Walk (Gentry Boys) by Cora Brent Page B

a high school teacher if I remembered correctly.  There was something else I remembered about him.  One time he’d surprised Stephanie at the office with a lunch delivery.  I remembered watching them together and hoping one day a man would look at me with the same kind of shining devotion that Stephanie’s husband showed her.  They had two sons, with a third on the way, adorable replicas of their father. 
    The Gentry men looked a lot alike. Chase and his two brothers were triplets.  Not the identical kind, but it was clear they were closely related.
    Cord, the host, was covered with tattoos and married to Saylor.  Together they had three girls. 
    Creed was the biggest and quietly stayed back, holding a baby girl.  He did offer a friendly grin when Stone introduced me.  His wife, the mother of the baby girl, was movie star gorgeous with black hair, an enviable figure and a cheerful southern accent.  Her name was Truly and she greeted me warmly, taking my elbow and proudly pointing out her little son who appeared to be about four. 
    Now that I was seeing Stone beside his cousins, the family resemblance was obvious.  They were all brawny and blonde and blue-eyed.  Give them helmets and swords and they’d look like a Viking raider party.  
    Except one. 
    Stone introduced him as Declan, another cousin, but the man smoothly extended a strong hand and said,  “Always call me Deck.  Good to meet you, Evie.” 
    “Nice to meet you too.” 
    There was something magnetic about this dark-haired, dark-eyed Gentry cousin named Deck.  He was staggeringly good looking but with a rough edge that wasn’t only due to his two-day beard and nest of tattoos. I guessed him to be somewhere in his early thirties and he had the kind of charismatic presence that, along with his obvious strength, likely made him a man no one was eager to cross.   
    Deck paused at our introduction and looked straight into my eyes.  Several seconds went by as he appraised me carefully.  He must not have found anything disturbing because he relaxed and waved his wife over.   
    Jenny wasn’t the sort of woman I would have pictured to stand beside tough guy Deck.  She was about my age; a wholesome, pretty redhead with a ponytail.  She seemed like the kind of girl you’d befriend in a yoga class and then go grab a smoothie with.  After she kissed Stone on the cheek she smiled at me and I caught a glimpse of the exquisite face peeking out of the pink bundle in her arms. 
    “She’s beautiful,” I breathed, staring.  I couldn’t help it.  I was a shameless sucker for babies. 
    “Thank you,” Jenny said warmly, smiling when Deck leaned over to kiss the baby girl on her forehead.  She would have red hair, like her mother.  “Her name’s Isabella.” 
    I grinned at the little family.  “A queen’s name.” 
    “She already is a queen,” Deck insisted proudly, touching the child’s cheek. 
    Then he turned his attention to Stone.  “Come on,” he said, putting a hand on the back of Stone’s neck.  “Your girl will be fine on her own.  We got some shit to talk about.” 
    Stone glanced back at me questioningly and I nodded.  “Go ahead.” 
    “So,” Jenny said, shifting the baby around.  “Are you guys old friends from Emblem or did you just meet?” 
    “We just met.  I don’t know anyone in Emblem.  And I know Stone’s been, um, away…”
    Jenny laughed gently.  “We know where he’s been.” She glanced over at the men.  Deck and Stone had found seats at an old redwood picnic table in the corner of the yard under the shade of a mesquite tree.  Deck was saying something and Stone was listening to him with a serious, almost sad, expression. 
    “He got a bum deal,” Jenny said softly. 
    “Stone?”
    “Yeah.  Deck and the guys tried to pull whatever strings they could grab onto but the Gentrys aren’t the law.”  She made a face. “Still, I don’t recommend that you suggest that to