Given the chance, would I change it?
No.
‘Besides, Archie should pay up! He says shite all the time.’ Blake’s high-pitched voice drags me back to the present. His tiny neck arches backwards as he cranes to look at me. Small but savvy, is this fellow.
I drop to my knees, balancing on the grass beside him, producing two fivers from my pocket and tucking one tightly into each of their hands. ‘I’m a grown up, so I’m sort of allowed. Don’t tell your parents, though.’
As if they’ve heard me talking about them, Ryan and Sasha appear from the castle together, her hand pressed tightly in his as they descend the taupe stone steps.
Wearing dark jeans, a white t-shirt and aviator sunglasses, Ryan looks every bit the retired rock star he is. Sasha’s wearing an oversized jumper dress, stylish and understated. No wonder she’s been featured on the front page of every fashion magazine. Pink painted lips are pinched into a tight line, her expression drawn. Something’s up. I’ve been here long enough to know the signs.
As her gaze roams over the lawn and she spots the twins, her mouth curves into a smile which doesn’t quite reach those wary jade eyes.
‘Mammy,’ Blake screeches. Bella might be a daddy’s girl, but there’s no mistaking who their little boy favours. No matter what goes on outside the castle gates, Sasha and Ryan make it their business to put the kids first. Always.
‘I hope you’re not hounding poor Archie,’ Sasha mock scolds, sweeping Blake up into her arms, even if he is getting on the heavy side.
‘He was teaching us how to play baseball but I’m shi…’ Thankfully, he replaces the word he was about to use. ‘…rubbish.’
Ryan snorts. His strong shoulder bumps against mine in a playful gesture. ‘The Brits don’t know how to play baseball! Ask your uncle Jayden to teach you next time he’s home from LA.’
‘Don’t believe him, kids. Jayden couldn’t bat his way out of a brown paper bag!’
Ryan pretends to chase Bella before lifting her high into the sky and tickling her. A pang of envy flares in my sternum. The Coopers are a walking, talking commercial for the perfect family. Even with whatever new drama is eating Sasha.
‘Everything okay?’ I glance quizzically between the world’s most famous couple as they gently set the kids upright on the lawn.
Sasha turns to Ryan, who clears his throat and pushes his sunglasses on top of his head. Espresso-coloured eyes gaze back at me, blooming with something like commiseration.
‘What is it?’ Images of the mad bastard I call ‘father’ assault my mind. I haven’t set eyes on him in years.
Could he finally be dead? No. My sister would have called me, not my employers.
Though perhaps not, given that I nearly always reject her calls. If it’s not Dad she wants to discuss, it’s the hundred acres of family farmland we inherited. I want nothing to do with any of it, but I can’t shirk my responsibilities forever.
‘It’s Victoria,’ Sasha blurts. I don’t know whether to be relieved or horrified.
Victoria might be the youngest of the three Sexton sisters, but over the past five years she’s evolved from shy teenager toALLwoman. Even thinking about her makes my dick longer and harder than the baseball bat discarded at my size twelve feet. It’s why I tend to avoid her.
‘Is she okay?’ Stupid question. Obviously, she’s in some sort of trouble. Again.
Victoria has a reputation for working harder than anyone belonging to a family as wealthy as hers, powering through long, arduous shifts on an Edinburgh hospital ward in the name of a vocation.
Unfortunately, she also has a reputation for partying harder than anyone too.
She’s had more bodyguards than the rest of this family combined.
‘What’s she done now?’ I raise an arm to shield my eyes from the brilliant sunlight.
Ryan steps forward, his arm dropping over Sasha’s shoulder, as her face falls again.
‘She was involved in a nightclub shooting last night.’ His gravelly voice is grim. ‘It’s all over the news.’
‘What?’ Adrenaline jacks inside, coursing through my arteries, furiously pumping to every cell.
‘She wasn’t hurt, luckily.’ Ryan’s tone is sombre. ‘The opposite, in fact. She was trying to help the person who got shot. Typical Vic.’
Sasha pinches the bridge of her nose. ‘It’s still way too close for comfort.’
