Page 76 of Forever in the Country

It’s been a couple of weeks since we officially started dating or whatever the fuck. I don’t need some damn label to know she is mine, but if she wanted me to get her name tattooed on my ass I’d do it. For me, none of that matters as long as she is in my arms every night.

“Don’t you—”

“Are you talkin’ about boning my sister? Because, like, I’m happy for y’all but I don’t need any details,” Otto says as he takes the seat on the other side of me.

I grip my cup harder and pray for patience.

“We are not—” I start at the same time Hayden says, “We totally are.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I hiss. Returning my glass to the table, I don’t even bother acknowledging either one of them.

“Don’t you have people that actually want to hang out with you? Like forever and always shit?” I ask out loud because right now I’ll gladly hand off either one.

“Oh, come on. This is fun!” Hayden says. “We can totally double date!”

I do my best to hold off but the eye twitch is inevitable.

“Count me in.” Otto nods as I drag my hands down my face. If they thought me being with Rhea would magically make me more social they were dead wrong.

“Fallon,” I yell instead, “come get your husband.”

“Aw, man, don’t be like that,” Otto says with glee I know is written all over his face without even looking. “And why does he get to stay?” he whines.

“He’s leaving too. He’s out of book club.”

“So you admit we’re a club,” Hayden says smugly and I feel a headache coming on, “Can we get shirts now,please?”

“Hey, shirts are my thing.” Otto pouts and now the headache is approaching migraine territory.

“Fallon!” I try again but she just laughs.

“Heck no! He’s yours,” she yells back, her eyes narrowing on him, and he slinks down into his seat. “He used the good dish towel to clean up spilled juice.”

“I didn’t know that wasn’t allowed,” Otto mumbles under his breath.

“Otto Raymond Thayer, don’t you dare say you didn’t know. I told you no more than five minutes before that to pick something else.”

I cuff him on the back of the head. “What is wrong with you?”

“They all look the same,” he grouses.

“They do not!” Hayden says with indignation, and Fallon snickers before turning back to the girls.

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” Otto hisses causing Hayden to roll his eyes.

“Then maybe you should be right.” I snort and they both look at me.

“What?” I ask.

“This is weirder than when Hank started smiling,” Otto says as Tanner sits down next to him.

“Aw, missed you, buddy!” Otto announces as he wraps his arm around Tanner’s shoulders and squeezes before letting go. If Tanner thought being in this family would get less overwhelming, he was wrong.

“I saw you yesterday,” Tanner says on a sigh, but I can see the corner of his lips turn up the slightest.

“Y’all are real cute,” Hayden coos before turning back to me. “Oh, I got this for you.” He pulls a gift bag out of nowhere and sets it on the table. I open my mouth to protest, but his scowl is enough to have me reaching for the paper instead.

I’m speechless as I pull the book out and hold it reverently in my hands. We’d finished it not long ago, and it had become one of my favorites—something I planned to reread in the future.

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