Finally, Colton says, “Are we talking rope or—Nope. No, no. I don’t wanna know. Forget I asked.”
“I think what Colton means to say,” Remi puts in with a pointed look at his brother, “is that we’re really happy for you guys. Oak, you’ve been family from the beginning. And I can’t think of anyone better suited to look after our brother.”
My throat feels tight as I find Lawson’s eyes again. “I will,” I say roughly. “Look after him. And take care of him. I’ll love him harder than anyone else ever could.”
“Oh, gross,” Colton mutters.
“Love is gross?” Noah asks, amusement in his voice as he wraps an arm around Colton’s shoulders.
“When it’s mybrother? Yes.”
Lawson pulls his chair over next to mine, accepting the tin I hand him once he’s seated. “Bet you missed this while you were gone,” he says, a smile quirking his lips.
I know he meant it as a joke, but I answer seriously. “Yeah. I did. I really, really did.”
His eyes hold mine as he takes a sip of the whiskey, his gaze as warm as the fire. A bell ringing in the night has everyone freezing.
“Is that…” I say before it clicks. “Lawson, get inside the house.”
“What?” the man says, looking confused as I try to tug him from his chair.
The ringing is getting louder.
“It’s the goddamn donkey,” I tell him. “Go.”
“He’s not gonnabiteme, Oak.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Jesus,” Lawson grumbles. “You really do hold a grudge.”
As Lawson remains stubbornly rooted in his chair, the donkey comes trotting into sight. I breathe a sigh of relief when the old ass walks up to Jackson, the man sighing low and long.
“I don’t have any treats,” he says, the donkey prodding at his pocket. “For Christ’s sake, would you just—”
A loud tearing sound has Jackson jumping from his seat, the front half of his jeans, pocket downward, stripped away as the donkey takes off with the denim firmly between his teeth. Jackson stands in shock, nearly falling on his ass when the bottom hem holds tight. But that donkey yanks, and it rips free, leaving Jackson’s tattered jeans hanging around his leg as the donkey’s bell grows quieter.
Ash doubles over, laughing so hard he starts to wheeze. Remi has a wide grin on his face, his phone out in front ofhim, aimed at Jackson. Lawson lets out a single chuckle, taking another sip of his whiskey.
And Jackson? “See if you get another treat from me ever again,” he shouts at the donkey, voice lowering as he mutters, “The fuck? First the milk, now this?”
“Oh my God, Jack,” Ash says between breaths. “I can see your briefs.”
As Jackson stomps toward his house, pant leg waving behind him, Colton loads a few marshmallows onto a stick.
“Well,” the second-youngest Darling brother says. “I think it’s time for s’mores.”
As Colton and Noah get into the chocolate and graham crackers, Lawson passes the whiskey tin back my way. His lips are pressed into an amused line I get a little caught up in, considering the man’s pout is always distracting.
“You were ready to leap in between me and that donkey, Oak.”
It’s an accusation I don’t bother countering. “Considering you wouldn’t move, you bet your ass I was.”
“He’s not that dangerous,” Lawson says, shaking his head.
I wave a hand toward Jackson’s house, where the man disappeared inside less than a minute ago to replace his pants. “Uh-huh. Which is why the residents of Darling put a bell around his neck so you could hear him coming. Where d’you think I got the idea for Belladonna?”
“That’swhy she has a bell?”
