Page 77 of Healed
“Now that is an answer! I like him!” Havoc said, chuckling as he shoved a bite of potato into his mouth as he repeated Charlie’s words under his breath. “Not even you…”
Brandt put another bite of meat in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully as he watched Charlie and weighed Charlie’s response to his question.
Without another word Daisy leaned toward Charlie and pressed her lips against his cheek.
Charlie smiled at her and leaned his forehead against hers before turning his attention back to Brandt.
“Well, then there’s only one thing to do,” Brandt said. He held out his closed fist for Charlie to bump.
Charlie raised his fist, unsure of meeting Brandt’s apparent fist bump, but not wanting to fail to follow through.
The moment Charlie’s fist bumped Brandt’s, Brandt nodded. “Welcome to the family, my man. What the fuck took you so long?”
“Amen,” Barron said, nodding in approval.
“Ooooo! You owe my momma five dollars!” Harley said, shaking her head in disappointment at her Uncle Brandt.
“Was worth it to make my point,” Brandt said, reaching over the picnic table to boop her on the nose.
Harley scowled at him and pretended to snap at his finger, even clacking her teeth together.
“Hey, now! I’m bigger than you! Don’t bite the Alpha!” Brandt said.
Harley laughed and fed a piece of potato to Gerald.
“Well, since it seems you’re family now, I’m Barron, how you doing?” Barron said, extending his hand to Charlie.
“Good to meet you, Barron.”
“You met any of our parents yet?” Barron asked.
“Only Mr. Bane and Mrs. Janie. I have to say, I love them both already. They just pull you right in and make you feel welcome.”
“Uncle Bane made you feel welcome? Damn. He doesn’t even make me feel welcome all the time.”
“That’s because we thought you might not make an honest woman of his niece.”
“Wait? Aren’t you his nephew? You called him Uncle Bane,” Charlie asked.
“Yep,” Barron said.
“And you married his niece?” Charlie asked.
“I did. But, you have to understand, which you will once you get all the names and families straight. Each of us calls each other cousins, family, uncles and aunts. But only some of us are actually related through blood,” Barron said. Daisy and Brandt are actually siblings, and their parents are Bane and Janie, as you know. Bane’s sibling is Bam, who is married to Everly. Their daughters are Analise and Emmalyn.”
Charlie glanced toward Analise.
Analise winked at him. “That’d be me and my sister.”
“So, I mated Emmalyn. She’s literally Bane’s niece, but I’m not literally Bane’s nephew, though we all call the parents’ generation aunts and uncles because we all grew up together and live in the same vicinity,” Barron explained.
“I knew it was more or less a family compound sort of thing, but now I’m a lot clearer.”
“Glad to be of service,” Barron said. “When you meet the rest of them, Kaid and Delilah are my parents. He was Alpha before it was passed to Brandt.”
“Okay, and when you say Alpha, you mean… what exactly?” Charlie asked, looking back and forth between Barron and Brandt, then Havoc before looking back to Barron.
There was a silent ‘oh fuck’ moment, when Barron and Brandt realized Daisy hadn’t explained everything to Charlie yet.
