“Yeah, that would totally make a difference,” I tease, still forcing him to hug me. “But I appreciate the offer.”
“Are you happy?” he asks, despite knowing the answer.
“I have my mommy and my daddy in the same place, a brother I can crush at one-on-one, and a man who plows me with great vigor. I’m living the dream.”
“Was that fucking part necessary?”
“It’s for Bronco,” I say, stepping back. “One day, his many daughters will be super horny for many men, and he’ll need practice hearing that crap without flying into a rage.”
“My girls can do whatever they want,” Bronco says.
“Your mouth says you’re cool with them porking, but your clenched jaw and that bulgy vein near your temple say you’re ready to preemptively fly into a rage.”
Lowell chuckles at his friend’s irritation, likely glad to no longer be the one on the spot. I wouldn’t mind tormenting Bronco more—purely to entertain my father, of course—but Topanga’s SUV pulls into the drive. Inside is the only man I’ve ever beaten in basketball.
“Time to crush Dunning,” I sigh as he struts around the driveway while arrogantly signaling how he’s ready to be destroyed. Over my shoulder, I announce, “So long, powerful men. Try not to make any plans that upset my lover.”
Lowell loses his smile while Bronco looks suspicious. I leave them to whisper like gossipy hens. I hope the men realize how lucky they are to have a stud like Conor in the bullpen. Who else do they have ready to take over? My brother is cocky as hell, but he’s a baby in a million ways. Wyatt’s older than Conor but just as immature as Dunning. Amid a second generation of toddler toughs, Conor shines brighter than them all. Hell, I bet he’s smarter than even the Executioners’ founders.
My man’s got it all, but I suspect people around here take his gifts for granted. He’s always just shined, making it seem less special than when Wyatt acts like a grownup for five minutes.
But while I destroy my brother at one-on-one, I can imagine Dunning one day watching Conor’s back. He’s got the right ingredients to be a solid VP—smart, acts like he’s a jokester despite him always watching people, and loves to share his opinion. I don’t know if he’ll have the balls to tear someone apart like Anders, but he could back up Conor for decades. That image warms my heart and makes the future seem less shaky.
CONOR
The return of Needy Hobbs to Elko doesn’t go smoothly. She’s in a bad mood before even setting foot in town. Lowell tells her how Messy Bessie wasn’t pregnant or killed. She disappeared after the club found out she was secretly dating a guy from a nearby town who just happened to have a cop brother. The old ladies used the bunnies’ curiosity over Bessie’s disappearance to create a tale of a knocked-up whore who didn’t know her place. That story helped convince Needy to run and stay away. Why risk her life or Monroe’s? Except it was all a lie.
Lowell fessed up the truth as a way to calm Needy’s fears about returning to the place she fled. Instead, he made her doubt her choices over all the years. She’s still nursing those hurts the first time she visits Lowell’s house. As soon as she spots Bambi across the street, Needy flips off the older blonde. Of course, my aunt goes apeshit and runs for her. Jumping to her mom’s aid, Monroe threatens to kick Bambi’s ass. Needy claims she ought to do it.
“You threatened to kill my baby and me!” Needy screams.
“I’ll kill you now, bitch.”
“No one’s fucking dying,” Lowell mutters, stepping between the angry women.
“I’m punching your daughter in the face!” Monroe screams despite Taryn not currently being in the state.
“Don’t you threaten my baby!”
“Like you threatened to kill mine?” Needy demands, bringing them full circle to how it all started.
Finally, I get involved by pointing out, “Bambi’s evil. Needy’s slutty. Monroe’s got anger issues. Lowell might be impotent.”
“Watch it, kid,” he growls.
Bambi wags her fist at me. “I am not evil.”
“I was slutty in my youth,” Needy admits and then shrugs. “There’s no harm in wanting to fuck, and the men in Executioners were packing dick heat.”
“Ah, Daddy,” Monroe coos, nudging Lowell. “You were a stud.”
“Leave me alone,” he says, storming off before she can catch him grinning.
“He’s pretending to be the serious person in this bunch,” I explain when Monroe thinks he might actually be upset.
“I am not evil,” Bambi says again.
“We heard you,” I tell my aunt.
“I helped raise you.”
“Well, you did a terrible job,” I announce, smirking at her annoyed expression. “That’s three failures, Bambi. Maybe childrearing isn’t your strong suit.”
“Ha!” Needy yells, which forces me to literally stand between the warring women to prevent them from throwing punches.
Finally, Rooster shuffles his lazy ass across the street and removes his pissed woman from Lowell’s driveway. I corral my two ladies, forcing them inside, where a stressed Topanga waits.
“You gave Lowell a daughter,” Topanga croaks at Needy.
The two women watch each other while Lowell looks ready to get involved.
“You gave him a son,” Needy says quietly. “And you and Lowell fell in love. That was never him and me. Get it?”
Topanga exhales roughly. “Yes, I get it.”
Monroe hugs both women and then asks Lowell if he’s shy about his manhood. That distracts from everyone’s earlier awkwardness and gets Topanga into a brag-fest about how her man still has all the right moves. Soon, only Lowell feels awkward.
Days after that clusterfuck near-miss, Topanga throws a party at her house to celebrate the importance of family.
“She wants people to know she’s okay with Needy being around,” Monroe said earlier while riding my dick. “Topanga gets bullied a lot by the tougher old ladies. She wants to prove she’s cool with Lowell’s baby mama living in Elko.”
“You know I can’t think when you grind my cock like that,” I mumbled while she threw her head back and bounced faster.
After our fuck, we rested in bed and talked about how we shouldn’t punch anyone at the party.
Uninterested in promises, she asked again, “What do we do about Francis?”
I replied with the same, “I don’t know,” as I’ve said since we returned to town. Needy filing for divorce allows Francis to confirm her location. Even if we get a lawyer away from Elko, Clive McNamee will put two and two together.
More than once, I’ve considered calling Clive to explain the situation and scare him off. Except Monroe makes her uncle sound as if he views every other alpha as an immediate challenge.
“He sees problems where none exist,” Monroe told me once. “That’s why he wanted to marry me off to a political dork. Just in case he might need one of those nerds in his pocket someday.”
Even if I thought calling him and playing cool was a smart play, Bronco and Lowell made clear how they don’t want me making moves without their go-ahead. My voice represents the club. If Clive fights me, he’s fighting every Executioner.