Page 40 of With You Forever

She knows him well enough to understand he’s dealing with it in his own Seth way—torturing himself about something only he knows—but that doesn’t mean she won’t talk to him about it later.

“Having fun?” she whispers, palming his cheek.

He tugs her closer. Kisses her. “Damn right.”

She smiles and settles back. She’s a little drunk and it feels great.

“That reminds me of Centennial Park,” Luke says to the group, gesturing toward the fiddle on the ground. “The funky chicken.”

Seth groans and puts a hand out like he can block Luke’s words. “Don’t you fuckin’ dare, man.”

Luke laughs. Even Jace is smirking.

Griff throws his arm around Alabama. “Now you gotta talk, Kincaid.”

“Yes,” Lacey says, eagerly leaning forward. “Talk.”

Jace says, “This is early, like Stonehenge Brothers Kincaid.”

Luke, wiggling his dark brows at a glowering Seth, smiles. “We had just started out buskin’ and we had camped out at Centennial Park, thinkin’ we’d impress everyone headed to the Parthenon. I’d call this our beggin’-for-money-on-a-street-corner career, so you know ...”

Jace snorts. “There was ten people there and we thought we had made it.”

“But Seth wanted more,” Luke says. “So he decided to do something about it.”

“Yeah. And I did.” Seth swears and scoots to the edge of the couch. “Now I’m gonna tell the fuckin’ story, man.” His eyes swivel around the group. “I was sick of singin’ to the same five damn people, so I rented a costume.”

Sal’s lips twitch. “What kind of costume?”

“A chicken costume,” Jace says.

Lacey gasps. “You’ve dressed as poultry and you’ve never told me about it?”

“Hey, I just really didn’t want to go back to Johnson County,” Seth says with a cocky grin.

“So we’re in the middle of a set, no idea where our fiddle player had up and gone, when this goddamn chicken strolls up. It was white with this red beak and these molting feathers, but the best part was his cowboy hat.” Luke busts out a laugh, causing Sal to rock on his lap.

“Yeah, we could tell it was Seth from the glower,” Jace adds.

“I was in there for like half an hour,” Seth grouses. “It was goddamn hot.”

Luke lifts his beer. “Anyway, Seth starts dancin’, fiddlin’ while doin’ this funky chicken type dance. And we maybe get through three songs before the cops show up.”

A groan goes up from Griff and Alabama.

Emmy Lou squeals. “Busted.” Turning, she punches Jace in the shoulder. “How on earth have I never heard about this?”

Jace pulls her to him. “Deepest darkest secrets, honey.”

“So the cops come over, hasslin’ us, threatenin’ to charge us with disturbin’ the peace.”

Seth rolls his eyes. “Like they ain’t got nothin’ better to do.”

“So what happened?” Sal asks.

Luke takes a sip of beer and says, “Seth got us out of it by charmin’ the female cop with a fake name and a phone number. They ripped up the ticket then and there.”

Lacey laughs. “What was it? The fake name.”

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