He tilted his head to where the girls were sitting on the deck that jutted out from the back of the house. Shaw was cracking up at some story Ayden’s brother was telling and Ayden was leaning back watching me talk to Rule. I lifted an eyebrow at her and she just shrugged. Asa could charm the pants off a nun, but ever since he had gotten mobile again he had been on his best behavior. His recovery had been long and tenuous. He had had not one but two major setbacks, and Ayden had just decided to repeat the semester at DU until he was out of the hospital because she had missed so much school taking care of him and being in Kentucky. As soon as she was able, she had packed him up and brought him to Denver with her, so not only did I have Cora’s big mouth to contend with, but also Asa’s slicker-than-slick charm.

Asa and I weren’t exactly friends. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, but he seemed to be operating on the up and up. I think he had a healthy fear of what I would do to him if he messed with Ayden in the slightest, and his brush with death had seemed to give him some brief bit of clarity. As much as it bugged me because I now knew exactly how complicated their dynamic was, I could see he really did love her. I know Ayden was hoping for a total transformation, but the guy was just too smooth, too good at reading people and playing games, for me to believe that was going to be the case. I really felt like he wanted to go straight for his sister, so for that alone I was willing to give him a chance. Since I was on the road at least once or twice a week with the new label, I liked having him at the house with the girls, even if he still had a cast on one arm and a walking boot on his foot.

“He’s almost as pretty as she is, isn’t he?”

Rule’s question snapped me out of my reverie and I gave Ayden a wink before turning back to him.

“He’s a pain in the ass.”

Rule snorted and turned over the burgers he was watching.

“Shaw likes him, which surprises me after everything he put Ayden through, and Cora thinks he’s a riot.’

“That’s because they’re chicks and that dude has more game in his pinkie finger than we have combined. It’s unreal.”

Rule squinted his eyes a little, in the direction where the rest of the group was sitting in a circle lounging on lawn chairs on the grassy lawn. Rowdy and Nash were messing around with a whole pile of fireworks that looked illegal as hell. I assumed they probably came from across the state border in Wyoming. Cora was sitting next to Rule’s older brother Rome and neither one of them looked too happy with the situation or the company.

“I know all about siblings being a pain in the ass.”

I had only seen Rome a few times since he had gotten back from Afghanistan. I knew through the grapevine—the grapevine being Rowdy—that he and Rule weren’t exactly feeling the brotherly love. I guess Rome was still pissed at his folks about something to do with their other brother and it was pretty obvious whatever had happened involved Shaw, because the older Archer brother was barely civil to her and this was her house. I knew Rome and Rule were tight, so whatever was going on was going to have to be addressed, but I guess Rome was wound pretty tight and had been pretty unpredictable since his return. Nash had mentioned a couple times, since they were roommates now that he had never seen the big guy drink the way he did now. I knew the guys were worried about him, but Rome was the oldest and by default the leader, so I think they were having a hard time addressing any of it with him.

Rule’s pale eyes flicked back to me. “How are things with the rest of the family?”

I shrugged and watched as Ayden got up and started down the steps of the deck. I wondered if my heart was always going to turn over when it realized she was coming to me, always to me. I could watch her move all day on those killer legs and I elbowed Rule in the ribs when I caught him checking them out as well. He just lifted an eyebrow like it was an involuntary response.

“The same I guess. Mom hasn’t forgiven me for not inviting them to the wedding in Vegas, even though I told her she could come as long as she left that bastard at home. She just doesn’t get it. Ayd’s even tried to talk to her, tried to explain that as long as she stays with him that she won’t be part of our family. God forbid we have kids, because the old man is coming nowhere near them. Sometimes, it looks like the sun is shining through the clouds, only for it to disappear again. I have more important things to worry about and focus on, so that’s what I do.”

When Ayden reached my side, I hauled her in close with an arm around her neck and planted a kiss on her temple. Her arm went around my waist and she leaned against me lightly. Rowdy was almost done with the piece that took up my entire ribs on the backside and she was used to having to be gentle with the tender skin and new ink.

“What are you two over here gossiping about like a bunch of girls?”

Rule narrowed his eyes at her and I chuckled. “Family drama.”

She made a face and snagged the beer I was holding out of my hand.

“Yuck. Hey, are you going to be in town all week? I was thinking about taking a summer interim class to catch up on some of the stuff I had to miss last semester, but if you’re going to be around, I don’t want to do it.”

It was a tough balancing act with both our schedules. I was gone more than I had thought I would be, because starting the label meant finding bands, and finding bands meant I had to go places where bands played. With her being in school, that meant she couldn’t come with me. Which sucked for both of us, but we were learning to adjust.

The first band I actually signed and agreed to work with was the new band Jorge had formed after finally getting tired of Ryan’s crap with Black Market Alphas. The band was amazing, even better than Enmity was, in my opinion, and I really thought I could make Jorge into the star I always thought he was. I loved it and had clearly found my calling, even though I still played with the guys in town and wrote songs when I found the time. My favorite time to sing was when I sang Ayden to sleep at night. I still refused to learn any of that new country junk she liked, but luckily the old stuff still rattled around in my brain and she never complained about it.

I was going to tell her to take the class regardless, because it was important to her and we had the rest of forever to spend time together, but I never got the chance. Across the yard, Cora screeched, and the next thing we knew Rome was soaking wet as she dumped her beer over his dark head, a feat that would have been impossible if the guy had been standing, because she was itty bitty and Rome was a giant. Nash scooped her up before she could lunge at the glaring soldier and Rowdy stepped between all of them. Shaw bolted to her feet and came running down from the deck as Rule stomped off in the direction of the fray. Asa could only watch from the deck since his gimpy limbs kept him pretty immobile, and Ayden and I just watched the entire thing in silence.

“You’re an asshole!” Cora’s voice was sharp and loud as Nash hauled her over in our direction. She was pointing a finger at Rome and her heated anger was almost alive in its intensity. Nash kept right on walking past us and I heard Rule holler at his brother.

“What in the hell was that all about?”

Shaw looked anxious at Rule’s side when Rome climbed to his feet. The guy easily topped six and a half feet and looked like he could bench press a semi-truck without breaking a sweat. He also looked good and pissed off on top of being soggy and irritated that his brother was getting in his face. I glanced down at my wife (hell, yeah, I called her that any chance I got) and gave her a questioning look.

“What do you make of that?”

She lifted a shoulder and rested her hand on my stomach under the edge of my shirt. Her pinkie finger snuck below the waistband and it made me suck in a breath. She still went to my head faster than a shot of Jameson and nothing would ever be better than that as far as I was concerned.