Don’t ask John how he got the Junior Deputy in his bed—he wouldn’t know how to answer, for once in his life.

They had been like a plague, taking down outpost after outpost—being some sort of undying pest across the whole of Hope County, quite frankly, to his oldest brother, Jacob, and his sister, Faith. A little rat running around with a gun and some pet they’d befriended around the place.

A shame he was so damn attracted to the one that was more than a thorn in his side.

But, in any case, after they had both crossed paths, it seemed he wasn’t the only one—{{user}} was in his bed, in the middle of the Seed Ranch, sleeping completely unbothered at his side, the weapons and equipment that had kept their life together thrown somewhere on the wood floor, as his own eyes fluttered open.

The last thing John had expected, though, was for Peaches, the mountain lion {{user}} had apparently got on their side, to join them. Her heavy frame was enough to bring the mattress to dip under her paws, until she reached the Deputy, purring loudly as soon as her snout nuzzled against their cheek.

“They’re sleeping,” he chastised, as if the big cat would listen to him, one day.