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“I love my brothers, Reagan, but are you sure you’re not experiencing some kind of Stockholm Syndrome or something?” Driving again, Nellie rushed on. “They’re great, they are…They’re just…rough. I mean, we heard how they talked to you that day at Maxie’s. We all know they aren’t perfect. And you’re…so amazing, Reagan. You’re sweet and funny. We all love you so much. Don’t feel like you have to be with them to stay in the family, okay?”

I wasn’t sure if I was more heartbroken or pissed for the guys. I knew they weren’t perfect. I’d wanted to stab them more than once since arriving in Devil’s Den. I also knew they loved their sisters and would’ve been deeply hurt to know Nellie felt that way about them, like they were horrible and the only way I’d want to be with them would be because I was tricked or something. I didn’t want to snap at Nellie and I wasn’t sure how to navigate anger in such a new friendship so I just blinked a few times and shook my head.

“We should talk about something else.”

She looked at me in concern.

“I said too much. I’m sorry, Reagan.”

“It’s fine. Forget it.” I wanted to change the subject but I couldn’t get the words out around the sudden lump in my throat.

“It’s not fine. I was an asshole. I really am sorry, Reagan. They’re my brothers and we have a lot of history but that doesn’t mean I should shit talk them, especially to you.”

“They’re not all bad, Nellie. I know they can be assholes, trust me. I wanted to kill Mills just last night. Bad men don’t hold their son the way they do, though. Lucky has their hearts already. It’s the most amazing thing to watch. And I know they carry a lot of guilt about y’alls history, whatever it is. Mills especially. You should give them a chance to prove they’re better men than they maybe showed before.”

“You love them.” She parked in front of Maxie’s bakery and stared at me in awe. “Shit.”

I wasn’t ready for that yet so I held up my hands and shook my head.

“We’re not talking about that or anything else, especially not in front of everyone. I’m not ready.”

“Of course. I really am sorry I upset you.” She smiled and shrugged. “I am kind of happy for them that they somehow snagged a woman who will fight for them.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Let’s go eat. I’m… Hey, Nellie?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing with Papa Jack? He can’t go into the bakery. Maxie would murder you.”

She grinned. “I like to keep my men on their toes. Once or twice a week I let Papa Jack loose on the town and they have to chase him around while cleaning up whatever mess he made. They still haven’t figured out it’s me. They think that either it’s Waylan or that Papa Jack has magical powers.”

CHAPTER 38

Reagan

Harley gave me a ride back to the ranch after we spent far too long eating Maxie’s baked goods and gossiping. She wanted to see Lucky so she was going to spend the night and I was beyond happy to spend some time with her. There was something going on with her and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

“Stop staring at me like that, Rea.” She rolled down the windows and immediately had about a hundred strands of hair in her mouth. Same as me.

“You think force feeding me my own hair is going to stop me from asking you what’s going on?” I spit out a few more strands and tried to hold my hair down.

“What? Sorry! I can’t hear you!” She punched the old radio until it came on, so loud that we both jumped.

Unfortunately for Harley, I knew her car was a piece of shit and that the last guy who’d worked on it had done some incredibly weird things to it. I reached over and hit the button to turn on the hazard lights and the whole car turned off. As we slowed to a stop in the sudden silence I smirked at her.

“Fuck you.” There was no heat to the words as she dropped her head back and groaned. “I’ll tell you. You can’t say anything to me, though. I mean, you can and you should. I’ll need you to. Just be nice and don’t judge too harshly, okay?”

I frowned. “Did you murder someone?”

“No!” She looked at me like I was crazy. “And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you! First of all, it’s when killers talk that they get caught. Second of all, it would be so messed up of me to make you an accessory after the fact. Third of all, you’re just crazy enough to try to help me hide a body and you don’t need that energy in your life right now.”

I grabbed her hand.

“As much as I love your numbered lists, I need you to stop stalling and tell me what happened.”

“I got invited to another auction.”