Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Baby Kate was asleep in the mobile crib Eden and Trent had brought.
Juniper lifted her head from where she was sitting next to her mother, coloring.
“You’re not by yourself, Mommy, you silly willy. I’m right here, and you’ve got my brover right there.”
Juni used her crayon to point at Grant, who grunted as he suckled.
“Hey, what about me?” Gage’s eyes were pure offense as he looked up from his coloring sheet to Juni. “I’m right here, too.”
He and Juni Bee were tied at the hip, the two so adorable the way they couldn’t go anywhere without the other, their lives forever linked.
Eden had gotten the sweet bonus of Gage when she’d married Trent, and his brother, Jud, was lucky as hell to get not just the amazingness that was Salem, but her daughter, too.
“I would never in ever forget you, Gage,” Juni told him, so serious.
He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “You better not, especially since we’re gettin’ married.”
Neither of them had quite figured out that they were now cousins by marriage and that was not going to happen. But they’d been claiming it for so long, everyone had pretty much given up correcting them on it.
They’d figure it out.
“Maybe we should just have a double wedding,” I teased as I moved around the table and pressed a kiss to the top of Gage’s head. He angled back so he was beaming up at me.
All adorable dimples and these big brown eyes.
My chest stretched full.
Holy crap, how much I loved these babies. This makeshift family I’d never expected to receive.
“Not old enough yet, Auntie Tessa. Doncha know nothin’?”
A giggle got free, and I swept in to press a kiss to Juni’s cheek as I mumbled, “Apparently, Auntie knows absolutely nothing.”
“What’s nothing?” Aster asked as she came walking over, carrying a pink, bubbly drink with a bunch of maraschino cherries floating in it.
“Tessa knows nothing,” Salem supplied.
“Oh, right, yes, I already knew this.” Aster grinned as she plopped her adorable pregnant butt onto a chair.
“Oh, I see how it is,” I drew out, then my brow was drawing together. “And are you giving me crap when you’re sitting over there drinking a Shirley Temple?”
“Would you rather I have a margarita?” She arched a brow as she took a sip. “Besides, I’m pretty sure it’s you who deserves all the crap with this… This is quite the party,” she drew out. She lifted her glass and waved it around, indicating the mess I’d gotten myself into.
Sighing, I plunked onto the chair next to her and leaned my head on her shoulder. “Pathetic, right?”
She took my hand. “No, honey, you’re just doing what you feel is right.”
“And you’re doing it so well, Jud hasn’t even asked a thing about it,” Salem added.
“Yeah. It was hard not to let something slip coming over here. This is a lot, Tessa,” Aster murmured, her voice close to a warning.
I could feel a thousand silent questions screaming from my friends.
Salem arched an inquisitive brow my direction, her words held in code. “Why are you over there looking so loved up?”
“Ugh,” I groaned.
“Because she’s gettin’ married, Auntie Salem. She’s got the love.” Gage said it like her question was so ridiculous I was surprised he didn’t tack a duh to the end of it.
“Hmm,” Salem mused.
Guilt came lighting on my cheeks, and I itched in my seat.
“Oh, you little faker,” Salem wheezed as she leaned closer to the table. “Tell me now.”
The clinking of a knife against a champagne glass and Cheryl announcing she had something to say had me hopping to my feet. “Oh, that’s me. Gotta go.”
“You’re in so much trouble, Tessa McDaniels,” Salem called after me.
Oh, I was in trouble all right. She just didn’t know how deep it went.
TWENTY-EIGHT
MILO
“So, Tessa, huh?” Logan elbowed me in the ribs as he sipped at his scotch, the asshole grinning behind it as he razzed me. “Now that is some wild shit that came from out of nowhere.”
Night had taken hold of the air, the stars alight and alive where they danced over the party that was supposed to mean something, our friends there to celebrate us, to cover us in their love, when it was nothing but a sham.
Guilt of it had me in a stranglehold, everything catching up. Could feel that what we were doing was about to blow up in our faces. Did we really think we could get away with this without repercussions? Did I really think my past wasn’t going to catch up?
My guts twisted as I thought of the note that had been left in my truck. Not that I hadn’t been thinking about it twenty-four seven since I’d found it. Since the abyss that was my life had sucked me down in a spiral.
When I realized that it wasn’t over.