You could feel it the second you stepped onto the property. The kind of place built to hold too many people, too many holidays, too many loud dinners around tables that probably never sat empty.
Very different from the ranch.
Very different from anything he’d ever grown up with.
Houses like this had never been part of his life.
His mother had raised him alone until she disappeared when he was young, and the foster system that followed had never looked anything like this—no loud kitchens, no siblings spilling out onto porches, no parents calling people in for dinner.
Sage stood there a second longer, taking it all in, before the sound of another engine rolling up the drive pulled his attention.
Right.
He wasn’t here alone.
Which was still mildly irritating.
He hadn’t actually planned on coming at all.
When Law first mentioned the trip—Fourth of July, family barbecue, something about too much food and too many people—Sage had declined without hesitation.
Crowds. Families. Loud holidays.
None of that ranked high on his list of favorite environments.
He’d been perfectly content to stay at the ranch and let everyone else go play normal human for a few days.
Unfortunately, the rest of the team had opinions about that.
Micah had started it.
“You can’t sit at the ranch alone on the Fourth of July like some kind of tragic ghost.”
Black had leaned against the doorframe during that conversation, arms crossed, expression calm but clearly entertained by Sage’s growing irritation.
Winter hadn’t said much, but the look he gave Sage had been enough.
Go.
In the end, between Micah’s relentless guilt trips and the quiet pressure from the other two, Sage had caved.
Now he was standing in Tennessee, staring at Law’s childhood home like he’d somehow wandered into a completely different world.
Boston climbed out first, stretching like he’d been trapped in the truck for days instead of hours. Buckshot barreled over, bouncing around Boston, who ran a hand over the pup’s head.
Rip followed a moment later, big and silent as always, Memphis stepping out behind him with the slow, easy movement of someone who already expected trouble and entertainment in equal measure.
Sage watched them gather in the yard, the group spreading out naturally the way they always did when they arrived somewhere unfamiliar.
His mind flicked to his meeting at the Rusty Spur.
He shut it down immediately.
Now wasn’t the time.
The yard, the house, and the growing noise of people moving around the property pulled his attention back to the present, whether he wanted it there or not.
The kids chorused, jumping around the soldier, Buckshot adding to the commotion.
