Page 84 of Free Agent

It was fully faded, giving way to an inky, blue-black sky peppered with stars by the time I opened my eyes again. The vehicle was stopped, and we were parked in front of a gorgeous sprawling ranch style home, illuminated with lights anchored to the ground.

“This is the family home?” I asked, gawking as Tatum opened my door and helped me out.

“Yep,” he chuckled. “Welcome to Wildwood.”

THIRTEEN

TATUM

By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late to do anything about it.

And no matter how good my intentions around it had been? Bringing Rori to Wildwood was absolutely a mistake that was becoming clearer by the second.

What was going through my head?

Nothing.

Nothing was going through my head.

Clearly.

Because if I had been thinking critically, I would have suggested another method of cheering her up, as opposed to a week of being on the Summer Jam screen.

It was insane to invite a woman I’d only known a few months to be subjected to the women in my family.

I wasn’t worried about anybody being purposefully cruel. That wasn’t really our vibe as a family, not usually. And if we did unintentionally cross a line into offense, the sincere apologies would be swift.

That was just how we’d always gotten down.

They were not inclined to be unkind.

Most likely not judgmental.

It was just…for them, there was no such thing as too much information, which could easily—and often did—cross the line from being curious to becoming overly intrusive.

Lately… Rori had a lot going on, to put it mildly. The last couple months had been a whirlwind of it, but the shit with Monty hadn’t started when we met. It was years of mess with that nigga, lots of drama of the exact variety my mama n’em liked to indulge.

The kinda shit I should’ve been thinking about before I swooped in with my cape.

I wasn’t afraid they’d be mean to her; I was afraid they’d treat her like a behind the scenes episode of a messy reality show.

It had been a great, lazy morning, a bit of sleeping in, since we’d gotten in late. A bit of pussy when I stopped by Rori’s room down the hall from mine to pick her up and bring her downstairs to the dining table for breakfast. I was planning to go three for three, down the stairs to indulge in the full breakfast spread I could already smell wafting up the stairs.

And then…the realization happened, sparked by a simple request as soon as we stepped into the dining room.

“Rori, come sit down here,” Tam had called, waving her down. “Let him go be with his musty brothers.”

And all the possibilities flashed.

Maybe because she knew better than to show any possible weakness, Rori didn’t even look my way for assurance or anything first. She smiled at my sister and was already headed down there when I grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

“Uh, hold up,” I said, getting ready to put a little warning in Rori’s ear at least, but Tam sucked her teeth, speeding our way.

“Relax,” she said, looping her arm through Rori’s. “Tater, you act like somebody’s gonna bite the girl!”

Tam’s teasing may have been comforting if my grandmother hadn’t popped in from the other side, pushing me out of the way to declare, “I might! Look at these big ol’ legs on this girl. She can take a little nibble. I bet you’ll give a horse hell with these thighs, ain’t it?” she cackled, grabbing Rori’s hand.

“Ay!” I called out, brows furrowed. “I done told you about trying to take women from me,” I warned, which made Rori’s eyebrow hike up as she looked back and forth between us.

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