Dizzy and Ivy have made themselves at home on the porch swing. Kelsey is relaxing in one of the rocking chairs, eyes closed against the sunlight. Kia is pacing the railing while talking to someone from the vendor list on the clipboard she’s carrying. Rogue is helping Henry shoo a couple of goats out of the barn.
My brothers have returned from mudding. Since Henry is showered, I can only assume they all have. Which they wouldn’t have done until the washed off the quad bikes. But not one of them woke me up stomping through the house …
Because they’re avoiding me.
The question is why.
I suck in a big breath and lean over the railing to shout. All six of my brothers are about to get a piece of my mind. Starting with the youngest. “Henry!”
He stiffens, so he must have heard me despite the fact that he doesn’t acknowledge me. Definitely avoiding me.
My jaw slackens as Burke’s mud splattered truck charges into view and stops a few yards from the house.
Both doors open and two men hop out. One is my brother. The other is entirely covered in mud. The mud man stalks toward the house. Those steel blue eyes I love are the only thing I can see clearly through the dirt.
My gaze clashes with Henry’s.
He ducks his head so the brim of his hat blocks my view, but not quick enough that I don’t catch theoh shitin his eyes before he tucks tail and scurries off, more than likely in search of Owen.
They planned this. Which means they had no intention of keeping their promise. I should have known I couldn’t trust them with Rebel, but this is too far. “I’m going to kill them.”
Rebel stomps up the stairs and onto the veranda as I rush to meet him. His shirt and boots are missing, and his hair iscemented into dusty grooves. His jeans are ruined. And that jawline signals the violence simmering under his skin.
Burke is a couple steps behind him. His green eyes can barely meet mine. He takes his hat off, twisting the brim between his fingers.
I gingerly touch Rebel’s arm. He’s caked in the filth. “Are you okay?”
“What do you think?” he seethes between gritted teeth. He must realize how he sounds because his shoulders collapse, and his voice loses that knifelike edge. “Sorry, red. It’s been a rough couple of hours.”
I hate that my brothers are treating him like a threat. They can be such ornery and obstinate idiots. But they’ve gone too far this time. And it isn’t hard to tell who the ringleader is. “This was Owen’s doing, wasn’t it?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.” Owen went after him when I expressly told him not to. The last thing my relationship needs is my jackass brothers making things more complicated.
He exhales a long breath, but he’s so tense all thewoosahbreathing in the world might not be enough to take the edge off. “Kitten, can we please talk about this after I’ve washed all this muck off?”
“Come on, I’ll—”
“Alone. I need to be alone.”
I nod.
The screen door slams behind him on his way into the house.
“I would have taken him back to the bunkhouses to wash off outside, but he’s in no frame of mind,” Burke says.
He’s tracking mud all through the house. But that’s the least of my worries. “What on earth happened?”
“I was with Rogue and the others riding the horses.” He looks awkward and uncomfortable. He reaches up and rubs the underside of his bushy red beard. “I didn’t know they’d gone out until I got a message from Jett to go get your boyfriend from the pit.”
“The pit?” I cradle my head in my palm. My brothers are idiots. “I should have known. How deep was he?”
“Well...”
“How deep was he?” My voice grows screechy as it gets louder.
“Now, little, I brought him home safe.”
