“You have a radio on or something?” I wondered.
Then a flash of red caught my eye, made my heart start to pound, and a beautiful macaw landed on the counter next to where Pru was washing her hands.
A blue flash came from the other direction and landed on the opposite side of the counter, flanking her.
“I never see you anymore!” the blue bird called.
“Come out the door!” the red replied.
“Guys,” Pru interjected. “No more Frozen. We have company.”
Both birds, as if they understood each and every word out of Pru’s mouth, turned to survey me.
I blinked.
“Assssss….” the blue bird said.
“Hooooole,” the red replied.
I burst out laughing.
Big guffaws left my chest in a rush, and it took everything I had not to cry.
“Oh, God,” I wheezed. “That’s the best ever. What else do they know?”
“A lot,” she admitted. “I got them a year and a half ago from someone my father knew. They were young and just learning everything. I left the television on for them during the day on HBO, and they started learning. They watched a lot of movies.”
“Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!” the red bird said.
“This one is Redbird.” Pru pointed to the blue bird. “And this one is Bluebird.”
I blinked.
“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” I questioned.
Pru grinned. “You would think, but they were named before I got them, and it’s not easy changing their names once they can already speak them.”
No, I would imagine that it wasn’t.
“So you think you can dance?” the blue bird named Redbird asked.
Then he started a really cute head bob that caused the feathers on the top of his head to bounce with his movements.
“You’re fired!” Bluebird screeched.
The smile on my face was causing the muscles in my jaw to hurt.
“They’re showing off,” she said, reaching for the towel beside the still dancing Redbird. “They like you.”
I liked them, so the feeling was mutual.
“That’s so cool,” I admitted. “I always wanted a bird…and an iguana.”
“I used to have an iguana,” she confessed. “It was six feet long and loved to ride on your neck when you walked. It’s still alive and lives in the trees around my dad’s place. Every once in a while, he’ll come back and eat treats, but he prefers to stay outside. During the winter he moves into the shop.”
“Wow,” I stated. “That’s actually really cool.”
“Are you ready to have your point proven?” she asked teasingly.
I offered her my elbow. “Sure thing.”
We headed for the door and walked outside, only to come to a stop when a large white Labrador Retriever blocked our way.
He was laying on the front mat, sprawled out, asleep.
“That’s Doohickey,” she said as she stepped over him, letting go of my arm in the process. “He’s sweet but lazy. In between him and Bacon, I have massive lumps on logs that I have to navigate around because they don’t move.”
I stepped over the dog, too, and then reached back to close the door behind me.
“You wanna lock it?” I questioned.
She shook her head. “I won’t be there that long.”
I didn’t lock it, and I also didn’t correct her. She would be there for a while.
We made it to the front door, and I walked in without knocking.
Since I bounced between Bayou’s couch and his sister’s couch, they were both quite familiar with me making myself at home. Then again, there were six bikes parked outside and Rome’s truck, so I was highly doubtful that anybody would be surprised that someone was entering without knocking.
They’d be more surprised if I knocked.
Walking into the main part of the house, I came to a stop in the middle of the living room where Bayou was on the couch, legs extended, staring at Rome who was talking about Longview’s professional football team making it all the way next year.
Castiel was on the recliner, staring at me with an amused expression on his face.
Rome’s wife, Izzy, was on the couch squeezed in beside Bayou and Rome, holding her infant daughter, Astrid, over her shoulder.
Liner, Linc, and Ezekiel were sitting at the bar hovering over a bowl of bean dip.
“Where’s Wade?” I asked, looking around for the couple.
I really liked Wade’s wife, Landry, despite the fact that she almost killed me for a second time in as many months only a week before.
She’d pulled out without looking and had nearly sideswiped me on my bike. After getting supremely pissed off at her and making her aware of how upset that I was, I’d driven to her husband’s house. Minutes after the incident, she’d pulled up and had practically fallen out of her car crying. It was then that I saw, and heard, the dog that was snarling and snapping in the back seat.
A dog that she’d rescued. A military working dog that could’ve been me if he was human.
Knowing that she’d help such a broken dog had cemented my adoration for her.
I loved that she treated that dog with the kindness and care that she would’ve any other dog. I also loved that she didn’t give up on him when many other people would have.
Sometimes it was the broken ones that made the best companions.
I’d seen a lot of me in that dog, and it hit close to home that he’d been harmed and nobody had wanted him.
“Wade and his wife are looking at a house.” Castiel’s eyes slid to the woman still cemented to my side. “Who you got there, man?”
“Pru!” Conleigh came out of the back hallway with her hands still slightly damp, her eyes alight at seeing Pru. “What are you doing here?”
I guess it made sense that Pru and Conleigh would know each other seeing as they’d both worked in the same ER.
Bayou looked up at the mention of his neighbor, and his eyes narrowed.
I felt my lips twitch as Pru sucked in closer to me.
“Uhhh,” Pru muttered stiltedly.
“I invited her,” I explained. “She’s agreed to go on a date with me.”
I felt a sharp, fast pinch to my side and nearly laughed at her audacity.
“I didn’t know you two knew each other.” Conleigh came to a stop right next to us, blocking both her view of Bayou and Bayou’s view of her.
Though he’d looked as if he wanted to say something about her being there, he’d held his tongue, just like I’d said he would.
“We don’t…or didn’t until last week. She blew me off when I asked her out after seeing her at the ER.” I paused. “When I saw her outside, I felt like it was divine intervention.”
“Why were you at the ER?” Conleigh inquired.
I quickly changed the subject so that I wouldn’t have to explain my reasoning.
Suffice it to say, that reasoning was no longer a concern thanks to the woman standing beside me. Even now, I was at half-chub status, and fucking happy about it. Despite the fact that you could see my dick really well through my jeans if anyone cared to look hard enough.
Which I had no doubt that if Pru continued to stay sucked up to my side, someone would eventually notice. I wasn’t a small guy at half-mast. If I had to keep inhaling her sweet scent, and feeling her breasts against my arm, I was going to start sporting a full one any second.
Pru suddenly pushed even closer, and I realized that while I was contemplating the way it felt to have her breasts pressed up against me, Bayou had gotten up off the couch and started toward us.
Pru’s nails were now digging into my forearm where she had it in a death grip with both hands, and I reached down and squeezed the front of her thigh, which was the only thing I could reach with the way she was wrapped around me.
But, instead of coming over to talk, he walked past us to the bowl of bean dip that was on the counter.
“What the fuck?” Bayou growled the moment he got to the counter. “Y’all weren’t supposed to eat it all.”
“Sorry,” Ezekiel mumbled around a mouthful of dip. “It was really good.”
Then a flash of red caught my eye, made my heart start to pound, and a beautiful macaw landed on the counter next to where Pru was washing her hands.
A blue flash came from the other direction and landed on the opposite side of the counter, flanking her.
“I never see you anymore!” the blue bird called.
“Come out the door!” the red replied.
“Guys,” Pru interjected. “No more Frozen. We have company.”
Both birds, as if they understood each and every word out of Pru’s mouth, turned to survey me.
I blinked.
“Assssss….” the blue bird said.
“Hooooole,” the red replied.
I burst out laughing.
Big guffaws left my chest in a rush, and it took everything I had not to cry.
“Oh, God,” I wheezed. “That’s the best ever. What else do they know?”
“A lot,” she admitted. “I got them a year and a half ago from someone my father knew. They were young and just learning everything. I left the television on for them during the day on HBO, and they started learning. They watched a lot of movies.”
“Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!” the red bird said.
“This one is Redbird.” Pru pointed to the blue bird. “And this one is Bluebird.”
I blinked.
“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” I questioned.
Pru grinned. “You would think, but they were named before I got them, and it’s not easy changing their names once they can already speak them.”
No, I would imagine that it wasn’t.
“So you think you can dance?” the blue bird named Redbird asked.
Then he started a really cute head bob that caused the feathers on the top of his head to bounce with his movements.
“You’re fired!” Bluebird screeched.
The smile on my face was causing the muscles in my jaw to hurt.
“They’re showing off,” she said, reaching for the towel beside the still dancing Redbird. “They like you.”
I liked them, so the feeling was mutual.
“That’s so cool,” I admitted. “I always wanted a bird…and an iguana.”
“I used to have an iguana,” she confessed. “It was six feet long and loved to ride on your neck when you walked. It’s still alive and lives in the trees around my dad’s place. Every once in a while, he’ll come back and eat treats, but he prefers to stay outside. During the winter he moves into the shop.”
“Wow,” I stated. “That’s actually really cool.”
“Are you ready to have your point proven?” she asked teasingly.
I offered her my elbow. “Sure thing.”
We headed for the door and walked outside, only to come to a stop when a large white Labrador Retriever blocked our way.
He was laying on the front mat, sprawled out, asleep.
“That’s Doohickey,” she said as she stepped over him, letting go of my arm in the process. “He’s sweet but lazy. In between him and Bacon, I have massive lumps on logs that I have to navigate around because they don’t move.”
I stepped over the dog, too, and then reached back to close the door behind me.
“You wanna lock it?” I questioned.
She shook her head. “I won’t be there that long.”
I didn’t lock it, and I also didn’t correct her. She would be there for a while.
We made it to the front door, and I walked in without knocking.
Since I bounced between Bayou’s couch and his sister’s couch, they were both quite familiar with me making myself at home. Then again, there were six bikes parked outside and Rome’s truck, so I was highly doubtful that anybody would be surprised that someone was entering without knocking.
They’d be more surprised if I knocked.
Walking into the main part of the house, I came to a stop in the middle of the living room where Bayou was on the couch, legs extended, staring at Rome who was talking about Longview’s professional football team making it all the way next year.
Castiel was on the recliner, staring at me with an amused expression on his face.
Rome’s wife, Izzy, was on the couch squeezed in beside Bayou and Rome, holding her infant daughter, Astrid, over her shoulder.
Liner, Linc, and Ezekiel were sitting at the bar hovering over a bowl of bean dip.
“Where’s Wade?” I asked, looking around for the couple.
I really liked Wade’s wife, Landry, despite the fact that she almost killed me for a second time in as many months only a week before.
She’d pulled out without looking and had nearly sideswiped me on my bike. After getting supremely pissed off at her and making her aware of how upset that I was, I’d driven to her husband’s house. Minutes after the incident, she’d pulled up and had practically fallen out of her car crying. It was then that I saw, and heard, the dog that was snarling and snapping in the back seat.
A dog that she’d rescued. A military working dog that could’ve been me if he was human.
Knowing that she’d help such a broken dog had cemented my adoration for her.
I loved that she treated that dog with the kindness and care that she would’ve any other dog. I also loved that she didn’t give up on him when many other people would have.
Sometimes it was the broken ones that made the best companions.
I’d seen a lot of me in that dog, and it hit close to home that he’d been harmed and nobody had wanted him.
“Wade and his wife are looking at a house.” Castiel’s eyes slid to the woman still cemented to my side. “Who you got there, man?”
“Pru!” Conleigh came out of the back hallway with her hands still slightly damp, her eyes alight at seeing Pru. “What are you doing here?”
I guess it made sense that Pru and Conleigh would know each other seeing as they’d both worked in the same ER.
Bayou looked up at the mention of his neighbor, and his eyes narrowed.
I felt my lips twitch as Pru sucked in closer to me.
“Uhhh,” Pru muttered stiltedly.
“I invited her,” I explained. “She’s agreed to go on a date with me.”
I felt a sharp, fast pinch to my side and nearly laughed at her audacity.
“I didn’t know you two knew each other.” Conleigh came to a stop right next to us, blocking both her view of Bayou and Bayou’s view of her.
Though he’d looked as if he wanted to say something about her being there, he’d held his tongue, just like I’d said he would.
“We don’t…or didn’t until last week. She blew me off when I asked her out after seeing her at the ER.” I paused. “When I saw her outside, I felt like it was divine intervention.”
“Why were you at the ER?” Conleigh inquired.
I quickly changed the subject so that I wouldn’t have to explain my reasoning.
Suffice it to say, that reasoning was no longer a concern thanks to the woman standing beside me. Even now, I was at half-chub status, and fucking happy about it. Despite the fact that you could see my dick really well through my jeans if anyone cared to look hard enough.
Which I had no doubt that if Pru continued to stay sucked up to my side, someone would eventually notice. I wasn’t a small guy at half-mast. If I had to keep inhaling her sweet scent, and feeling her breasts against my arm, I was going to start sporting a full one any second.
Pru suddenly pushed even closer, and I realized that while I was contemplating the way it felt to have her breasts pressed up against me, Bayou had gotten up off the couch and started toward us.
Pru’s nails were now digging into my forearm where she had it in a death grip with both hands, and I reached down and squeezed the front of her thigh, which was the only thing I could reach with the way she was wrapped around me.
But, instead of coming over to talk, he walked past us to the bowl of bean dip that was on the counter.
“What the fuck?” Bayou growled the moment he got to the counter. “Y’all weren’t supposed to eat it all.”
“Sorry,” Ezekiel mumbled around a mouthful of dip. “It was really good.”
