Page 36 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies (Men of Medford #4)

CHAPTER THIRTY

Beckett

Chaos doesn’t always announce itself.

It’s not always a crash, or sirens, or something you can punch. Sometimes it’s just a phone camera and a mouth full of poison.

That was what hit Riley.

By the time we got her inside The Foundry, the storm was already over. Not the kind with wind and snow. The other kind. The worse kind.

The kind that leaves wreckage behind in silence.

She didn’t cry when we walked inside. Not when Sadie saw her and pulled her into a hug, trying to hold her together by sheer force.

She didn’t cry when we sat her down in the office and put a mug in her hands. But after the door shut, and it was just us and the hum of the building around us, she broke.

Not loudly. Just… quietly.

Folding in on herself.

It wasn’t the kind of crying you fix. It was the kind that guts you because you know it’s been waiting.

I stood there, hands useless, jaw tight enough to crack.

I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I wanted to leave. Not to run, but to find Ava and make sure she couldn’t lift a phone again without flinching.

But instead, I looked at Riley, and I stayed.

Then the cavalry arrived.

First was Lila. Hellfire and a baby carrier. She didn’t even wait for details.

“Tell me who,” she said. “And tell me where.”

Behind her were Jaxon, Ryan, Colt—quiet, steady, ready for war.

Jaxon looked at me. “You good?”

“No,” I said. “But Riley is worse.”

Colt crouched next to her, voice low and soft. “I know you don’t know us well yet, but we’ve got your back. That’s how this place works. Medford doesn’t look away.”

Ryan just sat across from her. Didn’t speak. Didn’t need to. He was grounding. He always is.

Lila slid onto the couch and pulled Riley into her side like they were already family. “You don’t have to hold it in,” she said. “Not here.”

More followed.

Aurora walked in like a one-woman army, baby on her hip, scanning the room. “She alright?”

“Getting there,” I said.

Her guys, Ethan, Owen, Mason, filed in right behind her.

Ethan gave me a nod. Mason cracked a joke because he always does.

“Someone starts drama on our turf? Cute. Where’s her Yelp so we can torch it?”

Then Kai walked in, flour still on his forearms. Didn’t even change. “What the hell happened?”

Garrett spoke before I could. His voice was stone. “Someone ambushed her outside the bakery. Went live. Tried to humiliate her.”

“No one does that on our home turf. Just so you know, no one’s getting into The Foundry right now. Doors are closed.”

Riley opened her mouth, probably to protest, but she didn’t get the chance. More people started filtering in.

Nate Harper, muttering about “influencer drama,” but showing up anyway.

Samantha came with a pastry box. “Sugar helps,” she whispered to Sadie. “Always does.”

I heard the low voices of more beyond the storage room, but there wasn’t space for them all.

It hit me then.

This town didn’t just show up when it was convenient. Medford showed up when it mattered.

And even if Riley didn’t see herself as part of it yet, she was.

I sat beside her, finally, and rested my hand on her knee.

She turned her head, red-rimmed eyes searching mine. “Why are they all here?”

“Because you matter,” I said. “Because they saw what that girl tried to do out there and decided that doesn’t fly here.”

Her lip trembled. But she didn’t cry again.

She nodded once, then looked over at Sadie. At Lila. At Aurora.

At women who’d been torn up and rebuilt more than once, and were still standing.

She gave the smallest smile. Like maybe it would be okay.

Eventually.

I leaned in a little closer. “You’re not broken, Riley. And even if you were we’d still choose you.”

Her eyes welled again. But this time, she laughed. Shaky, but real. “That sounds dangerously like a romcom line.”

“Yeah, well.” I shrugged. “I’m the brooding one, remember? I’ve got layers .”

Another laugh, a little steadier.

Then the door opened again.

Riley had just started to look like she might be okay, as if she had air in her lungs again, when Lucy walked in.

She looked like hell and war all at once. Cheeks flushed, curls escaping from that braid she always wore when she meant business. Scarf hanging off one shoulder like it had barely survived.

But it was the look in her eyes that said everything.

That feral, wild gleam. The one that meant someone had made a mistake.

I didn’t even try to hide my smirk. “Dare I ask?”

Lucy gave me a sharp smile and peeled off her coat. “Let’s just say Ava’s gonna need new heels. And maybe thicker skin.”

Damn, I wish I’d seen it.

The thought of Lucy going nuclear outside Sweet Maple almost took the edge off the fury still humming under my skin. Almost.

Riley turned to her, wide-eyed. “You didn’t?—”

“She deserved worse,” Lucy cut in. “But I figured you didn’t need me getting arrested in the middle of town, so I showed restraint. You’re welcome.”

A few people chuckled. Even I bit back a grin. Barely.

Then Lucy crossed the room and dropped to her knees in front of Riley as if gravity didn’t apply to her.

Took Riley’s hands. Held them tight.

“You okay?”

Riley hesitated. “I think so.”

“That’s enough for now.”

And then Lucy pulled her into a hug. No questions. No permission asked.

Only full-hearted, fireproof loyalty. The kind that doesn’t wait.

“You didn’t deserve any of that,” she murmured into her hair. “And if you ever forget it, I’ll remind you. Loudly. With cursing. Possibly on a billboard.”

Riley didn’t flinch. She leaned in.

Softened. Like Lucy was the last piece she needed to feel safe enough to exhale.

And yeah, there was a conversation coming. One I hadn’t forgotten.

But that could wait.

Right now, Riley was in the center of the wreckage. And she wasn’t alone.

Not anymore.

And Lucy was exactly who Riley needed.