Page 57 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

“You should get a dog of your own,” Darcy suggested.

“I did always want one when I was younger. Like your age. It just never worked out.” She shrugged.

Her mother could barely take care of the two of them. Never mind an animal too.

“You never had one? Ever?” Darcy asked wide-eyed.

“No. Never.” No pets at all. No dog or cat or even a goldfish. Moving them away from the topic that was quite honestly, depressing her, she said, “You’d better go get those cookies before your uncles eat them all.”

Without another word, a wide-eyed Darcy spun and took off running out the door.

Phew. At least the girl was off the dog conversation. If only she could reassure Olivia and Poppy about the Emmett situation and get them to stop obsessing over him as easily.

After Darcy had left the room in pursuit of her cookies Olivia raised her gaze to Eva. “I can’t believe I’m asking this and I don’t know why I care but… what does he look like?”

Poppy, looking interested, turned to face Eva as she waited for an answer.

Eva glanced between the two. “He’s short. Thinning, light-colored hair. He looks nothing like the rest of the Wilders.”

“Meaning he might not be a blood Wilder?” Olivia asked.

Eva shrugged. “Anything’s possible.”

Poppy’s eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t matter if he’s a blood Wilder or not, we can’t let that cockroach get half of everything.”

“I’m working on that.” When she raised her gaze, she found Poppy’s eyes on her.

“Eva, you do whatever you have to do.”

This was certainly a change. “Usually you two are acting like I’m some sort of super villain.”

Poppy tipped her head to the side. “It wasn’t until now that I had opportunity to be grateful one of my best friends happens to be a super villain.”

Olivia frowned. “You aren’t though, are you? A super villain?”

“Nope.” Eva shook her head and Olivia looked immensely relieved.

Sometimes it was just kinder to give the ones you loved the answer they needed to hear.

ChapterThirty

The hair on the back of Linc’s neck stood on end as he pushed open the front door of the cabin.

It felt like when he was in the service and would know immediately when something wasn’t right. But this time it wasn’t an ambush awaiting his unit, or a hidden IED. It was Emmett making himself at home… in Linc’s home. And he was sure making a mess doing it.

Beer bottles were strewn on the coffee table. One on its side as the remains of the contents leaked out onto the antique wood.

One of Eva’s Christmas ornaments had fallen from the staircase railing where Emmett had obviously knocked it off at whatever time he finally made his way downstairs from the bedroom.

The television was on, loud, and he was watching—mother fucker—a new release movie that he’d rented on Linc’s account.

His skin crawled as he itched to grab the remote and set up every protection he could to prevent his cheap ass, low life cousin from renting anything else.

The old adage about flies and honey crawled through his brain. As did Sun Tzu’s advice—friends close and enemies closer.

Forcing his anger back, Linc closed the door, but before he tossed his keys on the table he thought better of it and shoved them into his pocket instead. Emmettborrowingthe truck without asking while Linc was looking elsewhere wouldn’t be a surprise. Not at all. Sad but true.

Linc had his own adage—once a piece of shit, always a piece of shit.

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