18.

R OSIE

"I'm going to miss y'all," I said before I gave Fauna one more hug. I smiled at Flora over the hood of her SUV and asked, "Will you text me when you get home?"

"Of course," Flora assured me.

"Will you text me when that man of yours gets back from his mysterious errand? If I didn't know better, I might think he was avoiding having to say goodbye because he'll miss us so much."

"Yeah, Fauna, that's exactly why he took off," I said sarcastically.

We turned our heads at the sound of a motorcycle coming our direction, and I heard Fauna mutter, "Who is that? "

"I don't know," I said as he passed us with a nod and then pulled up next to Rooster's cabin. We watched as he parked his motorcycle and then got off gingerly as if his legs might not hold him. After he stomped his feet a few times, he started walking toward the front door, and I said, "Do you think I should tell him that Rooster isn't home?"

"Yes, let's," Fauna said as she started that way.

"I thought y'all were leaving!"

"Remember the other day when I said I needed to find my own big-hearted biker? Looks like the universe heard me."

"Wait a minute!" I yelled as I hurried to catch up.

"Well, shit," Flora muttered as she walked beside me. "At this rate, we're never gonna get home."

"Don't get your panties in a bunch," Fauna called out over her shoulder. "It's only a couple of hours drive."

"Someday, she's going to disappear, and I want to go ahead and tell you right now that I had nothing to do with it."

I burst out laughing and then laughed even harder when Flora raised both hands and flipped us off without turning around. Of course, the man who had ridden up to Rooster's house was watching from the porch since no one had answered the door, and he smiled as he watched our interaction.

"Don't hold anything that either of them say or do against me, okay?" I called out as Flora bounded up the steps.

He didn't have time to answer before my friend was standing in front of him with a big smile on her face. She looked over at me and her sister and said, "I'll take him!"

"Good grief. I can't take that bitch anywhere," Fauna grumbled.

As we walked up the steps, I said, "I can't count the number of times I've said the same thing about you." I stopped next to Flora and introduced myself. "Hi! I'm Rosie and these are my friends, Flora and Fauna."

"Okie," he said in a gravelly voice as he shook my hand. He reached up and touched the brim of the baseball cap he was wearing and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, ladies."

"Oh, yeah. I'll definitely take him," Flora said with a sigh.

"Where are we going?" Okie asked.

"Heaven if I have my way," Flora muttered at the same time Fauna said, "To hell if we don't change our ways."

Okie burst out laughing and then asked me, "Do they come as a set?"

"They're not into that, and even if they were, there's not a man alive who could handle them both at once for any length of time."

"Okay then. Since we're choosin' sides, I guess I'll pick this one," Okie said before he reached up and ran his finger from Flora's earlobe across her cheek to her lips. "Wanna take a ride with me?"

"Hell.Yes."

"We're leaving Flora!"

"Later," Flora said without looking at her sister. When Okie smiled at her, she added, "Tomorrow."

"If that's the case, can I take you to dinner this evening?" Okie asked.

"I'm gonna make you walk home," Fauna threatened.

"Where's home?" Okie asked.

"Colorado Springs."

Okie smiled at Flora before he said, "Well, if you're up for a long bike ride, I could drop you off on the way to my place."

"And where is your place, exactly?" Flora asked.

"Goodwell, Oklahoma."

"That's not really on your way home," Flora pointed out.

"As interesting as you are, I'd travel miles out of my way just to see you smile."

"The shit is getting deep," Fauna mumbled. "Do we need to give them some privacy?"

Okie chuckled before he said, "Actually, I'm here to visit a friend, so I guess not."

"Rooster isn't home," I told him.

"Well, I guess I do have some time," Okie said as he stared down at Flora.

"Do you want me to call and see when he'll be here?" I asked. I really wanted to know, and not just when he'd be back, but where he'd gone so suddenly. I was looking for any excuse to ask so it didn't seem like I was trying to track him.

Our relationship was so new that I didn't feel like I had the right to nose into his business. I was trying to tell myself that if he wanted me to know what he was doing, he would tell me. That didn't jive well with my nature, though, so it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.

"He'll be here shortly, I suppose," Okie said as he motioned toward the chairs on the porch. "Would you ladies like to have a seat while I wait on him?"

"Not in that chair!" Flora said urgently before she pushed him aside and pointed to one of the other chairs. "Sit over there."

"I'm gonna go make some calls because it looks like we won't be going into the office tomorrow after all," Fauna said as she walked back over to the steps. She spun around and pointed at her sister before she said, "And I'm not sleeping on the couch again, asshole. I am taking the air mattress tonight."

"I'll probably just stay here with Rooster again, so you can have my bed if you want."

"Ha!" Fauna shouted before she spun around and stomped toward her SUV, mumbling under her breath the entire time. She was halfway down the walk path when Rooster's truck pulled up, and Flora spotted the woman in the passenger seat at the same time I did. As usual, she was a lot more vocal than me and yelled, "Oh, hell no!"

"Ladies," Okie said as he put his hand on the small of my back and ushered me toward the steps. "If you'd be so kind as to give my friend and I a few minutes alone, I would appreciate it."

"What the hell?" Flora said from beside me as Okie all but pushed us down the steps.

"I'll come get you as soon as I'm done here, sweetheart, and then we'll have that dinner we talked about."

"What's going on here?" Flora asked, setting her feet. "Who is the woman with Rooster, and what are the two of you trying to hide?"

"Nothing at all," Okie answered.

"Finding out you're a shit liar so early in our relationship is a positive start," Flora retorted.

I didn't hear what Okie said because I was watching Rooster get out of the truck. He gave me an uncomfortable smile, and I understood why when I saw his clothes. He was covered in blood, but from the way he was carrying himself, I knew it couldn't be his.

"Just give me a bit to get my friends settled and take a shower, and then I'll tell you as much as I can," Rooster said in lieu of a greeting. "I just need some time, Curious."

"Did you kill someone?"

"No, I did not."

"Whose blood is that?" I asked.

"It's my friend's."

"Who is she?" I asked, tilting my head toward the woman still sitting in the truck.

"She's a friend of a friend?"

"Is that an answer or a question?"

"Both."

"I am so glad we didn't leave," Fauna said as she walked over and stood beside me, as if to show a united front.

"Does she need a doctor?" I asked.

"No."

"Then where'd the blood come from?" Fauna asked.

"As much as I'd love to be able to answer all of your questions right now, standing out here in the open covered in my friend's blood while he bleeds out in the back seat doesn't seem like a good idea."

"He's in the back?" Okie asked as he jogged toward the truck.

"You'll have to carry him because I threw my back out getting his ass up a fucking hill and into the truck," Rooster said, his focus not on us anymore as he motioned toward the woman to get out of the truck. "Listen, I know this looks highly suspicious, but there are things going on that even I'm not all that clear about. This young woman needs a safe place to land while I take care of my friend. I would really appreciate it if you don't give her any shit."

"A safe place?" I asked.

"My friend got bloody trying to help her," Rooster explained.

"Flora, take her over to my cabin and see what she needs. Fauna, go with her and get all the towels from under the sink. I think I saw a first-aid kit . . ."

"I've got one with me that will be perfect," Fauna interrupted.

She ran toward my cabin as Flora walked closer to the truck, and I stopped in front of Rooster. "Go unlock the door so Okie can get your friend inside the house. Have him go straight to the master bathroom and put him in the tub to contain the mess." Rooster's mouth dropped open in shock, and he was still as a statue as he stared at me. I lifted my hand and snapped my fingers in front of his face before I said, "Move, Strange!"

"Holy shit," Rooster muttered before he leaned forward and gave me a kiss. "You're perfect, and no matter what he says to you, remember that he's really a delirious asshole who is always getting into some kind of trouble."

"Who?"

"That's a fact," Okie said as he slowly walked toward the front door with an unconscious man slung over his shoulder. "He must be a cat because this is at least the seventh life I've seen him use."

"Who is that?" Rosie asked as she watched Okie walk away. Suddenly, she shook her head and said, "No. For a second, I thought it was . . . No."

"He's a friend of mine. A club brother."

"So, that means I shouldn't ask any questions, huh?"

"Kind of." As Rooster made for the front door, he said, "It bodes well for our future that you're handling this so calmly, Curious."

"I reserve the right to absolutely freak out later."

"I'd expect nothing less."

◆◆◆

ROOSTER

"Where in the hell did you get her?" Okie asked as I walked into the bathroom to help him settle Ajax in the bathtub.

I chose the huge soaking tub when outfitting my place so that Kerrigan could have as many bubbles as she wanted while she pretended to be a mermaid, not so that I could easily clean up the bloody mess from a gunshot wound. The man from the showroom where I found it hounded me for months about leaving a review about the tub on the company website, but I'd never gotten around to it because I didn't think I'd be able to write anything interesting enough.

But now, looking at Ajax laying limp against the sloping back, I might have a good testimonial after all.

"Don't just smile at me like a loon, Rooster. Tell me where you found her and if that other woman came from the same place because if she did, I'm gonna have to dip into my savings and buy an engagement ring."

"Give it a little bit of time before you get down on one knee, brother. That girl is a firecracker, and you're just dumb enough to try and hold her in your hand."

"I'm not dumb," Okie argued.

"You just said you're ready to marry her just because she didn't freak out that you carried a half-dead man into my house."

"Who's gonna be all the way dead if you girls don't hurry up and finish your makeup and help me get this man to stop bleeding!" Rosie said as she hurried over to the sink and started washing her hands. As she scrubbed her arms all the way up to the elbow, I noticed that she was wearing one of the T-shirts I kept in the rag bin beside my tool box in the garage. "Good grief, you're covered in blood, Rooster. Can you shower, please?"

"Yes, ma'am," I said as I clicked my heels together and gave her a salute. "Anything else I can do for you, your majesty?"

When Rosie just glared at me, Okie burst out laughing. She raised one eyebrow and turned it on him, so he raised his hands as if she were aiming a gun and said, "What can I do, your highness?"

Instead of answering Okie, she said, "I need some scissors."

"What for?"

She reached up and tugged on a lock of her hair that had fallen out of the ponytail and said, "I'm thinking about taking a couple of inches off the back." When Okie just stared at her in shock, she looked at me and asked, "Why are all the pretty ones so damn dumb?"

As Rosie started past me to leave the room for something she needed, probably the scissors she had asked for, I bit my lip to stifle a laugh.

Suddenly, I heard a cough and then my friend's weak voice said, "If that's the case, I'm the dumbest one in the room."

"You're awake!"

"Yes, Captain Obvious, I'm awake," Ajax grumbled. As Rosie rushed back into the room, Ajax pulled a deep breath in through his nose and then said, "I think I must be hallucinating because I swear I heard . . ."

Rosie's eyes widened in horror, and she fell to her knees next to the tub as she screamed, "Uncle Eric?"

I looked at Okie and saw that he was just as shocked as I was, and then I turned to stare at Rosie who had her arms around Ajax's neck. "Oh my God! It's been so long! What happened to you? Who shot you? Do I need to call my dad? He can be here in just a few hours. I'll call the guys. You know they'll come help you too. What about . . ."

"Calm down, Rosie-girl. No need to call in the cavalry just yet. They should save their trip for my funeral."

"Don't say that," Rosie said as she pulled back to look down into his face. "Oh my God. You've been shot!"

"Honey, we've already established that."

"Who the fuck is Eric?" Okie asked in confusion.

"Stop asking dumb question and get me some fucking scissors! "