Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
ELLE
“ A re you sure they won’t mind me showing up?” I asked as I got in Griff’s truck. “It sounds like it’s kind of a family night. I really don’t mind staying here.”
“Stop, it’s fine. Nobody will care that you’re there.” He closed the door and walked around to his side. “That’s not true. They’re going to care, but only because they’ll all be nosy wanting to know what’s going on.” He shook his head.
We should have made a plan or at least talked about the story of how we came to be living together, well, living in the same house. It took way less time than I thought to get to Nash and Fallon’s place.
“They’re all looking at us,” I whispered as I got out of the truck.
“Of course they are, you’re beautiful.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled, and he laughed as he took my hand.
“Hope you don’t mind one more,” Griff said as we walked up the stairs and took seats. “Everyone, this is Elle Greggory.” Griff went around the circle and introduced everyone. I’d seen almost everyone around town over the time I’d been here, but I’d never actually met anyone.
“Wait, are you Chanelle Greggory?” Fallon asked, and I flinched slightly when I heard my full name. I never introduced myself that way, and anyone who knew had to know from years ago. I hated that my mother named me Chanelle, so I dropped most of the name and went by Elle.
“Yeah, that’s me.” I nodded hoping this entire line of questioning would drop.
“You two know one another?” Griff asked, reaching for a beer from the cooler Ryder set in the middle of the circle.
“Elle’s only the best equine massage therapist in the state,” Fallon said as she leaned back against Nash, who’d set his guitar aside, and he wrapped his arm around her. “She worked on my horse a few times before I quit rodeoing.”
“She’s not a bad people's masseuse either,” Griff said as he leaned back and put his arm around the back of my chair.
“Wait, I remember you,” Linc said, pulling Kristin into his lap. “You’re the nurse that looked after Griff when he broke his shoulder.”
“One and the same,” I said, smiling as I looked over at Griff, who was now biting the corner of his lip. I think he wanted the subject to change more than I did.
“So, what’s the story?” Fallon asked, pulling Nash’s beer from his hand, before taking another drink.
“No story. Just met Elle outside of the hospital setting a few weeks ago when she brought the runaway horses back.” Griff looked at me as he slipped his finger under my bra strap. My cheeks instantly grew warm, and I looked at the cooler in front of us. I wanted to curl up into a ball and forget tonight was even happening. What made it worse was I was actually wearing the bra he’d bought me.
“So, where are you living, Elle?” Kristin asked as she cuddled into Linc.
“Well, as of yesterday, I’m living with Griff.” I smiled slightly and looked down at my hands. We should have come up with a story, I wasn’t prepared to be grilled by people I just met. Nora, Kristin, and Fallon exchanged quick glances and smiled.
“Perfect, you can come to girls’ night. We’ll pick you up on the way by.” Fallon said excitedly. “The guys are teaming up to look after the kids, and we’ll head to the Fencepost.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring Parker over and he can hang out,” Griff said quietly, and I looked up at him. “It’ll be fine.” He nodded.
“He’ll love having other kids around, even if they are younger. Parker’s deaf, but he wears a cochlear implant, so he can hear when it’s in.” Like Griff when I told him, none of his friends’ expressions changed, and nobody looked around at one another, trying to figure out what they should say; they just nodded.
“We’ll all start learning ASL if it will make him feel more comfortable.” His words were so nonchalant, and I relaxed, and my shoulders felt like they dropped to the floor. I didn’t realize how tense I’d gotten while telling strangers about Parker. Blinking quickly, I sure didn’t want to cry in front of these people, but nobody had ever accepted him that easily.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and Griff tightened his arm around my shoulders.
“No need to thank us. You and Parker are with Griff. That makes you one of us. We’ll do whatever we need to make you both feel like this is your new home,” Nash said.
“I’ve never felt like we’ve belonged anywhere. People aren’t always comfortable around Parker, so we don’t venture out very often.” My voice caught in my throat.
“You belong here,” An older woman said as she walked up the porch steps behind us, with a man who looked to be about her age following her. The soft smile on her lips and the way she moved through the group, hugging everyone, was all I needed to know about her. She was a matriarch, and everyone here respected what she said.
“Sorry, we’ve been listening in. We didn’t want to interrupt. I’m Julie, the biological mother to two of this crew and a stand-in mama to the rest. Welcome to the ranch.” She and Phil sat on the porch swing Nash and Fallon vacated. “This is Phil. He’s my boyfriend. Lordy that term makes me feel ridiculous, I’m too old to have a boyfriend.” She laughed and Phil pulled her tightly to his side.
“Oh, sweetheart, we keep one another young, so I think it’s perfect.” He kissed her on the cheek, and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” I said as I grew more comfortable in this group.
“Kipp, put the frown away. Your sister married your best friend, and your mother is sleeping with your former PI. Get over it.” Julie said as she looked over at her burly son. I watched his jaw flex, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but everyone around him laughed.
“Oh, I’d like that to be discussed at girls’ night.” I laughed, feeling slightly out of the loop, but I didn’t really think I’d stay that way for long.
“Any chance we can go get the rest of Elle’s things from the Hays place? I don’t want her going back there.” I looked over at Griff, and frowned. “You aren’t going back there. That’s final.”
“Has there been trouble?” Kipp asked as he leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees and looked at Griff and me. All I could do was nod.
Griff turned to me and raised his brow. “Tell them.”
“Well, Billy showed up at midnight the other night, and then when we went back the next day to pick up her things, he waited for me to leave and tried to.” He stopped talking and I watched him crush the beer can he was holding.
“We’ll head over there with you the day after tomorrow.”
“And we’ll come help you unpack,” Nora said smiling, as she took Kipp’s hand.
“That’s asking a lot, I don’t want to take you from what you all need to be doing.” I shook my head, and they all laughed.
“I told you; you were family now. This is what we do.” Julie smiled sweetly at me.
“Think the Hays boys will continue to be trouble?” Ryder asked as he looked at Griff.
“Not sure, but if they try, it won’t be good for them.”
“Any chance this is why Billy’s driving around with a bullet hole in his side mirror?” Phil asked, arching his brow, shifting on the porch swing so he could rest his leg on his opposite knee.
“Chances are good,” Griff said as he grabbed a new drink and cracked it open, taking a long pull.
“Atta boy,” Julie said, smiling.
Who was this group of people? Griff had tried to kill someone, and they all acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. Someone was staring at me, and I looked over to see Linc’s focus squarely on me. “Elle, when we say we take care of our own, we mean it.”
“True words,” Fallon said. Everyone looked over at her, and they all nodded.
The night flew by, and thankfully, the mood had shifted back to laughter and light conversation. The sun set behind the mountain, all the uncertainty I was holding fell away and we all broke off into smaller discussions, and not once did I feel left out.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad was it?” Griff asked as we walked into the house.
“No, it was really nice. Thank you for making me go. Do you really think they want me to go to girls’ night, or were they just being nice?”
“Oh no, they want you to go. The thing about this place is once you’re here, you really are a part of everything. I count on those four men to have my back in every situation, and they know I have theirs. And it’s spilled over to the women we bring into our lives. The days are long, and sometimes the nights are longer when we’re busy, so if you’ve got one another you’ll get through.”
“Only we’re not really together,” I said, my words suddenly feeling stupid.
“As far as they’re concerned, we are, and that’s all that matters. And who knows what might happen. I do happen to know what size your lingerie is, so that must mean we’re something.” He wiggled his eyebrows and moved past me to the kitchen.
He wasn’t wrong. We were something, and as much as I knew this needed to be professional, I really wanted to cross a few lines with this hulking cowboy.
“Why don’t you like being called Chanelle?” He asked as he looked over at me.
“What makes you think I don’t like it?”
“You introduced yourself as Elle, and when Fallon said your full name you grimaced slightly.” God this man didn’t miss anything.
“Do you ever take your eyes off me?” Frowning at him, I tried to hide my smile.
“No. Now explain.”
“It’s so pretentious, and it’s not me at all. I think when my mother named me she pictured a poised beauty pageant girl, and I’m so not that. So, I shortened it to Elle when I started school, much to my mother’s dismay. She’s the only one who actually still calls me that thankfully. I don’t give her a hard time about it but I really do hate it. It’s so funny that the one thing that sticks with you forever is something you didn’t even get to pick out.” I shrugged, and to be honest, Griff could call me anything, and I’d probably answer to it.