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Absolutely fucking not.

“Over my dead body.”

She laughs, the sound so free and loud that it takes me by surprise. “Oh, so you’re the jealous type.”

“I’m the type that doesn’t want that fucker eating my girl’s cookies,” I growl and she laughs again, slapping her hand against her thigh.

“This is a new side of you that we’re seeing.”

I roll my eyes, laughing off my sudden irritation. “Yeah, yeah. I came by to see how you guys were doing and now I’m being rage baited.”

“We’re doing fine, Rooster,” she says, still giggling. “And you can’t blame me. It’s so much fun. Jumper told me how gone you are for this girl and I just had to see it for myself.”

“Jumper needs to learn to keep his mouth shut,” I tell her, trying to hold onto my anger but seeing her so happy and carefree is taking away the sting of it.

“Should I tell him that?”

I smirk. “No. I’ll handle it.”

“Oh God,” she says. “I’m scared for him.”

“He’ll live,” I tell her, shrugging my shoulders and she laughs again. She glances down at Joey, who is watching us with a confused look on his face.

“Grown up talk is so boring,” he grumbles, turning and running back into the house without another word. Raya and I watch him shut the front door before she turns back to me.

“Well… any news?”

I shake my head. “We’re working on stuff but nothing definitive yet. I know that’s probably not what you want to hear but we need to make sure we do this right.”

“It’s okay,” she says with a sigh. “I don’t love being stuck here but I have to admit that just being able to relax and spend time with Joey without the threat of Derek looming over us has been nice. Besides, things will work out when the time is right.”

“You’re being very zen about this whole thing.”

She huffs out a laugh. “What choice do I have?”

“Fair.”

“Don’t worry about us,” she says, looking up and offering me a smile. “We’re doing okay… and you look like you’re going to implode if you have to spend one more minute having this conversation.”

I shake my head. “Raya… no…”

“I’m kidding,” she says, laughing at the look on my face. “But, seriously, you can go get back to your girl. I’d love to meet her sometime, though.”

I imagine Lennon here, in my life, with my people, and the thought makes me smile.

“Yeah, I’ll see what I can do.”

She nods and turns back to the house. “Good. I’ve got to get back to my cookies so we’ll see you later, Rooster.”

We say good-bye and I watch her go back into the house before I climb back on my bike and pull my phone out of my pocket. I flick through the cameras and find Lennon sitting on the couch with a book in her hand. Her knee is bouncing and she keeps checking her phone.

Part of me wonders if she’s missing me.

If being away from me is as hard for her as it is for me.

Not that she’d ever admit it.

It doesn’t matter, though, because I just vowed to my brothers that I’d be glued to her side until she’s safe.