“Where the fuck have you three been?” he barked, striding around the bonnet as I slid out from behind the wheel. His face looked even worse than it had the previous night.
“We could ask you the same thing?” Nix deflected, grimacing at Hudson’s black eye.
Molly and Harper did that girl-hug shit and then greeted Nix and me before saying. “We’ve been to the emergency room. I wanted Hudson to get checked out.”
Both Phoenix and I grinned as we shot Hud a feigned sympathetic look. “You OK, sunshine?”
“Blow me,” he grunted, walking up the drive towards the front porch.
It was great to be at the house again and to have both Harper and Molly with us, but it did make me pine for Storm even more. I’d messaged to ask if she was OK, but got nothing back. No doubt she was still with that shit head.
Once we had helped to clear the dishes away, we left Ma and the girls in the kitchen to finish the pots and congregated in the den. It was the room we all used to chill out when we lived together. It felt strange being back in there, but nothing hadchanged. Well, apart from the addition of white fluffy pillows, which Harper had added after saying that the sofa wasas uncomfortable as fuck. The girl had a point.
Once my brothers were settled, I pulled out the sheets of paper I had copied and handed them to Hudson. He was probably the smartest of all of us. We filled in the blanks as much as we could.
Hudson wasn’t impressed that he’d been cut out of the action. “You should have called me. I could have picked that lock in my sleep.” Luckily, he was quick to forgive, explaining how he’d had some bloods rushed through at the clinic. Having bitten part of a guy's ear off, Hudson had made the wise decision to get checked out. Around half an hour into our discussion about what we thought was happening with Jasper and his father, Hud received a message to say his results were negative.
Once we had gotten our heads around what we believed Jasper’s intentions were, we started to hatch a plan as to what we would do about it.
We knew we needed to go to Dominic with what we thought we had found out, but he was away at a conference for the next few days. I also knew that I was the one who needed to present what I had found out. If I was wrong, I had to be sure it would not affect Nix and his dad's relationship.
As the girls joined us, we started to fill them in on what we’d found out in Jasper’s office. Of course, Harper knew part of the story. We brought them both up to speed, and they were adamant to help in some way.
And then they dropped another bombshell. The girls confessed that they were the ones who sent me the invitation to Storm’s wedding.
“We knew you’d come back, Reed. Please forgive us. Seeing that must have made you feel like shit.”
It wasn’t a total shock. Nix and I had made that suggestion in The Tavern that first night I was back.
“Not at all. It forced me to get my head out of my ass and fight for what I want.”
“So, you do want her then?” they both echoed with hope on their faces.
Sweeping my gaze across the people I now saw as my family, I confessed. “I love her.”
Their reactions were of a similar vein, following that ‘about fucking time’ theme.
We then began to construct our plan with Nix scrolling through his phone, checking details of his father’s schedule for that week.
I knew I needed to go to Dominic.
“So, my father is back on the afternoon of the wedding rehearsal. You need to have your shit together by that time. I will arrange for you to meet with my father in his suite before he comes down for dinner.”
Sitting back in my chair, I soaked up everyone’s suggestions and offers of how they could help us stop Storm from marrying the biggest douche on the planet.
There was a brief discussion about how much we needed to tell Storm. Both Molly and Harper had confessed that Storm had told them how unhappy she was and that she didn’t want to marry Jasper. And of course, I knew that in my gut anyway, no matter what she said.
With a plan firmly in place, we ended our meeting feeling positive. I then went to find Ma. I had to speak with her about the Palmer case. I had decided to go to the cops, and I didn’t want the woman I saw as my mother to hear about that shit on the news.
Tears were shed as Ma listened to what I had endured before she had reunited Micah and me. After around an hour, I ended the visit on a high note as we spoke about the man she was seeing and my transfer to the Patriots.
As we shared our goodbyes, Ma pulled me in for a hug. “I am so pleased that fame hasn’t spoiled you, Reed. You’re still my boy.”
“Always, Ma,” I replied, taking in her sweet lady scent.
As I walked down the driveway, I checked if Storm had replied to my earlier message asking if she was OK.Yes. I’m OK. Jasper and I have spoken about our future, and what he said makes perfect sense to me now. It was nevermeant to be between us. Whatever you are doing. Stop. It’s over between us, Reed. Give up on me.
Give up on me? Never.
