devoid. Sometimes guys swear they’re possessed.
Seth and Nathan are a couple of kittens.
“How did you do it?” I ask Mom. “Uncle Jacob and Uncle Mattie can be scary too.”
She grins. “My brothers were scared of your dad. Plus, your father is a friend of the family. It makes all the difference.”
So, I need to date a friend of the family?
No thank you, Mom. I’ve been there, done that, and—you told me to end it. Well, he ended it first. I don’t think about the subject or I’m going to start sulking.
“Let me call, Beacon,” I say, pulling out my phone.
“Yo, G?” he answers right away.
“We have a meeting. Are you ready?”
“Always. Just give me a minute,” he answers, and I hear the roar of a car engine.
“Did you steal one of your brother’s cars again?”
He laughs, and there’s some clicking over the phone—the call drops. Well, I hope he arrives at his house in time so he can video chat. Dad hates to wait.
I kiss Mom. “I’m heading back home after this.”
“Don’t stay up too late,” she warns me.
“I love you, Mom.”
I wave at her, walking toward Dad’s office. I feel someone watching me. When I look up, I find Beacon leaning against the wall.
“You’re here,” I whisper.
His smirk widens as we run toward each other like a couple of kids who haven’t seen their best friend in years, which is partially true. He’s been busy dealing with the family that has never acknowledged him until now.
“Hey, G!” he says, lifting me from the floor and twirling me around.
I hold his face, looking into his deep dark green eyes. He seems happy.
“It’s good to see you,” I say, but the reminder of why he shouldn’t be here makes me gasp, jump out of his embrace, and strike him on the chest. “You idiot!”
The passing of his father leaving a ridiculous will behind changed his life drastically. He and his brothers have to live together in Baker’s Creek for the next eighteen months. He’s not allowed to leave the town during the first six months.
There are so many ridiculous stipulations, and all of them are just so they can claim the inheritance, which none of the brothers want. It’d be easy to walk away, except William Aldridge will destroy—from the grave—the livelihoods of many if they don’t do as he says.
Chapter Seven
Grace
“Ouch!” He flinches. “This is your new way to welcome your best friend?”
“What the hell are you doing in Seattle, Beacon Kirk Aldridge?”
“Technically, it’s Mercer Island. We have a meeting,” he reminds me, tilting his head toward Dad’s office.
“You are supposed to be in Baker’s Creek!”
“I am,” he assures me with a grin. “Didn’t you hear? The guys came to practice. We are in my studio.”
“God, you’re impossible!”
“You keep saying that, but am I?”
No, but if his brothers knew where he was, they’d kill him.
I glare at him.
“You’re mad at me?” That sheepish, innocent look erases my anger.
“I wish I could be upset.” I poke him in the chest. “You’re jeopardizing the lives of a lot of people.”
“You know that if I fuck everything up, I’ll fix it.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask how. It’d be impossible to fix anything if they sell the properties and tear down the buildings, wouldn’t it? But I don’t say a word because if I challenge him, he might do something stupid to prove that he’s right. Then he’ll be complaining that I don’t have enough faith in him.
“So, how’s Howie?”
“Hardy,” I correct him.
“Whatever,” he says with disregard. “He’s a loser, and you should break up with him.”
I cross my arms. “Let me guess. He’s not good enough for me?”
Beacon grins. “You know that, but you like to keep dating guys who don’t deserve you.”
We open Dad’s office, and my brothers are already with him. Nathan and Beacon do their weird hugging, hand shaking ritual that’s just stupid.
Seth glares at the screen and says, “Let’s get this over with. We have to be back in a few hours before anyone notices Beacon is missing.”
I roll my eyes. Of course, Seth helped him. These two are each other’s accomplices.
Dad leans back, grabs the remote, and turns on the big screen where everyone in The Organization is ready for the video chat.
Dad created a high intelligence secret agency in his early twenties. He never thought it’d grow to be one of the most important companies in the world, or that it’d be a family business.
He tried to keep us away from it, but