“She hasn’t seen her therapist in weeks,” Riku adds, “despite what she’s telling everyone.”
“This is all my fault, my stupid plan to help Neighpalm Industries. I had no idea how much she hated the spotlight, and I also had no idea the lengths she’d go to for her family. I’m supposed to understand the family so I can protect you all and the company, but I didn’t open my eyes to Jacinta until the truth was shoved in my face. I’m such a fucking idiot. She’s part of the family I’m supposed to keep safe from all those vultures on the outside.” Cole sounds devastated, and Ash steps up behind him and puts his hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze before taking a seat in the chair next to him.
“Dude, I can share the guilt. I wouldn’t have asked her to play along with me if I’d known the full extent of what she’s going through. I just thought she didn’t like media attention, not that it affected her mentally and emotionally.”
“Stop, just stop!” Hope stands up. “There’s no point in playing the blame game. Jacinta is an adult who could have said no at any stage, but she turned to drugs instead of talking to me or Harlow or anyone who would have helped. Let’s put the blame where it firmly belongs, and that is on her. Those choices have been made by her, and now all we can do is help her get through the aftermath and road to recovery.”
“I think we need to get her out of the city, away from all of this shit,” I tell them quietly. My brain has been whirling while I’ve been listening to everyone. “I think she needs to start therapy again and maybe go visit her new holdings. She needs a distraction, something to work toward. She’s always happiest when she’s doing something. Willow Castle helped with that for a while, but staying at Brad’s place is still too close to all the negative things that drove her to this point in the first place.”
“That’s actually a good idea.” Riku rubs a hand across his chin. “She can join a narcotics anonymous group online, so we can get her away from all of this.”
Shane and Alex are nodding. “Good thinking. Riku, you’ll go with her?” Alex asks, and Riku nods.
“Yeah, she won’t be able to get rid of me. I’ve been through this, so I know all the stages. It’s probably best if you guys stay away for a while, but I’ll let you know the minute she’s good to see you again, I promise.”
“What about Ash’s grandmother?” I ask, because I can see how worried the man is.
“We can spin a story that will keep her occupied while I look into getting custody of my sister. Jacinta said that Forrest had a great family lawyer as one of partners, so I think it’s time I tried again.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll set up a meeting for you.” Hope sits back down and heaves out a sigh. “And all that leaves is to tell the family.”
“Can you set me up a meeting too, please?” Cole’s been quiet for a while, but he suddenly jumps in. “I need some custody advice as well.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Jacinta is going to hate telling everyone,” Alex says quietly. “I think we should just see Brad for now, or maybe him and Grace and Howard. Harlow and the brothers don’t need to know until she’s in a stronger place and able to handle their reactions. If they don’t handle it the right way, that worthlessness and self-loathing could spiral into even more dangerous choices. They’ll forgive us for the secret once Jacinta is back to herself again.”
“Agreed,” Hope says. “Okay, I’m going to sleep with Jazzy to make sure she’s alright. Just shut the door when you all leave.”
With that, she waves bye to us and takes her leave. I finally stop pacing and collapse into her vacated seat.
“Alright, let’s address the elephant in the room,” Alex says, standing up as Shane wraps his arm around my shoulder and gives me a kiss on the temple. “All six of us are into Jacinta, right?” We all give him some kind of confirmation. “Excellent, and everyone is aware that no one is prepared to bow out?” Again, we all nod. “Good, so this is going to be a full-court press as soon as Riku gives us the okay. We will be there for her wherever, whenever, and however she needs us, right?”
“Absolutely, but I will have custody of Spencer, and if we can get Ash’s sister out from under their grandmother, he will have custody of her, so whatever happens, we need to take both of them into account.” Cole is finally all in. It took him a while to wrap his head around the fact that he was totally wrong about who Jacinta is, but I’m glad he’s finally there. I think Jacinta would have been disappointed if he’d wanted out, not that she would have told us or acted any differently, but we would have known.
“Right, so we need a plan. Are we going to live together, and where?” Shane asks next to me, and I snort.
“Good luck prying Jacinta out of her wing at her dad’s place.”
“We can’t get ahead of ourselves. She’s pretty fucking angry at me and Ash at the moment.” Riku sounds so sad that my heart aches for him. He’s been by her side this whole time, and I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for him. He’s supposed to protect her from threats, but he’s been unable to protect her from one of the most dangerous ones—herself. “We need to take this day by day. She may decide that a seven-way relationship is not what she wants. Let’s get her addiction sorted before we make any decisions about the future.”
We all reluctantly agree, knowing it was the drugs talking, not her, but that doesn’t erase the wounds that her words inflicted. As much as we all forgive her in theory, the ones she lashed out at may need their own time to be ready to show that forgiveness in action, like trusting her with their hearts and taking the leap to fully commit. They’ll probably need to hear from Jacinta herself that she truly doesn’t believe in anything she said to them.
“Fine, but if you get the chance to knock her up, do it. I want to be a daddy, and I want her to be the mommy. I don’t care if it’s one of your swimmers that gets the job done,” Alex declares, and we all stare at him, speechless, before I pick up a pillow and throw it at him. I’m pretty sure Alex has a breeding kink or something. Yeah, I think we’re all wordlessly agreeing to ignore any contribution he made in the last sixty seconds.
“Okay, so we all meet back here in the morning. We’ll get Brad to come here, that way she can’t avoid the conversation or escape it, and we’ll go from there.” Shane stands up and pulls me with him.
“All hands in!” Alex whisper-shouts and puts his hand out. The rest of us ignore him, and Ash, Riku, and Cole wave goodbye to the three of us as we take our leave. Shane and I hold hands while Alex grumbles all the way down to the car.
“Don’t worry, babe. We’ve got this.” Shane squeezes my hand before opening the door for me so I can slide in. “And if we fail, Alex will just knock her up so she’ll have no other choice.” I smirk as Shane teases our boyfriend who flips us both off as he slides into his seat.
“I’m going to be a great dad, just you wait and see.”
ChapterFourteen
Jacinta
My mouth feels like the Sahara, and my head is pounding as I roll over in bed. What the fuck happened last night? I bring my hand up to my face to shield my eyes when something hard bangs against my skin. I pry my eyes open, and they just about fall out of my head when I see the diamond engagement ring on my left ring finger. What the fuck?
