That makes my stomach hurt. Or maybe that’s the three beers in an hour.
“Darcy.” I shake her a little harder and she just hums, sucking up a little drool. “Hey, we’re going to get you to bed. Let’s see if you can walk. Brianna, can you get on her other side?”
“You kiddin’ me? I can’t lift shit right now. You’re lucky you’re not carrying both of us.”
I wrinkle my brow at her but sigh, realizing it’s really up to me. I scoop Darcy up, get her adjusted, and Stormy follows on my heels. I wait at the mudroom door for Bri to open it. As the house’s light hits Darcy, she stirs.
“You smell like Jake,” she mumbles.
“Who’s gonna tell her?” Bri laughs.
Darcy squints at me and rests her head back against my chest as I climb the stairs. “I’m mad at you.”
No, I love being heckled by someone when I’m helping them.
I grunt as I put her down on her bed. She’s not super heavy but carrying anyone up stairs isn’t a joke. “I know you are.”
She flops against her pillow and I notice how dirty her bare feet are, covered with grass stains, dirt, and little gritty bits. I head into the bathroom and grab a washcloth out of the small cabinet in there. I warm up the water before I dip the washcloth in it, wring it out, and head back into her room.
Bri’s trying to wrestle her into a t-shirt. “Fine. Sleep in your clothes. See if I care.”
I sit at Darcy’s feet, pulling them into my lap to wipe her feet clean.
“I showered your jizz off me,” Darcy grumbles, and heat flashes over my cheeks. I shoot a glance at Bri.
“Relax, I already know,” Bri says, unaffected. “And what you’re doing for her is stupid cute.”
Great, there’s a pipeline from our bedroom stuff to the girlfriends’ ears. Got it.
“She just needs a little care’s all,” I say, picking a few blades of grass off the soles of her feet and folding them into the washcloth. “I’ll get the horses in the morning.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Bri says. I glare at her and she claps a hand over her mouth. “Yes, Jake. Thank you. She needs extra sleep.” She pauses. “I’m being a dick, but you’re really nice to her. I hope she gives you a shot.”
“I can hear you,” Darcy mutters. “You’re too loud.”
I snort a laugh and stand, examining the dirty washcloth in my hand. “If she forgets, don’t tell her I was here.”
THIRTY-TWO
DARCY
“Wait. Where are the horses?”
I peer out into the blinding sunlight, my head killing me for a different reason than it did a few days before.
“Ah, they got brought in,” Bri squeaks next to me.
I narrow my eyes at her. “You?”
She looks sheepish. “Yes?”
“Jake?”
“Also maybe yes?”
I groan. “Why are you on his side?”
“Because I’m going to be real and say I hate Rob for being a shit to you. Even though I know you can fight your own battles,” Bri’s ahead of the game because her finger is already in my face to shut down my objections. “And you do fight them, and I recognize that, but Jake was trying to give you a little peace. And I’m sorry, but a man who’s willing to protect your peace, Darcy?”
