Page 75 of Golden Rule

He glances over. “Per usual, but I can’t complain,” he says. “I’m a little short on waitresses now that Scar went parttime to intern, but to make up for stealing my best server, Joss sent a replacement.”

“Oh, yeah?” I smile.

“Yep, her sister, Peyton.”

Hearing this comes as a bit of a surprise, seeing as how Joss only discovered that Peyton existed our first year of college. They’re half-sisters, Peyton being the product of their father’sinfidelity, but I suppose this actuallyshouldn’tbe shocking. As an only child, Joss envied the bond my brothers and I have, so maybe she’s building a bond of her own.

“Anyway, she’ll pop in for an interview next week, but I already know she’s hired,” Dusty laughs. “The interview is more of a formality, so no one thinks I’m playing favorites.”

“I’m sure she’ll be a good fit.”

He nods at that. “Without a doubt. Now, if only I could getthisone to let me show him how to flip an egg and boil water. He could stand in for me in the kitchen every once and a while, but you know how that goes.”

Hunter laughs and accepts the jab from his uncle. “No thanks.”

“You thinking about sticking around Cypress Pointe for a while?” Ricky asks.

I expected an immediatenoto fly from Hunter’s mouth, but instead, he shrugs. “Depends.”

“On?” Ricky presses.

“If I can find work. If I can find a place. If I don’t get fucking sick of the bullshit that goes on around here,” he adds with another laugh.

“Nah, I bet they could see your ass smiling from space when Pandora pinned that name on you. Fucking #PrisonBae. What type of shit is that?” Ricky laughs, and honestly? I wondered which of us would bring that up first.

“Oh, and #SexyBeast is better?” Hunter shoots back. Even beneath his beard, we can all see he’s turning bright red.

“May as well get used to it. We’ve been dealing with this shit for years. And trust me, once you’ve been branded, there’s no escaping it.” My warning prompts both my brothers to grumble under their breath, because it’s something we all know and live with.

“Since I can’t get you in the diner, what kind of work you looking for?”

Hunter gives Dusty’s question some thought. “With my record, I’m kind of limited, but I’ve looked into firefighting.”

“No shit?”

Hunter laughs, then nods at his uncle. “No shit. They don’t care about my record, the benefits are great, and… I don’t know… I think I might be good at it.”

“I might be able to help with that,” Dusty says, and Hunter arches his brow.

“Seriously? You have connections inside CPFD? I figured Mike might, but… yeah, I’d rather not have to go that route.”

There’s this tone he takes when talking about his father that doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Not quite, but Micah’s dad works for a department a couple towns over.”

“Cool, but who’s Micah? Not sure I know him.”

Dusty nods, and I hold in a smirk, curious how he’ll explain this one.

“He’s one of Stevie’s boyfriends.”

Hunter lets that sink in, that Dusty’s daughter has multiple men in her life, then when he’s done mulling it over, he arches a brow. I also didn’t miss how Dusty cringed a little as he said it. Stevie’s lifestyle choice definitely took some getting used to for Dusty, but he’s come around. As much as one might expect from the dad of a woman with four men in her life.

“Anyway, Mic’s dad’s a good guy. I’ll have Stevie reach out to him this week to see what he says.”

“Wow, that’d be perfect. Thank you.”

He nods at Hunter. “Just glad you finally let me help. All that’s left is finding you a lady and getting you settled down. You’re not getting any younger,” Dusty teases, but Hunter’s already shaking his head.

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