Flame and Ink: An Anthology (Happy Ever After #1)(19)

In the end, the place looked great with tons of vegetation that looked as though it was natural, rather than lines and perfectly square things that made no sense.

“Did you hear me, Decker? What is going on with you? I said don’t talk about things like that, not to stop talking at all.”

He barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Sorry to bother you,” he mumbled, not sorry in the least. “Why don’t you go talk to, uh, the girls over there while I get another drink?” He couldn’t remember the two girls who worked with Sierra, the newly engaged woman and star of the party, but they seemed to get along with anyone. Hopefully, they’d make friends with Coleen so this evening wouldn’t be a total waste.

She raised a brow and looked pointedly at his hand. Seriously? Jesus Christ. He shouldn’t have brought her here. Or rather, he shouldn’t have let her invite herself in the first place. She didn’t belong, and he didn’t know why he was kidding himself by trying to make it work when neither of them truly wanted it.

“I’ve had one beer, and I’ll have one more since we have a couple hours left. I won’t drink more than that.” He wouldn’t have had to explain himself to the Montgomerys. They knew enough about where he’d come from that him getting behind the wheel, even slightly buzzed, wasn’t an option.

“If you say so,” she clipped then strutted off to the girls on the other side of the backyard.

His shoulders relaxed marginally, and he cursed himself for it. He liked Colleen. He really did. She wasn’t a bad person. She just didn’t understand him.

Whose fault is that?

It wasn’t like he’d told her all that much about himself, and he’d never once mentioned his past.

“Shit, bro, you look like you ate something rotten,” Wes said as he walked toward him. He had the Montgomery blue eyes and chestnut hair, only his was neatly clipped and worked with his OCD persona.

Storm, Wes’s twin, walked beside him. While Wes was a bit lanky, Storm had more of a build on him. He was also a bit more rugged with his shaggy hair, light beard, and flannel shirt over another light shirt, while Wes had his button-up shirt over nice jeans. It never made any sense to Decker that the twin who worked with his hands more often than not as the other general contractor preferred dressier clothes on his day off while the twin who sat behind his desk drawing when he wasn’t in the field wore more rugged clothes. Well, considering each of them worked side by side with Decker and sweated their asses off regularly, it didn’t matter what they wore now, as long as they worked hard during the day.

Which they did.

“Bro?” Decker asked, a smile on his face. “You working with the kids at Austin’s shop now?” Austin was the oldest Montgomery and owned half of Montgomery Ink, the tattoo shop side of the family business, with their sister, Maya. It was also Austin and Sierra’s engagement party and the reason they were all at the barbecue that evening.

Storm snorted. “We say bro sometimes. Doesn’t make us some college kids who want bad ink.”

“I don’t do bad ink, *,” Maya snapped as she came up to them. She wrapped her arm around Decker’s middle, and he hugged her back. Why couldn’t he be this comfortable around all the Montgomery women?

She pulled back before he could squeeze her tighter. Maya liked her space, and Decker liked her all the more for it. Her dark brown bangs were severe across her forehead, and she’d done a weird eyeliner thing that made her look like some fifties rocker pin-up. The red lipstick just made her look like she’d smile at you—then kick you in the ass.

“I meant that he wants bad ink because he doesn’t know what good ink is,” Storm said, backtracking. Wes and Storm might be the second oldest in the family, but no one messed with Maya and walked away without a limp. “Not that you give bad ink.”

Wes laughed then shut up as Maya glared.

Decker, being the smart one of the group, kept his face neutral.

Maya narrowed her eyes at the three of them then nodded. “Okay, so tell me what’s going on. Jake couldn’t make it today, and I’m bored.”

“When are you just going to admit that Jake is your boyfriend?” Wes asked.

Decker closed his eyes. It was like the twins wanted to die by her hand tonight.

“He’s not my f*cking boyfriend,” Maya growled then lifted her chin, speaking softer this time. “He’s my friend. I don’t know why a guy and a girl can’t just be friends without the rest of the world wondering if they’re f*cking.”

Decker raised a brow then looked at the space between them.

Maya waved him off. “You’re a brother, not a friend. So the world wouldn’t ever think you’d be f*cking a Montgomery girl. That’d be all kinds of wrong.”

He swallowed hard and tried to keep the frown off his face. Shit. She was right. No one would think he’d ever be with a Montgomery girl. Maya was like his sister, as was Meghan, the eldest girl. Meghan was even married to an *, but married just the same.

Miranda though…Miranda was his best friend’s little sister and had welcomed him into her family to boot.

There was no way he could ever think of her as more.

Or rather, he should stop thinking about her as possibly more.

“Anyway,” Wes continued, “we came over here to ask what’s up with Decker. He looked like he stepped in shit or something.”