Chapter 18 Rebel
Rebel
Baring his teeth in a grin, Owen clamps his paw on my shoulder and steers me away from the house. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?” I dig my heels into the crushed pebbles that make up the path while I glance over my shoulder. I should at least tell Summer that I’m going with her brother.
“Mudding,” his voice rumbles out of his barrel chest.
“I wasn’t planning on—”
His grip is bruising. “It’s time we all did some bonding. You, me—”
“Sure, but—” I focus on keeping my jaw loose and my hands relaxed at my sides. It would not be a good look if I punched any of Summer’s brothers.
“Is he in?” Kale lopes toward us with an easy grin. He’s tall like Owen, but far leaner.
“Of course he is.” Owen isn’t asking as much as telling me what I’m going to do. “Aren’t you, Hollywood?”
“Yeah.” Backing out would give Owen another reason to dislike his sister and I together.
“Great.” A dimple appears in Kale’s cheek. His gaze has a glint to it that leaves me uneasy.
“Let me go check in with Summer first.” Whatever this bonding involves I’m down with it, but we made plans. She’s waiting.
“She’s fine. Having a lie down.” The dark-haired Jett closes the wide screen door and stomps down the steps. “Could hear her snoring from the kitchen.”
“See? She won’t notice you’re missing for hours.” Owen ushers me forward. “Storm got the quad bikes ready?”
“He’s waiting.” Jett smiles from under the brim of his hat.
These guys have been giving me malicious looks since we arrived at the ranch. I’m in the midst of a set up. They want me to know they’ll protect their sister at all costs. That they’ll bring me pain if I hurt her. And they won’t accept anything less than my commitment to her.
It’s nothing I wouldn’t do myself if I had a sister or if our twins are girls. It’s nothing I’m not willing to go through to win over Summer’s brothers.
Burke’s already on my side.
Adira and Henry walk toward us, deep in conversation. As they get close enough to hear it becomes clear that they’re talking about the details of the wedding. The queen looks up when he realizes we’re in front of them.
Stopping in the middle of our path, he places one hand on his jutted hip. “Hello, boys. What are we up to?”
“Mudding,” Owen says, his focus on Summer’s youngest brother. “Are you coming, Henry?”
Henry glances between me and each of his brothers. He scratches his jaw as a devious grin starts to grow on his face. “Sorry, Adira.”
Adira slaps the back of his hand against Henry’s chest, stopping him from falling in with the rest of his brothers. He stares each brother down. “Didn’t you promise Summer you’d leave her boytoy alone?”
Boytoy? Really? That’s not going to help me make good with the brothers. “Fucking hell.”
“Boytoy?” Another mountainous rumble comes from the glowering Owen as he pushes me past the queen.
“Boytoy... boyfriend,” Adira calls out as I’m herded toward the quad bikes with most of Summer’s brothers in tow. “You promised Summer, remember?”
Storm smirks under the brim of his hat. He’s resting on one of the quad bikes, but he straightens and tips his hat back from his eyes. “Never crossed your fingers behind your back, Queenie?”
Adira gapes and touches the neckline of the cream jumpsuit he’s wearing. “And here I thought you were nice boys.”
“It’s fine,” I assure Adira. We’ll have bared our teeth and sorted out our shit by the time we come back. All I need to do is stand my ground and prove I love their sister. “If Summer asks, can you let her know something came up. Don’t tell her what...”
Adira elevates a single perfectly drawn brow.
“She’s been nervous about her brothers and I finally spending time together. She’ll be stressed the whole time we’re gone. And that can’t be good for the baby. I’ll tell her all about winning over her brothers when I get back.”
“And don’t wake her,” Jett says.
Maybe he’s worried about how she’ll react to this forced bonding session too.
“Got it.” Adira purses his lips. “Don’t bring the best man back bloodied and bruised and we have a deal.”
Owen’s hand tightens on my shoulder again. “Not making pro—”
“Deal,” Storm says.
“Get your ass on the four-wheeler, Hollywood.” Owen shoves me toward one of the vehicles.
“Yeah, yeah.” I unclench my hands. He needs to stop shoving me. I swing a leg over the seat and settle in. “Is everyone coming?”
“Not Burke. He’s leading the horse ride.” Owen straddles his quad bike. Grabbing the handlebars, he revs the motor and his four-wheeler lurches forward.
Shit. Burke’s the only one who likes me. I was counting on him having my back.
One by one we follow Owen into the paddocks. The brothers fan out on their four-wheelers as we speed across the flat, cleared ground that makes up most of their ranch. The main house and the surrounding buildings quickly disappear from view.
A cow—its neck outstretched—moos as we pass the grazing herd. Up ahead the tree line looms. Beyond is thick shadow.
Without slowing Owen breaks through the dense foliage in front of me. The brothers speed up to follow.
Jett bends low over the handlebars, hollering as he speeds under a low hanging branch.
I back off the throttle as I pick a path, hopefully one that won’t end with me plastered to one of the monstrous tree trunks.
Kale spins his quad bike right before the trees, sending chunks of dirt and grass flying from under the tires.
If they think I can’t keep up with them—the motor torques louder as I add more speed—if they’re expecting me to back down from a challenge—won’t happen.
I send the four-wheeler flying between two trees.
The trunks are so close I can feel the wind break they create as I catch air off the tangled roots extending underneath my ride.
There’s not much of a path beyond that point, but multiple bumpy and breakneck options through the branches and vegetation.
Henry flies up onto the bare dirt in front of me, and I swerve to keep from crashing into him. Kale’s engine rumbles behind me.
I catch glimpses of Jett and Storm between the trees on either side of me. Their whoops are wild and adrenaline filled.
I’d have rather curled myself around Summer, but if I have to be out here bonding with her brothers, this is a fucking fun way to do it.
We crash out of the thick forest into a mud pit. The trees make a thick canopy overhead, but the ground has been cleared of debris. Black mud oozes from the ridges our tires cut through the pit.
The brothers circle me with their quad bikes. Mud sprays up from their tires, covering me from head to toe.
That was my fault. I forgot what we were out here for and let my guard down.
I wipe big globs of thick, stinky mud from my face before I climb off the four-wheeler. I strip off my T-shirt to use it to wipe my face, but it’s entirely soaked. “Should we have it out now or would you like to haze me more first?”
“I’m all for hazing you,” Kale calls out.
“Shut up, Kale.” Owen dismounts and lumbers across the grooved tracks of mud. The wet dirt sucks at his boots with each stride. He makes a show of reaching up to take his hat off and shoving it into Jett’s hands.
The toe of his boot touches mine as he stares me down.
His voice is cold and as clear as the animosity in his gaze.
“I’ve read up on you, Hollywood. Newspapers, gossip mags, online.
You have a bad temper. You’re violent. I’ve seen far more of you than I ever fucking wanted to, including one tawdry video I hope my baby sister doesn’t know about. ”
She does. My kitten did her research before she tackled talking me into working with her. She’s always known my bad side. It took much longer for her to find my softer side. That’s not something he needs to know. It sure as hell won’t make him like me.
“You’re a criminal.”
I’m not surprised that would be a problem for him. It was obvious from the first time I overheard him on the phone with Burke the night Summer’s second eldest brother ambushed the two of us in Los Angeles.
I’d scored brownie points with Burke that I’d hoped might transfer to the other brothers. Apparently, that’s not the case.
“If we’re talking about Alec Hawthorne...” Everything that happened with Alec Hawthorne and Rochelle is public knowledge. My reasons for doing what I did... “What happened—”
“You’re still a criminal,” he thunders. “No matter how minor the other vagrancies.”
“Owen,” Jett butts in.
I flick him a grateful look, and he shakes his head, like I shouldn’t be quick to thank him. But surely the brothers have partaken in their fair share of folies. With the way Summer talks about them at least one of them must have spent a night in a cell at some point.
But Owen’s problem with me is bigger than that. “Why don’t you tell me what’s actually bothering you.”
“Bothering me?” He runs his thumb across his lip and huffs.
“Damn, Hollywood.” Henry cackles. “Bad move.”
“If it had been up to me, you would never have gotten close to our sister.” Owen pushes me back a step. “You sure as shit would not have knocked her up. You don’t deserve her.”
“Here, here,” Storm calls out.
“It’s not up to you.” I stand my ground, my heels sinking in the mud. Owen’s scary, because he’s a fucking human mountain, but I’m not about to let him run me off from the woman who is my whole life. “It’s up to Summer.”
As long as she loves me and wants me in her life, I’m here. Loving her with my every breath. Getting in her brothers’ faces about their boorish behavior.
“Whether I deserve her or not is something she gets to decide. I can promise you I’m aware that I’m one lucky son of a bitch, and I will do everything in my power to make sure she’s happy.”
“Well, you’re fucking it up.” Owen’s voice is dangerously low.
My heart thuds. “What?”
“You haven’t noticed? Your head is so far up your own fucking ass, Hollywood.” He shoves me back with his chest. “You’re not able to see that she ain’t happy.”
“She’s been tired. Unwell.” That’s to be expected with being pregnant. “She’s a little overwhelmed and not smiling as much. That’s no—”
“It’s not pregnancy hormones.” He shoves me again.
I lose purchase on the slippery mud. My ass hits the wet surface with a slap. A chill seeps through my jeans and into my flesh. My insides flood with the kind of heat that has me clenching my hands where they’re buried in the mud.
I fantasize about flinging a massive handful in the asshole’s face. Grabbing him around the throat and bringing him down to the level he’s reduced me to. But that would make Summer unhappy.
Henry laughs. “He looks like he’s made of mud.”
I spit gritty, black water from my mouth. “You mistake me for someone who will run if you push me hard enough. But I’m not going anywhere. I love your sister.”
Owen leans over me. “You don’t understand. The moment Summer comes running home with your little one on her hip, crying about how you aren’t the man she believed you were, I’m going to load my shotgun and come after you.”
It’s the ultimate if you hurt my sister threat.
And it’s pretty damn nerve wracking. Or it would be if I wasn’t planning on spending the rest of my life with her.
I get to my feet, straightening to my full muddied height.
“I’ll say it again. That’s not going to happen because I am not going anywhere. ”
“Yeah.” His gaze, as dark and green as the trees around us, assesses me. “Let’s hope you find a way to make her happy then.”
“You have my word.”
“Then we shouldn’t have to come back here and bury you.” He shoves me back into the mud before striding to his four-wheeler. Climbing on, he revs the engine and says to the other four, “Let’s go.”
They clear out one after the other, tires spitting mud at me as they follow Owen.
By the time I get to my quad bike their motors are a rumble in the distance. I sit on the bike until the shake in my hands eases and my jaw unclenches. Until my vision eases from a haze of red to browns and greens.
Until it sinks in that Owen believes Summer is unhappy with me. What if he’s right? What if the awkwardness between us the last couple months hasn’t been all morning sickness and exhaustion? What if it’s something else and I somehow missed it?
I need to get back to the house and fix whatever has my girl unhappy. Starting the quad bike, I wait for it to lurch forward. Instead, the wheels spin and spin, churning deep into the mud. And then it sinks until the mud is up around my knees.
The more I try to get unstuck the worse it gets.
Great. Fucking great.
I’m going to have to call for help. Mud smears across my phone’s screen as I light it up. There’s not a single bar in this black hole.
The quad bike moves under me as it sinks another inch. How the hell do I get myself out of this?