Page 16 of Moonshine Lullabies

He shook his head and gave me a little smile and said, “Just seein’ if you fell back asleep.”

I rolled my eyes. “With all that goin’ on out there? Please. Am I holding you up from doing other shit today?”

He shook his head.

“Nah, it’s just me and you, babe.” I straightened up from where I’d laid down a shirt and turned to look at him.

“Is that what we’re doin’ now? We flirting?”

“Only if you’d like,” he said casually and I barked a laugh.

“Git on outta here. I’m getting dressed.”

His smile grew, and he pushed off from where he leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and left me to shut it. I shut my door and swiftly got dressed, taking both my coffee cup and the cup and saucer from the night before with me, out to the kitchen.

Seemed like most of my brother’s gang was here. Hex and Chainsaw were making measurements and marking off the doorframe with pencil, Cy and La Croix standing nearby. It made for a crowded living room and I just managed to squeak by Collier without touching him to get into my kitchen where I found all four of my kitchen table’s seats occupied by Axe, Bennie, Louie, and Saint.

“Well shit, the whole gang’s here,” I declared to a round of chuckles.

“Did you honestly think one of our own’s family gon’ get attacked and we wouldn’t be?” Axe asked.

“Didn’t think Tater an’ I meant anything to the lot of you,” I said honestly, stopping at my kitchen sink to wash my dishes.

“Well, you’d be wrong,” Saint declared, leaning back in his chair against the wall.

“You fuck up my wall an’ you’ll find out just how much I care aboutthat,” I said, pointing at him. There was a smattering of laughter as I finished up with my cups and put them in the drain board. If the house had a dishwasher, it was me. It was built before all that fancy shit and hadn’t been upgraded to accommodate it.

“Make sure y’all wash your cups,” I declared. “Y’ still here when I get back, I’ll cook.” I caught J.P.’s eye, and he lifted his chin.

I nodded back, and he said to me, “Don’t you worry about Tater, now. We’ll be here when he gets off the bus. You just take care of your business.”

I nodded and jerked my head at Collier who pushed off from the doorframe.

“Col,” J.P. called out and Col turned his hand, flashing out as he caught the keys my brother tossed him from where he scooped them off the living room table. “Take my truck. It’s too cold and wet for my sister on the bike but don’t let her drive.”

“You act like I give a damn about all that,” I said, rolling my eyes and lifting down my coat at the back door. “I hate driving your truck.”

“I know you don’t give a damn,” my brother called. “ButIdo. Don’t let her drive my truck but do take care of her ornery ass. Take her wherever she needs to go.”

Boy, he was really tryin’ to make up for almost whacking me one last night.

“Uh-uh, fuck you, thanks, big brother!” I called back over my shoulder and went out the back door. Collier lingered, staring off to his left and into my workspace for my bone carving for a minute. He finally followed me out the back door, shutting it behind him. Itwascold and damp as hell and I huddled in my coat a little more.

Collier huffed a laugh at me and we traipsed through the wet grass and the yard that was turning to mud, heading for the garage bay that held my brother’s truck.

“Shit, I forgot the damn new phone.”

“I’ve got it,” Collier said. “Where’s it at?”

“Left it on my bedside table.”

He nodded, and I got into the truck but he didn’t turn and go back into the house right away. He got in the driver’s side and started the big ol’ beast of a Ford and swung the fully restored, glossy black door shut before he jogged back across the yard and went back into the house.

Curious.

He was almost treatin’ me like a lady and wasn’t that laughable?

Kind of hard to be a lady when you were poor swamp trash knocked up at the age of thirteen.

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