Page 45 of Idaho

"What's wrong, Duchess?"

I jumped, not realizing that Idaho had come to sit next to me while I stared over at Hush. "You move quietly," I told him.

"Force of habit." He shrugged. He reached out, dug around in the box, then held up an ornament of a horse for Caitlyn.

She gasped and took it from him, giving him a shy smile.

"She likes horses," he commented when he found me watching him.

"She's a girl," I replied with a smile. "We all like horses."

"Good to know. What was with the sigh?"

"Oh, nothing," I said, looking away from him.

"Homesick?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "Sometimes I think you're a mind reader."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Just good at reading body language and expressions. No magic here." He pointed to his brother. "That's the real magician. Building all this, keeping them safe. Taking all the broken bikers from misfit island and turning them into a family."

I studied Lockout as he spoke with Priest. His features were relaxed as he laughed with his friend. There was still a lot I needed to learn about this group of men, but seeing the level of respect they all gave to Lockout impressed me. It took a strong man to command all this. I was an expert on the subject since I'd watched my father do the same since I was young.

Caitlyn stood up and walked away to go show her mom the ornament she'd found, so Idaho moved closer to me and lowered his voice. "Tell me what's going on," he insisted.

I stiffened, debating on whether I should move away. The entire keeping my distance premise depended on there actually being space between us. And not getting to know one another better. But the low buzz of conversation around the room as everyone spoke with each other made me a little lonely, so I gave in. "I just really like everyone," I admitted. "The guys are really good with the kids. Especially those two."

We both looked over to where Toxic and Butcher were getting some of the kids involved with the lights. "Doesn't seem like they would be, huh?"

“Let go you mangy flea bag,” Toxic said, tugging on the mess of lights he was holding. Jecht had grabbed a hold of a dangling end and was pulling on it. “Seek! A little help here?”

“Jecht,” she said, laughing.

The dog dropped the lights. His tongue was lolling out as he gave Toxic a doggy grin, then he trotted back over and sat next to Seek. It was almost like he'd been intentionally antagonizing Toxic and was now laughing about it.

I shook my head with a smile. It slowly slipped off my face as I watched Gabby and Static walk back into the room. She was holding something in her hands and Static had an evil smile on his face. "You lost, Uncle Toxic. Time to pay up."

"What's she doing?" I asked, horror painting my tone.

Idaho chuckled. "They had a bet going on where if the kids could take them to the ground, they get to shave the guys' heads."

"They're not really going to let them, though... Are they?"

Toxic took the electric clippers from Gabby and grabbed the guard attachment and put it on. "At least you had her grab this," he told Static. "Appreciate it, we don't need to be buzzed down to our scalps." Static chuckled, and Toxic handed the clippers back to the girl. "Go for it. You earned it."

She let out a high-pitched giggle and flipped the switch. The machine buzzed to life.

"They're brave," I said with a laugh.

"Toxic keeps his hair shorter most of the time, and Butcher's due for a damn haircut. He's starting to look like Riptide."

Butcher's hair wasn't actually as long as Riptide's, but it was longer than most of the guys' hair.

"Looks like a fucking hippy," Ricochet added in. He was now sitting on the other side of Jordan, next to me.

Gabby handed the clippers to Taylor so her sister could work on Butcher's hair. I cringed when I saw Toxic's, which still had rows of longer hair sticking up where Gabby had missed. Taylor laughed a little manically while she cut Butcher's hair.

I couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else. This place was crazy, but I loved it.