D looked to Rider who had now been joined by an equally admiring Cutter and said, “Sorry, kid.”

“Dad uses the F-word all the time,” Rider shared.

“To my everlasting frustration,” Tyra mumbled.

“Rebel and I are together,” Rush stated. “And I get you’re concerned, man, but she’s not going anywhere.”

Diesel’s brows went up at me. “So you also got yourself a man and didn’t share.”

“We met on Tuesday,” I bit out.

Diesel’s torso swung back and he looked around, taking it all in, and with the Allen clan being obvious about coming from Tack’s loins, it didn’t take a genius to see what was happening.

But my brother was sharp, intuitive, empathetic and I’ll repeat, sharp.

He saw what was happening.

“Yep, I’m the sister. Those are our baby brothers. That’s my kid crawling around. This is my husband. And that’s my dad and stepmom,” Tabby confirmed Diesel’s look.

He turned back to me. “Meeting the family, Reb? Already?”

“How about this,” Tack pushed in. “You come in. Have a beer. Eat. We’ll talk. You can get to know us, know we got Rebel covered, feel better about the situation. She’s out. Not doin’ what she was doing anymore, but we’re not taking any chances. We’ll explain more over food. That work for you?”

Diesel looked behind him at Maddox.

Maddox settled in and crossed his arms on his wide chest.

That meant, “It’s up to you.”

My brother then looked back at me before doing a top to toe scan of Rush and swinging his eyes through the group.

“We’ll eat,” he grunted.

I let out a breath thinking this might be good.

It might be bad.

But at that point, I had no choice but to let it be.

And that was on me.

I should have told him.

Shit.

Rush looked over his shoulder at me. “Straight up, sweetheart, you got off easy.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Word.” Diesel was still grunting.

“Who wants a beer?” Tabby asked.

“I have things to do, no dinner for me,” Sixx declared, gave Diesel and Maddox a meaningful look and then said to me, “Rebel, good to see you.” And to all, “Enjoy dinner.”

Then she was smoke.

I didn’t even see her use the still open door.

I had no idea what “biz” she was in or why she was there.

But yeah.

She was totally cool.

Tyra moved in and closed the door.

I again planted my hands on my hips, my attention on my brother.

“Are you even gonna hug me?” I demanded.

He gave me a look that would melt steel.

After I successfully avoided becoming a puddle, he moved to me and gave me a bear hug.

“You’re a goddamned lunatic,” he murmured in my ear.

“I know,” I said, holding on.

I saw Maddox watching us over D’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed to him.

His cruelly handsome face got soft and he smiled at me.

Right.

There it was.

It’d be okay.

I knew that already.

But I was glad to have it confirmed.

I lay on my back in Rush’s bed, staring through the dark at the ceiling.

Rush was lying on his back beside me.

I knew he was awake.

The sounds were distant, and muted, but unmistakable.

In the room down the hall, Diesel and Maddox were fucking.

“You awake?” I asked to confirm.

“Yep,” he answered.

Great.

“This is rude,” I declared.

“It’s late, Rebel. They probably thought we were asleep.”

He was right, it was very late, and I had been asleep.

Until my brother and his man woke me up with their fuck noises.

The grunting got louder, and it sounded like a bed was being pounded into a wall.

“Christ, they’re really goin’ at it,” Rush muttered.

“Ugh,” I pushed out, turned to my stomach and wrapped a pillow around the top of my head.

I felt Rush’s hand glide over the small of my back and the edge of the pillow pulled up.

I kept the rest held down.

“They probably heard us earlier,” he told me.

Gulk.

Suffice it to say, I forgave Rush.

Mostly because he and his family were so cool with D and Mad throughout the dinner they’d crashed, to the point the men lazed around the table for hours chatting and chuckling and drinking beer after it while the women did the dishes then hung around the bar in the kitchen, also chatting and chuckling and drinking beer.

I could not say that even with a rather thorough explanation of what was going on, they’d totally put Diesel’s and Maddox’s minds at ease about me. Mostly because what they had to share wouldn’t make anyone easy.

I could say when we left, my big brother and his man were no longer pissed at me.

“I hope not.” My words were muffled by the pillow.

“You come silent, babe, but you make a lot of noise before I get you there,” he shared. “You like panting my name . . . a lot.”

Gluh.

“And I like that a lot,” he continued. “Enough not to make you stop doin’ it.”

“Stop talking.”

I heard his chuckle as his hand slid fully around and he pulled the side of my body into the front of his.

I kept the pillow where it was.

Rush stopped chuckling.

“They’re free, and I like that,” he said quietly.

I lifted one side of the pillow and tipped my eyes up to his shadowed face.

“What?”

“At dinner, after the drama, they sat down, your brother got tense. Maddox doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about him, that’s clear. But your brother does. Because he loves you. And he knows you wouldn’t be at that dinner with my family if things weren’t the way they are with us. So he slid right on edge, probably tweaked we’d figure out where he was at with Maddox, not knowing we already knew. That didn’t go away until Tyra asked about their commitment ceremony and he got it that not a soul there judged. Then he relaxed. Now they’re here, down the hall, fucking. Free. And I like that.”

I pushed off the pillow, got up on an elbow and he got up on his to come face to face with me.

“You like that?” I asked.

“Everyone should be free. Even if Maddox doesn’t give a shit, Diesel does. At least when it comes to you and the people around you, and what they might think of him and how that’d affect you. So he’s not. But he got that from us. He’s good. If he feels free to go at his man down the hall, he feels free around me. So yeah, I like that.”

God, this man.

I lifted my hand to his face, ran my fingers over the thick stubble at his jaw, and rested it curled around his neck, palm at his throat, murmuring, “What am I gonna do with you?”

“You missed the obvious blowjob, babe, still asleep. They got distinctive voices, could call it, and by the sounds of it, your brother gives good head. You could share that family talent about now.”

“Bluh,” I moaned, dropping my head and shoving my face in his chest.

“My cock is south of there, baby,” he teased.

“I can’t have sex while my brother is having sex.”

“Why?”

Pounding sounded.

And grunting.

So I didn’t answer a question that had such an obvious answer.

Because . . . gross.

Instead, I declared, “And I’m gonna have a word with him about having sex while they’re staying with you.”

“Why?”

I yanked my face out of his chest. “Rush, it’s rude. Especially being that loud. The neighbors are probably up and listening.”

He slid his hand up my spine and pulled me to him. “Rebel, babe, he was worried sick about you. I think we got him to the point he’s good about you bein’ safe. But he still felt that, and trust me, those feelings do not go away easy. He’s gotta work that emotion out somehow.”

Rush stopped talking.