Chapter 17
Wild Ones Tip #142
If you date a Wild One, you can’t complain.
You knew you were getting mixed up in some crazy shit.
BENSON
My mother is the first to walk through the door, and her eyes widen in shock when she sees me.
“Benson! You finally got rid of that horrid beard.”
I’m not lying when I say there are tears in her eyes. She practically squeezes my face in half when she gets her hands on me.
I’m vaguely aware of John, her husband, walking in behind her. Right behind him is my brother, who nods in my direction before disappearing out of sight. It always takes us a minute to be in the same room without me trying to kill him.
Usually.
But today, for some reason, I don’t even care to see him.
Actually, I know what that reason is, and she’s across the lake. I’m ready to find time to sneak out of here so I can go be with her.
Mom releases me just as Sadie walks in, and I take a steadying breath. Usually my chest hurts as residual betrayal slinks in and squeezes me, immediately followed by the need to wring her neck.
Not today.
Today, for the first time ever, I feel absolutely nothing when I see her.
No anger.
No hurt.
Nothing at all.
A small smile forms on my lips, and she takes it wrong, smiling back widely at me.
Shit. No bad beard. She’s looking at me like she used to, and I’m smiling about the fact I’m in deeper than I even realized for Lilah. I’m not smiling at my ex. But she is smiling at me.
I break eye contact, clearing my throat as I look back down at my mother.
“How was the trip?” I ask her.
“Long. As always.”
My nephew comes zipping in, his face glued to his phone. Absently I start wishing Lilah had a phone so I could text her right now…tell her I miss her already.
Because I’m so fucking far gone for her that I can’t think straight without her.
For a solid year, I went over the pros and cons of going after her. The cons mostly being her family—in the event things didn’t work out. They’d definitely make my life hell.
But the biggest con was losing her completely, when she’d somehow become the best part of my day. Now I wish I had just gone for it sooner, because the pros far outweigh the cons, and I could never go back to just being her friend.
I check to see if she’s online as my mother and stepfather start walking their things in and telling Ryder—my nephew—to get his things too. She’s not online anywhere, unfortunately.
My brother reemerges just as the doorbell rings, and he opens the door on the road’s side.
“Hello?” he says, sounding confused.
“Hey, I’m here to see Benson,” a familiar voice says.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I round the corner to see Lindy beaming at me with a covered dish in her hand, while Deacon—my brother—stares at me with an arched eyebrow.
Lindy looks like a stripper on her way to work. She normally doesn’t dress like this. What’s going on? She hasn’t bothered me since the night of the beardless celebration.
After she thought Lilah was staking her claim, she backed off. As all the women did. Because…it’s Lilah. She’s a Vincent. You don’t mess with a Vincent and expect to walk away unscathed.
“Hey,” she says, smiling happily at me. “I heard about you and Lilah, and thought I’d bring you something to cheer you up.”
My eyebrows have to hit my hairline.
“Heard about me and Lilah? What about us?”
“Who’s Lilah?” my mother asks from somewhere behind me.
Lindy’s eyes widen when my mother approaches, and I pinch the bridge of my nose. Now Lindy looks uncomfortable, since she didn’t expect to be wearing a see-through top over a red bra, and daisy dukes in front of my mom.
Obviously.
She’s usually fairly conservative…in groups.
“I…uh…I’ll just give you a call later. What’s your number?” she asks, as I start closing the door, not accepting the covered dish.
“Nothing happened between me and Lilah,” I tell her as I shut the door on her protests.
When I turn around, everyone is looking at me.
“That’s the first time anyone has ever come to your house when we’ve been here,” Deacon decides to point out.
I pull out my phone, seeing Lilah still isn’t online anywhere.
“I need to make a call,” I grumble, moving away from them and not answering any questions.
“Who’s Lilah?” my mother asks again.
“Yeah, Benson, who’s Lilah?” Sadie drawls, but I ignore them all.
“Anyone want some wine?” I hear my brother asking.
Penny picks up on the first ring. “Hello,” she says calmly, almost sounding a little eerie.
“Lindy just showed up at my house, presumably thinking Lilah and I broke up, and Lilah isn’t online. Anyway, can you take your phone to her?”
“I’m afraid not. Her brothers are over there right now, and I’d fear for your safety if they learned you broke her heart. She hasn’t even told me yet, but I heard from Jillian who heard from Karen who heard from Janice that she’s been crying nonstop. I’m just waiting on those two knuckleheads to leave before I go over there.”
What the fucking hell?
“I didn’t break up with Lilah,” I tell her. “And I can’t picture Lilah crying. She’d be beating my head in with a frying pan, but not crying.”
She makes a disgruntled sound. “She never wanted to date,” she says on a sigh. “This is all my fault. I kept pushing her into it. Now you’ve gone and ruined her. I doubt she’ll ever date again.”
A long, sad sigh follows that, with a dramatic huff tacked on for good measure, letting me know she’s truly disappointed in me.
“Penny, I swear to you, I haven’t broken up with Lilah. And I don’t want to,” I growl, making sure no one can hear me as I go outside, eyeing Lilah’s red flag that is waving in the air with a dead chipmunk on it.
An image of a dead chipmunk, that is. Not an actual dead chipmunk.
Why a chipmunk? Because the Wilders have raccoons on their yellow flags, and the Vincents are a tier or two below on the crazy corner scale from them.
Because this is Tomahawk.
It’s how we do things.
Penny is silent for a moment. A really long moment.
“Just let me talk to her, please. I’m sure this is all one seriously screwed up misunderstanding.”
She sighs long and loud. Again. “Is your family there? Is that why you can’t go over there yourself? Her flag is up.”
Sometimes I’d like to choke this woman…
“I know her flag is up. I can see it from here, which is why I asked you to go over there. And yes, I’m busy and can’t go over there.”
“Why wouldn’t you invite her over if your family is there? Is my niece not good enough for them?” There’s a harsh edge to her tone that I’ve never heard her use before.
“No. Of course not. It’s nothing like that,” I answer, confused about why she would even assume that.
“Then what is it?”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“It’s a long story. I need to talk to Lilah so I can stop worrying about—”
The door opens, and I look back to see my brother poking his head out. “There’s a Janet here to see you. Says she brought cupcakes to help with your breakup.”
“Janet Lowery?!” Penny screams in my ear, forcing me to hold the phone away or go deaf. “Janet is good enough for your family, but not my Lilah?! And everyone knows you don’t bring cupcakes to anything but a celebration. That little brat is celebrating!”
Kill me now.
“No, Penny, that’s not—”
“Fear the wrath of the Vincents, Benson Nolans,” Penny seethes. “I’m turning them loose on you now. No more mercy.”
She hangs up on me, and I quietly remind myself that I love Tomahawk because of the crazy people who live here. Though in this moment, I wish there was some sanity.
I stalk toward the front door where Janet is waiting. “I’ll give you two seconds to leave, and I won’t tell Lilah you showed up. We’re still together.”
Her eyes widen in horror before she drops the cupcakes and darts back to her Mustang, squealing out in reverse before her door even fully shuts. Another car is trying to pull up—I think it’s Jessica Sparks—and Janet pokes her head out to yell at her.
“They’re not broken up! Lilah will kill you! Or worse, turn her brothers loose!”
Typically, these girls would be considered the town’s “mean girls,” but in Tomahawk, crazy trumps mean any day of the week.
Jessica squeals out just as fast, the two vehicles narrowly dodging a collision with each other.
“For heaven’s sakes, just who is this Lilah?” my mother asks, too intrigued for her own good now.
Annoyed, I go back to trying to figure out what to do. I need to just drive over there, but now isn’t the best time. My family is already too curious about Lilah. The last thing I need is for them all to collide.
I should have just been upfront with Lilah about the complications, but it’s a little fucking late for that now.
My doorbell rings as I try calling Bill, hoping he will be more practical than Penny.
“Run,” is what he says when he answers. Then he hangs up on me before I can get a word in.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“He’s still with Lilah,” I hear my brother saying, seconds before someone squeals and runs away. “That’s just fascinating,” he adds, amused as he shuts the door.
“What the hell is going on around here?” my stepfather asks, a small smile on his lips. “You finally back in the saddle, champ? Is that why you cut off that horrid beard?”
Sadie bristles, my brother smiles, and my mother claps her hands together in glee.
“I’ve been in the saddle for years,” I point out dryly. “It’s not like that. I’m dating someone—”
“Then introduce us to her!” my mother says excitedly. “Is she a local? I truly find them riveting.”
She’s going to regret that if Lilah’s brothers really do show up. Mom doesn’t understand the four corners of crazy in this town.
Surely Penny wouldn’t do that to me. It had to be a bluff.
The doorbell rings again, and I try calling Killian—I’m desperate, obviously—but it goes to voicemail.
“He’s still with Lilah,” I hear my stepfather chirp, then he laughs when someone else squeals. “This is oddly fun. I can’t wait to meet Lilah.”
My mother gasps, staring out the window to the lake. “What?” I ask, still distracted as I try to dial Hale…and get voicemail.
“Two boys are being beaten to death by a girl near your steps on the bank,” she answers in fascinated horror.
“Awesome,” my nephew says, his face pressed to the glass as he gawks.
I rush to the wide, massive window, seeing the scene before me play out. Lilah is in cutoff jean shorts and a “Doc Holiday” T-shirt, as she shoots Hale with a BB, simultaneously kicking Killian in the stomach while he’s on the ground.
Hale screams when she nails in him the nuts with another BB, pumping the Daisy for the next shot she aims at Killian when he tries to get up.
Her combat boots come up to her calves, pink laces made out of survival cords, and she kicks Hale in the kneecap this time, utilizing said boots like this is a war zone.
I idly notice the bat and shovel abandoned by the shore, and groan when I realize Penny did sell me out.
“Who on earth is she?” my mother asks as she looks on in guilty pleasure.
With a deep exhale, I answer, “That is Lilah.”