One Night Bride by Marika Ray
27
Remington
“Is there a reason we’re meeting way over here?”
I approached the fire pit with a moderate amount of caution. Titus had invited me that morning to share a beer with him and Wyatt, and while I wholeheartedly agreed to come, I hadn’t guessed they wanted to kill me. Now, I wasn’t so sure. The beach here was secluded, with all the tourists partying it up around the other side of the huge rock jutting out into the ocean. It was dark since the sun had already set and it was just us three.
“Easier to bury the body out here,” Titus replied, then ruined the effect with a huge grin.
Wyatt leaned around the fire ring to shake my hand. “Welcome to the Waldo sisters club.”
“Do we get a secret handshake or something?” I asked, gripping his hand and taking one of the chairs set out for me.
Titus tossed me a longneck bottle of beer. “Are you kidding me? More like a first aid kit. These girls are little hellions wrapped up in beautiful women’s bodies.”
I took a long sip of the beer. “I’m starting to see that. Then again, I wouldn’t want to marry a woman if she wasn’t built with a steel spine. Got any advice for a newbie?”
Wyatt tossed another log on the fire and the embers flew up into the night sky. “In my very short experience with a Waldo sister, I tend to pull out the handcuffs on a regular basis. Sometimes for playtime, and other times for when I can’t get her to sit down and listen to me.”
I rubbed my chin. I didn’t have handcuffs, and I wasn’t certain Esme wouldn’t just punch me right in the nose if I tried to restrain her in the middle of an argument.
“Or in your case, saddle up and hold on tight,” Titus said with a wink and a tip of an imaginary cowboy hat. “I’ve learned you can’t control them. You just have to gird your loins and hope for the best.”
“Definitely don’t work for one of them.” Wyatt flopped back in his chair like he didn’t have the strength to sit upright just from thinking about it. “Oakley was my boss for a while there and that was both heaven and hell.”
I shook my head and took another sip of beer. “I don’t intend to get in Esme’s way professionally. She’s got that dialed in already.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got two of them under your roof right now.” Titus reached down to the small cooler by his chair to grab another beer. “Twins, no less.”
Wyatt whooped. “That’s downright scary right there.”
I swallowed hard, getting nervous for the first time about marrying into the Waldo family. Everything had been such a whirlwind, I hadn’t given her family much thought. “Izzy seems pretty sweet. I don’t think she’ll get up to much trouble.”
Titus threw his head back and laughed, a couple of nearby seagulls taking flight to avoid the noise. “That’s cute.”
Wyatt gave Titus a knowing smile and my stomach dropped.
“Should I ask Izzy to move out?”
Wyatt nearly sprayed beer out of his mouth. “No! Jesus. Don’t do that.”
Titus leaned forward with his forearms on his knees. “You ever run into a bear?”
I thought about it. “Not a bear, but I have come across a mountain lion more than once.”
He snapped his fingers. “It’s like that. You approach with caution, run away if you can, but if that’s not possible, you just stand there real still-like until they pass by.” Titus shrugged and sat back. “That’s how you handle the Waldo ladies.”
“Like a mountain lion?”
“Like a goddamn feral mountain lion,” Wyatt repeated.
I took a pull of the beer, thinking about it. Were these jackasses pranking me? Trying to scare off the new guy in some sort of brother-in-law hazing ritual? Well, fuck that. I didn’t scare easy as a rancher with a horse trying to buck me off, and I wasn’t going to run scared because of a woman.
I shot them both a grin. “Okay, then. I’ll keep that in mind.”
They both stared at me for a second, the fire popping in the silence.
“He’s not taking us seriously,” Wyatt told Titus.
Titus just shrugged and smiled. “He’ll catch on quick enough.”
“Hey! This a private party?” A man’s voice cut through the argument I was about to launch into.
Titus hopped up, his long, lanky body unfolding from the low beach chairs like a spring. “Glad you could make it, Bain.”
I stood up too, happy to meet someone who wouldn’t try to scare me with tales of crazy women.
“Remington, this is Bain. Bain, Remington, Esme’s new husband.” Titus made the introductions while I shook the tall, dark-haired man’s hand. “Bain is married to Lucy and they have two kiddos now.”
Behind him were three other guys. With more introductions, I found out they were Jayden, Charlie, and Rip.
“Hey, we spoke on the phone yesterday. I rented your boat,” I said to Rip. When I went to pick up the boat keys, he was in another meeting and his secretary had handed them over.
“Glad that all worked out.” He shook my hand. “You never know with these girls. I ended up getting the entire town in on a flash mob. It somehow made it onto YouTube if you ever want a good laugh.”
“Thankfully, it didn’t come to that, but I could see the appeal.”
The quiet one approached me, his eyes narrowed. “You have a red aura, Remington Roth.”
“Thank you?” I responded, not quite sure what that all meant, but Californians were known for their hippie ways.
He nodded, breaking out into a wide smile. “Energetic, passionate, courageous. Esme chose well.” He clapped me on the shoulder and turned us toward the fire pit. “Now tell me about this family ranch. Have you heard of regenerative ranching?”
The rest of the night was a blur of conversation, jokes, good-natured teasing, and beer. Lots and lots of beer. These guys were my type of friends. Good men with a side of crazy.
Around ten I called it quits, wanting to get home before Esme fell asleep. I stood up and put my empty beer bottle in the cooler.
“Gentlemen, thanks for a great night, but I have to get going.”
Titus stood up too. “Not so fast, Roth. We have a tradition around here.”
“After the bullshit Rip pulled, we’ve decided to tone it down a bit,” Jayden said with a wry smile at Rip.
Charlie shivered. “I was cleaning peacock shit for days.”
I grimaced. What the hell were they talking about?
“Every new person does a dare as a way of welcoming you into the group,” Bain explained. “But we’ve decided to make the dare the same from now on. You just have to take a swim.”
I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly. “A swim?”
“Dude, just be glad it’s still summer. Poor Wyatt had to take a dip in spring when the water was still low fifties.” Titus snickered, even after Wyatt punched him in the shoulder.
I looked out at the ocean, black as ink this time of night. “Y’all get sharks around here?”
“No,” Rip answered. “Not usually.”
I nodded slowly. “Well, that makes me feel better.”
There was nothing for it. I was going to have to take a swim in the Pacific. I reached down and pulled off my boots, a couple of the guys starting to whoop and holler. They were fucking crazy. And as a grin spread across my face, I wished Ruger and Killam were here with me. If I had to be away from my blood brothers, at least I’d found a new group of brothers.
I pulled my shirt over my head and stepped out of my jeans. Thank God I wore boxers today and not tighty-whities. I took a step toward the water and Wyatt pulled me back.
“We forgot one thing. You have to wear these.” Titus held up a pair of red Speedo thongs.
Rip almost couldn’t get the words out. “It’s a town law.”
The beer was about to come back up. “I definitely won’t fit in those.”
“Yeah, yeah. We all have big dicks. Put the fuckin’ Speedo on.” Bain wasn’t messing around. And considering I’d heard he was the prison warden, I didn’t want to see what moves he had up his sleeve.
“Fuck.” I snatched the pair out of Titus’s hand and dropped trou, pulling the Speedo up and trying to tuck myself inside the tiny pouch in front. There was a hell of a lot of breeze happening on my backside at the moment.
I saw a flash go off, and I lunged at Charlie, who cackled as he darted out of the way. “For posterity’s sake!” he shouted over his shoulder.
I let him go and decided to get this shit over with. I ran into the ocean, the guys following behind me, their cheers worthy of a Super Bowl party. The water was still freezing and I could have gone for a wetsuit, but I dove into the wave the first second I could. I came up for air and tossed my hair out of the way, a fine spray of sea water raining drops down on the relatively calm surface of the water.
Swimming back toward shore, I put my feet down on the sandy bottom and shook my head. All five guys had their phone out recording this stupid dare. Once the water was ankle deep, I took a bow, then turned around to do some shuffle dance Killam taught me a few months ago off that stupid app Ticker Talk or some such shit. The hollering went on until Rip threw me a towel and I wrapped it around myself. I’d be shivering for days.
Titus clapped me on the back before pulling me in for a hug. “You’re a good sport and I’m glad we’re brothers.”
Wyatt did the same, shaking with laughter. “Man, that was epic. Wait ’til the girls see it.”
I put my clothes back on and felt like I’d made a place for myself here in Auburn Hill. Hell had lived up to its nickname when Esme wanted an annulment, but the place had quickly turned into my new home.