Chapter 35 Sam
SAM
“You don’t have to go. He’s a moron. Just lock the doors, and he’ll go away.” She grabs my arm.
Between accidentally telling her I love her while buried inside her, to the condom breaking, to her brother showing up to kick my ass, I might be the one about to have a heart attack.
I brush her hair out of her eyes and lean down to kiss her forehead, knowing he’s still watching us.
“Look, baby, he can’t tell us not to be together, but it’s a bro-code thing. I have to let him get his punch in, and then we’ll be good. Hopefully, he’ll see that I care about you and—fuck, there’s a lot I wanna say but I don’t think—”
“Seymour! Quit kissing my sister and get your ass down here.”
Another set of tires squeals into the driveway. I look down to see Sterling, Holden, and Cash get out of the truck. My muscles tense.
“Oh my God. They’re all such idiots!” She starts marching toward the door, but I grab her hand, pulling her back to my chest.
“You have to let me do this, okay?” I cup the side of her face. “My manhood is at stake here. If you go down there and—”
“They could seriously hurt you!”
“Yeah, they could.” My fingers trail down her arm. “But I seriously love you, and I need them to know that last night wasn’t a one-off. I’ll do anything to be with you, Dolly Mae. Even face your four fucking scary-ass brothers.”
She shivers as the heavy words settle over her.
“You’ll … you’ll what?”
I press another kiss to her lips. “You can watch if you want, but don’t say anything. I can handle this.”
“I’m coming down there,” she says, lifting her chin stubbornly.
I nod, grabbing her hand as we make our way downstairs.
When we get to the front door, I hand her my oversize brown hoodie to put on, knowing it’ll be cold once we get outside.
While she does that, I put on my cowboy boots before I open the door, stepping out.
I’m still shirtless, but this is how I fight in the ring.
The Redford brothers are lined up in front of their trucks. Duke is the only one who looks pissed, his eyes narrowed on me. Sterling and Cash are both relaxed, their expressions borderline amused.
Holden is somewhere in the middle, but his eyes trail over Dolly when she walks out behind me, and he must determine that she’s okay because he relaxes—slightly.
“What the fuck is going on here, Seymour?” Duke practically spits out the words.
I’ve known my best friend for a long time. Even though he’s generally a relaxed, fun-loving kind of guy, he doesn’t exactly process his emotions rationally when he gets angry.
He’s wearing a basic T-shirt and jeans with a flannel over it, but he’s pulling that off now. I know he needs to hit me, just on the principle of me betraying him by screwing his little sister behind his back when I was supposed to be taking care of her.
“Did you hear her screaming, or do you need me to describe it to you?”
Sterling barks out a laugh, but quickly recovers. Cash is trying to hold back a smirk. Holden’s eye twitches, but he maintains a neutral expression.
Duke practically has smoke blowing out of his ears. He lunges for me, his fist coming at me fast. I duck away from his first blow on instinct. I don’t hit back, even though laying him out flat right now would be easy. He’s not fighting smart because he’s letting his emotions get in the way.
I dodge his second hit, causing him to roar in frustration. I decide to stand still for the next one, tensing my muscles and letting him get a good one in. And, fuck, he does.
The blow lands right on my jaw, knocking me back a few steps and nearly making me fall to the ground. I stumble, trying to regain my balance when Holden comes up and punches me in the gut. It’s not nearly as hard, but it still fucking hurts.
Dolly’s gasp reaches my ears, reminding me why I’m taking this beating. I hold back a smile.
Cash is next, planting his fist in the center of my chest so that I fall back to the ground this time.
Stars are swirling above my head when Sterling gets to me.
He grabs my hand, yanks me up to my feet, and delivers his punch to the other side of my stomach, narrowly missing my ribs.
I pitch forward, groaning in pain. He catches me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and leaning down to my ear.
“Welcome to the family, brother.” He claps me on the back and starts guiding me around the house.
My vision is still blurry, but I think I see Holden grabbing a branding iron out of the back of the truck. When we finally make it around the corner of the house, Pops is in my backyard, coaxing a fire to life in my stone firepit.
Holden drops the brand down into the flames. He’s grinning at me now too. “When’s the wedding?”
Sooner than you think.
I turn to look at Dolly, whose face is flushed with rage as she trails behind us. Duke tries comforting her by throwing his arm around her shoulders, but she shoves him off.
Cash is laughing with Sterling as they pull back their shirts to show off the Redford Ranch brands that are permanently etched into their skin. It’s a family tradition, a mark all the men have, even Pops. Holden even has another one with his wife’s initials, R.R., for Rosie Redford.
“You want me to get the brand?” I ask, looking at each one before finally meeting Duke’s eyes.
He still looks angry, but hitting me must have felt pretty damn good because his shoulders are less tense.
“Do you wanna join the family or not?” he asks.
Dolly comes up to me, sliding her hand in mine. “You don’t have to, Sam. Don’t feel pressured.”
I laugh, shaking my head at her. “Easy for you to say, Dollface.” I pinch her chin, tilting it up to me. “Do you want me to? I’m not changing my name to Redford, by the way. I’m a Seymour, like my grandfather.”
“I don’t want you to change your name.”
“But I actually would if that’s what it took to be with you,” I blurt out, realizing I mean every word.
Her eyes shine, but she shakes her head. “I don’t want that. I think maybe starting out as your girlfriend is enough for now.”
Or we could just skip that part.
Once I’m in, I’m all in. And I’m fucking gone for her.
I turn to Duke, whose eyes have considerably softened as he looks from his sister to me. He looks almost … relieved. He lifts the brands, which are two separate R’s, one R a mirror of the other.
“Where do you want it?” he asks.
I look down, pointing at my left pec muscle. “Right there.” Over my heart.
Dolly squeezes my hand tighter. I groan from the searing hot pain when Duke presses the first R into my flesh, the burning-skin smell assaulting my nostrils.
I struggle to keep still when Sterling quickly presses the second R into me a second later.
I squeeze her hand tighter, trying to be a man about it even though my skin is literally burning off.
I gasp, exhaling slowly as the guys stand around, grinning, all except for Duke. I turn to Dolly, whose eyes are wide, hand covering her mouth.
“Are you … okay?” she whispers.
“We have to get married now.”
She shakes her head. “Not right now, please. Don’t say that now. They might strip you down and make you go skinny-dipping in an alligator pond or something.”
I laugh, feeling the numbness finally reach the skin cells on my chest and start to ease the pain. “You’re worth it, whatever they put me through.”
She shakes her head, even though a tear slips out of her eye. “Well, that’s enough for now, okay? I’m gonna take you back upstairs and make all the pain go away now.”
Duke groans. “Please, I’m not ready for this. Dolly, you’re coming home.”
I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her against me. “Hell no. You hit me twice. And they each got one in, so that equals at least five more nights here.”
“And I’m a grown woman so I’ll stay with him if I want to,” she adds, punching her brother in the shoulder.
Duke’s eyes shift from her to me before he shakes his head and stalks off, shoulders slumping.
“He’ll get over it.” Sterling steps up and claps me on the shoulder. “He just somehow didn’t see this coming like the rest of us did. You’re good for her.”
He grins before following after Duke. Cash and Holden exchange smiles, shaking their heads. Holden helps Pops stand up. They walk over to me, and Holden shakes my hand, squeezing it a little tighter than usual.
“You’ve earned it, Seymour. We’ll see you at Thanksgiving.”
It’s in six days, which means that’s how long I have to convince her that ignoring her for the last decade was the dumbest shit I’d ever done in a selfish attempt at self-preservation.
Cash grabs the branding iron and gives his little sister a hug. “You know who to call if he gets out of line.” He winks at her before shaking my hand just as tight as his brother did.
“Is Monroe okay? I don’t want her to feel bad,” Dolly asks.
Cash nods. “She’ll be okay. She’ll probably get you a ridiculously big Christmas gift. We’re gonna see you on the plane to Jackson Hole, right?”
I didn’t know we were flying. “Let me know how much to send you for our half.”
“All right, man, will do.” He walks off around to the front of the house.
Dolly fusses over my burns. They hurt like a son of a bitch. Now that the guys are gone, I sink into one of the chairs around the fire. My entire body aches.
“I’m sorry that—”
I grab her, pulling her down onto my lap. “Shh, I don’t want to hear it. I’d take fifty more hits if I needed to. You have to know, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to prove that I deserve you. I don’t, so I’ll have to spend forever trying.”
I swallow over the lump in my throat when her soft hand cups my aching jaw. She’s so perfect, so pure.
“I hope you’re able to get over that feeling sometime, sooner rather than later.” She trails her fingers down over my chest, a few inches away from the burned pink flesh. “Why did you let them do this?” she whispers.
I look down at the brand, feeling a sense of pride over it. “Because I need you to know that I’ll do anything to make you mine.”
She blinks back tears, shaking her head. “I thought you wanted to be a lonely, brooding bachelor forever.”
“I did. For a long time, I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew that if I let go with you, if I let myself love you, that’d be it. I’m bound to lose you one day. You have ultimate control over me, my heart, my life. I’ve already lost everyone else.”
“So … what changed? That’s still true. Anything can happen.”
She’s tracing her finger over my collarbone. The morning sun is streaming through the oak trees lining the fence where cows are grazing on the other side.
“I’ve realized living without you is a thousand times more painful.
If I lose you one day, at least I’ll get to keep the memories of waking up to you, of making you scream my name, of watching vampire movies with you, and the smell of cinnamon all over my house.
But I was convinced you being with me wasn’t what was best for you, up until last night.
That’s when I realized that you might need an unhinged man who’s willing to kill to protect you.
And you might be the only woman who wouldn’t run to the police station after witnessing what I did last night. ”
She releases a shaky exhale. “I don’t want you to ever have to do that again.”
“You’ll never have to see it again, even if I do.”