Page 58 of Beware of Dog (Lean Dogs Legacy #6)

“Here,” Becca said, leaning in on Cass’s right side. In the mirror, she was nothing but an arm, a hand, and a coffee mug. “You look queasy.”

She was, and that bothered her. She wasn’t scared.

Wasn’t even nervous. She was getting married, and she was marrying Shep, and she’d fallen asleep last night sweat-sticky and deeply satisfied, using his shoulder for a pillow.

But she’d awakened this morning with a knot in her stomach, and it was only getting tighter as the big event inched closer.

“I can’t handle any more coffee,” she said, holding up a hand.

In the mirror, Raven’s thin fingers moved sure and swift through her hair, working it out flat with the comb, slicking it with something citrus-smelling, and then twisting it into intricate curls she secured with bobby pins that blended seamlessly with her hair.

“Oh, honey, it’s champagne,” Becca said with a chuckle, and Cass took it readily.

She took a sip, and then, via the reflection, noted that Emmie and Eden also held mugs.

As if reading her thoughts, Axelle said, “They’re saving the flutes for outside. So we gotta make do.” She lifted her mug toward the mirror. “Cheers.”

A light rap sounded at the door before it opened, and Joanna called, “Knock knock!” as she entered.

“How are we getting along ladies?” She wore a black dress with lace at the collar and a tasteful amount of leopard-print piping down the sides.

Her heels were leopard-print, too, Cass could see in the mirror.

“Makeup’s done,” Raven said around a mouthful of bobby pins. “Hair’s halfway there.”

Emmie was over by the closet, carefully pulling the dress from its garment bag and hanging it on the cracked-open door. “Dress is ready,” she said. She plucked at the skirt with a frown. “It might need steaming, though, on second thought.”

“I brought the steamer,” Raven said. “It’s in the bag over there.”

Joanna came up to stand behind Cass, bending at the waist so their faces were on a level in the mirror. She smiled. “You look beautiful. Are you excited?”

“Very.” But she also wanted to throw up. Her smile wobbled. What was wrong with her?

Another knock sounded, and she heard Axelle say, “Hey, no boys allowed.”

“Good thing I haven’t been one of those for a while,” Charlie shot back, and Cass glanced up above Joanna’s head in the mirror to see him slip into the room. “Damn. It smells like hairspray in here.”

“Close,” Raven instructed, and put a hand up to shield Cass’s eyes anyway before she let loose with the aerosol can again. “Come over here and I’ll fix that electrocuted cat you call a haircut,” she said to Charlie.

Eden laughed.

“Traitor,” he accused, distinct note of fondness in his voice.

“Seriously, dude,” Axelle said. “Get lost.”

“It’s only bad luck for the groom to see her before the wedding.”

Joanna drew back to make room for Charlie, who came to take her place. He peered critically at their side-by-side reflections.

“Are you wearing false eyelashes?”

She batted them. “Maybe.”

“It looks—”

Raven shot hair spray at him.

He sputtered and drew back, swiping at his face. “Oh, fuck off.”

Raven smiled, bobby pins sticking out of her clenched teeth like daggers. “No. You fuck off.”

“I’ll just go see how the other girls are doing!” Joanna called, high and awkward as she fled the room.

“See?” Axelle said. “You’ve frightened the normie, Charles.”

“Me?” He spit in his hand and scrubbed at his temple with his fingertips. “Raven’s the one trying to blind people with Pantene.”

“Pantene?” Raven scoffed. She gestured to herself: perfectly-coiffed hair, flawless makeup, pale blue dress shimmering like a clear mountain spring. “Do you honestly think I use hair products you can buy at the grocery store?”

“I think you’re a bloody snob,” he said, but fondly. “I also think I’m taking a lot of abuse for a man who’s brought Cass a present all the way from London.”

Cass, trying to decide if hair spray had gotten into her champagne—most likely—paused in the act of sitting forward to set it on the dresser. “A present?”

Fox sent her a sly look via their reflections and gave a sharp, two-note whistle.

In the mirror, she watched the door swing open, and in stepped—

“Phil!”

Raven pulled back as Cass scrambled up and out of her chair.

She caught her flip-flop on the leg of the thing and stumbled, but Charlie righted her with a fast grip on her arm and steered her Phillip’s direction, his smile the sort of quiet, private little showing of joy he didn’t let most people see.

Devin’s oldest child had the sort of face that was aging with great dignity, the lines and sun spots adding character; he looked good with gray hair, his forehead pleasing enough that no one seemed to notice his hairline retreating year by year.

On him, Devin’s blue eyes were warm and kind, as was the smile he bestowed upon Cass as she reached him and wrapped her arms around his middle.

He hugged her back as he always had, as if she was small and fragile and he was afraid he might crush her.

“Hello, lovely,” he said, and kissed the top of her head. “You look very pretty. All grown up.”

Cass took a breath, intending to respond…and burst into tears instead.

“Oh, shit,” Axelle said.

“Her mascara’s waterproof,” Raven said, softly, “it’s fine.”

And the thing was? It was fine. With her face pressed to Phillip’s soft shirt, all that queasy tension Cass had been carrying this morning burst like a soap bubble popping.

She hadn’t known what she’d needed until right this moment, but she knew now: her whole family together, supportive and happy for her.

She couldn’t remember when all of them had been in the same place last, but they were here today, for her, and she didn’t quite feel worthy of such a gathering.

She drew back sniffling, and dabbed carefully at the corners of her eyes, glad not to see any mascara transfer on her fingers.

“I thought you weren’t coming.” Her voice wobbled dreadfully, but Phillip had once kissed her skinned knee better when she was five, so she figured there was no one better to cry and wobble in front of.

“I’m flying back first thing in the morning. You didn’t think I wouldn’t steal away to see my baby sister get married, did you?”

She closed her eyes against a fresh wave of tears, willing them away. The mascara was good, but it had to have an upper limit.

The door clicked softly open, and Cass heard Emily say, “Oh, Phillip! You made it.”

He turned to greet her, but not before chucking Cass under the chin like he’d done when she was little; he waited until she opened her eyes, and then offered her another of his endlessly kind smiles.

“Did you meet Shep yet?” she asked.

He nodded, and said, “You did well, Cassandra.”

It was all she could do, then, not to fling herself out the door, sprint down the stairs, and go flying across the grass toward her wedding.

~*~

Shep dragged the razor down his jaw and tried to ignore the two idiots who’d pressed in on either side of him, their faces younger, less lined, and far more amused than his own in the downstairs bathroom mirror.

“How do his feet look?” Tenny asked, pulling an over-the-top inquisitor face.

Tommy made a show of looking, and tsked. “A little cold. Hm.”

“Hm,” Tenny echoed.

Fifteen minutes ago, he’d shaken Phillip Calloway’s hand for the very first time, and now he was shaving, and then he’d brush his teeth, and change clothes, and go out in the yard where the guys had set up a little wooden arbor covered in flowers that morning.

“I got a question,” he said, rinsing his razor under the tap. “Have I finally met the last of all you fuckers? Or is somebody gonna pop outta that laundry basket in a second?”

Tommy pressed in so close he got a daub of shaving cream on his cheek, and when Shep tried to lean away, he knocked temples with Tenny, who’d done the same on the other side. “What in the damn hell—”

“You two,” Walsh snapped from out in the bedroom. “Get out here.”

“Sod off,” Tenny said, but they both at least pulled back from Shep’s goddamn face . Little assholes.

Walsh appeared in the mirror, surly-faced back at the threshold. “I put one of you up rent free,” he said, “and I used to take you to parking lot fairs and buy you shit food and clean you up after you puked on yourself. So get out of the bathroom, both of you.”

They did get out. Tenny reached over and tried to pinch Tommy’s cheek. “Aw, did you go on little play dates with big brother?”

“Shut up.”

Walsh turned and clouted them both in the ear, simultaneously, as they left the bathroom, to the sound of loud vocal protests. Over his shoulder, he said, “You’ve got fifteen minutes.”

Shep heeled the door shut and finished shaving in blessed silence, his new family nothing but a tumble of voices on the other side.

His morning had started out peaceful. It had started out good .

Cass was clingy in her sleep; hell, so was he.

They’d awakened twisted together like pretzels, skin sticking with sweat; he’d spat out a mouthful of her hair and nuzzled down through it to find her throat; had woken her up with a string of wet, nipping kisses that left her purring.

But they’d been separated after breakfast, Cass swept upstairs with the women, and Shep left in the downstairs master bedroom with all of her brothers. Each of them was tolerable, quiet, even, in a one-on-one scenario. But all together? Chaos.