Rattle Some Cages (Battle Crows MC 3)

Swayze sighed. “What about who heard this agreement to y’all’s marriage?” she then asked. “Was it friends? Family? Was it your boss?”

I thought about that for a second. “Actually, none. It was his brother. One that didn’t visit all that often.”

Swayze hummed. “That you might be able to work with. Him telling family is usually not enough in and of itself. You can’t have a secret common law marriage.”

There was a long moment of silence while we digested that. “I never once referred to our relationship as a marriage. He was always my fiancé. And when I got my mail at his place, it wasn’t even routed like that from the post office. Cole just knew the mail delivery guy for the area and asked him to have my mail delivered there. Without my knowledge, I might add. And I never once called him my husband, or even thought about calling him my husband.”

My head was officially hurting.

“So what now?” I wondered.

“Now, Cole can either take it to court, or he can’t. I would just wait and see,” Swayze added.

I pinched my eyes closed and wished that my head wasn’t pounding.

“What if I want to get married?” I wondered. “Will I always have this hanging over my shoulder?”

“Technically, it could be a possibility,” she admitted. “One of the best suggestions I have is to go ahead and get a court ruling so you don’t have to wonder what if.”

I grumbled under my breath.

“What if she was common law married before she was with Cole?” Price interjected.

“Then that would make Cole’s claim invalid. Because you were already married,” Swayze said. “And, since I’m sure I can see where this is going, I’ll let you go before you bring me further into it, just in case. Have a good one.”

With that, Swayze signed off, and I looked at Price like he was crazy.

“What are you talking about?” I finally asked.

“I’m talking about the fact that I know a few people that are really good on computers. People that are good with faking shit and making it look real.” He paused. “If you were common law married to say, me, when you were eighteen, then that would make Cole’s claim invalid.”

CHAPTER 15

Today, I don’t feel like doing anything. Except my wife. I’d do her.

-Price to Sabrina

SABRINA

My cat was now gone, permanently living with my neighbor—an elderly woman that loved cats more than I think she liked people.

I was living with a man.

And I was married to said man.

Oh, and there was a very irate woman on the other side of the door staring at me and her brother as if we’d both betrayed her.

“You… what?” Cannel asked very carefully.

As if she was giving her brother time to change his answer.

“We’re married,” Price repeated verbatim.

Cannel shook her head, as if doing so would clear the words from her brain.

Good luck, sister. I was still trying to do the same thing myself.

“How did that happen?” Tide asked curiously.

He didn’t contradict his brother, but he did have skepticism in his voice.

The entire family was there. Even the eldest of the Crow bunch, Derringer and Reedy—two very attractive older people that let me know in just a quick glance that Price and their entire family would age well if their parents were any indication.

I wasn’t sure how it happened.

One second I was at my home, and the next I was in Price’s home with all of my belongings.

How did that happen?

Crow brothers.

Oh, and Easton, the man that’d given me the kitten in the park.

The man that’d helped Price stalk me.

I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that yet.

On one hand, I was happy that he’d never left me. That he’d kept an eye on me the entire time. But on the other, I was a little miffed that he saw me struggling and didn’t do anything about it.

That, and I wanted to know why. Why did he ignore me? Why did he stalk me instead of spending the time with me he’d obviously put into following my every move?

I had questions that weren’t being answered, and I was getting to be kind of pissed about it.

Who wouldn’t?

“What are you talking about right now?” Cannel hissed. “You’re joking, right?”

There was a long moment of silence and then, “I’m not.”

Those words felt like they were pulled from Price’s soul.

I turned to look at him and realized that I was missing something. Something big.

“Price,” Cannel whispered, sounding broken.

I felt my heart sink.

“What’s going on?” I asked quietly.

I had no clue what was going on, but I had a feeling that whatever it was had to be the reason Price had stayed away.

The signs were all there, and every single flaming arrow pointed directly at me.

“Can I talk to you a moment?” Price asked quietly.

Cannel. He was talking to Cannel and not me.