Herd That ARC

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  I rolled my eyes. “It was just one accident, well two.”

  Which was usually where it all started.

  With me, it would begin with something completely innocuous.

  Then it’d turn into something big. I was an accident-prone klutz that always managed to fuck up.

  For instance, two weeks ago, while I’d been in the supermarket, I’d grabbed a bottle of spray that’d had the label torn off of it at some point. When the self-checkout attendant had called for over five minutes for a bar code with no results, I’d offered to go get the code myself.

  During the eight minutes I was gone—it was across the damn store from where I was checking out—I arrived to find the station I was using occupied by an older lady.

  Every single grocery item that she was putting into her cart was some weird organic shit that I never would’ve bought.

  When the attendant had asked me what was wrong, and I explained that my things were gone, she’d informed me that all my items had been returned to the shelves because they’d thought I’d left and wasn’t coming back.

  I hadn’t.

  And instead of going all the way through the store again, I’d gone home pissed off and annoyed. When I’d arrived at home, it was to find out that my granddad had eaten every single piece of meat in the fridge for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meaning I had absolutely nothing to eat.

  The only thing that was left in the house at all at that point was pasta with no sauce to put on it, canned green beans that had been in the same spot so long that there was a thick layer of dust on it, and canned pie filling.

  Which happened to be why I was outside, eating my grandmother’s homemade cherry pie filling straight from the jar, when the damn thing had busted in my hands due to my bright idea to warm it up.

  I’d looked like fucking Carrie.

  “Ready to go?” Ace asked.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll go to the store with you,” Callum said as he looked at Desi. “I need to grab shit for dinner.”

  Desi grinned. “As long as you allow me to eat said dinner.”

  Ace gagged. “You don’t want to. It’s all protein powder and salads and smoothies.”

  Desi tilted her head sideways slightly. “I need to eat healthier… maybe I should learn how to make protein shakes… is there one you recommend for beginners? Ones that won’t make hair grow on my chin and cause my voice to deepen?”

  Callum’s husky laughter followed them out the door.

  “Ready?” Ace asked.

  I nodded my head as I started for the door.

  Ace paused when Mal stood up and stopped his progress.

  “I wanted to invite you to the wedding,” he declared loudly.

  I looked around the restaurant and bit my lip, swallowing hard and wondering if there was about to be a scene.

  “I hope you’ll understand why I won’t accept that invitation,” he said softly. “But I wish you two the best.”

  Mal blinked, then turned to Marjorie who looked heartbroken. Not because she wanted Ace to be there, but likely because he was standing there not giving a shit about anything she said or did.

  Mal frowned. “Really? You won’t come?”

  Ace’s eyebrows lifted up, and he reached behind him to grab for my hand. I gave it to him because it felt like he needed it at that moment in time.

  “Yes, really,” Ace said. “Not only are you having it at the church that my mother went to for help when my father was beginning to act weird, then told her there was nothing wrong. But you’re also marrying my ex-girlfriend who didn’t stand by me when I was at my lowest. Do you honestly think that I’d waste time on either of those things? Not to mention you haven’t really been there for me, either.”

  Mal looked utterly devastated. “We’ll move the wedd—”

  “No, we won’t.” Marjorie stood up, spine stiffened. “We’re having it there. If this asshole doesn’t want to come, he doesn’t have to.”

  Ace grinned.

  “Y’all have a nice day now,” he said as he tugged me toward the door.

  I went, curling my fingers between his, and practically jogged to keep up.

  The moment that we made it outside, his hat once again went onto his head, and he continued his near sprint.

  “Whoa.” I tugged on his hand. “You need to slow down. My legs feel baby giraffe-like. I’m fairly sure you’ll be peeling me up off this concrete if we continue at this pace.”

  He instantly slowed down and offered me an apologetic smile.

  “Sorry,” he said. “They just really piss me off.”

  I shrugged and grinned, not bothering to pull my hand free.

  He still had a very tight hold on it and was keeping it in his as if his life depended on it.

  He walked much slower for me once we put a little distance in between the deli and us.

  “That place was good and all,” he said as he paused to look into a shop window. “But I’m still hungry.”

  I burst out laughing.

  “That’s what I tell Desi!” I cried out. “I’m always hungry when I leave there! And if not then, then immediately after.” I paused. “But that’s also why I order so much food. One itty bitty sandwich and a bag of chips ain’t gonna cut it.”

  He was nodding as if he completely understood.

  “We should go get a snack,” he suggested as his eyes went to something two shops down. “How do you feel about cupcakes?”

  I looked at the cupcake shop under question and felt my resolve not to spend any time with him start to melt away.

  Because he’d just found my weakness.

  Cupcakes.

  Especially Zephy’s cupcakes.

  I looked at him with torture written all over my face.

  “Don’t take me in there,” I whispered. “I’ve managed to make it months since I’ve been home… but the moment we go in there, I’m not going to be able to stop myself ever again. It’s like a living, breathing monster. It’s dampened right now because of space and time since I’ve had it… but wake that beast up…”

  He grinned.

  Then he pulled me into the cupcake place.

  ***

  An hour and a half later, I was lying in the middle of Ace’s living room with Ace on one end of the couch eating another cupcake, and Banks in the armchair with his legs kicked out in front of him.

  “Why did you buy a tree?” Banks asked.

  Ace shrugged. “It’s Christmas. Isn’t that something you normally do when Christmas rolls around?”

  Banks looked physically ill.

  We’d come home with two dozen cupcakes, and between the three of us, we’d demolished half of them.

  Banks and Ace apparently shared their love of food, unlike Callum.

  We’d literally eaten until we were so stuffed that we couldn’t move.

  Yet Ace continued to eat.

  “Why is it you can put away four cupcakes the size of your fist, yet you’re so perfectly toned that you can’t tell?” I muttered darkly.

  I’d probably gain four pounds, one for each cupcake that I ate.

  “Because he’s going to wake up in the morning and run five miles at about seven minutes a mile, and then work his ass off outside all day,” Banks muttered, watching the box still. “Let’s put this tree up.”

  That was how, ten minutes later, I was putting ornaments that were also recently bought from a mom and pop shop just down the road from the gym onto the Valentine tree.

  “I’m not really a good decorator,” I admitted as I hung yet another blue ball in the same two-foot section. “Am I supposed to change these colors up? Or should I just, you know… hang ‘em? I don’t know.” I paused. “This is why I have Desi help with my tree. I suck.”

  Ace laughed and walked up behind me, reaching over my head and hanging a gold ball about a foot over where I’d been hanging my blue balls.

  Then I had an idea. “Y
ou know, we could alternate these colors. You hang the gold balls up high, and I hang the blue ones about mid-way, then another set of gold balls at the bottom… that sound okay?”

  “We’re more of a ‘hang ‘em up wherever,’” Banks rumbled as he hung up a purple ball. A purple ball Ace and I hadn’t even purchased today.

  Frowning, I turned to see him digging in a box that looked like it’d been dug out of an attic where it’d been sitting for twenty years. There was so much dust on it that I could see little particles floating around the lid.

  Then I saw Ace walk over to it with a small smile on his face.

  “Shit,” he said. “Where’d you find these?”

  “In the barn,” Banks said as he backed away to admire the one ball he’d hung. “I made that one in second grade. It says so on the ball.”

  I grinned and walked over to the box, finding a lot of homemade ornaments in there from the span of all the Valentine kids’ childhoods.

  “Oh, look!” I pulled out a picture of a young boy with no front teeth. “I bet they teased you about wanting two front teeth for Christmas.”

  Ace grinned and held it up, then flipped it over so that he could read the back.

  “Not me. Callum. But still a cute little booger. I’m fairly sure all of us had no front teeth at some point during Christmas,” he muttered, walking over to the tree.

  So that was how we spent the next hour, and when Callum finally walked in with Desi in tow, the entire tree was decorated, including every single ornament that was in that dusty box.

  “Oh, shit,” Callum said as his eyes widened. “That’s mom’s stuff.” He swallowed hard. “Glad that Georgia took the other ornaments.”

  I felt my heart skip a beat. The ‘other’ ornaments were the ones that Ace’s youngest siblings had made.

  “She’d started hanging them up on her tree the same year that she’d married Nico.” Ace murmured quietly.

  “Yeah,” Banks said. “All her expensive ornaments were in there, too, but I didn’t want to hang those. I’m afraid she’d come back from the grave and kill us if we broke one hanging it up.”

  Ace started to snicker. “You remember that one time that Darby broke that pink one that she loved so much? I think he cried for days.”

  “No joke,” Banks muttered. “I remember that vividly because it was the one time that Dad wasn’t responsible for it.”

  Everyone went quiet after that.

  “Did you get dinner started?” Ace asked, breaking the silence.

  I pulled out a tub of popcorn that we’d also bought at the store and popped the top, grabbing a handful of the caramel corn instead of the cheese. Both were my favorite, but caramel was the bomb.

  “Shit,” Callum smacked his head. “I totally forgot… we’ll have to order pizza, or the kids will go wild.”

  My brows rose.

  “What kids?” I asked, popping another mouthful of popcorn into my mouth.

  “Georgia’s kids,” Ace answered.

  I started to get up.

  “I guess that’s my cue to head out,” I said as I carefully put the tin back to rights. “I’ll just—”

  “You’re staying,” Desi said, interrupting my words. “I’m staying. Then we’re going to go home and decorate your tree.”

  Desi’s pleading look had me pausing.

  Shit.

  She looked like she was ready to beg.

  I had a feeling that I’d be staying whether I wanted to or not.

  Chapter 7

  Home is where the herd is.

  -T-shirt

  Codie

  The Valentine sister came in like a whirlwind of fury and screams.

  Well, not the sister per se, but the sister’s kids.

  Her husband, the rather large SWAT officer that I’d seen around town a couple of times since I’d been back, looked amused.

  Georgia looked unaffected. As if she dealt with this kind of controlled chaos on a daily basis and wasn’t affected by a few screams or throat punches in the least.

  I looked over at Ace to gauge his reaction to see him grimacing and covering one ear.

  “You don’t like kids?” I asked teasingly.

  Ace grimaced. “I like kids just fine… it’s just that my sister’s kids are a little more awful than most.”

  I snickered. “I think you’re exaggerating.”

  He wasn’t.

  I found that out two minutes later when they nearly knocked the tree over because they couldn’t make it all the way to the couch before they started fighting over who was going to get to serve themselves food first.

  They went from standing to rolling around throwing punches in about two seconds flat.

  “Honestly,” Ace said with amusement lacing his voice. “I really don’t see how I’ll ever want kids after witnessing how yours act. They’re juvenile delinquents.”

  “They’re not as bad as I was,” another of the Valentines came in, this one Darby. “I was way worse.”

  “Give them time,” Banks suggested as he entered the conversation. “They’re only fifteen. Give them five more years, and I’m sure they’ll be there.”

  “They won’t,” Nico said, sounding so sure that I had no doubt he spoke the truth. “I let them fight here, and when we’re at home, but when we’re in public, they’re perfect little angels.”

  I somehow doubted that.

  Maybe when he was around, they were perfect.

  But when he wasn’t? Yeah, there was no way in hell.

  Not with how awful they were acting right now.

  There were six of them in total, and each one of them was its own special kind of dreadful.

  I wasn’t too sure what to think of the kids. Honestly, at first, they were fairly good. But as the night went on, they got progressively worse.

  We were all getting to know each other when the first devil, one of the twins, looked me straight in the eye and asked me why I was there.

  After having answered his question explaining that I was helping his uncles decorate the tree, he then asked if I was sleeping with one of them.

  That was when Nico, the devil’s father, tersely told him to stop, and it really started to go bad.

  Which led to right then, the five children belonging to Nico and Georgia staring at me with complete and utter annoyance at my presence.

  Apparently when one child got reprimanded, they all closed ranks.

  Booth and Bourne were the twins and both of them had their father’s hard eyes. Bell, a beautiful female version of Nico, who I thought to be around seven or eight, was looking at me like she was searching for hidden weaknesses. Then there was sweet Heath. And cute little Daniella.

  Or, at least, she looked cute. Until her mother and father had left to go run an errand. And then Ace, Banks, and Callum had gone outside to the barn to see what other Christmas decorations they could find for the kids to help put up.

  They’d thought they were leaving me with Desi. Except Desi had gone to the bathroom over ten minutes ago and hadn’t come back out since.

  Which left me alone with them.

  “Do you like Ace?” Bell asked sweetly.

  I’d never been around kids before. I was unsure if I had to answer her or not.

  “Well?” Booth prodded.

  My eyes swung to him.

  “Yes,” I answered. “As well as one person could like another person, I guess.”

  They didn’t need to know what the actual status of my relationship with their uncle was.

  Did they?

  I mean, they didn’t need to know that their uncle gave me butterflies when he walked in the room. Or looked at me. Or I smelled him. Or when I saw his ass in a pair of Wranglers.

  Shit.

  I flushed and looked away, my eyes going out the kitchen window in hopes that I’d see the Valentine men heading back to the house.

  Did I mention how uncomfortable I was around kids
?

  “What exactly does ‘as well as one person could like another person’ mean?” Bourne asked.

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  He looked like he was enjoying the line of questioning, as well as how uncomfortable I was.

  The boys were definitely going to be little killers. Not lady killers. Actual goddamn killers. I could see the dangerous glint in their eyes. They were exactly like their father, down to the way they dressed.

  “It means that he’s my neighbor and I like him as a person,” I admitted.

  I sat back on the couch and crossed my arms defensively over my chest, wondering if I could just make a run for it.

  I was seriously considering it, even cataloging my chances of making it to the door without causing all four of them to pounce on me like rabid dogs.

  Finally, I decided to hell with it.

  Getting up, I walked across the room and straight out the front door. I didn’t even bother to close it behind me. Just got up out of my chair and left.

  Unfortunately, my workout clothes were still slightly damp from my workout and spilling my water over myself, twice. Meaning the moment I got outside into the quickly chilling evening air, I instantly started to shiver.

  Taking the steps down from the porch two at a time, I made it to the end of the walk right as Nico pulled back into the driveway in his large black truck.

  The truck suited him, I decided.

  Dark like his soul… and his kids’ souls.

  Ignoring them both, I took a hard right at the first pasture gate and let myself through, closing it securely behind me.

  My eyes automatically started scanning for the horses that were usually in this pen, but I decided that Ace or one of the brothers had already gotten them put up for the night.

  I made it all the way out of the pen, and to the pasture gate that would lead over to our property. Eventually.

  I was glad that Ace had moved Scooby earlier in the week, because that kept me from having to take the long way around.

  I got all the way to the first fence, and was about to hop it, when I heard the approaching hoofbeats.