Read Online Chaste (McCullough Mountain) by Lydia Michaels - Free Book Online

pot.
    “How’s
that?” Josh asked and Kelly scowled. He wasn’t cashing in on shit.
    Sheilagh
stacked her chips and smiled shrewdly. “Marry her.”
    Josh
paled. “Uh, I didn’t even know her last name until five minutes ago.”
    “Well,
it’s Fisher and I know all about her. We went to CCD together to learn our
sacraments. Everyone knows that ring on her finger’s a promise ring her dad
gave her when she was sixteen. She’s old school, saving herself for the man she
marries.”
    Their
father grumbled something in Sheilagh’s direction Kelly didn’t catch. His
sister was the wild child and there were certain things he was sure his father
didn’t want to think about, like the ways Sheilagh and Ashlynn Fisher differed.
    “Well,
shit,” Josh said as he put down his beer. “I’m just looking for a date, not a
wife.”
    “Then
maybe you should look somewhere else,” Kelly mumbled, standing from the table
to toss his bottle in the recycling. When he turned everyone was frowning at
him. “What?”
    Finn
smiled. “Maybe you should date her, Kelly. You seem awfully protective
of her.”
    “I
don’t even know the girl.”
    Josh
continued to frown. “Don’t tell him that. If Kelly goes after her I don’t have
a shot in hell.”
    “I
think Josh should date her,” Sheilagh said, an evil glint in her green eyes. “I
think he should woo her and all kinds of good stuff. We can have a secret pool
on how long it takes for her to take off that ring.”
    “Sheilagh!”
Kelly snapped.
    “What?”
His sister shrugged innocently. “It’ll be fun.”
    “I’m
in.” Luke tossed a twenty on the table. “I say she holds out for marriage.”
    “Damn
it, Luke!” As someone who was frequently stereotyped, he didn’t like the turn
the game was taking. Sure, it was a private joke, but his brother’s
insensitivity was appalling.
    “Since
when are you such a prude?” Finn asked, pulling out a twenty. “I say two months
and the ring’s off with no engagement ring in its place. I think her virtue is
more circumstantial than devotional.”
    Sheilagh
whipped out a piece of paper from her purse and jotted down everyone’s names.
“Josh?”
    Josh
shifted, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t really feel right betting on this.”
    “With
an attitude like that, I say Josh isn’t the one she takes her ring off for,”
his father said, sliding Sheilagh a twenty. “You need a winning attitude, lad.”
    “Dad!”
Kelly snapped. He grabbed for the list, but Sheilagh snatched it out of reach.
    She
smiled mischievously. “I’m with you, Dad. But I’m going for the dark horse. I
say she takes the ring off for Center County’s finest, our very own rake and
rogue, Kelly McCullough, but I also say she gets him to marry her first.”
    “Are
you fucking crazy?” Kelly demanded. “I’m not looking to ever enter that three
ring circus.”
    Finn
frowned. “What three ring circus? Marriage is great.”
    Jesus,
his clothes felt itchy. Kelly paced. “Maybe for you. But to a guy like me those
three rings are a death sentence. First the engagement ring, then the wedding
ring, and last the suffe ring . No.
Thank you.”
    Sheilagh
laughed. “Don’t forget the chastity ring. I still say you punch her v card…
Wonder what sort of wedding you’ll have.”
    He
smacked her in the back of the head. “Shut it, Shei-devil.”
    His
brother’s burst out laughing. “You’re supposed to be the gambler here, Shei.”
Finn chuckled. “Might as well wipe your ass with that twenty, because you just
signed it away. Kelly’s never getting married.”
    “We’ll
see,” his sister said, jotting down her bet. “Kelly, did you want to play?”
    He
scowled at the group. “No. I think you’re all a bunch of drunken arseholes . I’m going to bed.”
    As
he walked out of the den, his sister yelled, “I’m sober as a nun, big brother,
and I’m gonna win. You’ll see!”
    He
slammed his bedroom door, cutting off their teasing remarks.