SWNOVELS Chapter 22
“Ihave two rules,” I inform the twenty or so teenagers who have gathered at my home after the game. They’re sitting in the theater seats in the movie room, and I’m standing down front.
“Let us have ‘em,” Russ calls out.
“One, there will be no drinking alcohol in my house. If I catch any of you doing that, I’ll call your parents right away. I’m a cool dad, but I’m not that cool.”
Jake snickers at that.
“What’s the second rule?” someone asks.
“You have to eat all the food in that kitchen. The pizza, the snacks, the sodas. Because I don’t want leftovers.”
“You got it, Mr. Wild,” someone else calls out. “Thanks for letting us hang here. Is it okay if some of us sleep in here?”
“Have you called your parents? Do they know where you are?”
Several of the boys nod enthusiastically. I’m glad that they didn’t bring any girlfriends tonight. I didn’t want to have to referee teenage sex in my house.
Christ, I’ll never be ready for that.
“If your parents know you’re safe and that you’re here, I don’t care if you sleep over.”
“Yes.”
“Legit.”
“Let’s watch the movie!”
I grin at Jake, and he smiles back, and then I make my way out of the room to leave them to it. Brady and Mac are waiting for me outside on the outdoor patio, where there’s a fire crackling.
With a Coke in my hand—I’m not going to break my own rule tonight—I open the glass door and step out to join them.
“You have owls,” Brady says with a grin. “They’ve been hooting for the past twenty minutes.”
“That’s cool.” I sip my Coke and sit on the couch, stretching my legs out in front of me, and one of the owls hoots. “I wonder if they’re a mating pair.”
“Owls mate for life,” Mac informs us.
“Thanks for that info, Steve Irwin,” Brady says, making me laugh, and Mac tosses a pillow at him, hitting him in the head.
“What’s up with you and Abbi?” I ask my brother, who immediately sobers and leans on the throw pillow.
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Didn’t look like nothing,” Mac adds.
“We bought popcorn and hotdogs,” Brady says with a scowl. “So what?”
“You’re awfully defensive for someone who has nothing going on with the hot single mom,” I reply and sip my Coke.
“Abbi is hot,” Mac agrees. “Nice curves on that one. Good hair. I’ll bet she’s fun—”
“Okay, shut the fuck up,” Brady grumbles and reaches over to snatch my Coke out of my hand, taking a sip. “Why can’t we have beer again?”
“Because it’s a bad influence on those teenage boys in there.”
“Fuck.” Brady scowls and stares out into the darkness. “I don’t know her, okay? I mean, I barely do. She comes around with Erin and the other girls, and her kid is cute. That’s all I know.”
“Is that all you want to know?” I ask him, and my brother continues to scowl.
“She has a kid.”
“So?” Mac and I ask at the same time.
“You already said she’s cute, and you’re good with the kid,” I add.
“It just adds a level of responsibility. Sure, I’d like to take her to bed. She’s…well, she’s every man’s fucking wet dream, but she’s a mom, and you don’t fuck around with that.”
“At least you know that much,” Mac says with a shrug. “Maybe you want more than to fuck around.”
“No time for that,” Brady replies, shaking his head. “I’m practically married to the rodeo. When I’m not there, I’m working the ranch, and I eek out a few minutes here and there to see the family. That’s it. A woman takes too much time.”
I think of Polly and all the time that I’ve missed with her this past week.
“Sometimes, you want to give them your time.”
“I know, and that’s what I’m saying. I don’t have it to give. So, it’s not even worth talking about. Are you seeing anyone, Mac?”
“Fuck no,” my best friend says, shaking his head. “No time for that shit.” Brady and I both bust up laughing at that answer.
“Hell, I don’t necessarily have time,” I reply and drag my hand down my face. “And the past week, there has been no time together because of her business, but sometimes you have to just make it the priority. I want to see her. So, I get up at two in the morning to work, or I don’t go to sleep at all.”
“You don’t sleep?” Brady demands.
“If that’s what it takes.”
“Never thought I’d see the day,” Brady says, shaking his head.
“Be careful what you say next,” Mac warns him. “He’s dating my sister.”
“That’s right.” Brady laughs again. “Well, that’s kind of cool. At least you know you like her family.”
“True. I do.”
“And you wish she was here instead of us,” Mac guesses. I simply grin at him, and he busts up laughing. “Totally cock blocked you there.”
“It’s not like I would have sex with her with twenty kids in my house,” I point out, and Mac scowls.
“I like to think that you don’t have sex. You just play gin rummy or something.”
“You go on thinking that. It’s absolutely not true, but if it helps you sleep at night, you stick with it.”
“Damn,” Mac grumbles.
“Is it good?” Brady asks with a grin. “The gin rummy?”
“Best gin rummy I’ve ever had.”
“Okay, I’m outta here,” Mac announces and abruptly stands. “We’ve crossed a line.”
“Like you’ve never played gin rummy,” I call after him as he walks away, around the house toward his truck in the driveway.
“Fuck off,” he calls back, and Brady and I dissolve into laughter again.
“That was fun,” Brady decides after a minute.
“It was too easy,” I add.
“Is it going to get weird between you and Mac if things progress with Polly?”
“I hope not.” I frown. “So far, things have been normal. I just won’t talk about boning his sister every chance I get.”
“Good plan. You don’t want him to punch you out.”
“So, you’re really not going to ask Abbi out?”
“No.” He sighs deeply. “I’m not. End of.”
“Okay.” I hold my hands up, palms out, as if in surrender. “I’ll drop it.”
“How’s your security situation been? I know there were issues for a while.”
“I had a meeting with the team this morning. It’s been mostly quiet for months now, so we’re going to lighten up on things a bit, at least here at the house. One man on duty at a time. With the cameras and everything, I’m comfortable with that.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear that things are calming down. People are just weird, man.”
“You’re not kidding.”
“I think I’ll head home. I have a ride tomorrow afternoon, and I should probably get some sleep.”
“I wish you’d let us come watch you,” I reply and hear the frustration in my voice. Brady has ridden bulls for years. He competes nationally and makes good money doing it.
But he won’t let the family come watch him.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “And you know why.”
“Seriously, Brady, nothing’s going to happen to you. You’re safe, and you’re good.”
“If something did happen, I don’t need my family watching me die in that arena. It’s nonnegotiable.”
“You invited Jake a few weeks ago.”
He shrugs. “I wanted him to see how they handle the animals, but when it was my time to ride, I made him leave.”
I frown. Jake didn’t tell me that part.
“We’re proud of you,” I tell him as we both stand. “All of us are. And if you’d let us, we’d be up in those stands, cheering, just like we did for Jake tonight.”
“I know.” He nods and pats my shoulder. “I know you would. But I can’t risk it. Besides, this way, I’m not distracted by whoever’s in the stands. I can just do my job and focus on the bull. Eight seconds of work, no distractions.”
“You’re fucking badass. You know that, right?”
“Of course, I know that.” He grins, and I walk him around the house to his truck. “Call me if you need me.”
“Same goes.” We always say the same thing, even if we don’t plan on needing each other.
It’s just what brothers do.
After I wave him off, I walk into the house and up to my observatory.
I won’t be sleeping tonight. Not because I have kids here, but because I can just tell that it’s going to be a night that I’m awake, so I open the glass roof, grab my glasses and iPad from the storage cubby, and bring the screen to life.
It’s a good night to look at the sky.