Page 93 of Double Dare
Laken fights for control of her emotions, and she’s winning. It’s taking a bit longer than she wants for the stress of the situation to wear off, but she knows that everything Jed just said is the truth.
Mom walks up to us and pulls Laken into a hug. “Laugh this off, honey. Love my boys like you always do, never let the words of others shatter your confidence, and always remember that we’re family, and we all love you.”
A tear falls down Laken’s cheek, and I look around to see all my brothers nodding and agreeing with what Mom said. “I’m sorry I punched a guest,” Laken laughs.
“Fuck, I wish you punched her sister, too. Lakes is a badass!” Mom yells, and just like that, the party goes back to normal.
“I taught her to punch like that.” Jed grins, proud.
“It hurt more than I thought it would.” She shakes out her hand. “More than when I punched that guy in Ketchikan.” Oh, shit. I forgot about that.
“We’ll work on it. Okay, ice for the hand and a whiskey for the other hand,” Jed says. “Sit.”
At midnight, Jed and I both kiss her. By three in the morning, we’re all laughing and talking in bed. Twenty minutes later, Laken passes out, and Jed and I continue to chat about random shit.
It’s a great way to ring in the new year.
Chapter 36
After the rush of the holidays and the celebrations of the new year, I’m finally back to a regular schedule at work, and I’ve been getting texts from Maeve all day. None of them were making any sense, and it didn’t take long to figure out I took Kade’s phone. Then I felt pathetic because his passcode is the fucking same as mine, and that’s just fucked up. But the more Maeve texts, the more agitated I get.
Thanks for last night, Kade ;)
It’s been way too long since we’ve done that.
You ignoring me now that I let you mark me?
At least tell me the shop is okay today.
I mean, logically, I know she’s not insinuating they hooked up, but it’s where my mind is going, and fuck, I’m getting pseudo-angry about it. After everything Kade has gone through, it’d fucking kill me if he went back to Maeve. I love Mae, but she’s not Laken, and Kade promised Laken he was all in. I’m perfectly fine with this best friend relationship Kade and Maeve have, and I know Laken is too, so why the fuck am I getting all bent out of shape about this?
Maybe because there’s a fraction of a chance he did it. I know Maeve isn’t at the shop today, so Kade went over there last night to grab some shit for the day, and now I’m wondering if there’s a slight possibility they had a fuck for old time’s sake.
He wouldn’t. Would he?
Agitated, I call my own phone to see if he has it.
“What?” he answers. “I’ve been getting nudes from random chicks all day. Is this what you do in your spare time?”
“Fuck you. Where are you?”
“Work. Why?” He sounds just as pissed at me as I am at him.
“Are you going to Mom and Dad’s after work or…?”
“Yeah. Hardin’s going to tell everyone. Problem with that?” he snips at me.
I hang up on him before I say something dumb. I thought Hardin blocked that chick from sending me nudes? Is my number listed on some hussy site, or what? Why am I suddenly getting all these random chicks messaging me?
I smoke three cigarettes on the way home, trying to rationalize this shit. I know Kade loves Laken, so why the hell am I getting all bent out of shape? I’m calm by the time I pull in at home, but for whatever reason, all that goes out the window as soon as I see him walking up the path.
When he stops to wait for me, I hop out of the truck and just…throttle him. It’s not a hard hit, but it lands, and I throw his phone at him to drive my point home.
“What the fuck, Jed?” Kade glares at me, rubbing his jaw.
“You fucking Maeve again?” Anger makes me stupid, and maybe I just needed a fight.
That accusation has him attacking me. He grabs my coat and throws me to the snowy ground. “What’re you talking about?”