The problem would be solved as soon as I met with my father.
Parker:Meet me Monday at the old county expo grounds outside of Harrogate.
Leif:I’m so glad you’ve come to your senses.
I wanted to meet him earlier, but it was Friday. Several of my half brothers from Manhattan and neighboring states came into Harrogate over the weekend to hang out with the kids. Everyone would wonder where I was if I up and left.
As I drove back to the estate, I tried to call Sadie. I was hoping she would say in that breathy Southern drawl that she missed me. She didn’t answer, though, so it appeared I would be spending Friday night with my family.
“We didn’t think you were going to be here!” Henry shrieked when I walked through the door. “Did you bring food?”
“No, I didn’t bring food. Hunter is supposed to be making dinner tonight,” I said.
It was a zoo; my little brothers had Friday night fever and they were chasing each other around the house.
“Ellis said you would be out with Sadie!” Andy yelled from above me.
I swore. He was swinging from the large chandelier in the foyer.
“Get down from there!” I bellowed. He was easily twenty feet off of the floor.
“I’m Tarzan,” he whooped.
“What the—where is Hunter?”
“Hunter’s not here,” Isaac said. He and Bruno were on their tablets playing some game with a lot of shooting and noise. “Garrett’s out with Penny. Mace is out with Josie. Archer is out with Hazel.”
Before Mace and Garrett had found girlfriends, they were usually around to keep things in line if for some reason Hunter wasn’t in town. Now chaos seemed the norm.
Quickly, I went to the switch panel in a nearby closet and lowered the chandelier. Andy clambered off. I was suddenly furious—of course my brothers had left! Andy could have been hurt or killed.
You wouldn’t have been here either if you were with Sadie.
Maybe I needed to cut that relationship off. I couldn’t let anyone come between me and my family.
The front door flew open. Hunter walked in. Normally pristine, his clothes were slightly rumpled. He was listing slightly and carrying a stack of pizza boxes.
“They’re supposed to eat healthy food,” I snapped at him. “Where were you?”
“Jesus, Parker, it’s Friday night. Fuck off.”
“Oooh!” the kids all said. Hunter had a hard rule about no swearing in the house.
“That’s a hundred dollars,” I said, echoing what he said when he got after us for swearing in front of our little brothers.
“I said,fuck off.” He shoved the pizza boxes at Isaac, who took them to the dining room. That was when I smelled the alcohol on his breath.
“Were you drinking?” I hissed.
“Of course.” Hunter narrowed his eyes at me. “You think we escaped,” he said to me. I glared at my older brother. “We didn’t, though. We’re just trapped here in this town as much as we were in the compound.”
“You’re trapped,” I snapped at him. “I’m fine. Maybe you should just leave like you always do, especially if you’re drinking and driving. If you’re going to endanger everyone, you need to get the fuck out.”
“He wasn’t drinking and driving,” Remy said, coming in with another stack of pizza boxes plus a container of salad. “I picked him up.”
“From where?”
“Guess. If you get it right, you can have this dessert pizza all to yourself.”
