“Special?” Emmie huffs. “Jax Declan just rejected me.” She points at her chest. “Me! I offered to sleep with the man, and the arrogant asshole declined my offer!”
“It’s probably a good thing. You are a little drunk,” I try to reason.
“No shit! That’s what he said,” she slumps back on the sofa, “like he has some kind of morals or something. Dammit, now I just want him more. Men! They’re so confusing.”
“Believe me, they’re not. I know. I do have five older brothers and every single one of them is still single. They’re all afraid of commitment, just a bunch of scared little boys in a man’s body.”
“Your brothers are hot. They can have anyone they want,” Emmie says with a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest. She’s beautiful and has won many beauty pageants. No doubt, it’s difficult for her to deal with rejection. Especially after she just threw herself at the one man she’s always wanted.
“That’s the problem.” I sigh, thinking about Zeke. He can have anyone he wants. Thank God, we didn’t run into him tonight. “There’s no challenge. Once they get the girl, they get bored.”
“Damn straight. When Slate got bored, he cheated on me,” Rayna slurs. “But, hell, when I saw him tonight ...” She clenches her hands. “Ow! I hate him!”
I lean forward, eyeing Rayna. “You still care about him?”
“No.” She points a finger at me. “No! I refuse to have any feelings for Slate Declan. I came here for one reason.” She stands up. “We all came here for one reason, to break the Declan brothers, and ladies, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Now,” she claps her hands, “time for some wine.”
“Great,” I say between clenched teeth. “We already polished off a few bottles tonight and look where that got us.”
“Nuh-uh.” Rayna shakes her head. “Tonight, I’m not listening to your voice of reason.”
“But−”
“Nope.” Rayna hushes me, waving her arms out in the air as she stumbles toward the kitchen.
I glance at Emmie. “Slate and her?”
“Yeah,” she leans forward, rubbing her temples, “they were the real deal. Rayna loved him. Him cheating on her, it crushed her. She wasn’t always this much of a hard-ass. He did that to her. He hurt her bad. She cried for an entire week, and the only way she could get over him was to leave the Bayou, leave her family, and leave everything else she loved, Lady included.”
“Her dog,” I say, recalling Rayna mentioning her.
“Yep,” Emmie says, falling back against the sofa. “At least you don’t have a past with Zeke. Your Declan should be the easiest to break.”
“Are we really going through with this?” I lower my voice. “It’s ridiculous, don’t you think?”
“Rayna needs it.” Emmie sighs. “And I want Jax, so if I have to break him to get him, then that’s what I plan to do. I guess if you don’t want to join the pack, you could just let Rayna know.”
“Right.” I snort. “You know as well as I do that Rayna’s never going to let me out of this.”
“That’s because you’re one of us now. Oh,” she flays a hand in the air, “it’ll be fun. Zeke isn’t a damn superhero or anything. He’s just a guy.”
I slump back beside her. “Oh, I don’t know. He just might be a superhero.” I laugh. I just can’t figure out which one wears the mask—the guy I met at the park or the player I encountered at the bar.
“Who’s a superhero,” Rayna asks carrying three glasses with a full bottle of wine wedged between her side and arm.
“Zeke,” Emmie says, sitting up.
“Hmm.” She tilts her head. “He could be.” She sets the glasses and bottle on the table before sitting down on the floor. “Slate is really superman, ya know.” She giggles, working on the corkscrew until it pops. She starts to fill our glasses. “Zeke’s the avenger.”
“Oh, yeah,” Emmie says. “The boy could fight, and he always picked the biggest jerk in the crowd. Remember that time he kicked Ryker Waller’s ass for making fun of Bucky Morris’ lisp? He hung the jerk from his jeans on the fence at Spray Park.” She starts laughing.
“Yes!” Rayna laughs too. “And Grams showed up. She scolded Zeke in front of everyone and then made him help Ryker down. She was a spitfire. If anyone could handle those boys, it was Grams.” Rayna sets the wine bottle on the coffee table. “I loved Grams.” She sighs and looks at me. “After their parents died, they moved here to live with her. She passed away my senior year. It really messed up Slate. Jax had to take over the store, but Zeke, the youngest one, kept it together. He stayed strong. I always liked Zeke and,” she pauses to look up at me, “I know that you’re going to like him too. Promise, Lurlene. Just take a crack at him. You’ll be surprised what you might find if you can break him open.”