“Keep your cool, Pops.” Drake slaps him hard over the back, and Tad’s rigid extension salutes the ceiling. “Logan and I squared things away. And don’t worry. You raised me right. I offered him top dollar to have my ass hitched on hisproperty.”
Tad shakes his face at Mach 5 as if coming to. “Top dollar? While, I’ll give you the entire Landon estate for half!” His face is still powdered with those plaster pussies he tried to shove down histhroat.
“No, thanks.” Bree scowls at her father-in-law with a look of nausea. Not that I can blame her. “I’m doing it right. I want an evening wedding with all my friends and family present. Ellis is helping me score some entertainment through his dad’s connections. We’re talking big names here. I don’t even recall dancing at Laken’s mediocre beachbash.”
Skyla frowns at her best friend. “Just make sure you’re doing this for the right reasons. That would be for you and Drake. Don’t let what Laken does with her life dictateyours.”
“I don’t want to talk about that ho anymore.” Bree swats Beau away as he circles near her legs. “What’s important is that my bestie and I get back on track. And guess what, missy? You get to plot out my bacheloretteparty!”
“Oh joy.” Skyla looks up atme.
“And,dude”—Drake nails me in the arm with his fist—“you get to plan my last night offreedom.”
I glance to Skyla, and we share a quiet smile. “Drake, I’m really flattered, but shouldn’t you ask Ethan to fill these big shoes? I’m down if he’s out—but he is yourbrother.”
“Oh shit.” He ticks his head back a notch with a stumped look on his face. “I’d better ask. I’d hate to piss the dude off.” He struts off toward Ethan’s room and barrels on in without knocking. “Dude, get off that chick—we’ve got a wedding toplan.”
Great. I put a half-hearted effort into covering Nathan’s eyes. “Maybe we should take off for a bit?”Like forever, I want to add, but I’m betting the boys are better off with the nutcases that run this asylum than in a house full of corpses—although at this point it’sdebatable.
“I agree.” Skyla gives Bree a quick hug. “Congrats. Let’s get together soon. Between your upcoming nuptials and Ezrina’s new baby, we’re going to have a busyyear.”
“Don’t forget these boys.” I jostle Nathan between the two of us, and he reaches out and grabs ahold of his brother’s hand. “It’s a whole year of firsts for these littleguys.”
“That’s right.” Bree gives Nathan’s nose a quick thump. “First smile, first laugh, first kiss—heck, these boys even got a little pussy thisyear.”
“And that’s the last time we’re going to mention it.” I twist Nathan out of her reach. “Skyla, let’s get out ofhere.”
“It couldn’t be fastenough.”
Or longenough.
* * *
Skylaand I load the boys into the minivan and drive down the long gray tongue of the island with no real rhyme or reason other than getting as far away as possible from the lunacy the Landon house has to offer. I’d take her to Whitehorse, but a part of me doesn’t want to see Logan just yet. I’d take her to my house, but I know Skyla isn’t up for seeing my mother. Our own home is ironically off the short list since it’s temporarily doubling as a glorified holding tank for the cemetery castoffs. And, of course, there’s Dudley’s, and well—Dudley is there. But there is oneplace.
“How about Rockaway?” she asks as if reading my mind, and the thought sets me slightly onedge.
“Rockaway it is. Home sweet home.” The turnoff comes up next, and I take it. Soon the evergreens give way to ebony-colored sand, the hard line of navy waters just beyond its borders. “This feels like home tome.”
“Too bad we couldn’t live in that hut you built. I think we’d need to add on a nursery if wedid.”
I glance in the rearview mirror to find the boys both fast asleep—a miracle in and ofitself.
“Looks like the boys aren’t too interested in visiting the hut justyet.”
A light sprinkle sizzles over the windshield as I pull in as close to the sand aspossible.
“Hut or no hut, this is perfect.” Skyla takes up my hand as we watch the waves crashing over themselves, white with anger as they roar their fury onto shore. “This is where you asked me to marry you.” She bites down hard on her lip. “This has always been our place, hasn’tit?”
“It’s a beautiful place—a perfect place to call our own.” I pull her hand forward and kiss my grandmother’s ring still firmly on her finger. During this entire nightmare, Skyla always had it on, and that alone gave me all the hope Ineeded.
“I couldn’t do it.” Her eyes look to the ring as she holds it between us. “I tried, but I didn’t have it in me to take it off. I thought we were over, but I guess my heart knew otherwise.” Her fingers graze through the scruff on my chin amoment.
“I saw that stone last night.” My throat tightens as I struggle to get the words out. That stone Candace sent down—all but threw at my head last December comes to mind. She said it had my number on it, the exact remainder of my time here on the planet. “It was on the bookshelf, but I couldn’t help but think it was mockingme.”
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I swear, I would flush the thing down the toilet if I could. In fact, we should go back and get it right now and pitch it into thesea.”
“No.” A tired laugh stumps through me. “I swear, it’s fine. It’s just—I thought maybe we should talk about it. Seven—the number.” Our eyes lock, and a shiver runs through me at the thought of verbalizing anything that demonic stone had to say. It feels as if I’ve unleashed a celestial dragon, and in an irony too big to wrap my head around, I am in fact that horrificserpent.
