Chapter Ten
Linc
Linc was counting down the hours in his head until it would be acceptable to text Madden that he was coming back over. When he’d woken up that morning, she was the first thing on his mind. He’d gone for a run to try and clear his head. It hadn’t worked, which was how he’d found himself at her front door. That chick was under his skin in a bad way. When she slapped him across the face to get Corey off his case, he’d pretty much swooned. Whoa. Swooned? Thank god he’d said that in his head and not out loud. He was sitting on Dom’s back patio with all the guys.
Killing time.
Keller propped his feet up on the table and leaned back in his chair, threading his hands behind his messy blond hair. “Corey said you two have started looking at houses.”
Dom nodded, taking a sip from his beer. “Yeah, we don’t have room for a baby. Apparently they require a lot of stuff.”
Linc chuckled. “Is Riley moving in with you guys too?” He’d meant it as a joke, but no one laughed. “Wait. Is he?”
Dom shrugged. “He’s not moving in per se. He’ll be going off to college next year. But he’ll have his own room for when he comes to visit.”
Linc looked over at Riley, dumbfounded. “Why would you want to spend your breaks and holidays with Dom and Corey? You should be off partying and banging random chicks.” He was outraged at the thought of Riley wasting all those good times. Riley was cosmically connected to Dom and Corey’s unborn baby girl, but he wasn’t her dang parent. He should be living it up, not on diaper duty. And that wasn’t Linc being a bad role model. That was him being a good one. Riley was graduating from a prestigious private school. He had worked his ass off the last three years and he deserved a break when he got to college. He needed to get laid. A lot.
Riley spoke with his head down, something he typically did when he felt embarrassed. “It’s not Dom and Corey I want to be around. It’s the baby. I can’t explain it, and you guys will never understand.” Linc felt like shit for giving the kid a hard time. It was basically second nature to bust each other’s balls. But Riley was the youngest; he was the low man on the totem pole. No matter how many times they all told him he was pack, he still seemed to get self-conscious at times.
“Hey, man, my bad. I was just joking around, okay?” Linc dipped down to make eye contact with Riley. “Having a room here in Haxton makes perfect sense.”
Dom reached over and patted Riley on the back. “Don’t get all worked up about it. Ignore Linc. He’s a dumbass.”
Linc stuck his tongue out at Dom but kept quiet. The connection Riley had with the baby was uncharted territory for all of them. Something like that hadn’t happened in decades, according to St. Leasing’s anthropology professor.
Riley sat up straighter in his chair. “I don’t know exactly how I’m going to feel when the baby is born. I just assume that my protectiveness will get stronger. I want to live my life. I want to go to school and drink tequila in Mexico.” He glanced at Linc like he’d read his earlier thoughts. “But I want to be able to come home when I miss the girls.”
“Girls?” Linc gasped, breaking the tension with humor. “Are there two of them? I knew Corey was way bigger than she should be.” He winked at Riley, making him smile in return.
Baze leveled him with a glare, clarifying even though there was no need. “He means Corey and the baby.”
“You better be glad she’s still at Madden’s. She would have crucified your ass for that comment.” Keller lifted his beer to his lips hiding a chuckle.
Riley grinned and nudged Linc in the arm. “Speaking of Ms. Madden, did you ever ask her out? Did she turn you down again? Please say she did.” He put his hands together like he was begging. “Please.”
Linc slapped Riley’s hands away. “I didn’t ask her out. I asked if she needed a ride to the bar.” He glanced over at Baze. “I’m not allowed to sleep with the nurse. So what’s the point of taking her out? I don’t need any more female friends. Corey and Molly are more than I can handle as it is.” Was Madden his friend? He guessed so—his friend with benefits. He had to bite his cheek to keep from grinning once he started thinking about all those benefits. He checked his watch again.
“You have somewhere to be, Casanova?” Baze frogged him in the leg. “That’s like the hundredth time you’ve checked your watch this afternoon.”
“No.” Linc searched his mind for a sarcastic remark or a quick one-liner. But he felt brain dead. The only thing he seemed to be able to focus on right then was getting back to Madden.
Baze let out a quick laugh. “No? That’s all you’re going to say?” He took a pull off his beer then narrowed his eyes on Linc again. “I have to hand it to you, Linc—I’m impressed you’re staying away from Madden and keeping your word to us.”
Dom chuckled. “I heard she turned him down.”
Riley nodded. “I heard she slapped him for trying to ditch her last night.”
Keller looked between Linc and Baze. “I heard she has a thing for Baze.”
Linc swore he saw red. He knew that the slap was for his benefit, and he was almost positive that Madden didn’t actually want Baze. But the mere thought of them together was making him feel murderous. His palms were sweating and his heart was beating out of his chest. He had to lock his legs in place to keep from getting up, going straight to Madden’s house and mounting her just because he knew he could. Just because he needed to be inside of her. He knew his friends were all staring at him, all waiting for him to say something Linc-like. “Uh, you three spend way too much time with the chicks. You’re starting to gossip like little old ladies.”
Baze held his hand out for Linc to high five him. “Word.”
Linc felt himself relax. Felt his heart rate slowly start to return to normal.
Keller used his beer bottle to gesture towards Baze. “How ‘bout it, man? Since Linc isn’t allowed to bag Madden, you going to give it a go?”
And just like that, Linc was back on edge. He gripped the handles on the chair he was sitting in so hard that he felt the wood start to splinter. He needed his friends to shut up or change the subject. He felt close to losing his shit. He was even getting the shakes, which hadn’t happened to him since he was seventeen and learned to control his shift.
What the hell was going on? This wasn’t him.
Baze shrugged. “Nah. Don’t get me wrong—she’s hot as fuck. But I like things a little rougher than she’s probably used to.”
Dom looked back toward the house before dropping his voice. “I don’t know, man. From what Corey tells me, Madden is a wild child. She might be down for your thing.”
That was it, Linc thought. That was the moment he was going to spontaneously combust. Trying to hold in his anger, his need, his thoughts, his words. It was too much. Maybe it was because he’d never had to hold his tongue before? That had to be it. Right?
Riley held his hand up, like he was in class asking a question. “Just so we’re all on the same page here, what exactly is Baze’s thing?”
Baze, Dom, and Keller all started to laugh. And once again the tension eased out of Linc’s body. He was so relieved that the chaos inside him had subsided that he smiled, answering his youngest pack mate. “Riley, kiddo, if you have to ask then you’re probably too young to know.”