I wasn’t sure how I would have answered him or addressed the agreeing sound coming from Coot behind me, because a fist beating against the door, followed by the unmistakable sound of Lochlan yelling my name, had my post-orgasmic haze disappearing in a hurry.
“Sevey! What the fuck is going on in there? Open this damn door, now.” Had he not sounded a whole lot of panicked under the pissy demand, I’d have ripped a strip off his hide. Instead, I shot an apologetic glance at Jesse before wiggling until Coot let my rubbery legs go so my feet could slip down to the floor.
“Get dressed,” I hissed, worried they’d get the door open and find us all butt-ass naked. “Oh, don’t look at me like that! We’re all adults, but I’d rather they not get my VP to open the door and find me like this. Hell, he’d have the remainder of my crew with him. I’m just barely okay with you two seeing me without my clothes on.” Both of their expressions softened at my explanation, and they quickly banded together to help me get dressed first, the gesture melting my heart just a little.
As soon as we were all presentable, a scant two minutes later tops, I pulled the door open to find two very pissed off Boudreaux men. Their anger turned to surprise as they caught sight of my companions.
“Well, at least we know where she disappeared to,” Gus muttered under his breath loudly enough for me to catch.
“Really, asshole? I’m surprised you noticed I was gone with the whores keeping you company.”
Shock registered on both their faces while confusion settled on mine. “We turned them down. We didn’t have any intention of taking them up on their offer. We were trying to be polite since your VP sent them to invite us to a private party upstairs. After you left, we helped your prospect man the bar until most everyone else retired for the night. Do you know how long you’ve been gone, or how my heart dropped when I realized you’d been gone too long without telling anyone?” Remnants of the fear Lochlan had felt came out in his tone, Gus nodding along behind him with his arms crossed over his chest.
Guilt ate at me. Both for worrying them and for hooking up with their friends after storming out of the bar. Though my upset had figured into my actions, I couldn’t bring myself to wish it hadn’t happened. I’d loved every second of it and was pretty sure the guys had too.
“I need to get back to the bar and close up. Sorry I worried you.” It was abrupt and to the point, and while they waited for me to elaborate, I slipped between them and took off despite Jesse growling my name behind me. They’d just have to wait until I had the bar squared away for the night. I wasn’t naive enough to think I was getting out of a conversation with the four of them; I just needed to postpone it for a few.
* * *
An hour later, the downstairs locked up tight, we were in my room upstairs, having that talk I’d fully expected.
“I thought…” I started to say, but failed to finish in the face of Lochlan’s explanation. Yeah it was pretty fucking apparent what I’d thought.
“Now, don’t go regretting what we did, Sevey. I sure as fuck don’t,” Jesse all but snarled at me. I glanced from him to Coot, whose face was a stony mask, and back to the feral man.
“I don’t!” And I didn’t, but I was also seriously conflicted.
“Don’t fucking lie to me or yourself. The second you realized they’d turned the offer down, you all but climbed outta your skin to get away from us.” Fucker must have had a death wish in that moment because I was about ready to remove him from his skin, and from the way Gus and Loch were posturing, they had the same train of thought.
“Kiss my ass, Jesse! I’m not sure what the fuck I’m feeling, but it’s sure as hell not regret! You think I’d have picked the two of you to be the first I screwed since those two knocked me up?” By then I was up in his face, albeit I had to tilt mine up to glare at him. Asshat didn’t have the decency to slouch so I could stare down my nose at him.
His mask of anger cracked, revealing plain male pride and something a lot softer that bordered on more than affection. Before he could act on whatever he was thinking, cuz there was for sure something working in that brain of his, Lochlan intervened, spinning me by the arm to confront me.
“I thought you and the sheriff were seeing each other?” Loch’s eyes searched mine, presumably hunting for the truth or perhaps waiting to gauge it.
I immediately denied it while wondering if I needed to have a chat with Josh or if Lochlan had drawn his own conclusions. And if they had thought I was dating someone else but they’d still turned Tanya and Nancy down… I looked over my shoulder at the two who had the barest hint of guilt about them.
“Did you two think I was with Josh too? Why the hell would you have sex with me then?” Something wasn’t adding up. Gus and Lochlan weren’t pissed, or at least not as much as I’d have expected, though it was enough to mask the worry and upset they’d quickly hidden behind their anger. And Coot and Jesse appeared wholly unrepentant regarding the fact that they’d thought I was stepping out on another man.
Coot wouldn’t fess up, simply shrugging when I nailed him with a glare at their silence, but Jesse had zero issue admitting it. “All’s fair in love and war, right?”
“That’s not an acceptable answer, Jesse. You know how uncomfortable I was. Why would you think I was hooking up with Josh?” I pressed, wanting to hear the truth.
“Figured you two were keeping it quiet because he’s the law and you’re not exactly on the up-and-up. The man all but staked his claim that first morning. Don’t see how you missed it.”
“I’m not with Josh. We dated in high school and have sorta considered maybe giving it another go, but nothing has come of it.”
Coot’s head tipped to the side as he narrowed his eyes. “He was your first?” I was saved from having to admit a damned thing by Lochlan changing the subject.
“What do you mean, you were uncomfortable, darlin’?” he demanded, tugging a lot more carefully on my arm than he had the first time.
Gus, silent but attentive so far, straightened from his place where he’d been holding the wall up, the intent to cause trouble plain on his face. “You had our agreement to pursue her if she was willing! Why the fuck would she have been anything but content to be between the two of you?” Agreement?Oh, hell no.
“Excuse you? Before you go tear their heads off, you wanna explain this ‘agreement’ you made behind my back?” Gus stopped in his tracks, turning wide on me as he became aware real flippin’ quick that he’d stuck his foot in it.
“I’ll explain,” he said with a sigh, then his eyes hardened as he looked past me at the two I could still feel between my legs, which made the whole sandwiched-between-the-cousins thing a tad bit awkward, “First, I want to know what they did.”
Annoyed with whatever bullshit they’d cooked up and executed, I was tempted to leave them to what would likely be an epic throwdown, but after what we’d shared, I couldn’t hang them out to dry like that. “I love our daughter very much, but I don’t love the saggy-titted, wide-hipped, and stretch-marked side-effects of having a baby.” I lost half my mad at the gobsmacked expression Gus sported as he tried to figure out how to respond to that, but I didn’t wait on him to sort himself out. “They made it damned clear they didn’t give two shits about any of that. Now, make that agreement crap you spouted make sense, asshole.” If any of them thought they were getting out of that explanation, they would find a boot up their ass real fucking quick like.