s having family lunch Sunday.”
“And?”
“And you’re coming.”
Her eyes widen.
“Wait… what?”
I grab another bottle and shove it onto the shelf. “Apparently I’m ‘walking a thin line,’” I say, doing my best impression of Mama’s voice. “And I shouldn’t ‘test her patience.’”
Lexy stares at me.
Then she laughs. Actually laughs.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“You’re scared of your mama.”
“I am not.”
She’s still smiling. “You absolutely are.”
I glare at her. “Be ready by eleven.”
Her smile slowly fades. “Dex…”
“What?”
“Meeting someone’s entire family after working for them for a few days seems like a terrible idea.”
“Take it up with my mama.”
She groans and drops her head onto the bar.
“This is how horror movies start.”
I grab my backpack and head for the office.
“Relax, Tinker,” I call over my shoulder.
“You already met most of the family, and the rest are just as delulu, if not more.”
Behind me I hear her groan again.
And for some reason, the sound makes me smile.