Mercedes breathed in deeply, a frown forming at her brow as she slowly straightened the hem of her blouse over her jeans. “Lyrica, you know how very protective he and the others can be. Perhaps Natches didn’t see you initiate the kiss . . .”

Lyrica gave her head a hard shake as she turned from her mother and paced to the window looking out on the backyard. “He knew. He knew and it didn’t matter to him, Momma.”

Of course, there had been the way Graham had been holding her, his hips so obviously wedged between her thighs. The scene her cousin walked in on had been incredibly intimate. Incriminating.

“It’s not as though either of us is married or breaking any sort of rule.” She turned back and glared at her mother. “I’m a grown woman, not a teenager with no understanding of the word ‘sex.’”

Her mother winced. She couldn’t imagine any of her daughters having sex yet, Lyrica knew. As far as her mother was concerned, they were all still virgins.

“Lyrica, you know how the Mackay men can be. If Kye is truly your friend, then she will forgive you. She will understand the ways of men such as these.”

“Momma, that is not good enough.” Lyrica dismissed the idea that this could be fixed by simply understanding how her brother and cousins worked. “I won’t live like this. I warned Dawg I won’t. I want Natches to stop this now.”

“Lyrica, you cannot control Natches . . .”

“Where’s Tim?” She was tired of discussing it.

“How is Tim supposed to fix this?” Mercedes asked, surprised.

How the hell was Lyrica supposed to know?

“He can threaten him,” she snapped, incensed, “say man things the moron understands—I don’t care, but he better fix it before I fix it myself.” She glared at her mother. “They won’t like how I fix it, Momma. None of them will.”

“I’ll speak to him, I promise,” Mercedes swore. “You know how the boys are, though, with such men, Lyrica. At the moment, Tim and Rowdy are trying to—”

“Rowdy’s here?” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Wonderful, because I have something to say to him as well.”

“Lyrica, wait.” Her mother followed after her in concern. “This is not Rowdy’s fault any more than it is Tim’s.”

“Really?” Gripping the stair rail as she took the first step, she turned and threw her mother a glare. “He was there, too. Who do you think made sure I went to my car while Natches threw that punch? Surely you didn’t think he was alone. They’re never alone. When it comes to me and Zoey now, they’re like coyotes. They harass us in pairs.”

Turning back, she climbed quickly up the stairs before moving along the main hall until she came to her mother’s private suite of rooms and Tim’s office.

The door was open, and when she stepped inside the roomy office, she found Tim sitting behind his desk while Rowdy stood at the far side of the room, watching her expectantly.

She focused on Rowdy first. “That rabid cousin of ours hit Graham,” she told him furiously. “He had no right, Rowdy.”

“He had every right, Lyrica.” Rowdy was patient, his voice bringing her to a hard stop as she stared at him in shock. “Graham knows the score here—don’t think he doesn’t. And Natches warned you the other day he wasn’t going to back off.”

“Knows the score?” she ground out in disbelief, moving behind the nearest chair to give her hands something to grip besides his neck. “Are you crazy? What score is there to know? If one of Dawg’s sisters kisses you, then you’re going to get punched? Natches didn’t punch Charlie Miller when he caught me kissing him last year.”

“Charlie Miller hasn’t left a string of mistresses behind him, the last eleven of which were given bimbo numbers by the gossips in this town.” Rowdy argued patiently as his arms went across his chest in a classic Mackay stubborn pose. “His opinion of marriage is extremely low and his sexual exploits extremely high. Natches was just letting him know that he’s risking more than losing a damned good woman if he breaks your heart. If he—or any other man—thinks he can just play with your heart and get away with it, then we’re going to break body parts. The message was delivered and understood.”

Lyrica stared at him in disbelief for a long, silent moment before turning to Tim.

“Is he serious?” she asked, astounded.

A heavy sigh as Tim’s hand passed over his face was her answer. When he stared back at her, she could see it in his eyes.

Lips parted, she could only stare between the two men in outrage.

“The thought of being called bimbo number twelve is almost overshadowed by the fear that the brother and cousins I love so dearly will swallow me whole into some black, blank void where nothing or no one can touch me,” she finally whispered, painfully. “Realizing the lengths the three of you will go to in ensuring everyone abides by your rules and by your arrogant determination of the life I will or will not live hurts more than realizing exactly how little I meant to the father who should have loved me.”

“Lyrica, that’s uncalled for.” Tim rose abruptly from his chair as Rowdy’s arms fell slowly from his chest, his gaze becoming heavy as he stared at her.

“Is it uncalled for, Tim?” she whispered. “The Mackay cousins entertained this whole county, probably the entire state, with their sexual exploits when they were younger, but Dawg Mackay’s sisters have to hide their lovers or deny them to ensure they’re not attacked.” She shook her head, her chest tight with the knowledge that was staring her in the face. “Do you think it would matter, Rowdy, that I already know Graham’s past, and I’ve stayed as far away from him as long as possible despite the fact that I can’t bear the thought of another man touching me? Did it even count that the second he knew I was in trouble, he was there? No questions. He just found me and made sure I was safe until the decision was made that he wasn’t good enough to keep me safe.”

“Lyrica, it’s not like that.” Rowdy grimaced with a heavy breath. “Trust me. I know it’s hard to understand. I know you don’t like it. None of you have liked it or understood it. But there are certain rules men obey only when their brains get rattled a bit. I’ve been there. Dawg and Natches were there. Graham is cut from the same cloth.”

A pain-filled facsimile of a laugh left her lips as she slid her hands slowly from the back of the chair and turned to Tim. “I’m sorry I disturbed you,” she forced herself to say. “I’ll leave now.”

“Lyrica, dammit, wait,” Timothy called, moving out from behind the desk as she turned to the door.

Lyrica shook her head and kept going. There was nothing left to say. Natches, Rowdy, and Dawg weren’t going to relent, and they weren’t going to let this go.

She had laughed at Eve when she’d learned how she’d fought against Brogan. Everyone had known Brogan was crazy for her. The same with Piper and Jed. The two men weren’t even liked by the Mackay cousins at the time. They were distrusted and watched with suspicion. Lyrica had thought it so amusing at the time. Both of her sisters had refused to talk to Dawg, refused to try to make him understand what they needed.

If Rowdy and Tim knew what Natches had done, then there was no reason to go to Dawg—he would know as well. And, like Tim, he no doubt agreed with his actions. Dawg was usually more determined to protect his sisters than even his cousins were.

They were always in agreement in these matters.

Moving quickly down the stairs, she pushed through the front doors and hurried down the front steps to the Jeep. She didn’t even stop to say good-bye to her mother. She couldn’t.

It hurt too bad, and tears weren’t something she did well.

Tears were something she’d sworn years before she would never shed again.

—

“Better call Dawg.” Rowdy breathed heavily as he stood next to Timothy and watched the Jeep accelerate away from the house. “He’s not going to be happy.”