Fuel the Fire (Calloway Sisters 3)

“Give me a minute,” he says with edge, clearly flustered.

Daisy cringes and turns sideways to shield her eyes. “I’m really sorry, guys.” She sets a hand on her dog’s head who finally heels next to her. “Coconut, be chill.” That name is going to be shortened a million horrendous ways except for mine.

“Coco, don’t drag snow into the house again.” Then I shoo her off with my hand.

“Queen Rose, already giving the dog chores,” Lo quips. It wasn’t a chore. It was an order. You know what—if he has time to say things like that to me, then he has time to read a few pages and sign his name.

I’m about to say so when Ryke runs into the room, fast. He bumps my shoulder on his way to Daisy.

“Fuck,” he curses, slowing to a stop.

I wonder if his stitches… “You shouldn’t be running, Ryke,” I say.

He’s heard this phrase too many times since being home from the hospital that he just simply ignores it now. “You didn’t hurt me,” he says.

“Of course I didn’t, you ran into me.” That sounded so bitchy.

The concern in his face pumps guilt into my blood stream. “Did I hurt you?” he asks, eyes flitting across my body. He’s not his brother. It’s ten times easier saying mean things to Loren, and I forget to tone down my hostility for him.

“I’m fine,” I assure him, and then I turn to Loren. “Can you please hurry?”

He’s still trying to find his underwear by sliding his hand across the mattress, Lily nothing more than a lump under the blankets, hiding from Ryke.

This is a clusterfuck.

Loren lets out a frustrated noise, and I head to his dresser, opening the top drawer and tossing him the first pair of underwear I see.

He doesn’t even look slightly appreciative. Now clothed, he searches for Lily beneath the comforter instead of the contracts. He gets a pass. My sister ranks above all material things.

“What the fuck is going on?” Ryke asks, really confused.

Connor’s voice sounds beside the door frame. “You all interrupted Lo and Lily having sex, clearly.”

“I’m so sorry,” Daisy says for the fifteenth time, at least it seems like that many.

“Stop saying that,” Lo tells her.

Daisy is now kneeling next to Coco, the dog nuzzled against her body. The animal is trained for much more than just providing comfort. Hopefully she’ll help Daisy with her nightly troubles and panic.

“I thought the dog already earned her certificate,” Connor says. “Why is she running into rooms?”

“She still has to adjust to the house and the people in it,” Ryke explains. “Huskies like to explore. I didn’t buy a fucking lab because I thought Daisy would like this breed better.”

Daisy looks up at Ryke with the sincerest type of love in her eyes. He knows my sister well.

Ryke adds, “Two more weeks of training at the house and she’ll be used to everything.”

“You can’t train Nutcake here,” Loren says. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy.”

“Number one,” Ryke begins, “don’t confuse the fucking dog. We’ve been through this—it’s either Coconut or Nutty. Nothing else.”

I set my hands on my hips. “I put in a proposal for Coco, and I specifically remember gaining two votes.” I point at Daisy and my husband.

“Everyone could only vote once,” Daisy says with apologetic eyes. “They counted my vote with Lily’s for Coconut, and then Ryke and Loren went with Nutty.”

Did everyone fail second grand math? Hello? “I still have two votes. We are two people.” I gesture from my chest to Connor’s, who walks closer to me in the bedroom, his arm slipping around my waist.

“Your husband changed his vote,” Lo says with a dry smile.

Connor looks hardly scared by my withering glare. He should be scared. He sleeps with me.

“Tell me you sided with my sisters at least,” I say.

“If I told you that, it’d be a lie.”

My mouth falls and then I swat his arm off me.

He’s actually grinning. “This wasn’t a husband-wife, husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend kind of vote.” I know what he means. All the guys voted together, and I was the dissention among the girls. Fine.

“And number two,” Ryke continues to his brother, “I’ve been taking it easy for practically two months. I’m not a fucking invalid.”

He hasn’t been taking it easy. He runs every morning, and I’ve even caught him lifting weights in our basement gym when he’s not supposed to be. He’s bored and restless and reminds me far too much of my little sister.

His itch to climb can’t be scratched for another month or so, and it’s what really bothers him. Daisy told me that no other activity really seems to fill his need to rock climb.

Connor breaks the brief silence. “I think it’s about time we had a certified, potty-trained dog in this house.” Both Ryke and Loren’s shoulders slacken almost instantly, and then Ryke flips off Connor, a smile almost attached too.

“Leeaaafff.” The mumbled words come from underneath the comforter.

“Lil wants you all to leave. As do I,” Loren says.

“Not yet.” I snatch the contracts and set them back in Lo’s hands.

“Sorry,” Daisy says again, on her way out with Coco…nut. I internally cringe.

“Daisy.” Lo shakes his head at her apology that shouldn’t exist in his eyes. I actually love that he’s reinforcing this with her, as Ryke always does. She apologizes for almost everything, just gut-reaction from being raised by our controlling mother.

Daisy nods. “Sor—okay…” She ushers her husky out of the door, and Ryke follows close behind.

I clear my throat.

“Give me a minute,” Loren says, trying to find his spot in the contract.

“I gave you ten. This means a lot to me, please.” I hate my own voice. I’m begging him now.

He scratches his neck. “I can’t just sign this without a lawyer.” He stands from the bed, about to retrieve his cell on the dresser. Loren has no faith in me since the last time I dealt with a contract.

“Let me read it,” Connor suggests, leaving my side to look over the papers in Lo’s grasp.

Loren pauses and then nods,

passing them to his best friend. He trusts Connor, and maybe if I hadn’t royally screwed up once before, he would’ve trusted me too. A breath cages in my lungs while I wait for the verdict, hoping that we’ll solve this soon.

Connor reads ten times faster than Lo, flipping the pages while completely inexpressive. His eyes flit to me once, on the fifth page, but I can’t discern his thoughts, good or bad. To Lo, he explains, “This is specifically just to ensure the name of the brand as Calloway Couture Babies and not Hale Co. Babies with the main label as CCB and an HC inset.”

“Yeah, I got that much, thanks,” he says bitterly. Lily peeks beneath the blanket and mouths something to him. He mouths words back, and I tune them out, more focused on Connor’s poker face.

A minute later he hands the contract back to Loren. “It’s standard, no vague phrasing. Personally, I’d sign it without another set of eyes, but it’s up to you.”

Lo hesitates, thumbs through the pages again.

I’m going to have to beg more. “Please,” I say. “We have minutes, maybe less.” My fashion career has fluctuated so much that every success has been paired with an irksome failure. I want to see my designs in stores with my name on them with my vision. I don’t want to lie and endorse something that I don’t believe in, that I barely had a hand in creating.

I need this win.

Loren returns to the bed, and my heart sinks. He digs in the blankets—I think to find Lily. But he avoids the lump that’s clearly his wife. A second later, he procures the missing pen.

He’s going to sign it.

He turns to the correct page. “Next time, send me a text message first or knock.” I barely process his words, watching him scrawl his name. It reminds me that Lo has always been on my side with this new venture in Hale Co. Whatever I want, he’s tried to give me.

So when he passes me the contract, I say, “Thank you.” My voice much softer than usual. It even surprises me. He rocks back in shock but ends up nodding.

I waste not a second more. I walk quickly out, down the hallway, and descend the stairs. I turn a sharp corner and enter the office. While I fax the contract, I call Theo. “It’s all faxed,” I say before he has a chance to speak.