14.

Somewhere out there, someone is thinking about you and the tremendous impact you had on their life.

It's not me. I think you're an idiot.

Text from Amethyst to Hawk

T AMA'I

"Have you lost your mind?" I heard my friend Hawk call out from somewhere to my right, but I didn't look over until I was done with my set. When I finished my count, I unhooked my legs from the parallel bar and then flipped backward and landed on my feet. "What the fuck are you doing?"

I looked toward the sound of Hawk's voice and found him walking across the grass with three men. I recognized Adam Forrester, Hawk's cousin who had given me a tour of the available houses here at Lonestar Terrace. One of the other men looked familiar for some reason. I was sure I'd met him somewhere before but couldn't remember his name. The other man had a baby strapped to his chest in one of those sling carrier things.

"I'm knitting a scarf. What does it look like I'm doing?" I asked when they were close enough so that I didn't have to yell.

"Causing a wrinkle in the space-time continuum by setting the phone lines on fire with gossip and waking up every damn woman in a three-mile radius."

"Well, I'm not knitting, but I'm not doing that either," I said with a bark of laughter.

"Oh, but you are," the man with the baby said as he shook his head sadly. "I was planning on having a nice, relaxing morning. I thought I'd get the baby back to sleep and then snuggle up with my old lady, but then her phone started going off before she got dressed and left for God knows where."

"I had plans, too, but Rain got a call and took off too," the familiar-looking man said as he stopped at the end of the monkey bars and reached up to test their stability. "I don't even know if I can do what you were doing."

"Try it," Hawk encouraged.

"You try it," the man argued.

"Fuck it. I'll try it," Adam said as he stepped up next to the first man.

Hawk scoffed. "Neither of you can handle it. Let me show you how it's done."

"I'm just gonna stand here and look pretty with Star."

"Pussy. You know you can't do it," Adam challenged.

"I sure the hell can!" the man with the baby argued.

"Prove it. I've got ten that says you can't do twenty reps," Hawk goaded.

"You better jump up there, fucker," the man growled as he started undoing the straps of the sling. Suddenly, he thrust the baby toward me and said, "Hold her while I school these assholes."

I didn't have a chance but to take the baby who was staring at me with wide eyes. I smiled at her while the men around me argued good-naturedly and then held her against my chest while I watched the competition that was forming.

"You're gonna have to be an impartial judge," the man who'd given me his baby to hold said as he stretched his arms above his head in preparation for the competition that was brewing. "Star can help."

"Is that your bike in front of Amy's place?" the man with the white streak in his hair, asked.

"Tiny, I guess I should introduce you to these rude asses," Hawk said as he started twisting at the waist to stretch his core. "The guy with the baby is my cousin, Ruf. That's his daughter, Star, you're holding. The guy with the skunk hair is Lucky, and you know Adam, of course."

"It's nice to meet y'all," I said as I settled myself down on one of the swings not far from the monkey bars and used my toe to gently sway back and forth to soothe the baby who wasn't nearly as comfortable in my arms as her father's. "What are the parameters of the competition? Are you just trying to get to twenty reps or see who can do the most?"

"And you can't forget the dismount," Hawk added. "Been an age since I did that shit, and I'm probably gonna bust my head open, but it looked cool."

"We're all gonna end up in traction," Adam said sadly as he put his hands on the bars and leaned forward, probably to stretch out his abs.

"What are you assholes doing out here at the crack of fucking dawn?" Phoenix, Hawk's brother, asked as he jogged toward us. "I was just in my house, minding my own fucking business, when I was invaded by your women who took over my coffee pot and are huddled in front of the picture window watching you fools out here measuring your dicks."

I saw Hawk wave at someone behind me and turned to find an audience of women, all holding coffee mugs, filing out onto the front porch of a house across the street from the park.

Hawk motioned for the women to join us and yelled, "Come on over, ladies. We need you to help keep score."

"I've got twenty on you, babe!" one of the women called out as she walked toward us. "You've got this!"

Lucky, the man with the stripe in his hair, preened from the attention and then elbowed Adam and said, "You're going down, old man."

"Fuck you," Adam scoffed. "Lazy ass."

"I didn't get this pretty being lazy," Lucky argued.

"If you try and hang with the young folks, you're gonna end up in traction," Hawk teased.

"You keep talking shit, and you're gonna end up in traction," Adam threatened. He yelled, "Em, come whip your cousin. He's talking shit."

"When is he not talking shit?" the woman retorted as she got closer.

"Are y'all gonna stand around or do some work?" the blonde woman I'd met at Dub's wedding and recognized as Hawk's old lady asked. She clapped her hands and said, "Get to it, babe. I've got twenty on you."

"What are all of you doing awake at this ungodly hour?"

Suddenly, I realized that Amethyst was walking my way, and it took everything I had not to laugh at her appearance. She was still wearing her sleep bonnet and had on a tank top and a pair of men's boxers with slippers that looked like bear paws. In her hand, she held a large aluminum mug that I hoped was filled with coffee because she still looked half-asleep and probably needed the pick-me-up.

Without any other greeting, Amethyst dropped a quick kiss on my lips and then sat down in front of me on the rubber mulch that covered the ground and promptly started talking shit to the men in front of us.

"You're too puny to play with the big dogs, birdbrain. Go sit down, and be quiet!"

"Do you hear her talking trash, Brighten?" Hawk asked the blonde woman. "Are you gonna let that slide?"

"Are you gonna whoop all their asses and leave them crying on the ground at our feet?" she asked.

"Of course," he boasted.

"Then there's no need to interact with the riffraff since they'll see you're the best when it's all said and done."

"Riffraff?" Adam's pregnant girlfriend asked incredulously. She scoffed and then looked over at Amethyst and said, "Take care of my lightweight, little sister."

Suddenly, I put two and two together and realized the woman must be Emerald, Amethyst's oldest sister who was engaged to Hawk's cousin. Or she was his cousin . . . but so was he and . . . I shook my head, knowing that mapping out the family tree wasn't something I'd likely ever be able to do. I looked down at the sweet little girl in my arms. She was still blinking at me even though she'd stopped squirming, so I kept the steady rhythm of the swing going in the hopes of keeping her calm.

"I see why Mom gets all mushy and teary-eyed about it now," Emerald said as she studied me. "I'm feeling a little misty-eyed myself."

"That's not what I'm feeling," Amethyst muttered as she looked at the baby in my arms.

A woman I hadn't met yet sat down next to Amethyst and reached out to touch the baby's foot before she said, "When Ruf stretches out in the recliner, shirtless with the baby on his chest, my ovaries start doing somersaults." She smiled at me and said, "Hi. I'm Jovi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I said as I stuck my hand out to shake hers. "Is this your little girl?"

"She is."

"Do you want to take her?" I asked.

"I'll kill you where you stand," Amethyst threatened in a menacing voice.

"And that's a no," Jovi said with a grin before she turned to watch the men preen and stretch, getting ready for their competition. "Are your ovaries doing backflips, Amy?"

"Pickle you, cootie queen," Amethyst retorted.

"I got puked on by two of your patients this week, and now you're telling me to pickle off? Rude."

"I found a pile of human shit in the master bedroom closet of a house I was showing yesterday," Hawk's woman blurted.

"Puke is still worse," Jovi said nonchalantly.

"I love my job," Rain, Lucky's girlfriend, said as she laid down on the grass and propped herself up on one elbow so she could see the men bickering. "And the more I listen to all of you talk about your jobs, the more I realize that the best part of mine is that I don't have to talk to people."

"What do you do for a living?" I asked.

"I'm an accountant."

"I'm a tattoo artist."

"I know, honey," Rain said with an odd smile.

"That was rude," Amethyst snapped.

Rain asked, "Am I supposed to pretend that the hot new tattoo artist hasn't been the subject of multiple conversations lately?"

Her explanation made me feel better since I'd thought she was looking down on me for my profession.

"We all know he was on that television show because Fain and Wrath were arguing at the wedding about who got to keep him."

"I remember that," Emerald said. "They played rochambeau, right?"

"Technically, I had already made the choice to move to Rojo before I even met the Tempest family." Emerald shrugged as if she was dismissing my decision and thought I'd have ended up in Colorado Springs if the brother who owned that location of Tempest Tattoos had won the game. "I moved here to watch over my niece and nephews while their parents are deployed."

Emerald leaned closer and asked, "How is that going?"

"She's a shrink," Amethyst said with an eye roll. "You'll have to get used to that."

Without thinking, I asked, "Does that mean you're keeping me around?"

"How does that make you feel?" Emerald asked, her gaze intense.

"Back off, Cujo," Amethyst warned. She looked at me and smiled before she said, "You don't have to answer her. Sometimes she forgets that we're not her test subjects."

"Have you ever looked at our family? There are so many cases to study," Emerald said dreamily.

"Do you own a mirror?" Amethyst asked.

"Here you go, Amy," Brighten said as she thrust her coffee mug toward Amethyst. "Let's avoid bloodshed so early in the morning. I've already got a load in the washer and the dryer, so there's no way I'll be able to get rid of bloodstains before they set."

Amethyst ignored her friend's comment but took the mug. After she'd had a sip, she moaned and then asked, "Speaking of mirrors, why did you put a towel over the one in the bathroom?"

I shrugged and said, "That's what we do."

"We, as in a collective of . . ." Emerald let her voice trail off, leading me to give an explanation.

"In my culture, you cover the mirrors with something so that the dark spirits won't come to you at night if you accidentally look at your reflection."

Amethyst blinked a few times and then asked, "You cover all the mirrors in your home every night?"

"In my sister's house, all the mirrors tilt so that you can't see your reflection," I explained without exactly answering her question.

"Hmm," Amethyst said, her expression thoughtful.

"Are we talking about dark spirits like ghosts or something more sinister?" Rain asked.

"It depends on who you ask."

"Have you ever seen one?" Rain asked.

"No, but I've never tried. I'm not going to either."

"Big guy like you shouldn't be afraid," Emerald teased.

"Size is relative. Evil can seep in through the smallest cracks, and before you know it, everything you thought you knew is wrong."

"Are you speaking from personal experience?" Emerald asked.

"And we're out," Amethyst said as she suddenly stood up. She reached out and tugged on my hand so I would stand. "He promised me breakfast."

"Lucky dog," Jovi said enviously. "We're gonna be stuck here for an hour watching them try to one up each other."

"Come on," Amethyst said as she pulled me toward her house. I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye because she was moving at a fast clip like a woman on a mission.

We were already inside her house when I realized I was still carrying the baby. I looked down at her in shock and then toward the door, expecting an angry mob, or at least her parents to come barrelling in any second.

"What's wrong?"

"I've still got their kid," I said in shock.

"Oh," Amethyst said with a shrug as she set the two mugs down on the side table. As she walked over to the closet, she asked, "At least she's not screaming, right?"

"But . . ." I stopped talking as Amethyst pulled out an infant bouncy seat and a basket of toys and supplies.

"They'll come get her when they're ready."

"But I . . . They just . . ."

"It's not like you kidnapped her."

"I kind of did, didn't I?"

"Nah. They know where she is, and I'm clearly qualified to care for infants." Amethyst took the baby from my arms and held her close as she leaned down and took a deep breath. In a voice full of awe, she said, "She's got the smell."

"What do we do with her?"

"Knowing who her father is, I'd have to say the most important thing we can do for the next twenty years or so is make sure she doesn't get her hands on any weapons or matches. Basically anything sharp or flammable. The Forrester spawn are all unpredictable except for anything that has to do with engines, explosives, or fire."

"What happens then?"

"They race it, blow it up, or torch it," Amethyst said as if that was a given. "They're generally harmless as long as you know what to watch for."

"You make them all sound like they're certifiable."

Amethyst balanced the baby against her chest and reached out to pat my arm. "Honey, you have no idea."

"Can I borrow these?" Aspen asked as she walked like a supermodel across the kitchen, the heels on her feet tapping on the tile.

"You need to practice walking in them before you . . ."

"Absolutely not!"

"Those are fantastic!"

The young woman didn't seem phased that there were three people talking to her at once and answered, "I know they are, aren't they? I'll practice before I go anywhere . . ."

"You are not going anywhere in hooker heels like that, Aspen," Emerald informed her daughter. "You are fourteen, and there's no reason to . . ."

"I like these!" Loralei, the other young woman - I thought she might be Adam's daughter - said as she pranced out into the kitchen and did a pirouette. "What do y'all think?"

"Oh, hell no!" Adam called out from the living room. "Go take those off before you give me a coronary!"

"Where are you finding these shoes?" Emerald asked. She looked at Amethyst and said, "Why in the hell do you have shoes like this? I can't even remember the last time I saw you dress up, and I've never seen you wear either of those."

"She can't because she staggers around like a giraffe with vertigo if she puts on anything with a heel," Diamond, Amethyst's other sister who had joined the impromptu get together half an hour ago, chimed in. "Oh! That reminds me! Can I borrow your black platform boots?"

Amethyst ignored her sister and leaned closer to me as she squeezed my thigh. "I'm not sure if you're trying to punish yourself for some unimaginable sin or if you're honestly interested in all of this chaos, but I have to say that at any point you are welcome, and probably even expected, to run off and join the boys so you can burp and scratch and do all the things."

"I am out of my element here," I admitted.

"I'm sorry our breakfast together got hijacked by my family."

"I'm not. It gives me a lot of insight into you just by your interactions with them," I admitted.

"I hope you don't take anything you've seen in the last hour to heart. There are members of my family who make me want to go full Godzilla and raze the entire town every time I have to interact with them for more than five seconds."

"The birdbrains?"

Amethyst rolled her eyes and said, "I've been arguing with them my entire life, and they still haven't realized that they lost the fight twenty years ago."

"History like that is priceless."

"So are dinosaur turds, but you don't see them stinking up my living room."

I burst out laughing and Amethyst squeezed my leg again before she leaned in and gave me a quick kiss. "I'm glad you packed for two nights because I don't think we're going to get any alone time until well after dark."

"They're all going to stay until bedtime?"

"No, but I have to go pick up Squid and Bella this evening and then deliver them home. You don't have to go on that adventure if you don't want to."

"If you're there, then I want to."

"That's sweet."

"Remember how we never quite finished our conversation about where this is going?"

"I remember," Amethyst admitted, recalling that she'd tried her best not to answer my question last night and not willing to get into it right now.

"I'm not going anywhere unless it's by your side, Lalelei."

"You think you want to stick around, huh?" Amethyst asked with a grin.

"I know I do."

"Keep that thought in mind, big guy, because this morning's invasion is just the tip of the iceberg."

"Do you have a shovel? If you don't, we've got one in our shed," one of the little boys who'd come over with Crow a few minutes ago asked when he stopped in front of Amethyst.

"Of course you do," Amethyst mumbled. "I know I'm going to regret asking this, but why do you need a shovel, Koda?"

"There are two ant colonies in your backyard," the other little boy explained. He looked at me and asked, "Did you know that if you take half the ants from one colony and add them to the other they'll go to war and kill each other?"

"I didn't know that," I admitted.

"You take half from colony A and put it in colony B and then repeat so that there are roughly half of each colony in each space. Both areas will have a war to the death, and you eradicate the pest problem naturally."

"Oh," I said in shock. "How old are you?"

"Is that true, Griff?" Hawk asked as he joined us in the kitchen.

"Absolutely," the little boy answered.

"That's freaking cool," Ruf said as he walked toward the back door. "Let's do it."

"Shovel?" Koda asked Amethyst.

"There are shovels in the shed," Amethyst answered.

"Are you coming to watch the show?" Crow asked me as he followed Ruf outside. Adam and Lucky were close behind along with a few others who had wandered in gradually.

"Go play mad scientist with the boys, Tama'i, but please don't let them corrupt you."

"You know I've spent time with men who are much wilder and crazier than these guys, right?"

"You think that now, but I'm doubtful. You'll see."

I gave her a quick kiss and then hopped up to go outside and join the guys. Just before I pulled the door shut behind me, I heard one of the women say, "Thank God they're finally gone. Amy, tell us everything! "

In a way, I wished I could be a fly on the wall for that conversation, but then Koda and Griffin appeared at the shed door with their shovels. I realized I was eager for this adventure, even if it was led by a mini-maniacal genius and his partner in crime.

That wasn't why I was so happy to be here, though. No, I was happy because Amethyst wasn't far away, and I had the promise of more time with her - as soon as we finished watching the ant invasion and the human invasion finally left her house.

For once in my life, I felt like I was right where I was meant to be.