“Not much.”
“Way to go, Blue. I wouldn’t want to know too much information.” She gave Raine a pointed look and brought out another of his wonderful, crooked grins. The men were gorgeous, all buff and tanned. They were three gods come to life in a wilderness fantasy, but they each had different personalities.
Blue was the reserved one. She didn’t know if he was the oldest or not, but he seemed to have taken a leadership role over the other two men. He kept his face expressionless for the most part, but when he did smile, it was magical, brightening up his entire demeanor. He was driven, leading the way like a one-track kind of man and rarely joined in the banter between Pete and Raine.
Raine was the jokester. He kept a cheerful expression that was the precursor to his breathtaking grin. Although he kept his voice low at the urging of Blue, he still kept making jokes, sometimes at the expense of his brothers.
Pete was the outsider of the three. He didn’t look anything like his brothers, but had adopted mannerisms from both of them. At times, he was as jovial as Raine. Then, without warning, he’d grow serious and become as focused as Blue.
“So you guys are brothers, huh?” She craned around to check Raine’s reaction. “I hope you don’t mind my saying so, but Pete doesn’t have the same family traits that you and Blue have. Let me guess. He’s a brother from another mother?”
Instead of getting angry or upset, Raine laughed at her joke. “You might say so. Actually, he’s a brother from another mother and another father.”
She glanced at Pete, who didn’t appear to mind them talking about him. “So he’s adopted? Sorry, Pete. We shouldn’t be talking about you like you’re not even here.”
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t have any issues because I’m adopted. If it hadn’t been for our parents, I wouldn’t have the life I have. And I’m over the problems that came along with my real family.”
Raine walked backward a few steps so he could confront his brother, then whirled back around. “What problems?”
“Yeah, right, bro. Just the problem of my mother abandoning me.”
“Your mother dumped you? Did you grow up in a foster home?” Did she have that in common with Pete?
“Naw. I went straight from my mom to the Deacons. They’re my family now.”
“I wish I’d had the same luck. I went through four foster homes before I turned eighteen.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
She disliked getting sympathy, but it didn’t bother her coming from Pete.
Pete ignored Raine. “Yep. When the Deacons took me in I gained two awesome parents. It was just too bad that I gained two sorry-ass brothers at the same time.”
Raine took a swipe and missed, then whirled around to face forward again. “Ha-ha. You should take that comedy routine on the road.”
They lapsed into a comfortable silence and continued on their trek to wherever they were taking her. She decided to try again. “So tell me about this place you’re taking me to. Do you have a landline phone? Or a satellite one? Can I use it once we get there? My cell’s dead and I couldn’t get any reception before anyway. I’d like to call a friend to pick me up.”
“We don’t have any phones.”
Was Blue serious? “None? As in no one in the whole place has a phone? You’re kidding.”
“Nope. We don’t have a lot of things like phones, televisions, or computers. We prefer to live a simple life without all those distractions.”
Holy shit, they’re taking me to a cult. A backward cult at that. Oh, hell.
Should she try and make another attempt to flee? “How far did you say we had to go?”
“We’ll get there when we get there.”
She couldn’t help but take a jab at Blue. “Wow. That’s really deep, man.”
“Take it easy, baby.”
She whirled on Raine and shoved her finger against his chest. “Don’t call me baby. I hate it when men call me baby. Got it?”
“Sure. No problem. No need to poke me.” His light attitude put her at ease almost at once.
She blew out a breath and dropped her hands. “I’m sorry. It’s a thing with me.”
“Then what should I call you? Cute stuff? Or maybe Pussy Cheeks? Hey, how about Snuggle Butt?” He feigned a confused yet hopeful expression. Together the emotions were comical.
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Who could stay angry when he put on such a funny face? “How about you use my actual name?”
Pete leaned on his brother’s shoulder. “Naw. That’s too formal. We need a term of endearment for you.”