I leaned back on the bed as I watched her. The girl who’d shown up out of nowhere and lit our world on fire. She’d changed our lives with her smile and her sharp tongue. She’d made life so much fucking better and it seemed like she wasn’t done.
“I would really like that. After the way you ripped my men a new one, I think we’re going to be good friends.” Savannah blew out a sudden breath. “Um, actually. I wanted to talk about them, too. Would you ever be okay with talking to them again?”
“Fuck no.” I was on my feet before I could stop myself. I tried to take the phone but Cassidy twisted around so her back was to my front and held it out so I couldn’t get it. “I’m serious! There’s no way in hell that I’m letting them get close enough to hurt you again.”
Savannah’s growl came through the phone perfectly clear. “West! I wasn’t asking you!”
“I don’t care! Hang on. I’ll get Hayes and Cash up here to answer that question for you, too!” I shouted down the stairs for them and then sat on the bed and dragged Cassidy into my lap. The way she frowned down at me with her eyebrows furrowed had my dick hardening until Savannah’s voice broke through the haze.
“I know y’all hate my men but I’ve got news for you. I’ve studied the film from that game over and over again. They didn’t try to hurt y’all on purpose, West. I promise. If all of you big neanderthals could get together and talk, I think you’d actually get along.”
Hayes and Cash came in and I quickly gave them a synopsis of what was happening while Cassidy wiggled on my lap, trying to get away from me with the phone.
“I’m serious, guys. Watch the play tape-”
Hayes cut her off. “You think we give a shit about that in comparison to how they hurt Cassidy?”
Cassidy went still and stared at him with her mouth hanging open. She blinked a few times and then broke out in a huge grin. “That’swhy you don’t want me talking to them? Not because of the game?”
“Of course, baby. The game shit is over. I don’t like the assholes but that’s nothing compared to how I feel about them being anywhere near you.” He stroked her hair and sat next to us. “I love you, Cassidy. It’s my job to protect you.”
Savannah was making kissing sounds and awwing on the phone. “Okay, that’s actually pretty romantic. Who are you weirdos and what have you done with my brothers?”
“Honestly? I don’t think I want to scrapbook with them but for family dinners, I think it’d be fine. How could I hold onto the past when I have so much now? I love y’all and I want to be ableto be together with everyone without everyone worrying about how I’ll react or whatever.”
“Did she just say y’all?” Savannah laughed. “Her transformation to Texan is almost complete!”
Cash cupped the back of Cassidy’s neck and held her gaze. “You don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.”
Her face lit up. “I know. But Savannah and I are going to be friends. So you three will have to entertain her guys when we hang out.”
“Yes!” Laughing like a clown, Savannah spoke faster, the way she did when she was excited. “I’m going to love having another woman in the family, Cassidy! We can team up on my brothers and I’ll win for a change. This is all so exciting! And just in time for me and the guys to move home.”
I choked. “What’d you just say?”
I was still wondering a few hours later. Somehow I’d gone from getting a blow job for being sober to listening to my girl plan a pool day with my little sister. Hayes and Cash were sitting on the couch next to me, just as shellshocked as I was when Cassidy pranced back downstairs with her hands on her hips.
“Aunt Jolene and Elvis invited us to dinner.”
I sighed. “Ijustgot the glitter out of my truck, baby.”
“We’re going. She said she has something to tell us.” Cassidy shrugged. “If we don’t go there she’ll just bring her glitter here.”
77
Epilogue Two and a Half: Cass
Any other day and I might’ve been more focused on making things better with Savannah and agreeing to host a pool party with all six of our boyfriends. Any other day and I might’ve even cared that I’d sat in a pile of glitter hiding on one of Aunt Jolene’s dining chairs. I hardly even noticed the way Elvis’ stuff had exponentially increased the amount of rhinestones littering the floor. I’d completely forgotten that Aunt Jolene had big news she wanted to share.
All I could think about were the two pink lines that had stared back at me from the pregnancy test I’d taken just before we left home. Pregnant. I was pregnant. Everything else faded to the background as I silently panicked. We’d never talked about having kids. Not in any real way. I didn’t know what the guys were going to say but I was terrified it was too soon.
The draft was coming up. I was working hard to finish my degree and had already agreed to multiple interviews for jobs after graduation. I was considering grad school. Cash wasmaking plans for his new business. Things were hectic and I’d just learned I was about to drop a chaos bomb in the mix.
Staring down my fried peanut butter and banana sandwich I wondered if they guys were going to freak out. Would they be angry or think I didn’t take my birth control the way I was supposed to? With Sam popping up every so often to cause trouble, I knew he’d say I’d trapped his sons for their money. Even though I knew the guys would never think that, I still worried.
“Hey. Earth to Cassidy.” Aunt Jolene waved her hand in my face and laughed. “Did you hear what I just said?”
I shook myself out of my trance and looked up to see her holding my pregnancy test. I gasped and tried to snatch it away from her before anyone saw it. “What are you doing? How’d you get that?”
