Page 50 of Havoc's Fox
“Damn, boy, how big you want that damn fire?” Goldy teased.
Brandt turned and grinned at Goldy. “Big enough for Miss Sadie to see it through the windows.”
Goldy smiled, warmed that they wanted to be sure to include Sadie though she didn’t really want to be outside. “I appreciate that, Brandt.”
“She can see that damn thing from town if she looked hard enough,” Maverik snapped.
Kaid laughed. “Hey, when you do something, you do it big or don’t bother, right?” he asked Brandt.
“That’s how I was always taught,” Brandt answered. He raised his voice to make it clear he was speaking to everybody. “We set up chairs and blankets everywhere. Just pick a place and sit.”
“Christian, why don’t you and your friend come sit with us?” Natalie asked.
Christian looked at Addie who’d been keeping in close proximity to him as they helped assemble the bonfire. “You mind sitting with my family?”
“Yeah, come tell us who your new girlfriend is,” Jonah called out.
“Shut up, Jonah,” Raeann snapped, shoving her brother.
“You shut up. I’m teasing and he knows it,” Jonah said. “Just being with a girl don’t mean nothing. Girls are just friends until you decide otherwise.”
Havoc was walking past at that particular point in time. He stopped and looked at Jonah. “What did you say?”
“I said, girls are just friends until you say otherwise.”
Havoc huffed a laugh and stepped closer to Jonah. “You know about me?”
“Kinda.”
“Get somebody to tell you. And change your attitude, or you’ll end up miserable for the rest of your life. A woman means something to you, treat them like they do.”
Havoc’s voice had an undercurrent of snarl as he spoke and Jonah took a step back and he lowered his gaze to the ground instead of directly at Havoc.
“Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Maybe I’ve saved you some of the hell I’ve lived for the last six years.” Havoc shared a look with Vince who nodded encouragingly to him, glad for the little bit of comeuppance Havoc had stopped to deliver.
“What’s he talking about?” Jonah asked a bit resentfully.
“He cheated on his mate, acted like she had to take it and would forgive him no matter what he did. She won’t have anything to do with him now and she’s all he wants,” Christian said.
Addie’s eyes grew wide and she looked up at Christian. “You mean, that’s why Analise won’t have anything to do with him? He cheated on his mate? She’s his mate?”
Christian nodded.
“He’s lucky he wasn’t my mate. He’d be castrated,” Addie said.
Christian laughed, as did Vince and Natalie. A strong mate is what they hoped for for all their kids.
“Addie, this is my family. My mother, Natalie, my father, Vince, and my brother and sister, Raeann and Jonah.”
Addie realized what she’d said in front of his parents and immediately flushed red in a full body blush.
“It’s okay, honey. I’d have done the same,” Natalie said, holding out a hand for Addie to come to her. “Come tell me about you. Where did Christian meet you?”
A few feet away Kaid leaned over to Delilah, never taking his eyes off Barron on the other side of the wood piled high for the fire. “Why is Emmalyn chasing Barron?”