Page 103 of Filthy Fae

Cody climbed out, looking us over warily. It had been four years since I’d seen him, but he looked ten years older. I figured whatever had gone down with Maria must have been hard on him, too.

“What happened?” Sawyer asked. “You get your Jeep stuck and need a woman to come push you out?”

“Sexist much?” Amber asked.

Waylon strode right past Cody, grabbed Amber’s face in his hands, and kissed her real hard right there in the driveway.

When he let her go, Cody cleared his throat. “Figured she was Sawyer’s gal.”

“She ain’t yours,” Sawyer said.

Cody frowned, then nodded. “Guess I deserved that one, too.”

“Get the fuck off our property,” Waylon said.

“It ain’t just your property,” Cody said. “You’re a smart man, Waylon. Wouldn’t think you’d have such a hard time remembering that.”

“You think you’re going to come barging in like this whenever you want?” Waylon asked. “After four years gone?”

“I figured I’d have a look around at the very least,” Cody said. “Like it or not, this ranch belongs to me, too.”

“Like hell it does,” Waylon said, taking a threatening step toward him. “You made a choice four years ago.”

“That choice had nothing to do with this ranch,” Cody said. “And I apologized. All I’m asking is for you to hear me out, to give me a second chance. Doesn’t every man deserve that much?”

“Not every man,” Waylon said, turning toward the house, his arm tight around Amber’s waist.

“I’ll hear you out,” I said quietly.

Waylon stopped, his back still to us.

“I’m not saying you’ll be forgiven,” I said to Cody. “I’m not saying you’ll get a second chance. But even a guilty man gets to plead his case.”

“Thank you,” Cody said gruffly.

“Ah, hell, why not?” Sawyer said. “I’m not much for holding grudges, and this is the time of year for being charitable.”

We all turned to Waylon, whose shoulders were stiff, his back still turned. “Then do it somewhere else,” he said. “He’s not welcome here.”

“You won’t hear him out?” I asked.

“No.”

“All right,” Sawyer said with a shrug. “What do you say we go have a drink?”

I didn’t like leaving Waylon, and if Amber hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have gone. I didn’t like to think of him stewing alone, the way he did. But now we had Amber, and I couldn’t think of anyone who could make him feel better than she could. It was something I hadn’t considered her bringing to the table when she’d moved here permanently—some freedom if a couple of us wanted to go out and the other didn’t. This way, we didn’t have to worry about our brother. Amber would take care of him.

6

Amber

Inside, Waylon dropped his arm from around me and stomped off to the office, cussing up a storm. I warmed up by the fire and then decided I should do something to make us both feel better. Christmas cookies seemed the obvious answer, so I turned on some carols to cheer me up while I whipped up a batch and slid them in the oven. With the smell of sugar and vanilla in the air, I went to find Waylon.

He was standing in the office, staring out the window at the driveway.

“They’ll be fine,” I said, coming up behind him and sliding my arms around him. “Your brothers love you. They’re not going to run off with Cody.”

“Of course not,” he snapped. His whole body was tense, like a snake about to strike. “They’re not women.”