Page 82 of Swan

“Brother, you know you can trust us,” Pick said.

Nodding, I took a swig of my beer. “Yeah, I know.” I glanced over at the women. Swan was smiling at something Rommy said.

“Shit,” Billy drew out. “Now I feel like a dickhead for not seein’ it before.”

“That’s the look of love right there,” Ruin said.

Rolling my eyes, I told them, “Shut the fuck up, dickheads.”

They chuckled and went on to talk about other things while I stared down at the bottle in my hand.

I do love her. She’s my everything.

If only I could make her mine. To see her every day. If I could wake up beside her, I’d be the luckiest man in the damn world.

When I got a boot to the shin, I glared over at Coyote. “You sure you’re old enough to know you’ve got the right woman?”

Snorting, I shot him the middle finger. “How old was Billy and Pick? Or Vicious? I may look younger and more handsome than all you fuckers, but I goddamn know what my heart wants.”

“Aww, he’s too cute,” Ruin taunted.

“Why do I put up with any of you?”

They all grinned.

Rommy bounced up to the table and wrapped her arms around her brother, Texas. “Hey-ya, loser.” She kissed his cheek.

“Romania,” Texas said, smirking.

She groaned. “Don’t call me that.” She’d always preferred Rommy over the full version. “I was just telling Swan what I heard at the library the other day.”

“What’s that?” Texas asked.

“That they need someone to train the new manager. She’s going to see if she can get permission from whoever she needs to. It’ll be awesome to have her here for a while. We talk about books all the time. You know I love reading. Nearly as much as martial arts.”

Texas stared at me.

If Swan did come here for a while, I’d want to come with her. I already had enough trouble dealing with not seeing her every damn day.

Rommy suddenly gasped. “I wonder if she’ll want to learn shooting while she’s here. I hope she gets to come. I don’t have friends who are close that are girls. I have heaps of guy friends from the garage, but sometimes I just want to talk about girl stuff like?—”

“Rommy, we don’t need to hear,” Coyote quickly said.

She slapped her hands to Texas’s shoulders and shouted, “See! That’s what they say at work.”

Snorting, I shook my head.

“How was your date the other day, Rom?” Billy asked.

She glared down at him and put her hands over her ears just before Texas snarled loudly, “What fuckin’ date?” He stood and turned towards her. “Rommy, what damn date is he talkin’ about?”

“Billy,” Pick clipped.

“I thought he knew,” Billy said quickly.

“Rommy?” Texas warned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rommy sighed, dropping her hands to her hips. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. It was a shit date. I couldn’t even kiss the guy, so I didn’t sleep with him.”

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