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“Yeah, you never say anything.” Tim chuckled, falling into line as we started back toward the house. “But it’s heavily implied.”
“That’s all that’s needed. You picked up the drift, didn’t you?” Pops asked, wearing a smirk. “But yeah, I know you young guys have your different ways of handling things. Pussy ways.”
“Daaaamn,” Trey laughed.
“What, a shotgun not being the first resort?” I teased.
My father shrugged. “Nobody says you gotta use it, but letting a motherfucker know you got it? That goes a long way sometimes.”
“Hey, no argument there,” I said.
And Trey, bringing up the rear, agreed. “We might have to go remind ol’ Josh if he keeps messing with Tam.”
“Oh, I already let Josh’s daddy know,” Pops assured. “Told him his mama was gonna be crying at a gravesite if he messes with your sister again. Trust me, the message got across.”
Again, he was dead serious, but in this case, I didn’t mind as long as the message got across and Josh was no longer bothering my sister.
As far as I was concerned, it was good.
We made it back to the house right on time for breakfast, which Grandma Jenny spent trying to convince Rori to stay a little longer while I headed back to Connecticut for my team activities.
Or as she referred to it, got out the goddamn way.
She also was dead serious.
Fortunately, it was something Rori was able to take in stride as we ate, and then said our goodbyes. After breakfast, we finished packing up and embarked on the ride back to the airport.
I reached across the console to squeeze her thigh. “So… closing verdict. Are you glad you came?”
“What?” She grinned. “Coming out here was about the best thing I probably could have done for my mental health. This has been amazing,” she gushed.
I grinned. “Even the mud?”
She groaned. “Even the mud,” she admitted. “Even though I do not appreciate the story that’s being told with all the pictures that were apparently taken of us out there. And video,” she added. “Sierra sent me a damn fan cam someone made of us this morning.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
Being the tall, handsome, talented heartthrob I was, I was quite familiar with the concept of the fan cam—pictures and video added together of the subject being sexy, funny, sad, angry, whatever. One of me and Rori was wild though.
“Yeah, we’re not even like… a couple like that, right?” Rori asked, looking to me for guidance on our status, I guess.
I smirked at her. “I don’t know, Miss Martin. You were giving ‘I’ll beat every bitch in here up about my man,’ according to Tam and Geneva, so I don’t really know if you can say that.”
“Oh my god,” she groaned, dropping her face into her hands. “Can you not remind me about that?”
“Nah.” I shrugged. “I’m just sayin’, you gotta ask yourself that question.”
Her head popped up, and she looked at me. “What do you mean? You’re what… leaving it up to me? I thought we were vibing.”
“Shit, that’s what I thought too. You saying something changed?”
“No,” she said immediately. “I mean, we had a great time, we always have a great time.”
“Yeah, and you were literally in my family’s house, so you couldn’t ghost me like you usually do.”
“I don’t ghost you,” she argued.
“Whatever you wanna call it then. Just make sure you’re not doing that shit when we get back.”