Page 122 of Desert Rain
Bikes revved. Someone wolf-whistled. Edge leaned halfway out of the truck window like the idiot had a death wish and hollered, “That’s what they all say!”
River bellowed, “Twenty says he breaks her in a week!”
Sienna spun toward the window. “Breaks me?”
Tank laughed so hard his truck swerved a foot before he corrected. “Poor choice of words, brother!”
“Fine,” River shouted. “Twenty says she lets him in the bed in a week.”
“Forty-eight hours,” Edge called. “Look at him. He’s one rejected kiss away from chewing through drywall.”
I flipped him off out the window.
Sienna sat up straighter, indignant enough to forget she was terrified for three whole seconds. “You’re betting on him? Please. I’m the one with self-control here. You should be betting on me and how long I can hold out.”
“Oh, I like her odds,” Tank said.
“She’s stubborn,” Edge agreed. “But he’s pathetic.”
“I am armed,” I reminded him.
Sienna folded her arms. “Put me down for a month.”
The men howled.
“A month?” River yelled. “Baby girl, that man has been looking at you like oxygen since the arroyo.”
Her chin lifted. “Then he can suffocate.”
God help me, I laughed.
She shot me a look, but the corner of her mouth twitched before she could stop it. That tiny twitch hit me harder than it should’ve. I’d take her mad. I’d take her mouthy. I’d take her throwing punches and threats and impossible conditions at my head all night long if it meant she stopped looking like she was about to shatter.
But two minutes later, the color drained out of her again.
Her hands started shaking harder.
I saw her press them between her knees. Saw her swallow once. Twice. Saw the way her eyes fixed on nothing through the windshield.
The laughter died in my chest.
“Pulling off,” I said into the radio.
Tank’s voice crackled back. “Problem?”
“Package store.”
A pause.
Then Edge, because of course, said, “Brother, this is either the best or worst wedding plan I’ve ever heard.”
Sienna blinked at me. “What are you doing?”
“Getting you something for your nerves.”
“I don’t need anything for my nerves.”
“Your knee is bouncing hard enough to shake the transmission.”
