“Sorry. Rider was just offering to go to the store for me.”
“Was he? That’s nice.”
Jessie wasn’t so enraptured with Rider that she didn’t miss the threatening gleam in Dustin’s eyes directed toward Rider.
“Let me know when you make a list for him. There’re a couple of things he can pick up for me, too.”
“Like what? KFC?” she asked, still stung that Dustin thought she couldn’t cook.
“No, condoms. You made me use the last five I had last night, and I wouldn’t want to get you knocked up before you’re ready.”
One second, Jessie was standing on the steps with her mouth flopping open and closed like a fish out of water. The next, Dustin was fighting Asher and Holt to keep from being tossed over the handrail.
Unconcerned, Rachel took her hand as the women ran up the steps to get out of the way as Greer and Tate knocked Bud out of the way to help Dustin. By the time they were at the top, they were surrounded by men trying to break up the fight or trying to get their own punches in.
Jessie leaned over the handrail to tell them to stop. She couldn’t even see Dustin anymore. She thought he was underneath Bubba, but she couldn’t be sure.
“Let’s go,” Lily said. “By the time we get started on packing, they will be ready to carry the boxes down.”
“Aren’t you worried about Shade?” That the gentle woman didn’t show concern over her husband being in the middle of the men shocked her.
“Of course not. He’s just breaking it up. No one will hit him.”
Jessie let herself be led away by women who were just as unconcerned as Lily.
Unable to resist a last glance downward, she started to tell her that Shade didn’t appear to be trying to break it up when she saw him plant a right hook on the side of Pastor Dean’s jaw. The only one who wasn’t getting their ass kicked was Rider, who was tagging along after the women.
“Get Jo to give you my number so you can text me what you want from the store. I’ll drive it over to your house, so they’ll be there when you get home,” he said, leaning over the handrail to get a good look for himself.
“You’re not going to break them up?”
“Uh … no. Dustin looked like he wanted to break my nose, and I’m attached to it just the way it is.”
She couldn’t blame him. She was kind of partial to it, too.
“We keep a spare key under the frog statue on the porch. How are you going to get down there without getting dragged into the fight?”
“Easy.” Rider walked a couple of steps farther along the landing before hooking a leg over the landrail. Once his foot was over, he brought his other foot over, then jumped down to the bed of Greer’s truck.
“Damn. He’s something else.” Jessie gave a low whistle of admiration at his dexterity as he jumped from the truck to land beside his car.
“Yes, he is,” Jo sighed.
“Are you sure you want to give me his number?”
“Sure. Besides, you have your own hunk.”
Jessie flushed. She had never been connected with any man in town. That Jo believed she and Dustin were an item had her beaming until she saw Dustin toppling down the steps to land on his ass.
Jessie gave a loud sigh. “He’s no Rider.”
Jo gave a commiserating pat on her back as they went into her apartment. “Sorry, there’s only one Rider. But if I ever decide to break up with him, you can have dibs on him.”
“You know, I don’t understand how we haven’t become better friends,” Jessie said, taking a closer look at the woman.
“I don’t either.”
“I only got one question for my new BFF.”
Jo laughed. “What is it?”
“Does Rider come with the car?”
24
“Hell no! I ain’t going to do it.”
“You’ll do it,” Dustin promised Greer. “Or the next time you want me to babysit Rosie so you can have a quickie with Holly, you’re going to be shit out of luck.”
“I hate peanut butter,” Greer complained.
“I eat Holly’s food without complaining.”
“That’s because you’re too lazy to fix your own.”
Dustin took another chicken breast from the bucket that Bliss and Drake had brought, putting it on his plate. Then he took another breast from the one Winter and Viper had brought.
“You going to town on that chicken, aren’t you, brah?”
“One’s original, one’s extra crispy.”
“You’re going to be a lard-ass if you keep eating like that. How you going to eat all those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches after eating it all? It’s your third plate.”
“That’s what I have you for, brah.” Unconcerned about his weight, Dustin scooped a generous portion of green beans, and then an even bigger portion of macaroni and cheese onto his plate. Finding a seat at the end of a picnic table that Greer had borrowed from Viper, he dug into his plate as if he hadn’t just eaten three plates of the same size.