Page 22 of Double Bucked

“Oh, fuck,” I swear.

He follows my gaze to the women at the house. “You know them?”

“They’re my…Promise Sisters.”

A pink, puff-pastry-shaped form steps toward us. She holds her hand over her brow to see us through the morning sun and then waves her hand.

“Claire!” Mary-Kate shouts. “Is that you? Running in the morning—aren’t you fit!”

Like a skittish deer, James starts to take off for his second loop. Cobra-quick, I grab his arm and yank him back.

“If you leave me alone with these vipers,” I hiss at him, “I swear to God, I will eviscerate you.”

He slips his arm around my back instead. Cordially, he waves at the women.

The second we’re close enough to the Promise Sisters, they descend on us. The flock of pastel dresses swarms around me, and one by one, they pull me into a hug.

“Claire! I can’t believe you’re home!”

“You and me both,” I wheeze between tight squeezes.

“I’m so sorry about your daddy, bunny,” Violet says, and her eyes are instantly wet, a cry-on-command trick she picked up from drama school. Terrified she’s about to burst into tears just for the applause, I quickly change the subject.

“This is my fiancé, James.”

I put my hand on James’s back. Their eyes snap to him, and immediately, they begin assessing. Elsbeth even squeezes his bicep.

“Oh,” she says pleasantly. “Well done, Claire.”

“Thank you. What are you doing here?”

“We’re picking you up.” Mary-Kate smiles. “We’re going to brunch at the Equestrian Club, and you’re coming with us.”

“It’s a Friday must,” Violet emphasizes, her dark curls bouncing as she nods.

“Oh…I don’t know. We have a lot to do before the funeral?—”

“But you must,” Elspeth repeats, her fingers flying frantically together, twisting.

I glance at the car they drove up in—a white Pontiac. “Is that Hudson?”

“Oh, yes,” Mary-Kate says. “And Jake, my youngest. Wave hi.”

We wave. Hudson looks tired, but he spots us and lifts the infant on the steering wheel. He manipulates the baby’s hand so it waves back, and the child starts chewing on the wheel.

“Do they want to come inside?”

Mary-Kate waves them off. “No need. I cracked a window. Do you have bubbles?”

It quickly becomes clear this isn’t an invite I can talk my way out of, so I open the gate. Once we’re all inside, they invite themselves to Daddy’s bar while James and I excuse ourselves to rinse off from our run.

We share the shower. It’s quicker this way.

“What do I need to know?” James asks. The hot water steams as it hits his strong chest.

I cover myself in suds. “Mary-Kate is the daughter of my father’s bloodstock agent, so we were forced into friendship. We grew up together. Then Elsbeth, Violet, and Bonnie joined our crew. We called ourselves the Promise Sisters. I didn’t see Bonnie downstairs—maybe she actually left this godforsaken town.”

“Promise Sisters?”

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