Page 18 of Hard to Handle
“That means less people at the barbecue tomorrow, huh?”
I laughed.“Probably.”
It didn’t take much to put together a party in this town.It was one of the things I loved about Embers Ridge.For as long as I could remember, we’d been having parties out in the empty fields, plenty of them right here on the Caine land.
“Amy here?”
“Yep.”
“She doin’ all right?”Reagan’s eyes were full of concern.
“As good as can be expected, I suppose.”
“Still no sign of that crazy man?”
I grabbed a beer from one of the many coolers and passed it over to Reagan.“Not yet.”
The crazy man Reagan was referring to happened to be Amy’s ex-boyfriend.The bastard who’d tried to kill her a little over a year ago.Thankfully, he hadn’t succeeded, but it appeared he was now looking to finish the job.It was the very reason the stress level had ratcheted up a few notches in the past few weeks.
One of the many reasons that a night like this was just what the doctor ordered.
Good friends, beer, bonfire, and laughter.
What more could you ask for?
Reagan
I’d had reservations about coming out to the lake tonight.
But a couple of hours in, I was wondering what I'd been worried about.After only one beer, I was feeling lighter than I had in a long time.The conversations weren’t hurting, either.Everyone was having a good time, laughing, joking, telling stories about the many parties they’d attended right here on the Caine lake.
“Remember that time Lynx decided to streak around the lake?”Wolfe asked, pointing his beer bottle at his cousin.
“Died out halfway around, if I recall,” someone added.“Didn’t y’all send someone to get his ass?”
Wolfe and Lynx both roared with laughter.
“No one wanted to pick his nekkid ass up,” Wolfe said.“Ended up drivin’ the truck around and makin’ him ride in the back.”
“I had chigger bites on my fuckin’ balls,” Lynx grumbled, making everyone laugh.
I giggled, I couldn’t help it.And when Lynx smiled shyly over at me, my damn heart kicked in my chest.
“Those were some crazy times,” another guy said.“Good times.”
“Yep,” Wolfe agreed.
“I recall a time when Wolfe decided to steal Old Man Gardner’s tractor,” Lynx said.
Rhys laughed.
“You were just a rookie back then,” Wolfe said to Rhys.
“Green as shit.Still, I managed to talk your ass down from that tractor.”Rhys glanced at me.“He was nekkid.Said he didn’t want to drive drunk, so he hijacked the tractor.”
Wolfe chuckled.“Avoided a DWI that night.”
“Only ’cause I didn’t want your bare ass in my truck.”
