Page 47 of Moms of Mayhem
My mom waved, then blew me a kiss. “Woo her, darling. Do it for me.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, then walked back outinto the hallway and to my truck. I wasn’t sure about thewooingthing, but my mom wasn’t far off the mark with her evaluation of Emmy. Everything I’d seen so far from her pointed not just to her being a good mom, but agreatone.
And fuck, she was beautiful. Not in some polished, high-maintenance way, but in the kind of way that snuck up on you and settled under your skin. And those sharp hazel eyes were always watching, like she saw more than you were saying out loud.
Then there were the freckles on the bridge of her nose. Just a few. Barely there, even. But every time I was close enough to see them, I had to stop myself from staring. Like they gave her away somehow—told a quieter truth about a vulnerable woman behind all that fire.
Yeah. She was something else.
And I was in trouble.
It was a good thing Emmy had insisted on not letting me pick up Jace from school today since I was cutting it close making it from the rehab center to the rink. I pulled in just as Ty and Jace were getting out of his truck, Rowdy on their heels.
The sun was setting behind the mountains, and I stared up at the dilapidated building.
“It’s falling apart,” I said to Ty as we walked side by side into the rink.
It didn’t escape my notice that Ty had slowed his strides to match mine, Jace practically running into the building in front of us even with the weight of his equipment bag slowing him down.
Ty hummed, squinting up at the dirty brick walls. “I’vetried talking to Tate about a donation to help get it fixed up, but maybe that’s the wrong tactic.”
I put my hands in my pockets, turning slightly toward him. “What else do you have in mind? Fundraisers?”
“Maybe.” Ty looked away from the building and toward the statue of the two of us and my little brother with Coach. “I think I’ll ask her if I can have ad placement too, not that I need any advertisements when we’re the only hardware store in a 30-mile radius. Or maybe we can talk to Mason, and the three of us honor Coach by becoming investors in his dream.”
I nodded, imagining his smile at the idea. “He would have liked that.”
“Yeah.” A hint of a smile hid under Ty’s bushy mustache. “He’d be thrilled to see you back here on the bench too. You always were a bossy fucker.”
I scoffed, then walked into the building. “Too bad you never listened to a word I had to say.”
“Someone had to put you in your place.”
“Your whole family seems pretty great at that. Speaking of.” My mom’s words haunted me as I stopped, and Ty turned to toward me, any hint of a smile long gone. This was probably a really stupid fucking idea, but the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Is Emmy dating anyone?”
Ty’s nostrils flared, then he adjusted the Mayhem hat on his head, lifting it and bringing it back down again. “Why, Conway?”
I shrugged, playing it off. “Nothing. She just said she was busy tonight, so I was curious.”
“She took on another Pilates class tonight, I think.”
“Oh.” Well, that made sense considering it was herjob.Me and my one-track mind had jumped straight to conclusions there.
“I don’t like thatOh.Or the look on your face right now, like you’d been contemplating rearranging someone’s face.”
I smirked. “I wasn’t going to rearrange anything. It was just a little flicker of irrational jealousy in a brotherly sort of way. It passed.”
Ty narrowed his eyes. “You sure? Because I’d never refer to my sister dating anyone asjealousy.”
“Relax. I’m not pursuing it.”
Ty crossed his arms, leaning against the hallway that led to the locker rooms. “Good. Because if you so much as hurt a hair on her head, I’m legally obligated as her brother to set your truck on fire.”
A laugh ripped out my throat, and Ty’s mustache twitched again. “Jesus, man. It’s not that serious.”
He pushed off the wall but stopped just outside the locker room doors. “It isexactlythat serious. Emmy’s not a weekend kind of girl, Beckett. And she has Jace to consider, too. You know that.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly feeling 12 again and on the receiving end of a lecture from Coach. “I know.”
