Page 99 of Wild Card
Gray and Bailey were wrestling a huge dresser up the stairs. Maybe I was glad I’d forgotten to get here sooner, becausedamn.
In the living room, Emory and Holden were moving our ratty sofa toward the front door. I stepped out of the way. “Where’s that going?”
Holden grunted. “Emory’s is nicer.”
There was swearing from the direction of the stairway, and I decided I’d rather not get wrangled into that, so I held open the door for Holden and Emory. They got the sofa down the front steps and set it on the lawn.
“Will you help Holden bring in my couch?” Emory asked. “I should go make sure Gray knows where I want the dresser.”
“Sure.”
The next hour was spent lugging furniture and boxes. Because Emory had an entire apartment of much nicer belongings, Holden had agreed he could move them into our place.
I wasn’t sad to see that sagging, stained couch go, but…dang, the place looked a lot different. There were all these colorful throw pillows and blankets draped over the furniture, and art on the walls.
Beautiful landscapes full of fields turned golden by the sun, mostly, but I saw some bright, bold pop art going up the stairs to the bedroom.
“Okay, I gotta head over to the shop,” Bailey said, swiping an arm across his sweaty forehead. “Sorry to miss the rest of this fun.”
“Seriously?” I said. “There’s a shit ton left to move.”
He gave me a flat look. “Says the guy who was off fucking his boyfriend for half the morning.”
“I was— He’snot—” My brothers were all laughing, the fuckers. “I didn’t mean to stay! He got a callout.”
“Because your boyfriend is a deputy, of all things,” Gray said with a snicker. “Who would have thought the wildest one of us would be tamed by acop?”
I rolled my eyes. “No one is taming me. It’s just some fun.”
Gray patted my arm. “Sure, keep telling yourself that. Pretty soon, Dalton will be moving in with you.”
I snorted. “As if there would be room for him.”
“Better get a bigger RV,” Bailey teased as he opened the door.
“Yeah, well…” I didn’t have a good response. “Shut up.”
“Good one,” Bailey said as he stepped outside. “You’re as sharp as ever.”
“Yeah, your boyfriend hasn’t softened youat all,” Holden taunted.
“Well, I think it’s sweet,” Emory said. “Axel deserves a good man to love him.”
“Em’s right,” Gray added. “This is a big moment in Axel’s life. He’s in looooooooove.”
He started making kissy faces at me while my brothers laughed, and I suddenly regretted all the shit I gave him when he started dating Emory. But that was different. That wasserious.This wasn’t?—
Oh, shit.
This whole Dalton thing was getting out of control. If even my brothers—who knew my track record—thought this was a serious relationship, I was in trouble.
CHAPTER 25
Dalton
“I’msure sorry for wasting your time,” Elaine Kemp said, trailing me to the car with Hushpuppy, her Pomeranian, in her arms. “I just couldn’t take any chances with Hushpuppy’s safety.”
“Of course not,” I said, smiling as I flipped my notebook shut and tucked the pen behind my ear. I’d recorded the salient facts, mainly that Elaine had called 9-1-1 because she’d heard noises coming from her house when she returned from a visit to her sister’s place.
