“What did I miss?” We’re interrupted by Asa and Montana making their grand appearance. I’m up and out of my seat, running to my best friend, wrapping my arms around her shoulders, hugging her tightly. “I’m married!” Montana jumps up and down with me, both of us acting like how we usually do—crazy, outrageous, and loud when we’re together.
“My best friend is married! Oh my gosh, let me see the ring!” We block out the men in the group. I already know Tanner and Keller are glaring daggers at Decker. They’ll just have to wait. This is my moment with my ride-or-die friend, and I’m going to soak it up.
“Oh shit, baby sister pulled the least expected.” Asa pulls me out of Montana’s arms and wraps his around me in a bear hug.
“Do me a favor and tell the two other bozos to at least listen to my husband.” I wouldn’t have thought that Asa would be so cool, calm, and collected. Truth be told, that would have once upon a time been Deke, but Jesus, that brother of mine has become a recluse, hard to get ahold of and completely closed off.
“Ah shit, well, there are some things even superheroes like me can’t fix, but I’ll try my best. I’m thinking, though, baby sis, it might be time for you to take Montana inside and let us menfolk talk. Mainly Decker, yeah?” He squeezes me one last time and kisses the side of my head.
“I suppose you might be right; I’ll just go let him know what I’m doing. Be nice to him, okay? If you think our family has drama, you’ll be sorely mistaken.” I leave Asa with those parting words, giving him a hint of just what Decker’s been through. Hopefully, it evens the playing ground when it comes to my brothers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
decker
“Hey, Decker, seems you’re in quite a pickle.” Asa walks closer to the table. I stand up to shake his hand, seeing how he’s the only one of the Hart brothers who are here, at least, to do it. From what Leena mentioned, Deke is off in his own world, fucking off and being a dickbag. Though she loves him, at the same time, it doesn’t keep her from wanting to throttle Deke at times.
“Hey, nice to meet you, Asa, and you’re not wrong about that.” Asa takes the seat Leena vacated but gets up again when he realizes something.
“Beer?” he asks the group, moving to the mini fridge that’s attached to the outdoor kitchen that built of sleek stonework, matching the pavers on the ground, giving way to a pool. It has me thinking that it won’t be long until my niece and nephew will want a place to crash that has more than a pond to fish in and a game room.
“Sure,” I respond. The other men chime in, and Asa hands out the bottles of beer to each of us.
“Alright, last time we all opened our mouths, myself included, you remember what happened? Montana was crying, Leena was pissed and ready to walk away from Hart Construction forever. So, while I don’t know a whole lot except the fuck-up and that Williams Concrete fixed it and made sure we settled the right way. why don’t we let Decker here take the floor Plus, if Dad’s okay with little sister being married and to him, he must be an okay guy.” Shit, why I ever second-guessed Leena when it came to thinking all of them would want to kick my ass, I don’t know. I guess two out of four ain’t all bad, though who knows what Deke would do if he were here.
“I’ll interrupt this with a few sentences,” Bob says, sitting up in the chair, beer in his hand after guzzling a good portion of it since Asa made his rounds, making me do the same. Fuck, it’s not easy to admit your own flesh and blood was out to sabotage you and your family. “Your mother and I didn’t raise foolhardy idiots; well, we didn’t think so until lately, at least when it comes to our boys. Your sister has a good head on her shoulder, can see a weak link a mile away. She’s an observer, doesn’t say much unless it counts. So, yes, your mother and I will stand by her decision of marrying Decker. We all owe it to her to listen to what he has to say, even if we don’t agree with it. My family is not going to be torn apart again. Got one kid in Alabama. I’m still working on getting home; might know just how to do it, too,” Bob finishes, then sits back in his seat and brings the beer to his lips again, taking a hardy sip. I guess my time to talk is here.