1
YOU’RE NOT AS PREPARED AS YOU THINK YOU ARE
Rhys O’Malley, aka a man of many talents who has no idea what he’s about to walk into
If there’sone thing I learned growing up in the private security world, it’s to be prepared for anything.
Tonight, that means watching for deer, elk, and bear on the dark, winding mountain roads on my way to the cabin that my buddy Decker Sullivan shares with his two identical brothers.
Usually, being on high alert is my default.
Right now, though, I’m more tired than I should be, and it’s my own fault.
Should’ve stopped a few hours ago and finished the drive tomorrow.
But the idea of getting here first, before the triplets’ newly discovered half sister arrives tomorrow, was appealing.
Settle in early. Have time for a hike to decompress in the morning. Get firewood prepped if I need it. Never know what Colorado Septembers will bring.
Breathe for the first time in a few months. Solidify a few more plans for the private security firm I want to open on the West Coast.
Do a little more research on this woman who seems to have absolutely no internet presence.
Practice my surprised face for when she comes to stay in the cabin too.
That’s the story Decker asked me to use—that his secret half sister and I areaccidentallyboth at the cabin at the same time, and I had no idea she would be there.
We’re playing it like it’s an accident that the triplets double-booked their getaway cabin because, unlike his two brothers, Decker’s pretty suspicious of anyone claiming to be family through that MatchDNA site.
Though, they’re the three guys who took the DNA test there in the first place to make sure they were related to each other.
Yeah.
Identical triplets, taking a DNA test to make sure they were related to each other.
I’m ninety percent certain they did it as a joke, but it had serious repercussions—they found out the man who raised them wasn’t their biological father. They’ve been keeping that secret from him for a few years now, which means they don’t know if he knows, or if he doesn’t know they know, or if they all know but they’re just not talking about it.
Hence having a surprise half sister—presumably they share a biological sperm donor somewhere—is not the best news for my buddy, and he wants to know more about this woman without her knowing he’s looking into her.
And since I didn’t have anything better on my calendar—being chronically unemployed after being blacklisted in the private security field by my stepfather’s been a trip, let me tell you—here I am.
I steer my truck onto the winding driveway that leads to the remote log cabin that Decker and his brothers inherited from some relative on their mother’s side. My shoulders are tight, my eyes are dry, and my ass is ready to be out of this seat. After a couple switchbacks on the long dirt driveway, the cabin comes into view.
The moonlight cuts through the trees, adding to the illumination from my headlights.
All is dark.
Just as it should be.
I park beside the door, kill the engine, and grab my phone.
I’ll text Decker to let him know I’m here early once I’ve made sure the place is secure and I’m inside.
Like I said.
Always be prepared.
I’m too young for my joints to creak and pop the way they do when I climb out of the truck, but they care less about my age—I’m barely in my mid-thirties—and more about what I’ve put my body through in those years.
