As soon as we walk into her father’s house, five men look up from their recliners—yes, all five have recliners in this living room that has numerous animal heads mounted on the walls like a bad horror movie intro.
Only her father lives here, but they pretty much all stay here a lot, according to the info I’ve gathered from the Vincent brothers during steak nights.
Shotguns and rifles are also hanging on the walls, as though they want them there for quick access, or their interior decorator was a serial killer.
The one with a semi-grizzly beard—her father—narrows his eyes at the boxers and T-shirt Kylie is wearing.
This is where I start hoping for a quick and merciful death.
Why did I not think about her clothes?
Kylie grins like a devil over her shoulder at me, before returning her attention to her father.
“You guys remember Liam, right? You left me floating in the lake near his cabin last night.”
That humor in her eyes dies as she glares at all of them.
Her father cracks a grin, but the four monstrous cousins start looking around at anything but her.
“You know better than to get drunk first,” her dad says, still grinning.
“I’ll remember that. You’ll remember that too.”
His smile falls.
“You threatening me?”
“You scared?” she muses.
I’m almost positive he pales a little, which I, of course, find fascinating.
“Family rules,” he says carefully. “First one drunk pays the price.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, her eyebrow quirking in challenge.
“Family rules, no one gets to hit a girl, even when she doles out revenge.”
He rolls his eyes.
Then she turns and gestures toward me. “I’m going with Liam. The troopers are here. I’m just grabbing some supplies. He wants me to sleep in his bed tonight, so I thought I’d tell you not to wait up on me.”
I’m going to kill her.
Just as soon as I get out of here alive.
She flashes me that conspiratorial wink, before looking back at her father, who is stroking his beard thoughtfully as he studies me.
“This is where you threaten him to get out of town before you rip off all his limbs and feed them to the bears,” Kylie states flatly, watching him as he studies me.
“I don’t know,” her father says, grinning a little. “Liam is on the official challenge committee. We voted him in this morning.”
That challenge committee is saving me? Thank fuck for Bill helping me sign on.
Kylie’s arms fall to her sides as confusion mars her face.
“I said I’m spending the night with him. In his bed. Where he’ll probably put his hands on me. Lips too. He also has some other body parts you should worry about.”
I cast a glare at her, but she’s too busy staring disbelievingly at her father.
He grins more. “Bill and I have been outnumbered by Chester Perkins and his crew for a long time. With Liam here, we’ll have better odds. The challenges have been weak lately, because those pussies are too afraid to handle the big ones.”
He smirks at me. “You a pussy, Liam?” he asks me.
I shake my head. “No, sir.”
He nods thoughtfully.
“Didn’t think so. Have you told Kylie we’ve met?”
I shake my head again.
“You’ve met?” Kylie asks, her face scrunched adorably in confusion.
Her father smiles, while I keep my mouth shut. Smart men live in silence. Talkers die mysteriously and their bodies never turn up. Now I’m wondering if they end up with the beards. I mean the…bears.
“I was on his land. Didn’t realize anyone had bought the Morris cabin until he showed up at that hunter’s shack in the woods to check out his new property. I was just keeping it up. Hated to see a building that nice run down with no care.”
It’s a total lie he’s telling, but obviously I don’t point that out. He was sure as hell not just keeping the hunter shack up. In fact, I thought he was going to bring it down.
I just didn’t know the identity of the woman he was with, or why he wanted it kept a secret.
Until the wedding.
Now I get it.
And my lips are forever sealed.
Kylie eyes her cousins. “Well? No threats from any of you lot either?” she demands.
They all shrug, unconcerned.
“I think you’d be less likely to try to beat on us if you were getting laid regularly,” one of them says.
My confidence grows a little more when her father laughs at that instead of shooting me with one of those rifles near his head.
In fact, I’m feeling pretty damn good about this whole situation now. I’m not sure why Killian and Hale made it sound like this was going to be difficult. The Malones are far more agreeable than the Vincents were with Benson.