Page 91 of Rex

“Oh, God, no! Not on Rex! But I do have two brothers that get out of hand sometimes,” Aria states with an evil smile sent toward Chubs. “Especially with one who thinks all food belongs to him.”

Chubs grins and holds both hands up in a sign of surrender while everyone laughs.

“Actually, it was Gunner who did the work. I haven’t had a chance to thank you for that yet, so thank you so much. The staff will never stop talking about the way you pile-drove him into the floor, headfirst. Amazing and so appreciated,” Aria says in a soft but sincere voice while facing Gunner. “That move is the one I want to learn next.”

Gunner gives her a slight nod and a small grin, accepting her gratitude.

“What’d I miss now?” Axel says from the kitchen doorway.

His face is already starting to pout. We all know he hates being left out, and it’s happened often lately with Bailey so close to the end of her pregnancy. Axel’s not been taking it well, either. I notice the can of ginger ale he’s holding, and I laugh.

“There’s no way you’re still having morning sickness this late into Bailey’s pregnancy,” I state while pointing at the can.

“How would you know? You’ve never been pregnant!” Axel states with an angry look on his face.

“Neither have you, dumbass,” Gunner mutters but is clearly heard by all.

Ignoring Gunner, Axel asks again about what he missed, so Pooh quickly fills him in on what’s taken place. As Pooh’s talking, Axel’s face gets more scrunched up into his full-on Axel pout mode until I think it’ll never straighten out again.

“What the fuck are you wearing?” James asks with a look of dismay on his face.

“Oh my,” Aria mutters, then laughs as James continues to stare aghast at Horse.

“Not a good look for you, Horse,” Pooh taunts.

Petey and Trigger walk through the door and instantly start laughing again at Horse. This time, I’m assuming it’s over his clothing choices. Reeves walks in behind them but quietly moves to the bar, grabs a full bottle of Jack Daniels. Opening it, he takes a long swallow. Plopping down on a stool, Reeves doesn’t let go of the bottle, and I know he’s just getting started.

“What took you guys so long to get back?” Gunner asks.

“We had to make a stop at the E.R. so Reeves could get a rabies shot. It bit him on the ass four times and once on his back. Petey and I are convinced it was a female squirrel getting revenge for females everywhere,” Trigger answers, and it starts another round of laughter.

Petey quickly explains about the squirrel fight that Reeves lost but then points to Horse and says, “I’m not sure I can explain whatever the fuck that’s about, though.”

“I can! I nearly drowned, and not a single one of these dumb fucks helped! I was wet, so I swapped my clothes with some I found at the cabin!” Horse shouts, clearly still traumatized about his swimming lesson today. “Every time I leave town and go near that ranch, bad things happen!”

“Heard you freaked the fuck out over a dead lady, too,” Pooh says with a sad shake of his head.

“It’s bad juju to disturb the dead, Pooh! Karma’s already biting me in the ass with that cursed canoe today!” Horse hollers before throwing his hands in the air and stomping his way toward his room.

When the laughter dies down, Aria pulls away from me and approaches Gunner. Holding her hand out, Gunner does the same with her that he did with me. He pulls her in for a hug and whispers something in her ear that makes her smile widen. When she returns to my side, she wraps her arms around me and lays her head against my shoulder.

“We have decisions to be made about Dale. I think it’s only fair for Aria to have a say in them,” Gunner states to the room, and heads nod in agreement.

“I don’t know the club’s procedures on these types of things, so I’ll defer to you, my brother, and Rex on those decisions,” Aria says while looking at Gunner. “I know you guys will make the right ones.”

“Thank you, Aria, but I’d also like your opinion,” Gunner states.

“He needs to pay for killing his own family. They deserve justice more than I do. How he gets that justice should be a club decision since you all took risks to keep me safe. No matter what that decision is, I’ll support it and the club.”

“Appreciate that, Aria,” Gunner says simply.

Aria nods, then turns to me.

“Can I leave now? I think I want to go home and reclaim it as mine. Stop by later?”

“Absolutely. I’ll get someone to give you a ride home,” I answer before giving her a quick kiss.

“I’ll take her,” Candy says from the kitchen doorway.

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