Page 94 of Infinite

Hale mutters a curse. “Are you out of your mind?” He houses the gun back in its case. “I could have blown your fucking head off.”

I love Sean. I truly do. Those people you would give a kidney to if they needed one? Sean is one of those. But eloquence is not his forte, and there’re just not enough chickens left in that henhouse. Once more, he blinks back at Hale, confused.

“That’s not true,” he insists. “You’re a way better shot than that, Hale. Don’t you ever let anyone tell you different.”

What sounds like a little girl giggling in the hallway has me turning in that direction. Mason. Only Sean can make the big guy laugh like that.

Satisfied that his comments explained away his intrusiveness, Sean resumes his cereal eating duties. “I was real hungry, even after I ate that rotisserie chicken you had in there.” He lifts his bowl. “I hope you don’t mind, but I ate the last bit of your shredded wheat, too. It didn’t suck, but I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t great. I’m not gonna spend the rest of the day in the bathroom, am I?” He takes another bite. “That would really blow. There’s a fight later tonight I want to catch on TV.”

“Are you seriously going to sit there while Becca is lying here naked?” Hale demands.

“What? It’s not like I’ve never seen her naked.”

Hale squares his jaw. “Oh, yeah? And when did that happen?”

“It happened all the time. The five of us used to go skinny dipping back up at the lake.”

“You boys promised you wouldn’t look,” I remind him.

Hale and Sean exchange glances, frowning. “We were young, teenagers, and boys,” Hale says. “Did you really expect us to keep that promise?”

“Yeah, did you really expect that?” Mason calls from the hallway.

“So, then, why are you mad now?” Sean asks Hale. “Besides, she’s all covered up. Aren’t you, Becks?”

“I sure as shit am,” I reply, pulling the thick blanket closer to me.

“Things have changed since we were teens,” Hale points out.

“Because she’s your woman now?”

Hale quiets. “Yeah, that’s part of it.”

I smile, even though my eyes have that familiar sting of tears. I’m Hale Wilder’s woman. It sounds lovely. Sometimes, you need an inappropriate friend like Sean barging in while you’re sleeping naked with your man to show you how lovely it is.

I gather my puppies as they inch closer, loving the sweet scent of their fur as I kiss their heads. “Hi, babies,” I coo.

Hale slides back into bed, placing his arm around me. Sam immediately leaves me to spread out across his lap. “Sean, how did you sneak in here?”

“I didn’t sneak. Trin and Callahan are in Raleigh with her family. Something about her father meeting with the governor about the state of affairs. Or maybe they’re there checking out the local restaurants. You know how Callahan likes to eat. Whatever it was, they were worried and asked us to find you.”

Hale rubs his face. “We forgot to call her,” he says.

“I know,” I reply, immediately feeling bad.

“Yeah,” Sean agrees. “Trin was all beside herself when she couldn’t reach y’all. She gave us the passcode to the alarm. We saw your cars here, so we didn’t panic. We were both hungry from flying and decided to have us some breakfast.”

Sean wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Me and Mason had bacon to start with. So did your dogs. Theyreallylove bacon. Especially the little one. I feel a lot better about that. I was starting to think she was some kind of vegetarian when she initially didn’t take it. I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t trust vegetarians. There’s something not right about turning your back on the meat God himself instructed to make into burgers. Hear what I’m saying? That’s blasphemous, as far as I’m concerned.”

Another little girl laugh from the hall. I throw back my head, laughing. Home sweet home, there’s no place like Kiawah.

“Why are you here?” Hale asks.

“Oh, for two reasons.” He holds up his spoon. “One is, we were worried about what was going to happen if you showed up at Becca’s Daddy’s place, so me and Mason hopped on the first flight down here, expecting to kick some ass.”

Hale glances at me, worried, and likely thinking about everything I went through. The pain from yesterday is gone. Will it be there in the coming weeks? Maybe even months? Yes. But with Hale by my side and some work on myself, I’ll be okay eventually.

“Is Trin still breastfeeding?” Sean asks. “I don’t want her stressed. She might dry up or something.”

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