Chapter 13 Rebel
Rebel
Rogue climbs out of the second vehicle we brought to the private airstrip—so we can transport the extra security Riot suddenly needs—and climbs into my passenger seat to wait for our youngest brother to disembark. “He’s a damned diva lately.”
“Following in your footsteps, huh?” I smirk.
“You think you’re funny. Trust the twin that actually has a sense of humor, you’re not,” he claps back.
“At least I’ve still got more than our eldest brother.” I swipe my thumb across my phone screen, making the images of Hermès bags change. “Because it seems like West doesn’t have any.”
“Yes, well, I’m hopeful that when we get to know him better, he’ll lighten up a bit.” Rogue shrugs. “What are you looking at?”
“Present for Summer,” I say as a pink bag disappears and a mint green clutch appears. “Which one says I hate how sick this pregnancy has you feeling? You deserve the whole damn world. I love you.”
Rogue leans over to snatch my phone out of my hand so he can scroll through the bags on the screen. He taps add to cart and hands it back to me. “Definitely that one.”
I finish the transaction and drop my phone in a cupholder. “Thanks for your help.”
“Everything going okay with you two?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I stare at the plane. “Doctor said she needs to take it easy and not do anything too strenuous.”
“That why she was up on a ladder last night?”
“You know her; she’s as stubborn as they come.”
“As you are, you mean.” He shoots me a quick grin. “Seems like she’s doing better, though. Perhaps you two just need some alone time to reconnect.”
“I don’t want to add to her plate,” I say. “She has enough on it with helping with the wedding. There’ll be time after.” I concentrate on the plane. Hurry up, little bro. “Why the last-minute addition? Did Riot tell you why he needs the extra security?”
“He was pretty vague about it. Said something along the lines of contractually obligated, yada, yada.” Rogue’s shoulders lift and fall. “We’re going to be late to the meet and greet brunch if he doesn’t move his ass.”
“I doubt it’s going to start without you.” I drum my fingers on the steering wheel of the rental car. It’s no Emmy—I miss my baby already—but I could hardly bring my iconic ride when every media hound knows her soft top and the shined-up chrome on her fenders by sight.
We’re all going incognito in an attempt to keep the media at bay, but I’ll be surprised if there isn’t a drone circling the ranch come Saturday morning. They’re already speculating that the wedding is happening this weekend thanks to someone clueing into our exodus from L.A.
Our rock star little brother who had to clear his gruelling schedule and take a private jet to get to the secret location won’t help keep us off the public’s radar.
Two beefy guys in dark suits and shades leave the aircraft. Behind them Riot exits looking like he’s king of the world. The usual black on black Chucks, jeans, and shades wardrobe is punctuated with a crisp white T-shirt.
He shrugs into his favorite leather jacket while he says something to the flight attendant who steps out with him. Taking a moment to sign something for them, he looks back inside the plane and extends his hand.
Kelsey steps out beside him, looking like a rockabilly pin up girl in denim capris, a cropped band T-shirt, and the tallest of red heels. Her hair is curled and pinned like some last century vixen.
“Did I tell you I caught those two going for gold in the dressing room at the Mojito on Ivy’s birthday?” Rogue smirks.
“What?” How did he manage to keep that to himself all this time?
“And that was after Ivy and I accidentally eavesdropped on an argument that ended in a kiss under the tree house.” He has a self-satisfied look on his mug. “While he and Rochelle were dating.”
“Seriously?” I peer intently at Riot and Kelsey as they descend the stairs. He lets go of her hand to move ahead.
“Uh-huh.” Rogue cranes his neck.
“I don’t know if I would call whatever he was doing with Rochelle dating,” I muse. They were close, but they never seemed all that intimate. After what that prick Alec put her through, who could blame her. “It was more like—”
“He was cut up about it when it ended.” Rogue looks at me. “Wasn’t he? I didn’t imagine that. Did I?”
“He’s got a good heart, and she was hurting with the trial and the smear campaign the Hawthornes were running.
” It still makes me want to pound my fist into the closest surface.
The way they tried to convince the public that she wanted what happened to her was fucking disgusting.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if their dating was a way of him sticking close so he could be there for her. Protect her.”
“Makes sense,” he says.
“So could this thing with Kelsey be serious?” I watch them more closely.
At the bottom of the steps Riot exchanges handshakes and a few words with the crew who are handling the luggage and the cartons of bagels Rogue had special ordered for this morning’s brunch.
Kelsey falls into place at his side, looking like she belongs there.
Which in a way, she always has. They’ve been friends for a long time.
The scrappy, stubborn skater girl and the dreamer musician.
It wouldn’t be the worst choice either could make.
Riot leans in to say something privately to Kelsey. They share a smile like they have the best secret in the world.
“Don’t be a dad about it,” Rogue warns. “Let them be. We’re long past the point where he needs a reminder about how fucking his best friend could be the worst mistake.”
“Yeah.” My thumb ticks against the steering wheel.
“Maybe they’re meant to be,” Rogue says. “Friends first isn’t a bad way to fall in love.”
“Meant to be? You’re such a romantic.” But I can’t summon the cynicism that would have given that taunt weight once upon a time. It’s hard to be as prickly as a cactus when I have Summer in my corner.
We hated each other once. Not that it was ever real hate. She hated what she’d been told about me, and I hated that she was afraid of me. And she was stubborn. Argumentative. In my business.
But those things ultimately made me fall for her. Those are some of the many things that make her the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.
At least my relationship wasn’t Rogue’s.
He had to go and fall in love with the enemy’s sister.
Create a whole drama that started with him chasing a girl named Uma Cookie and ended with us finding out we weren’t twins, but triplets.
“It has to be better than everyone thinking you’re having a mental breakdown and hallucinating. ”
“I’m not bitter.” Rogue sits up straighter. “I’m marrying said hallucination, and I can’t fucking wait.” He presses a button on the door, and the window slides down. “Hurry the fuck up, you two. We’ve got an itinerary to follow, and I don’t want to be late for my princess.”
“How was the flight?” I ask once they’ve both climbed in. Heart Ranch isn’t that far from the airstrip. Maybe thirty minutes.
They share a glance I catch in the rearview as we pull out, their security detail following.
Rogue’s side-eye mirrors my thoughts. They’re definitely together.
It seems serious.
Girlfriend serious. Rogue sticks his tongue in his cheek as he feigns interest in the playlist he and Ivy created for their wedding week. He finally settles on a tune. “This was the song I performed with Adira at Mojito Bar when I was in search of my sweet Uma Cookie.”
“How is Love?” Riot asks, rolling the window down a couple of inches and pulling a tin out of his jacket pocket. He takes out a thin paper cylinder and sticks it between his lips. Lifting his ass off the seat, he hunts around in another pocket, presumably for his lighter.
“You’re not lighting that in here,” Kelsey says.
“Didn’t think you’d care,” he says.
“It’s a decent fine,” she says, then before I can argue adds, “And a bad look.”
I exchange glances with Riot. She has a point. Well, not about the fine or how bad it looks. But there will be no more smoking in cars now that I’m going to be a father.
He barely shrugs then stows his joint back in the tin. “How is Summer? Have the brothers forgiven you for deflowering and knocking up their only sister?”
“I didn’t deflower anyone,” I gripe. Summer is carrying my babies, though. Twins. Christ. If they’re anything like Rogue and I, we’re in for some divine and karmic retribution.
Summer and I decided it would be our secret until it becomes obvious that she’s carrying more than one. I can’t wait to see Rogue and Riot’s faces when they realize.
“The brothers Heart are all terribly vexed.” Rogue snorts. “We’ve been here for two days and none of them will talk to him. Well, Burke did but—”
“Shut up.” I glare at him. The whole situation is unreasonable.
“You offended him.” Rogue stares at me like I’m the asshole. “He offered to sell his sister to you for three goats and a fattened pig. You refused. You refuse to put a ring on her finger.”
“How do you think it makes Summer feel to have her brothers treating her like she was born in the eighteenth century? You know she hates that overprotective brother bullshit. Now that redheaded mountain is trying to sell her like she’s property.
In front of her face too. The position that put me in.
.. making me look like an ass no matter my answer. ”
“It’s an inside joke.” Rogue raises a brow. “Summer understands that.”
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an impact on her. I had to fight tooth and nail to get her to be vulnerable with me. I won’t let her go backward because her brothers are being dicks.”
“They probably want to know you plan to marry her, considering she’s going to be your baby momma,” Kelsey chimes in. “We’re all in an industry that doesn’t boast a lot of happily ever forevers.”
I catch her eyes in the rearview mirror in time to see the depth of emotion that passes through them. Interesting. “I’m going to marry her. I just haven’t found the perfect moment to ask yet.”
Because it has to be perfect. Summer deserves something that rivals those old school romantic comedies she watched with her mom before she passed.
She deserves to be the one who gets to make the decision about whether she wants to be Summer Heart-Maddox. Her brothers don’t get a say in her choices beyond what she wants them to have.
My whole world revolves around her, so I didn’t want to ask her when our entire family was up in flames thanks to that bastard, Hawthorne. And I didn’t want to do it when we were celebrating Ivy’s return after she was kidnapped.
And I don’t want to be pushed into doing it this week. Rogue and Ivy’s wedding is not our moment. But soon, when it’s perfect, I’m going to get down on one knee and ask her to let me love her until they put me in the earth.
“We all thought you would propose at Christmas.” Riot leans forward between the seats and flips the lid of the metal lighter on and off.
He’s fidgety as hell which usually means he has something he wants to tell us. But unlike how he and Rogue are pushing to understand something that’s none of their business, I’ll let him get his words out when he’s ready.
Kelsey’s stomach growls like a demonic gremlin from the depths of hell. “Sorry, skipped breakfast.”
“And dinner,” Riot says. “It’s been a crazy twenty-four.”
Rogue chuckles. “Didn’t you have time to eat on the plane?”
They were too busy fucking. I use my hand to wipe away my smirk.
One corner of Rogue’s mouth tics. Maybe he doesn’t know you have to feed the one you want to keep. He’s used to those one-night groupies. Do you think they bring their own snacks?
Not in my experience.
Well, there was this one time... Rogue waggles his brows. Should we tell him?
“Has West gotten the hang of your telepathic nonsense yet?” Riot picks up his phone because it’s started to caterwaul.
“Am I going to have to deal with all three of you acting like this the whole time?” He glances at the screen, his lip curls.
“Forget it, it doesn’t matter. The lady needs some food.
Is there a McDonalds or Sonic around here? ”
“Around here?” He must be kidding. All we’ve seen for the past fifteen minutes is farmland.
“It’s her again, isn’t it?” Kelsey cranes her neck, peering around his shoulder. “What does she want now?”
Riot rejects the call and pockets the device. “Suspected spam.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” Kelsey’s jaw tightens as she shifts her attention to the passing fields.
Her? Rogue side-eyes me.
I side-eye him back. Suspected spam?
Baby brother, what are you getting yourself mixed up in now? It appears I’m going to end up playing the dad card and making sure he doesn’t completely screw up his friendship after all.
“About that food,” Riot says.
“There’s plenty of it at the ranch.” Rogue grins at him over his shoulder. “Specifically, at the wedding brunch meet and greet. We’ll be there soon.”