Ruffled Feathers

I wasn’t known for overthinking problems. I was an “ask for forgiveness and not permission” kind of person.

So when I got caught with a cock in my sweatshirt after a police raid on a cockfighting ring, it looked bad. Surely they’d know I was trying to rescue the half-dead rooster, right?

Unfortunately, there was only one person who could bail me out of this situation and it was my stepbrother’s best friend, Truett Heathstone. Which meant he’d tell my stepbrother–who I had a wildly inappropriate crush on–who’d then be obligated to tell my dad and then everyone would find out I was running an unregistered animal rescue out of my stepmother’s multi-million dollar mansion. And that I’d kind of adopted a homeless man and his service dog.

But that was me. Otillie-James Baler, the town screw-up. An Unshown in a family of Alphas and Omegas. The black sheep of polite society. In love with my step-brother and his best friend, but never able to be part of their Pack. Otillie-James Baler, who was never quite good enough.