Gunshy #3
“Y’all?” I cackled. “Well, bless your heart, Miss Quinn…” I tried my damndest to sound like Violet when she spoke. “You’re just turnin’ into a real southern belle, aren’t cha?”
“Fuck off,” she huffed, even as Hux peppered kisses to her neck.
“Now you just sound like Ollie.” He chuckled, completely unfazed by us.
I don’t think I’d met anyone quite as chill as Hux.
Maybe Maverick…but even still, there was an anxious air to Cash’s cousin.
Hux was all quiet confidence. He didn’t speak unless he had something to say, but when he did, you sure as fuck better listen.
“What are y’all slackers doin’ in here?” he asked, aiming his gaze toward Walker and me.
“Oh you know, girl stuff,” I said, managing to steal another fingerful of cookie dough.
Walker hissed. “Ollie!”
I made a big show of sucking on my finger dramatically, letting out a fake, breathy moan for good measure, before popping it out of my mouth.
Walker tossed a handful of flour at me. It dissipated into the air, but I waved a hand her way before turning my attention to her brother.
“What about you, old man? Shouldn’t you be working? ”
“I could say the same about you.” Hux chuckled. “And I was lookin’ for my wife.”
I glanced at Quinn and waggled my eyebrows. “Why, so you guys can have a quickie?”
“Ollie!” Quinn hissed, her cheeks blushing crimson. Oh, what a sweet, summer child.
Hux’s lips pulled up into a smirk. “Why? Wanna watch?”
He always got my humor. It was one of the things I enjoyed so much about him.
Quinn smacked him playfully on the chest. “Oh my God, Huxson Lane. Your sister is right here.”
“Quinnie, it’s okay,” Walker said with a laugh, “I know y’all do the devil's tango, like, all the time.”
“All the time,” I whispered for emphasis.
“You guys are so fucking awkward,” Quinn groaned out behind the make-shift mask she’d made out of her palms.
“Only awkward if you make it, darlin’,” Hux all but crooned as he pulled her close and kissed her head. “She’s blushin’, ain’t she?” he asked after a moment.
I laughed. “Oh, yeah.”
Quinn flipped me off once more. “You guys are the worst.”
Hux drew her in for a quick kiss as the two of them traded, ‘I love you’s’.
I’m gonna miss this.
The thought hit me like a truck load of bricks dumped straight on my chest. When I left, I would lose all this.
The laughing, the joking, the relationships.
In a few short months, the three of them had come to mean a great deal to me.
More than I would ever have expected or care to admit.
Hux was like an older brother I never knew I wanted or needed.
Walker was like a more youthful, innocent mini-me.
Quinn was the voice of reason, the responsible one.
The mother hen to us all. That wasn’t even factoring Cash and his family.
No. Shut it down. I wasn’t going there. I wasn’t thinking about all the things I’d be losing. I wouldn’t, couldn’t stay. I was just prolonging the inevitable at this point. And yet I couldn’t seem to bring myself to actually leave.
“You two should be workin’,” Hux said with a huff, dragging me from my inner thoughts, which I appreciated like hell. I don’t know if it was the weight of the holiday season or how in my head I was about everything, but even my own mind was depressed and over my bullshit.
I groaned. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“You practice with your rope today?” he asked, his gaze settling in my direction.
“Yes, Dad,” I huffed. “I did my hundred tosses.”
Just one of the homework assignments as Cash liked to call them.
The bastard took training me to a whole other level, but as grueling as some of our lessons and assignments could be, I had to admit they worked.
I was shaping up to be pretty damn good.
Maybe even good enough to win the Christmas Classic about a week and a half away.
Well…that is if I managed to stay that long.
“And how many did you make?” he asked.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Ninety-seven.”
“Sounds like you could use some more practice.”
I deserved an Oscar for the melodramatic sigh that escaped me. “Come on! My arm’s sore.”
The look on his face, the tone of his voice…it was all no-nonsense. “You got that ropin’ event next weekend. Wanna be good or great?”
“You sound like Cash,” I grumbled, but I hopped off the countertop nonetheless.
“For once, I can say Cash’s right…” Hux replied with a chuckle. Then, “Another hundred.”
I groaned. Loud enough to probably wake the dead. God, I was tired and my bones were still not fully thawed from my failed escape and my wrist was sore from the first round of throws I’d done before getting into my head and leaving this morning.
But at the end of the day, I wasn’t a quitter. A complainer? Yes. But a quitter? Fuck no. Rolling out my neck, I made my way toward him and huffed, “Fine… Come on, old man, you’re gonna keep me company.”
“I’ve got horses to work.”
But he still followed me out as I made my way toward the front door.