“Do you only do it outside, or what?” Rory asked with exasperation.
Hudson cleared his throat. “Only? No, but if you see the tree a rockin’, don’t come a knockin’…”
“Oh my God.” Mac glanced back at Hudson, shaking her head. “You’re a dork.”
“A dork you love gettin’ naked with outside.”
“I take it back. You’re not a dork—you’re a menace. And you’re only encouragin’ them.”
Will snorted. “Like Nat needs any encouragement.”
“That’s true,” Nat said, tipping her beer bottle toward her sister. “Except I’m out of stereotypes…”
“How about the one that all musicians are selfish in bed?” Will asked.
“Ouch,” Asher said, his hand to his heart. “What’d I do to get thrown under the bus?”
“Oh! Asher, I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
“Damn, Willowtree, you’re feisty tonight,” Finn said with a laugh.
Asher waved her off. “Nah, I’m just messin’ with you. Don’t worry about it, Will. It doesn’t pertain to me anyway.”
“That so?” Nat asked with a raised brow. “Because therewasthis rumor that went around in high school about you…”
“Which one was that?” Nash asked dryly. “He had a few.”
“We all did.” Nat laughed. “But I’m talkin’ specifically about the one that said he was a bad lay.” She glanced over at him with a brow raised, the strings of lights around the tent casting his face in harsh shadows.
“You never heard that,” Asher said, completely unbothered. As if the mere thought of such a claim were preposterous.
She had absolutely no doubt it was. For one thing, he’d proved it with a simple make-out session earlier that morning. For another thing, she’d made the whole thing up.
“I totally did! Swear,” she insisted, lying through her teeth. Thank God she was an excellent story weaver. “It was the Monday after senior prom. Stacey James wouldn’t shut up about it in the locker room. She went on and on about it—how you didn’t go down on her, how you only lasted ninety seconds, how you have a small dick…”
“You know at least one of those isn’t true,” he said under his breath, only loud enough for her to hear.
Her breath caught, her nipples growing tight as images swarmed her mind all while laughs erupted around the table.
“Shit, man, you better up your game,” Finn said before sipping from his beer.
“He’s not lyin’.” Hudson shook his head. “You need to do a hell of a lot more than a minute and a half in missionary once a week if you have any hope of keepin’ a Haven girl.”
“How the hell did I get thrown to the wolves here?” Asher asked. “We proved all the other stereotypes untrue, but this random rumor from senior year is somehow accurate?”
Everyone inserted their opinions, laughing as they ribbed on one another, but it all transitioned to white noise in Nat’s head, her thoughts stuck on what Hudson had said.If you have any hope of keepin’ a Haven girl.
Except, there was nokeepingwhen it came to Nat.
Today felt surreal, and what was supposed to be a courthouse wedding had somehow been transformed into one that felt all too real. But she had to remember one very important thing—itwasn’t. She was only staying as long as Asher needed her to…until the custody was finalized. And then she’d be off, and Asher…wouldn’t be.
For better or for worse, he was hoping Havenbrook would be his permanent home. How he was going to make that work with his career, she had no idea. Now that the wedding was behind them, he would, no doubt, be putting all his focus on that. Even if it meant he’d be giving guitar lessons to anyone within a hundred-mile radius, she knew he’d do whatever it took to make sure he’d be able to raise his sister’s kids where she’d wanted them to grow up.
She glanced around at the faces of those she loved and felt a pang of longing for something she wasn’t even sure she’d wanted in the first place. She’d stayed away from Havenbrook all these years because it held the kind of shackles she’d spent her whole life running from. She didn’t know if it was the events of the day, the amount of alcohol coursing through her veins, or the simple fact that she’d missed her sisters more than she thought she had, but she could see now why Aubrey had chosen Havenbrook to raise a family in. Why her parents had. Why her sisters still lived there, too.
There was no denying the sense of community in this place. Of family, even with those who weren’t connected by blood. And that was something one didn’t experience everywhere in the world. Turned out, Havenbrook wasn’t as bad as she’d always made it out to be. It had changed in the years since she’d been gone.
Or maybe it washerwho had changed and grown into someone different than the feral eighteen-year-old she’d been when she’d fled.
