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“No tears, hellion,” Zodiac warned as he took Trent from Elle. “Goldie’s fine. She’s been stirring up trouble all day.”

The girls stopped panicking over my injuries and zeroed in on their nemesis. Zodiac did a lot of things that annoyed me, but I loved it whenever he poked at the girls.

Rock’s dad, Oz, used to do the same to me when I was little. He would tease me or give me shit. I learned early on how he was treating me like he treated his bros. I got the hang of teasing him back. Oz was a big guy and could look scary. Learning to stand up to him had been a huge ego boost.

Zodiac used the same tactics with Skylar and Lyric. He was a scary guy to a lot of people, but they only saw a mouthy uncle waiting for them to fight back.

“Don’t bully Goldie!” Lyric squealed and jumped toward him.

I smiled at how the ears on her Angel character hat flopped. Nova’s girls were so funny. Though their biological father was a piece of shit, they had won the daddy lottery with my brother.

“Zodiac’s just jealous,” Boone told the girls. “He wants to use crutches, but he doesn’t know how.”

Skylar eyed Zodiac and sighed dramatically. “Take care of your baby and be happy.”

Zodiac pretended the baby was whispering to him. “He says you’re both whiners.”

“No, he loves us,” Lyric insisted and smiled up at Trent, who enjoyed the view from his father’s arms.

Walking up behind me, York rested his hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “Why have you been crying?”

“When I first moved into the Sorority House, I refused to change my address to Little Memphis,” I said and caressed his chest. “I stubbornly thought I wasn’t leaving home as long as my mail went to Rawlins. Now, I’m feeling weird about moving here.”

“No one is making you move here,” he said as if knowing my stubborn nature might make me run away if he pushed too hard.

“I’m insisting,” I said and held onto him instead of the crutches. “I worked so hard to remain in control of these feelings I have for you, but I can’t battle them anymore. To go all in with you means making this place my home.”

Wearing a triumphant little grin, York kissed me. I enjoyed the feel of his strong body holding my still wobbly one.

“If it helps,” he said once our lips parted, “you don’t have to change your address to mine.”

“Deal,” I murmured and tightly hugged him.

The room had gone quiet while we flirted. I turned my head to find them all staring at us.

“What?”

“We’re happy to see you healthy, happy, and horny,” Boone said as he came over to steal me away from York. “My big sister is in love.”

“You already knew that.”

“Yes, but here you are in a new town, playing house with your fiancé.”

“What’s a fiancé?” Lyric asked Nova.

“It’s what we call people who are going to get married. Goldie and York plan to have a wedding.”

Lyric glanced at Skylar, and their blue eyes widened. The girls instantly ran over to me to make sure they would be invited.

“Will you be my flower girls like at your mom’s wedding?” I asked them.

As the girls started dancing around and talking about what to wear, Exile, Lula, and Dylan arrived with groceries.

Dylan was a beautiful and confident twelve-year-old. She wore her hair in a short, sharp bob haircut. Her style was crisp and preppy. Like her cousin Sutter, she was a nerd.

I couldn’t imagine having such a smart kid. Boone and I were solid B-plus students. A few days ago, York said in passing that he had been on the honor roll. I’d been half asleep when he mentioned that little tidbit and hadn’t asked any follow-up questions. Now, I wondered if I’d end up with a geeky kid.

While Boone took the food to the kitchen, Exile got distracted by Skylar and Lyric. He squatted between the excited girls and listened to them explain how their aunt was getting married.