Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Nate’s voice stayed even. “I need you to text Samantha, ask her if she needs you to come now or if you can hold off enough to take care of shit here.”
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“I’m going to fly down tonight. If Sam needs you, you come with me. If we do that, I was thinking your brother could bring the kids down with him.”
“Graham?”
“Yeah. Or I can call my sister. She’d fly over to do that for us and drive the kids down.”
“No,” Quincey replied. “That’s too much to ask Aspen to be away from their kids. Graham will do it. He’ll bring his kids with him.”
Nate’s voice came back to the phone, clearer. “Quincey’s calling her brother right now, but I’ll be heading down. She’ll either be with me or if he can’t help, she’ll bring the kids down in a few days. Are you okay?”
No, I wanted to bite out, not at him but because of the question. “He shot himself in front of us. Logan and me. I’m not going to be okay for a long fucking time.”
Nate was quiet for a beat, and then his voice wavered. “I’m coming, brother.”
That meant a lot. A whole hell of a lot.
I had a hard time swallowing. “Thanks,” I rasped out before I ended the call.
There was a wall inside of me. I’d built it the second my dad pulled the trigger, and I was hiding behind it right now to deal with all of this shit. But he was coming. The wagons were circling. I needed them. Logan needed them.
That meant so much.
Despite all this, I knew how fucking blessed I was. Logan was always there. Then Nate. Then Logan. Then Logan and Sam. After that, Nate returned. Heather joined. Channing stepped a foot in, and over the years, he’d come all the way in. Matteo joined in college.
I felt the support around me. I needed more of it than usual.
Channing returned when he saw I was done on the phone. He held his own up. “Matteo will be on the first flight. He’s in Hawaii with his family right now.”
That was good. That was real good.
“What about David and Malinda?” Channing asked.
I shook my head. “Not yet. Maddy will wake up. She’ll know something’s wrong. I want to wait until the kids are awake tomorrow. We’ll have them come over. I’ll tell David and Malinda outside before we tell the kids. They can be there for Maddy and the twins.”
“Max will want to be there.” Channing’s son, who was a year younger than Maddy.
That sounded right. “Bring him.”
“Your mom?”
Christ. My mom. Would she even care? I shook my head. “I don’t want to deal with her bullshit. She’ll make everything about her.” I’d tell her. I’d have to tell her, but not yet.
Channing looked down at his phone, probably typing out instructions to the rest of the group.
I texted Logan, because he was the only one who might have a different opinion about our mother.
Me: If you want mom to know now, you can tell her. I’m not up to dealing with her on the phone.
His reply was immediate.
Logan: She should know, but that doesn’t mean we have to tell her. I think she’s in New Zealand anyway. We can have Malinda call her tomorrow.
That was a good idea. Relief flowed through me. One less thing to manage.
“Anyone else we need to notify right now?” Channing asked softly.
I ran through our immediate circle. There was no one else. Everyone else could wait.
It was time to handle business. “I need to know everything you know about someone named Kai fucking Bennett.”
3
MADDY
Something was wrong.
I woke up and went to the bathroom, and as I was slipping back into bed, light was coming from under my door. I could hear voices. It was the twins. Nolan and Nash were awake. I grabbed my phone and opened the door.
Nash was holding Nolan in his arms, both sitting on the top step. He looked back at me. Nolan didn’t. She was crying.
“What is it?” I asked, keeping my voice down.
Someone was talking downstairs. Aunt Taylor. She sounded like she was on the phone?
The uneasiness doubled inside me. I only needed to look at Nolan to know I was right. She was more sensitive than me. She was psychic. I was sure of it. Hell, everyone knew she was psychic. It was just a matter of whether they wanted to admit it to themselves or not.
She wouldn’t look at me.
Nash’s eyes flashed. “We think something happened to Grandpa.”
No. I blinked away immediate tears. We’d just lost Grandma. I moved to sit behind them, going to the wall and sliding down.
Nash put his arm back around Nolan, and I scooted in, stretching my leg to touch both of them. They moved closer, and Nolan leaned against me. She was shaking so I reached over and brushed some of her blond hair back from her forehead. Where she got it, I had no idea. Both Mom and Dad had black hair, but Nolan’s was soft and wispy, with some white strands mixed in with the blond. Nash had darker blond hair too. His looked similar to Aunt Heather and Uncle Channing, but he had the same jawline as Dad’s and the same green eyes. Besides the hair, there was no mistaking that Nash was definitely a Kade. Guess I got Mom’s genes since I had her same body shape. We were both slender. Plus, I got her hair. Jet black.