“Never again, though. Anything we go through in the future, we do so together.”
“I agree.” He kisses my forehead gently. “Like I told Neo, I’m never letting you leave my side again.”
You know what? I’m perfectly okay with that.
Actually, no.
I’m very fucking happy with it.
32
ANSEL
A month later
“Why is there a fucking horse in my backyard?” Wylder grunts in annoyance.
Cade chuckles and shrugs, his warm body next to mine. It’s cooler out today, but he’s turned the heater on and made it seem like a tropical retreat.
Cade has treated me with kid gloves while I’ve been healing. Not that I expected anything less. I was in pain for ages, and now I’m just starting to feel better. My hands have gone through some rehabilitation—massages, stretching, and many warm water soaks. My arms healed faster than my hands, the skin torn but put back together with time. Now the cuts are just red marks across the skin, healed but not fully gone.
I told Cade I’d have scars.
He doesn’t seem to mind.
“It’s a therapy horse. Neo ordered it.”
Wylder’s jaw clicks. Neo hasn’t left the property. Well, he has. He comes and goes as he pleases, sneaking out at all hours, driving Wylder mad.
I’m pretty sure Dotty has aided him in leaving, because the wicked smile she gets when Wylder looks like his head is going to explode is something else.
“Where the fuck is he?” Wylder growls, and Cade meets my gaze, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. He looks as if he’s going to laugh, but neither of us dares. Wylder has been on edge, and Neo is the one taunting him to jump over into the abyss.
“No clue. But the horse seems nice. Neo said his name is Sir Clopsalot.”
“I don’t give a fuck what his name is. I want him out of my—is he taking a shit?”
We turn to see the horse’s tail pop up, a chunk of poop falling onto Wylder’s nice rose bushes.
“Neo!” Wylder shouts and disappears back into the house.
Cade turns toward me, his fingers trailing up my bare thigh. I’m wearing nothing more than a small pair of swim trunks, the kind that end just below my ass cheeks. Cade bought them for me. They have little butterflies on them, and I think they fit me perfectly.
Cade is wearing knee-length swim trunks and is shirtless, his muscles rippling as he drags his hand up, up, up.
“Your brother is growing unhinged where Neo’s concerned,” I tell Cade. “Is it mean to say I find it so amusing?”
“It’s fucking amusing, yeah. Neo has really gotten under his skin unlike anyone I’ve ever met. It’s a fucking skill.”
“What’s the pot at now? How much money is in it?”
Cade let it slip that he and his brothers—excluding Wylder, of course—all have a pool of money, betting on when Wylder ends up sticking his dick into my best friend. I don’t want to think of Neo like that, but the way the two of them act around each other, I would be dumb not to put my own stake into the pot.
Even if Neo is still seeing his dick of a boyfriend. I can’t decide if he’s doing it to try and make Wylder jealous, or because he can’t stand being alone.
Whatever the reason is, it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t stand the asshole. Cade even offered to kill him for me, which was verysweet. I turned him down, not wanting to upset Neo, but I definitely considered it for an hour.
Maybe two.
