The brothers were a danger to the female sex; lethal. If all eight brothers had the same devastatingly handsome mugs and outstanding physiques, they should come with dire, warning labels.
“Spencer?” Jett sent to the group, and one of the men looked her way.
Yup.Gorgeous.
“That’s me,” the man said, turning his feet to head her way.
“I’m Jett,” she said, meeting him halfway with her hand out.
“Jett?” He looked taken aback for a split second before a shit-eating grin stretched across his face and took her proffered shake. “Well, how about that? You, uh, know where Trask is, right?” he asked.
Jett rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I know. Pretty silly, huh? I came here looking for Trask, and he went to Portsmouth looking for me.”
There’d be some kind of hell to pay for that from Trask, Jett was sure.
“Yup. And isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” It was clear to see the man was tickled pink, as was brother number twowho approached with his hand extended and a huge smile on his face.
“I’m Buck. The good-looking brother,” he introduced himself as they shook. “And I can’t wait to see how this all plays out. I take it you haven’t been in touch with big bro since you discovered you were at cross-purposes?”
Jett snorted. “I, uh, umm… No. We kind of left things between us a little up in the air after the last time we were together, so I thought it was prudent to see how things stand with me and Diver Downeast before I contact him.”
Spencer looked at his watch. “Well, I talked to him earlier, just before he got to Portsmouth, and if I’m figuring things correctly, he probably pulled into your father’s place about five minutes ago. Man, would I love to see his face right about now,” he added with a snort.
“Not me,” Jett admitted. “I’ve had enough of his scowls.”
Oops. Maybe it wasn’t advantageous to her agenda to talk smack about Trask.
“Uh, what I meant to say was…”
“What you meant to say was that the man can be a huge grump and a pain in the ass,” Buck chortled.
“Swear jar,” Sheila announced loudly without looking up.
Buck responded with a grin, reached into his pocket, and extracted his wallet. “We might as well make it a fiver, Sheila,” he chuckled. “I have a feeling I’ll be tossing a lot of blue words around before we’re finished here.”
He flipped a bill onto the counter, then turned back to Jett. “No worries about calling Trask out for being downright awful most of the time. Spence filled me in on what happened at Mom and Pop’s house, so your words are justified.”
Jett took a step back. “He…he told you about that?” She knew her voice squeaked, but… What the hell?
Buck shrugged. “He told Spence and Tabbi, who told me?—"
“Not in detail,” Tabitha stepped up to clarify when she clearly saw the panic on Jett’s face.
Tabbi elbowed Buck, then her husband in turn as she moved closer to Jett. “Way to make the newbie feel freaked.”
“I, uh…” What did Jett say, knowing that at least some of what had occurred had been aired with the group?
Wait…what?
“Newbie?” she repeated dumbly, looking at Tabitha.
“Well, yeah,” the woman nodded. “You don’t think that just because Trask is a jerk…” She turned to Sheila and called over, “Did you hear that, sis? No money in the jar for me.” Tabbi’s attention swiveled back to Jett. “You don’t think we’re going to let him derail your employment, do you?”
Some of Jett’s worries vanished instantly. “Well, I wasn’t sure if you’d still want to take me on, knowing that Trask and I might be at odds.”
“Are you kidding?” Spence spoke up again. “Trask is always at odds with somebody. And anything that throws him off his game is okay with us, as well as freaking hilarious. Especially if we get a front row seat to witness sparks flying.”
Jett had to mull that one over for a few seconds, before giving the group a little honesty. “I’m not sure if it will be just sparks. It might be more like a raging firestorm?—”
