I pulled up at the cabin and Aero waved to me. I rolled down my window and snapped, “What?”
“You need to drive down to Orion and Raquel’s.”
I didn’t respond as I raised my window and headed that way. He didn’t follow. In fact, he drove back out of the gates, and I pulled up to my brother’s home that had once been an old cabin they’d remodeled.
Walking inside, the alarm beeped, and Raquel rushed for the panel and entered the code while I closed the door. “Sorry,” I said.
“It’s totally fine,” she assured me, and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head even as the tears started to stream down my face.
“Oh, honey, come into the kitchen. We’re alone right now, so we can talk.”
I followed, sitting up at the island, and dropping my face into my hands.
“Wow, this is bad,” Raquel observed, sliding a glass of wine toward me.
“I screwed up,” I rasped.
“How?”
I shook my head. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re married to my brother, which means you’re married to the club, ergo, you’ll tell my brother and then there’ll be hell to pay.”
“Jesus, what did you do?”
I shook my head.
“Okay,” she said, giving me a gentle sideways hug. “Whenever you need me to listen, I’m here.”
“Thanks.”
“Is it a boy?”
“Raquel,” I growled and took a long sip of wine.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk—”
The alarm beeped, and Drake called out, “Just me.”
Saved by the bell.
Raquel smiled gently, then went to disarm the alarm. For the next two hours, I played the happy Violet, while Drake cooked something delicious and Raquel and I drank a bottle of wine.
We ate way too much and I was finally starting to feel a little more normal when the beep came again.
“It’s me,” Orion called, disarming the alarm.
“And me,” Dad said, as Drake and I followed Raquel out to the foyer.
“Hi, Daddy.” I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. Aero wasn’t with them, which was probably a good thing because I might have made him unable to ride permanently.
He kissed my head. “Hey, baby girl.”
“Why am I here?” I asked.
