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She sighs. “We know that’s not what our relationship has ever been. But like it or not, accept it or not, that’s what we are. I know we’re not doing anything wrong by being together, but not everyone will feel that way.” Her voice gets smaller and smaller with each word, and I fucking hate it.
“Then we won’t tell them all at once. Let’s get dressed. We’ll start with my team and tell everyone, one by one, then there’ll be no judgment tomorrow. You’re mine, Etta, I refuse to be ashamed of that or let you be.”
17
ETTA
Apart of me thought if I told Oz that telling half the town that we’re stepsiblings who got married would make me uncomfortable, he’d say we’d cancel the barbecue-slash-party he’d agreed to host tomorrow. Instead, he carried me upstairs, dropped me in the closet, and told me to get ready.
Now, two hours later, we’ve been to his boss’s house and then to his teammate Warrick’s house. Honestly, as awkward as it was to meet more people, telling them we’d gotten married wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.
His work colleagues are actually really nice, and they reacted nothing like Tori and Nero did yesterday, which makes me think maybe Oz pre-warned them who we were to each other before we visited.
What did shock me was that none of them seemed at all surprised by the fact that Oz and I had gotten married when I only moved to town less than a week ago. If anyone I knew told me they’d met a guy and got married in a matter of days, I’d think they were crazy, and yet the news that we reconnected and felt strongly enough to actually legally bind ourselves together is apparently pretty par for the course around here.
Buck, Oz’s boss, just sort of smirked knowingly when his wife James—who is one of the most stunningly beautiful blondes I’ve ever met—said with complete surety that the Barnett family legacy had found its new target in the jumpers and was picking the guys off one by one.
Warrick, Danny, Knight, and Oz all chat comfortably as we walk up the hill and toward the Barnetts’ house. The night I came for dinner here, it was dark, and I was freaking out over Oz and me having sex, so I didn’t really appreciate how beautiful the area both Jumpers Row and the Barnetts’ home are set in.
It’s green and lush as far as the eye can see in every direction, and apart from the few buildings that make up Bonnie’s dad’s cattle ranch and the homes we all live in, the vista is completely unmarred by modern life.
“It’s beautiful up here, isn’t it?” Oz says, squeezing my hand.
“It really is. I hadn’t noticed just how endless it all is. Does that make sense?”
“Perfect sense. I’ve been a jumper for years now, and the fire season is always spent somewhere like this, but this is the first job I’ve had that’s lasted all year. Fall is just getting started, but just wait for winter when it’s white over with snow, it looks like a scene out from a Christmas card.”
My eyes widen a little as I imagine the mountain peaks and endless treetops coated in perfect white snow. “Wow,” I whisper a little in awe of the place I now get to call home. Vegas doesn’t really have seasons, it’s always hot and arid, it is the desert after all.
As we crown the brow of the hill, I see something I hadn’t noticed the last time I was here. The huge log house the Barnetts live in is massive and sprawling, but it’s the enormous playground at the side of the home that draws my attention.
“Oh my god,” I gasp.
“What?” Oz asks, snapping his head around to look at me. “Oh, the park? The guys built that in the summer. The Barnetts have got so many kids that they need three buses just to get all of them to the park. One of the ladies was pregnant and got all emotional about the kids not getting to play, so we all got to work one weekend and built that for them. There’s only a handful of kids on the row, but they all come play on it too, and it makes sense with how often the Barnetts reproduce.”
The playground isn’t a single swing set or even a couple of swings and a slide, it’s a huge wooden castle with a swing set built off the side and slides and teeter-totters and everything else you could ever dream of in a playground. A huge trampoline is sunk into the ground, and there’s a sandbox and monkey bars. It’s a kid paradise, and without thought, my hand drops to my stomach, covering the baby that probably isn’t growing in there but that I maybe, kind of, possibly wish was.
I startle when Oz places his hand over mine. “I’m going to breed you so fucking good tonight, Little One. If there isn’t a baby in you yet, I’m going to fuck one right into you,” he whispers against my ear.
It takes all of my resolve to swallow down the whimpering moan that tries to slip free, but I manage it. By the time we make it to the front door, all I want to do is turn around and go back home so Oz can do exactly what he just promised. I don’t want a baby, I probably can’t have a baby, but when he talks about breeding me, my whole system goes haywire, and I just want it so bad I can barely cope.
Until a week ago, I would have said I was entirely kink-free, but apparently all I needed was to meet the right man, and now I’m discovering new kinks left, right, and center.
Have I met the right guy? Is Oz my right guy? Seven days ago, I’d have said that him being the man for me was completely impossible. He was my bully, my monster under the bed, and that hasn’t changed. I haven’t forgiven him for all the awful things he did when we were kids. But have I instead chosen to forget?
Before I got off the bus, all I thought about when my mind landed on him was sadness and remembered fear. But when was the last time I thought about him and thought…monster?
He’s controlling, possessive, and intense, but even when he scares me, I don’t feel scared anymore. A part of me doesn’t want to let him off the hook for everything he did to me as a child, but we were children and I’m not sure I’m capable of holding a grudge against him now that our relationship has changed so much.
“Hey, guys,” one of the Barnett wives says, smiling brightly as she pulls the door open and ushers us inside.
“Hey Bonnie,” Warrick says, stepping past her.
“Hey Etta, it’s nice to see you again,” Bonnie says, her gaze quickly dropping to my hand in Oz’s before she lifts it, smiling questioningly. “Come on in. We’re just trying to organize chaos.” Chuckling to herself, she closes the door behind us, then gestures for us to make our way into the large family room that is filled with… family.
Just like the last time I was here, there are kids everywhere, from toddlers who are rushing around to waddling pudgy newly walking little ones and babies crawling in a huge playpen with a padded floor and a sea of toys.
“Etta and I have news if everyone is here,” Oz says breezily like it’s all just perfectly normal that we’re here together, when the last time I was in this house I told everyone that my mom and Oz’s dad are married.
