Page 14 of Five Mountain Daddies

“Likewhat?”

Maggie takes a breath and the smile slowly fades. “I asked my brothers about them, after the party. Mikey didn’t have anything good tosay.”

I frown at that. Mikey is Maggie’s older brother. She actually has three older brothers: Mikey is the oldest, Mitch is the middle, and Marty is the youngest. And then there’s Maggie, the baby of the family. They all have “M” names, which is weird, but I’m used to it now, Iguess.

“What sort of stuff?” I ask, not wanting to sound too interested, but not able to help myself. I’ve never heard of these guys before, and I figured that’s because I was away at college for the past four years. Then again, they had to have been living in Leadwood for longer than that if their business is so wellestablished.

“Well, Mikey only heard rumors, so you have to take this with, like, a whole barrel of salt.” She hesitates before going on. “But he says they’re basically badnews.”

“How?” I press. I don’t really want to know, but I can’t help myself. Ryan already told me part of his past, and I’m sure the drug addiction is probably part of the rumor mill, but I don’t know what the problem is with the other fourguys.

“The usual stuff,” she says. “They all get around, which isn’t a surprise.” She grins a little bit. “I mean, have you seenthem?”

I can’t help but grin back. “They’replayers?”

“Yeah,” she says. “Which I guess isn’t so bad, if you don’t plan on marryingthem.”

“I don’t,” I say, laughing. “I don’t think I can marry all five of them,anyway.”

Her eyes go wide. “All five? I thought just those twins were into you, and maybe that otherguy.”

I laugh nervously, realizing my mistake. “I’m just kidding,” I say. “They’re all hot, is what Imean.”

“Right,” she says, giving me a skeptical look. “Anyway, there’s other stuff. Worsestuff.”

“Quit being so coy,” Isay.

She grins and leans back up against the wall, crossing her arms. “Okay, fine. So apparently one of them used to be a drug addict, or maybe he still is, I’m not sure. Another one spent time in jail for killing someone, but I kind of doubt that’s true. And the twins, well…” She trails off,shrugging.

I bite my lip. “Well?”

“They like toshare.”

I stare at her for a second until I get a flash of my night with them, dancing and grinding up against them both at once, kissing them one after the other. I didn’t get the sense that they were shy about it atall.

I shiver a little bit. “That’s, uh…interesting.”

“Yeah,” she says, and I realize that she’s blushing. I bet she’s just as interested in finding out what it would be like with those two as I am. “Anyway, I know you’ve been spending time with them, so uh… I just wanted to warn you, Iguess.”

“Thanks,” I say, “but I’m pretty sure they’reharmless.”

“Maybe.” She shrugs a little. “You’re a big girl, though. You can make your own choices. Just becareful.”

“I alwaysam.”

“Wouldn’t want to end up pregnant.” She winks at me, grinning, and scampers off to theback.

I sigh and go back to work, and by that, I mean I go back to reading on my phone, but something about that conversation keeps buggingme.

I don’t really care that the guys have bad reputations. I know that reputations don’t always mean anything, especially when there’s no context for any of the accusations. I already knew about Ryan’s drug addiction, and I know that he’s clean now. A complicated past doesn’t scare meaway.

What worries me is the gossip itself. I know that if I keep seeing these guys then people are going to talk. It probably won’t come from Maggie, but sooner or later someone’s going to notice and start saying things. I can only imagine what they’ll say about me, what rumors people will come up withme.

In Leadwood, going to college isn’t the norm. I think only a few other people from my high school went to college, and most people just stay around town, get a job, get married to the same old people, and live their lives in this tiny little place. I can only imagine what they think of me, since I had the nerve to go out and get an education. Not to mention my desire to move away from this place sooner or later. I can only guess the horrible things people might say about me if I suddenly become part of the rumormill.

I sigh, shaking my head. It doesn’t really matter, I have to remind myself. People can talk all they want. My only concern is my own life, and maybe what my parents think. I just hope that if they hear something, they’ll come and talk to me about itfirst.

Although I’d really, really rather they didn’t hear about me making out with both twins in the samenight.

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