He rubbed his chin, the sound of his whiskers scratchy. It made her heart trip over itself, just for a beat. “I mean that’s the real problem. It didn’t get you what you wanted. So you’re mad about it. Which means maybe it isn’t right for you. So yeah. I agree. You do need to do something different.”
“Then I will. That’s my plan. My rebellion.”
He looked at her sideways. “That’s a little scary.”
“I have watched you do whatever the hell you wanted to for a lot of years, Justice King. So I expect you to support me.”
“You have my support. But if I have to save your ass...”
“Isn’t that what friends are for?”
He sighed, long-suffering. “You got me there.”
Chapter Eight
It wasn’t a question ofifthe binder would hit; it was a question ofwhen. He knew better than to underestimate Rue when she was in the midst of making a plan. She was unstoppable.
Relentless in her organization. She was a one-woman wrecking ball. If a wrecking ball put labels on things with a label maker, rather than knocking them over.
He was supportive of her. There was no need for her to be as careful as she was. But he... Well, he admired it too. So it felt weird that she was so intent on disrupting this thing that he... that he valued so much. Not that riding a horse and jumping into cold water was wild. In fact, it was kind of funny that this was what she had come up with. It wasn’t like she had asked him to take her to the rodeo so she could snort a line of coke off the rump of the bucking bull. He might have had to stage an intervention at that point.
But it was... it was something to do with the dynamic of everything being just a little bit distracted. It felt like the air was electric. And he didn’t especially like it. He hadn’t even made a joke when he had said that he could take her for a ride. Normally he wouldn’t have passed up the double entendre. Well, maybe thatwasn’t true. Maybe with her he would’ve gallantly passed it up. Because she was... her.
“You all right?”
“Fine,” he said.
His older brother was staring at him. They were working on some of the last-minute touches on the new barn venue before the season started in summer. They had reservations and everything. It was getting real. All the changes.
“Totally fine,” he said to Denver.
The barn door opened, and Bix and Daughtry came walking through. It wasn’t entirely unusual to see Daughtry at the ranch in the middle of the day, but it was a little unusual.
“Landry isn’t here?”
“No,” Justice said.
That was when the door opened again and Arizona came in. “Landry isn’t even here? He texted...”
Landry and Fia came in through the back door then. Fia had a wide grin on her face, her eyes sparkling. Landry looked... Well, he had never seen his brother look like that.
“What’s going on?” Denver asked.
“We’ve been sitting on this. But we went down to the doctor today, and we saw...” Landry couldn’t even contain his glee. The grin on his face almost stopped him from speaking clearly. “We’re having a baby.”
“Wow... congratulations,” said Daughtry.
“Congratulations,” Arizona said, leaning in and pulling him in for a hug. “My little bun in the oven is going to have a cousin.”
“Yeah,” said Landry, his voice hoarse.
Fia put her hand on his back and rubbed him gently. “I’m just so happy.”
“Yeah. Damn,” said Denver, clearing his throat. “Good for you two.”
Justice knew that this was an especially loaded and weighty thing for them. Landry and Fia had a daughter, but they’d had given her up for adoption when she was born. It had driven a wedge between them for years, and they’d kept it a secret. Then when Lila’s parents had died, Landry had been contacted by the adoption agency asking if he wanted to take her in. It had brought Landry and Fia back together, and they’d made a little family. But now... now they would get to experience this together. Not in secret.
“What’s Lila think?” Denver asked.
