I rang the bell and Jeremy answered with a smile. “Good evening, Miss Frankie. You’re early.”
“I know, sorry to be a bother.”
“Never a bother. Mr. Archie and the boys are out on the second-floor deck,” he told me as he closed the door after letting me in. “Fair warning, they are in a bad temper and have been arguing for the last couple of hours.”
“Well, hopefully, I can fix that.”
“I wish you good luck, then. Would you like any refreshments to fortify yourself with before tangling with them?”
I laughed. “I’m good. At least right now. I might need to sneak into the liquor later.”
“Duly noted. I did not tell you that Mr. Archie’s father moved the key to the cabinet in the den to the snuff box on the mantle.”
“And I did not hear that.”
We eyed each other in understanding.
“Very good and, again, good luck.”
Worry vied with anxiety as I made my way upstairs. I avoided looking at Archie’s room as I navigated toward the solar doors that opened onto the second-floor deck. I didn’t regret it.
I refused to regret our night.
But I had to focus on right now.
When I let myself out onto the deck, I was suddenly the focus of four very intense gazes and the tension in the air hung heavier than dense humidity.
Archie bounced to his feet followed quickly by the others, and they all spoke at once.
“Frankie, fuck, we were worried…” Archie.
“Are you all right?” Ian.
“You can’t just go off grid like that… you said you wouldn’t.” Jake.
“We were assholes, and you’re right to be mad at us.” Coop.
Even though they spoke over each other, Coop’s statement earned him a glare.
I raised both hands and they quieted. “Guys, I… I need to say something, and I really need you to hear me this time.”
One by one, their expressions sank. Jake’s disappeared behind a frown while disappointment edged Ian’s and Coop’s worry shone in his eyes. Archie, though, Archie’s jaw tightened, and he folded his arms. It was a defense mechanism.
Pushing farther out onto the deck, I walked over to the rail and looked down at the back where the pool and pool house were. There were tables set up and a place for the buffet that would probably be set out when guests began to arrive. Great big half-barrels sat filled with ice and, from there, I could make out the labels of the different canned drinks.
The stereo system, I knew from experience, was wired into several outdoor speakers. There were extra chairs and loungers everywhere. Dragging my gaze away from it, I turned around to face them.
“Archie told me about your plan for Mathieu.” I pressed my tongue against the inside of my cheek. I’d wrestled with how to say this all the way there. Now? Now I just wanted to make it better for them, but Marsha was right. I had to set boundaries, and I had to value myself. “I didn’t deserve that. I don’t deserve that treatment from you—from any of you.”
“Frankie, we know,” Ian said. “Some of us even tried to tell them no. I wanted no part of it.”
“But you didn’t tell me. You didn’t warn me,” I said quietly, and Ian’s shoulders slumped. “You were all arranging it so I would get hurt. It doesn’t matter if I really liked him or not. It doesn’t matter if I told him we were just going to be friends after the party tonight. You were going to humiliate me in front of all the party guests—in front of all the people you’ve been telling for years that I was untouchable. Because you didn’t want me seeing him. Not because you think he’s a bad guy.” I said, pinning Jake with a look. “Or because he treated me badly.” I stared at Coop. “No,” I continued, meeting Ian’s gaze. “You said nothing, and you…” I pinned Archie. “Decided that you don’t want me seeing others, and that gave you the right to do it. Even if it hurt me.”
“I’d never hurt you.”
“Too late,” I told him and the pain in my chest welled up. “You already did. The hilarity of it is I was already telling him I didn’t want to see him like that. Because I like you.” I sucked in a shaky breath. “I like all of you. I want—wanted to see where this went.”
At the word wanted Jake’s expression darkened.
“And he’s not even coming tonight, because he met someone, and he wants to go out with her, and we weren’t really dating so—you know what. Cool.”
Clenching my hands, I forced my breaths to slow.
“I’m worth a hell of a lot more than you guys humiliating me again. I want to see you, but not at the expense of me. I have always supported you…in whatever you wanted to do. This… this plan…this just reinforces you aren’t supporting me. That I’m worth what I am to you, not who I am.”
Archie flinched, but he glanced away.
“And I’m not doing that. So… I’m going to the party tonight, and I’m going to see about meeting the Thorns person, and I’m going to try and have fun. With all of you or none of you. But you don’t get to decide for me. If you do it again…”
Movement in my periphery caught my attention and I glanced.
Then froze.
“Frankie…” Archie’s voice shifted, the concern in it inescapable.
There was a couple exiting the pool house. A man and…
“Mom?”
Archie’s dad.
They were… kissing. Not a little peck on the cheek, but a full-on, open-mouthed kiss and Archie’s dad had his hands on Mom’s ass.
Mom’s new boyfriend was Archie’s dad? She’d been here?
She couldn’t get away, she couldn’t get home, because she’d been with his dad? Had they been here the whole time? What about Archie’s mom?
Oh. Fuck.
The pair broke apart, and I recoiled, backing away from the rail because I didn’t want them to see me. I slammed into Archie, who didn’t look surprised, but he did look pissed.
Twisting, I searched Jake’s, Coop’s, and Ian’s expressions. They’d known.
Every single one of them.
Just when I didn’t think it could get any worse.
I had to get out of there.
* * *
Frankie and the boys return in Changes & Chocolates.
To keep up with Heather and all her series join her reader’s group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HeathersPack/
About Heather Long
USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.
Follow Heather & Sign up for her newsletter:
www.heatherlong.net
Also by Heather Long
Always a Marine Series
Once Her Man, Always Her Man
Retreat Hell! She Just Got Here
Tell It to the Marine
Proud to Serve Her
Her Marine
No Regrets, No Surrender
The Marine Cowboy
The Two and the Proud
A Marine and a Gentleman
Combat Barbie
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
What Part of Marine Don’t You Understand?
A Marine Affair
Marine Ever After
Marine in the Wind
Marine with Benefits
A Marine of Plenty
A Candle for a Marine
Marine under the Mistletoe
Have Yourself a Marine Christmas
Lest Old Marines Be Forgot
Her Marine Bodyguard
Smoke & Marines
Bravo Team Wolf
When Danger Bites
Bitten Under Fire
Boomers
The Judas Contact
Deadly Genesis
Unstoppable
Chance Monroe
Earth Witches Aren’t Easy
Plan Witch from Out of Town
Bad Witch Rising
Elite Metal
Pure Copper (Elite Metal)
Target: Tungsten (Elite Ghosts)
Asset: Arsenic (Elite Elements)
Fevered Hearts
Marshal of Hel Dorado
Brave are the Lonely
Micah & Mrs. Miller
A Fistful of Dreams
Raising Kane
Wanted: Fevered or Alive
Wild and Fevered
The Quick & The Fevered
A Man Called Wyatt
Going Royal
Some Like It Royal
Some Like It Scandalous
Some Like It Deadly
Some Like it Secret
Some Like it Easy
Her Marine Prince
Blocked
Heart of the Nebula
Queenmaker
Deal Breaker
Lone Star Leathernecks
Semper Fi Cowboy
As You Were, Cowboy
Madison, The Witch Hunter
Every Witch Way But Floosey’s
Magic & Mayhem
The Witch Singer
Bridget’s Witch’s Diary
The Witched Away Bride
Mongrels
Mongrels, Mischief & Mayhem
Space Cowboy
Space Cowboy Survival Guide
Wolves of Willow Bend
Wolf at Law
Wolf Bite
Caged Wolf
Wolf Claim
Wolf Next Door
Rogue Wolf
Bayou Wolf
Untamed Wolf
Wolf with Benefits
River Wolf
Single Wicked Wolf
Desert Wolf
Snow Wolf
Wolf on Board
Holly Jolly Wolf
Shadow Wolf
His Moonstruck Wolf
Thunder Wolf
Ghost Wolf
Outlaw Wolves