68. Bailey
68
Bailey
W hen we got home after the game, I went upstairs to change into sweats. We were skipping the homecoming dance, and the guys had promised me a campfire and sleepover. I was pulling my hoodie over my head, careful with my shoulder and stitches, when I heard my name being called from outside. I walked over to my window and looked down. Chase was dowsing the garden shed with a can of gasoline. Ethan pulled down the tailgate of the truck; he had it parked close to the shed. And then Nolan carried armfuls of blankets and pillows, tossing them into the truck bed before jumping up and spreading them out.
Lachlan was the one who’d called me. When my eyes locked with his soft, sweet blues, he held up a matchbox and wiggled it, enticing me. I smiled and turned to run out the door, but my reflection in the mirror caught my attention.
There was no saving my old mirror, it was damaged beyond repair. Behind it the wall had taken a beating as well, but over the last few days the guys had repaired it. They fixed the drywall, put mud over the cracks and smoothed them over. They even attempted to paint it, it didn’t match the paint on the walls exactly but it was perfect to me. Ethan had hung the new mirror up, the reflection was something I was still getting used to.
The possibility of the scar didn’t bother me too much. Nor did the black and blue markings or the purple bruising. I smiled at myself in the mirror. I saw the strength in my eyes, and I acknowledged it. “I love you,” I told her. “I love everything you are and every bit you have become.”
The guys let me light the match. They were sweet like that, happy to allow me to commit arson.
We watched the shed burn up brighter than the stars in the sky. Then I lay back on the blankets and looked up, hoping for any shooting stars. Pops jumped up and lay between my legs, his head resting on my thigh as my fingers combed through his white fur.
He was officially the farm dog, and though he often traveled between this place and his old home, he was really Ethan’s dog. I thought it would be a good retirement for the old pup, spending the days patrolling his land, evenings watching the sun set in the cab of a tractor, and nights cozied up in the straw with the other animals.
Chase lay on one side of me and Nolan on the other. “Hey, there’s the big dipper,” Chase said.
“Ursa Major.” Nolan sighed. “Or the great bear.”
“What? Where the hell do you get off thinking that looks like a bear? It’s a spoon! Hence, dipper.” He had his hand raised up, like he was grabbing the handle of a spoon.
Nolan chuckled. “It’s a bear, and see, those three stars there are hunters.” Nolan pointed.
“Eth, what do you see?” Chase asked.
“An almost perfect marshmallow.”
I looked down, watching as Ethan roasted a marshmallow over the garden shed fire.
Lachlan took a large breath from his pipe, holding in the smoke before slowly releasing it. “Look at it like one of Bailey’s stick drawings, if she were to draw a bear.”
Chase tilted his head. “Oh, oh, I kinda see it now.”
“Hey! My stick bears are—” I squinted my eyes, looking at the pattern in the stars. “Okay, they are a bit like that.”
They all laughed with me.
I listened to Nolan and Chase argue over the constellations, what Chase thought they looked like versus what Nolan knew what they were. Ethan had made Lachlan a s’more and the marshmallow was leaking out all over his fingers, dripping onto his shirt. Lachlan tried to quickly lick it up, but it was still hot. Ethan laughed at him.
Pops jumped up off my leg and lay down next to Ethan on the tailgate. Ethan gave him a graham cracker.
“What will we do about Hadley?” I wondered aloud.
“What do you mean?” Nolan asked.
“Her eyes promised pain when she glared at me nearly the whole game tonight. I don’t think she’s going to leave me alone. Ignoring her won’t exactly help, either.”
“I know what we can do,” Lachlan said, leaning back and grinning as the drugs hit his system.
“No more murder!” Nolan chastised.
“Just a little one.” He shrugged. “No one will know.”
“Ethan, tell him he can’t keep killing our problems,” Nolan demanded.
I sighed. I was going to have to delete some camera footage from tonight. Lachlan had shown me how to delete it completely, so it was wiped off the hard drive.
Ethan shrugged.
“Yeah, Eth isn’t going to help you there.” Chase rolled onto his side. “But I do have some dirt on her dad. He’s in a fairly powerful political position. Bribery, blackmail, and threats may help.”
“How much dirty laundry?” Lachlan asked.
Chase grinned, his eyes twinkling with that mischievous charm that always had me excited to see what he was about to do. “Oh, some pretty good stuff. Likely enough for a couple felony charges as well. He was really set on Hadley marrying me, so he talked, a lot .”
“And you? Was that what you wanted?” I asked.
Chase didn’t hesitate before bending down and capturing my lips with his. “Never,” he said when he pulled back. “I loved you even then. She was just a distraction.” My hand slipped up to the back of his neck, pulling him back down to me. With another grin, he dropped his hand to my hip, and he took my lips again.
“You’ll have to show me what you have. Lachlan and I can put something together and figure out how we go about it,” Nolan said, not in the least bit fazed by what was happening right beside him.
Chase pulled away from me. “Sleep next to me tonight.”
“No way,” Nolan said, “unless you want to cuddle with me too. You get her every day of the week. Weekends are mine and Lachlan’s.”
I laughed, but it was cut off when Lachlan shifted, slowly crawling over me before pausing, his hands on either side of my hips. “What does Bailey want?”
I grinned. “Higher.”
Both Nolan and Lachlan chuckled, but Lachlan shook his head. “Sorry, babe, you’re going to have to tell me.”
I groaned. “I don’t want to choose. Don’t make me choose.” I gave him my best puppy dog eyes.
“Shit.” Lachlan sat back on his haunches, my legs still between his. “Don’t do that to me.”
I intensified the look.
“He’s done for,” Ethan murmured.
“Baby, you can have anyone you want in your bed.” Lachlan took my hand in his. “Just say a name.”
I smiled. “All of you.”
“Okay, but as long as I’m not next to Ethan. I’m not into that cuddle shit,” Chase joked, and everyone laughed.
I sat up. “So, back to serious issues. Do we agree Hadley needs to be taken care of? Before she makes another move, and I get kidnapped again?”
“Yes,” Nolan said.
“She’s not going to touch you ever again,” Chase promised.
“No one will touch our family ever again.” Lachlan’s lip curled as he moved off my legs and reclaimed his pipe.
My eyes drifted to Ethan, who sat staring into the fire. “There’ll be no second chances, for anyone. They mess with us, we mess them up.” His voice was deep and gravelly, sending a shiver of excitement up my spine.
I lay back down on the pillows and looked up at the sky again just as a shooting star flew by. This time, I wasn’t sure what to wish for. I knew more moments like this were going to happen. I knew I could be myself, that we all could be true to ourselves. I knew we were all a family, and we would take care of one another. I didn’t have to wish for any of that.
Maybe we were a bit broken. Maybe we were a bit twisted. But we were here. We would always be here for one another.
“What’d you wish for?” Nolan whispered in my ear.
I smiled. “All-you-can-eat ice cream.”
The End