Page 6 of It's Never Not Been You

“Every day, I wait for one of them to accuse me of child abuse for making them run a full mile,” she snorted. “I blame the parents.”

“Don’t get me started on the parents,” Eris chimed in. “It’s a miracle that my ears don’t bleed every day with some of the nonsense that I hear at work.”

“I can only imagine what Wesley thinks about your clients,” I teased.

While I’d been in Coralship mending a broken heart, life in Fidelity had gone on. Several months ago, Eris had met Wesley Vox, and according to her, it was love. Though she’d done her best not to rub her love life in my face, I was very happy for my sister, and it sucked that she felt like she couldn’t be excited for herself around me. Having met Wesley, I could see why she had hearts in her eyes for the man, and I also hated how I had missed out on Eris meeting her future.

River had also met someone while I’d been in Coralship, and just like my sister, she did her best not to appear too happy in front of me. Drémon Harrison and River had met a couple of months ago, and though two months wasn’t long enough to start picking out wedding rings, River never seemed happier. Drémon adored her, and you could tell that he felt uncomfortable when he had to rein it in around me. I wanted to let them know that it was okay, but I doubted that any of them would believe me.

Do you believe you?

At any rate, Wesley was a stockbroker, and Drémon was a bank manager, and since both of them were sweet on the eyes, I’d say that my sister and best friend had hit the jackpot with these men. It wasn’t even that they were both employed, had all their teeth, didn’t do crack, and bathed regularly-that’s where the bar was set these days-it was that both men seemed to really adore Eris and River. Everyone just seemed so damn happy, and I really was happy for them.

“The more stories that I tell him, the more that he’s scared to leave the house,” Eris joked. “He says that he’s used to greed, not crazy.”

“Drémon keeps wanting to visit me at work to put the fear of God into my students,” River laughed. “I keep assuring him that I can handle them, but I’m not sure that he believes me.”

“Maybe he’s just looking for an excuse to visit you at work,” Pierce posed. “Us men can get like that sometimes.”

“It’s because you were raised on a ranch,” Eris quipped. “Not all guys are like that.”

Pierce chuckled. “What does being raised on a ranch have to do with taking care of your significant other?”

“Most ranchers take their responsibilities seriously, so it stands to reason that your significant other’s wellbeing would be your responsibility, too,” River explained, chiming in.

“Okay, I’ll give you that,” Pierce conceded.

“Okay-”

“Nope,” I said, cutting River off. “I know that tone, ma’am.”

She let out a laugh as Pierce asked, “What am I missing?”

I glanced over at him. “That’s River’s ‘we’re going to regret this in the morning’ voice.”

“And it usually involves dangerous amounts of liquor,” Eris added.

“Oh, c’mon,” River chuckled. “We have to celebrate you being back home.” She looked around at all of us. “It’ll be a small house party. Just us, I promise.”

Pierce nudged my knee with his. “It might be fun.”

“That’s because you’ve never partied with these two,” I snorted.

“How else am I supposed to make friends?” he teased.

“And here I thought that I was enough,” I sighed dramatically.

Pierce’s hazel gaze slid my way. “I hate to break it to you, but I need a testosterone safe haven for the times when you’re out of your goddamn mind, Blue.”

“It’s called being on your period, and it’s perfectly natural,” Eris remarked, pointing her fork at him.

“Yeah, the period part,” he huffed. “The side dish of demonic possession isn’t.” River and I laughed as Eris almost choked on her piece of chicken. “I get that it can’t be fun, but for the sake of keeping the peace at home, I’ll need some guys to hang out with while you’re cursing all of mankind and whatnot.”

With a huge grin on her face, Eris asked, “You keep track of her periods?”

Pierce rolled his eyes. “Not by choice,” he grumbled. “It took me a few months to figure out, but when I finally realized why I couldn’t do anything right for a few days out of the month, that’s when I started working the ranch until midnight, avoiding her like the plague.”

I eyed him. “You told me that you had sick horses that needed to be babysat.”

---