Alibi (Brantley Walker Off the Books #5) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,6

the three oldest kids sitting dutifully on the bottom step of the stairs, their little butts wiggling with excitement.

He watched them for a moment, teasing them with his eyes, then laughed. “All right. Let’s get on with it.”

“Yay!” They were instantly on their feet, stomping toward the door, barely avoiding trampling one another in the process.

“Kylie! Baby, you ready?” Travis called up the stairs.

“We’re comin’!”

Kylie and Gage were in charge of getting Haden and Maddox ready, so Travis headed out to get Kate, Avery, and Kade buckled into their car seats.

“I’m gonna play with Derrick today,” Kate informed him.

“Is that right?”

“Nuh-uh,” Kade argued. “I’m gonna play with Derrick first.”

Travis tuned out the ensuing argument, a talent he’d acquired from having six brothers, and one he’d perfected after having multiple children. Over the years, he’d gotten pretty good at keeping an ear out for critical moments when he had to intervene. Otherwise, he would leave it to them to figure out.

“Are you gonna play with Derrick, too, sweetness?” Travis asked Avery as he secured her in her seat.

She nodded, smiled.

Avery was his sweet girl, the one who was quiet and shy, rarely instigating, but at the same time, smart enough to know to never back down. And he was pretty sure she’d adopted the same method of dealing with their arguments as Travis had.

Chuckling, he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead.

When he turned and closed the door, he saw Kylie and Gage coming out of the house, locking things up behind them. Gage had a kid on each hip, while Kylie had two more bags, in addition to all the ones Travis had already loaded up.

“Y’all good if I go?” he asked. “I’m gonna swing through and pick up Pop.”

He got a nod in response, so he offered a small wave and hopped in the SUV.

Twenty minutes later, with his father riding shotgun and three of his crazy kids raising a ruckus in the backseat, he was pulling into one of the empty spots at his cousin Rex’s bed-and-breakfast. He’d checked in with him ahead of time to see if they could secure a few spots for family, knowing the festival would cause everything else to fill up fast.

Gage and Kylie were already there and in the process of getting Maddox and Haden situated in the enormous wagon they used whenever they carted the kids to the park, which was quite often being that it was the only place that seemed to satisfy all of them at the same time.

“You want in, too, sweetness?” Travis asked Avery when he helped her out of her seat.

“Wanna walk,” she said in her soft-spoken way.

Travis glanced at Gage, shook his head to relay her answer since they never knew which way she would go. Sometimes she liked to exert her independence, others she wanted to be babied. Looked like she was a big girl today.

Once Kate and Kade were out of the SUV, Travis helped Gage grab the backpacks that contained all their things. They bungeed a couple to the wagon, the others being shouldered by them.

“Hope y’all are ready for this,” Curtis told the kids, taking Kate’s hand and then Kade’s, while Avery latched on to her mom’s.

“We are!” Kade confirmed in that boisterous voice of his.

“Good.”

“You wanna know a secret?” Kylie asked, falling into step with them.

“What’s that, darlin’?” Travis put his arm around her shoulder, pulled her to his side.

“I was hopin’ to get a little quiet time today,” she said, her cornflower-blue eyes sparkling.

“Quiet time?” Gage snorted a laugh. “Where do you hope to find this at?”

“I told Jess we’d sneak away to do a little shopping, maybe splurge on some coffee and a funnel cake.”

Travis ignored the unease that slithered down his spine at the thought of Kylie going off by herself. Although he would’ve preferred to keep her and the kids locked up in the house, safe and secure and under his protective thumb, he knew he couldn’t do that. They deserved to be out enjoying life, not hiding away from the possible horrors this life could bring.

“Well, if it helps, we’ve got the kids today,” Gage told her. “Your only job is to enjoy yourself.”

Travis glared at Gage, hating that he could be so lax about it.

When Gage shot a look back his way, Travis refrained from saying anything. After all, he had promised he would stop being so overprotective. It had been almost four months since Kate was kidnapped, and no one had seen