Bonus Epilogue
Jordan
Thirteen Months After The Wedding…
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
Quinn, Savanna, Hailey, and I bounce around the stage to the start of the new song, clapping, encouraging the crowd at 10-42 to join in while Luke, Nate, and Liam all stomp their boots to the bass echoing through the bar.
All three of the men are wearing the same getup: sleeveless plaid button up shirts, unbuttoned halfway down, with blue jeans that make their asses look great, besides my brother of course, and cowboy boots. Topped off with cowboy hats.
We don’t need to liven the place up much for everyone to catch on—the place has been roaring with excitement all night—they know what’s coming. Who is coming.
The main attraction of the evening.
Wyatt Dalton.
The social media-loving rookie firefighter who has brought his swarm of fans out for the now annual “Save a Fire Truck, Date a Firefighter” auction.
Tickets sold out within twenty-four hours thanks to Wyatt.
Not that any of us are surprised—the man looks like he walked out of a photoshoot for the world’s hottest cowboy.
If Liam weren’t hopelessly in love with me, he’d probably pout that he wasn’t the ladies favorite anymore. Then again, Brody has beaten him three years in a row for highest bid, something my sexy boyfriend will never get over.
Wyatt bursts from the stage stairs as the beat drops, throwing his arms up to get the already rowdy crowd even more worked up.
It works. Every woman in the place seems to be screaming, cheering, and hollering.
The boys disappear to the sidelines while Wyatt starts on the booty shakin’ bit that his little brother, Boone, taught him over video chat all the way from their family’s ranch in Montana.
“I’m the party lovin’, horseback ridin’, whiskey drinkin’ son of a gun—” The fast country song blasts over the speakers as Wyatt grabs a shot off a well-placed tray I picked up when he was first shaking his butt.
A few lines later, the boys are reappearing, this time each carrying something they hide from the crowd and slip to Wyatt when he darts behind the three of them.
A second later he emerges between Liam and Nate, all four men now riding a hobbyhorse when the lyrics “take my horse to the honkytonk” blares throughout the bar.
The crowd eats it up, going crazy when all the men jump forward, thrusting their hips while riding the sticks.
I can’t deny that it’s sexy, even after watching it several times while running through the dance in rehearsal.
The more I watched Liam practice this whole number, the hotter I got for him, and he reaped the rewards of hard practices numerous times.
“The girls are all tens,” sings the crooner over the speakers, and the boys all point to the crowd, “I’m gonna get me some, ride cowgirl ride.”
Right on cue, the four of us ladies jump on the guys’ backs, Quinn jumping onto Wyatt’s, riding them as they gallop around the stage for the remaining lines of the chorus.
The song drops back into verse where the hero finds a girl that has him looking at her twice and realizing she’s a hundred in a sea of tens.
During the verse, Wyatt is the only one shakin’ his thing out on the stage, ripping his shirt open while he goes, flaunting every bit of his fun-lovin’ self for all the would-be-bidders.
They eat it up, the joy and excitement tangible in the bar, and I can’t help but grin at Liam who slings his arm around me as the song goes on.
Until the chorus, when all the guys ride their hobbyhorses around the stage again, and we jump on their backs once more.
Everyone except Quinn, who disappears down the stairs as planned for the bridge of the song.
But as the song goes into it and Wyatt jumps down from the stage into the crowd, he doesn’t dance towards Quinn like practiced.
Instead, he heads straight for Bryn, the glue that has held 10-42 together for years, even though she’s no longer the head server and only works part time.
Bryn takes note, stopping in her tracks, her eyes darting all over the place, looking for Quinn. When she realizes that Quinn is on the opposite side of the bar, her mouth clamps together, watching Wyatt gyrate his way towards her.
“I was smooth talkin’, Prince Charmin’, but she wasn’t havin’ it,” the singer croons, the beat having nearly stopped save for a clapping beat that we’re all following on stage.
“Got on my knees, beggin’ her please—” Wyatt, the crazy bastard, drops to his knees in front of Bryn, hands up in front of himself, begging her to take him. Begging her to be his.
And we all know it isn’t just the song. This man has it bad for her.
“That’s where she wanted me, ‘cause she said, ‘I’m gonna get me some, ride cowboy ride,” the bridge concludes, and Wyatt pops up from the ground, dropping his cowboy hat on top of Bryn’s head before he goes running towards the stage, scaling the thing like it’s nothing to him even though it's four feet high.
I don’t see Bryn’s expression, not when Liam dropped his own hat onto my head and muscle memory took over, prompting me to jump onto his back a second later to finish out the song. But I can imagine it. A mix between indignant, embarrassed, and excitement.
It makes me wonder how Bryn will take it when someone else bids on Wyatt and he has to take that person out on a date.
Because as much as she might deny him, it’s clear that the woman has it bad, too.
Liam’s arms slide around me from behind, his scruffy face nuzzling into my neck which has goosebumps popping up along my flushed skin.
The whole gang is still at the bar after a very successful evening of raising money to help another struggling business out.
It was Savanna’s idea, after the first auction was such a success in saving the bar, to do an annual event to help businesses in need.
Last year the auction helped save a hardware store that was about to close its doors because of a leaky roof the owner didn’t have the money to repair.
It brings me joy every time I drive by it these days and see it thriving.
This year the proceeds are going to a no-kill pet shelter that was on the brink of closing its doors due to funding. The same one Tosha probably would have ended up at if it weren’t for Liam.
“I can’t wait to get you home so I can fuck you senseless,” Liam whispers as everyone starts to gather around the bar.
Everyone stayed behind to help clean up, making the task go by faster than it would have if it’d just been Nate, Savanna, Liam, and me. I’m grateful for each of them. Hailey, Luke, Brody, Quinn, Wyatt, and Bryn. Even though we were all at least half-drunk, they all offered to stay.
“Senseless?”
“Mmhm,” he murmurs, nipping at my earlobe. “Your little shorts and tank top have been making me hard all night.”
“Christ, can the two of you knock it off?” Nate asks, sidling up across the bar from us.
“They’ve been well behaved, if you ask me,” Savanna defends, stopping next to her husband. “I haven’t seen any sign of the hellcat.”
Nate pushes a hand roughly through his hair. “Jesus, Sav, really?”
Most of us gathered around chuckle at that. Poor Nate will never live it down.
“Holy shit!” Savanna exclaims, pulling our attention to her.
She’s focused on a TV above one of the tables in the bar.
Someone turned it on after the auction and it’s been running sports highlights since.
“Did the Rampage win?” she asks, referring to the hockey team from the next city over.
“They were losing six-one when I checked earlier. Brody, did they win?”
Brody grunts, but it’s Quinn who pipes up. “Who is that guy?”
“Nicholas Austin,” Savanna grumbles about the man being interviewed. “The jackass who left the Colorado Blizzards and came to play for San Rocco. Screwed my whole team up.”
“Huh.” Quinn looks thoughtful, and when it seems like everyone’s attention is on her, she shrugs. “He looks like a guy from Vegas last year, but his name was Max. Or was it Mike. No, actually, I think it was Mason.”
“Maybe you had a foursome with all of them, and that’s why you can’t remember,” Hailey says dryly.
Quinn shakes her head. “No, I definitely remember those. That’s a lot of dicks. It would be a shame to forget that kind of experience.”
Hailey groans, turning her face into Luke’s chest while the rest of us laugh. I can only imagine that she regrets opening her mouth. Hailey, not Quinn—Quinn loves to open that.
“Bryn, grab the whiskey,” Quinn says, pointing to the shelf behind the petite woman. “We all need to do one last shot together to commemorate the success of tonight.”
Bryn, to her credit, glances at Nate, who nods and starts lining shot glasses up on the bar. Nate is halfway through pouring ten shots for us when Savanna grabs one of the empty glasses and starts putting it away.
“Oh, c’mon, Sav, you aren’t a DD tonight!” Quinn complains. Every time we’ve been together lately it’s the reason Savanna gives to not have a drink, but all night she’s been slamming them back with us. “One last shot before you take your hot hubby home to fuck his brains out.”
“Probably with whips and chains,” Liam adds.
Savanna laughs while Nate starts turning red. “I’m good. No drinks for me tonight.”
My head cocks to the side at that. “Tonight? You’ve had drinks tonight.”
“Have I?” Sav retorts, raising an eyebrow.
“Holy shit, are you pregnant?” Luke asks.
Nate glances down at his bride, and my stomach flips with anticipation and hope, my breath catching in my throat until he says, “Not yet.”
With love in her eyes, she grins up at Nate. “But we’re trying.” She turns to look at everyone crowded around the bar. “I’ve been drinking water all night. Bryn,” she glances at her friend, “knew to keep serving me only water.”
“Fuck me sideways,” Liam says, giving a hoot and holler from behind me. “You’re gonna make me an uncle?” Another cheer rings out, and I can’t help but laugh at the man I love with all my heart as he gives Brody a punch in the arm. “They’re trying to make us uncles, Brods! Can you believe that?”
Then Liam takes off like a rocket, rounding the bar in record time to tackle Nate with a bear hug before putting him down to spin Savanna around.
It warms my heart to see him this excited, though I’d expect nothing less from the man who stole my heart.
He loves his family. Even if they’re not blood.
Every one of the people in this room is Liam’s family, and he loves each one of them.
I look around the room, everyone looking equally as happy as the next at the idea of Nate and Savanna trying for a baby. Until my focus lands on Brody, and words from over a year ago ring clear in my mind.
“You know I’ve lost one family. Please don’t be the reason I lose another.”
I thought he meant because I could come between Nate and Liam, but watching him watch this moment of joy for our friends and chosen family, I can’t help but wonder if it was more than that. As much as he’s trying to hide it, I see it.
The man is heartbroken.