Duck (Rebel Wayfarers MC Book 8) Read Online Free PDF

as she looked up into the face of someone she never really expected to see again. Without a word, he stalked towards her—no other descriptive phrase came to mind, the man was definitely stalking—bent over, and picked up the box. He strode to the pantry, put it on the small table in the middle of the room and glanced around for a moment.
    All of this action was conducted in complete silence. Closing the pantry door behind him, he turned and looked at her, still without saying anything. Not saying anything with his mouth, at least, because his eyes and the expression on his face were shouting at her, and they didn’t have anything nice to say. Not at all. He was pissed as hell to be here.
    Tall. Dark. Gorgeous. Broad shoulders filled out his shirt in a way more than hinting at the muscles she knew were hiding underneath the fabric. Reuben Nelms was all of that. Then again, he always had been, for as long as she had known him, and she had known him a long time. Nearly all her life. At least since she moved to Lamesa as a child. So many years ago.
    “You came.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded small and frightened in the stillness of the room, but he didn’t respond or react to her words, just stood there and stared at her. It was as if she never spoke at all, almost as if she didn’t exist, didn’t ripple the fabric of his world or register in any way. Small and disposable, forgettable. Just as she had felt around him all the time while growing up. All the time, except for one night. Oh well , she thought, there’s my confirmation nothing ever actually changes .
    It was at that moment she heard booted feet galloping down the stairs, sounding far larger than their decade of years warranted. Her eyes flicked anxiously towards the doorway. Crap. Elias hit the bottom of the stairs at a run, rounded the kitchen counter and slid to a stop in front of her. Excited eyes bright, hat in hand, his dark hair was sticking up all over his head. Holy crap . “I finished. I swear. So, General? Please, Mom. General? Can I?”
    Impatient eyes only for her, he hadn’t noticed the man standing across the room.
    “General still kicking around then?” When Reuben spoke, Eli jumped at the strange voice, turning around quickly to face him.
    She reached out for Eli’s shoulders, pulling him to stand in front of her as she straightened to her full height, not even aware she was using her son to shield her from their visitor. “Elias Calloway, I’d like you to meet Reuben…Mister Nelms.”
    With good manners drilled into him from the time he could form words, her son stepped forwards, pulling out from under her hold. He reached out one hand, head tilted back so he could look the tall man in the face. “Pleasedtameetcha, Mister Nelms.” His words were jammed together as Reuben’s hand engulfed his, because he was trying to get the required politeness out of the way so he could again make his plea.
    Hand still locked in Reuben’s grip, her son turned back to her, hat dangling from his fingers. The way they stood caused her breath to hitch in her chest. Because like this, connected as they were, the stance seemed familiar instead of a required greeting, and the two faces, bearing more than a passing resemblance, stared at her with nearly identical questioning expressions.
    How did I never see this ? she thought in despair. That was followed quickly by, How will I ever tell Reuben? Her ill-conceived plan to get Reuben to come home in the hopes he would see Elias and simply know seemed to have fallen apart, and right now, she couldn’t say she was sorry. As angry as he looked to simply be here, she couldn’t imagine the eruption of rage which was going to follow the revelations she knew she couldn’t put off for long.
    Pushing aside her thoughts, she took a breath and told her son, “Yes, you can ride General, but you watch out. Just because he’s old doesn’t mean he can’t scrape you off on a fence if he wanted to. That