Page 127 of Cross To Bear

“Why would I want…? Oh!” I punched him in the arm and suddenly all the tension in our little group dissipated. “Is that two sausages in my bun or yours?”

“Yours, of course.” He nudged me in the ribs. “Just think of it as a time saving strategy. Now that you’ve mated with each one of us, you’re gonna need to find quicker, easier ways to get everyone off every night.”

“Everyone…” I waited for one of them, any of my supposed mates to jump in to support me. “Every night? I have a job I have to be present and alert for, remember.”

“Maybe you can come work for the garage.” Razor draped his arm around my shoulders, steering me forward. “We’d find plenty of ‘work’ for you to do.”

“Means we can stop paying Mal ridiculous amounts of money,” Hawk said. “I could make you lunch every day.”

“And I could just eat you…”

Crash’s purr had me elbowing him in the ribs.

“We’re at a kids’ school!”

How do you think they’re made? he replied inside my head. Or do you need me to show you?

No, I…

Image after hot image of the five of us in different combinations, each one more libidinous than the next. Then he made clear just how the two sausages in one bun could work.

“Enough,” I said primly. “We’re here to spend money to help buy textbooks for kids.”

“So no sausage?” Razor asked nonchalantly.

“By buying a sausage sandwich,” I replied, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

“I’ll buy you two if you tell me what Crash showed you. Your cheeks went the perfect shade of pink…”

“There’s no point because it’s never gonna happen,” I grumbled.

“Oh, never say never, love.”

We walked around the fair, looking at all the offerings first, then swung by Bjorn’s stall to grab his order and maybe get Crash’s face painted. I’m sure I could mop his brow or something as he painted kiddie’s faces, and while there were plenty of children and their parents milling around the table, one adult in particular stood out. I recognised Nelly’s stance immediately, weight on one leg, the other foot out wide. My own feet stopped right where they were, alerting the others.

“She fucking didn’t…” Hawk growled. “I’ll—”

“No.” Razor’s voice was like a piece of wire wound tight. His grip on my shoulders tightened as he looked at the rest of us. “Seems to me that too fucking much has caused pain because people weren’t having frank and open discussions. I tolerated it before for Bjorn’s sake, but now…” That sharp smile was back. “I think we’re past due one with Nelly.”

Chapter 71

Bjorn

“Right, so, don’t want to get in the middle of any family drama here, but she said she could grab the brushes, so I said yes. Just think of the kids, ’kay?”

Marcia’s words reverberated around in my head as I walked over to the table that had been set up for me. Some crappy acrylic paint that wouldn’t go on skin all that well? To be expected I guess. Then a few chunky paint brushes with coarse bristles that wouldn’t feel too good on kids’ skin.

“So this sort of equipment is going to make it difficult to do a very good job,” I said to Marcia. I picked up a brush, testing the bristles, finding them stiff and unyielding. “If you’d let me know you were having difficulties finding the right stuff, I would’ve bought some art supplies myself.” My muscles were tense, my whole body ready to launch into action, not paint some children’s faces. “I might duck out now and—”

“It’ll be fine.” Marcia dismissed my concerns with a wave. “And I figured why bother you with the details when Nelly was so instrumental in helping organise this stall.” She stopped then, her pursed lips telling me everything I needed to know about what came next. “And anyway, maybe this would be a good opportunity to talk to your mother.”

Marcia was the same age as me, but right now she spoke as if I was a recalcitrant child.

“I’m sorry, what?”

She sighed.

“Well, you decided to take your brother’s fated mate as yours, then shared her with your sleuth, despite the fact your actual mate is out there somewhere. Like I get it.”

---