Page 28 of Fu*kboys in Flannel

I grin at the sass coming through her text and I know she can’t be that damn mad at me.

Less than a paper cut. Get ready. We leave in thirty. Mase and I have shit to do down the mountain and we’re bringing you along. If you’re a good girl, maybe I’ll give you something.

Tessa: eyeball emoji Fine.

Mason: Just hurry the fuck up. Thirty minutes is kickstands up. If you ain’t here we ride out without you.

Tessa: Dick. If you ride out without me then I WON’T be riding your dick again.

Mason: That’s cute. Now it’s twenty minutes and we’re gone.

Well, that’s one way to push my brother’s buttons and then have it bite you in the fucking ass.

The text thread dies after that with no biting response from Tessa. On occasion she knows to pick and choose her battles and the desire to leave with us is stronger than her need to be a fucking pain in our asses.

“You ever think we’d get to this point?” I ask my brother.

“You mean living on our own with Tessa in a house still controlled by Dad. No. If you mean in a relationship together with her, also no. I was about ninety-nine percent sure I was going to kill you by the time three months went by.” He’s not wrong. The first few months of this little arrangement were the hardest pills to swallow. We still don’t like sharing… much. We’ve gotten used to it and figuring out what works for us. We each have our own relationship with Tessa, independent of each other. That’s the only way to keep either of us sane. But I’m willing to fucking put in the work every day for her. She’s worth it. “I’ve got an idea—”

“Of course, you do. The last fucking bright idea you had ended up a dumpster fire because Pritchard is too distinguishable.” Mason deadpans and I’m annoyed because he didn’t need to bring up the past.

I wave him off because if we get into this debate, we’ll spend the next twenty or so minutes arguing until we’re blue in the face and Tessa breaks it up.

Instead, I’m going to spend the time before our girl walks her happy little ass back in, outlining and getting Mason on board with my plan. It’s time we fulfill another one of her treehouse journal fantasies and I’m all too happy to bring it to life.

***

We’re passing the Welcome to Arbor Ridge sign and I’m still fucking annoyed at Tessa. She’s riding bitch with Mason instead of me as some sort of punishment. She thinks her little form of petty revenge is going to be satisfying but all it’s doing is ensuring I get her ass back.

Driving through Arbor Ridge is like a scene out of a movie. It’s got that small town charm covering up any secrets that lurk below the surface.

The trees are starting to bloom, and all the shops are perfect little cookie cutters, but this town has been just as tainted as any other.

Loomis 2.0 Auto Body is just outside of the town limits leading into Morgan Creek. Why the fuck he opened up a shop out here, I have no idea but clearly, he’s fucking busy by the lack of space in the parking lot when we pull in.

I pull right into Bay 5 like Remy instructed us to and mere seconds later so does my brother. We kill our engines when Atlas McKenna saunters over.

He’s one cocky sonofabitch, but he’s also certifiably psychotic. I can appreciate his brand of crazy.

“McKenna.”

“Slade and Slade and Bishop,” he says, nodding to each of us.

“It’s Clarke,” Tessa retorts and Atlas just smirks.

“Nah it’s Bishop. Maybe one day it’ll be Slade. Two lovers. Two brothers. Don’t even have to pick between last names.” Like I said, he’s one cocky ass motherfucker, but he’s bringing up something that has never crossed my mind.

“Leave your rides. They’ll be ready tomorrow. As you can see, I’m fucking busy and I don’t bow down when Rhodes fucking calls. Or any of you fucking Ravens. Not even your god Rhett. So before you start squawking, just nod and say see you tomorrow. Go fucking call for a ride. Grab a hotel room. I really don’t care, just fuck off.” And with that he’s turning around and walking away leaving us stunned.

No one without a death wish talks to us like that and the balls on this motherfucker are huge.

“Do you think we could get a hotel room and stay? I don’t want to go back to the mountain yet. We’ve barely been gone and when we’re here, we can just turn it off. You don’t have to be a Raven and we can simply just be.” Tessa’s eyes are wide and she’s gesturing wildly trying to ensnare us and it works.

Glancing at Mason he gives a slight nod of his head letting me know he’s on board before he slings an arm around her shoulders, “C’mon baby. Let’s go give Morgan Creek a taste of Hollow Hill. We’ll check into a room and have a slumber party.”

“Slumber party my ass. The day you two have your hair and nails done and talk about guys is the day I lay down and let one of the four wheelers run me over.”

I’m following behind listening to them bicker while I book a StayAnywhere rental instead of a room at a hotel. I want a whole ass house and some privacy, and I text the address to Mase so he can start leading Tessa there.

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