Just a Positive Pregnancy Test - London Casey Page 0,58
family needs to stay away.”
“Or not,” Eric said. “You might be on our property.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.
“We want to buy this place,” Giles said. “Right now. As is. Pack up the crew and leave. It’s ours now.”
“Not going to happen,” Tyler said.
“Let’s hear the offer,” I said.
Tyler curled his lip at me. “What the fuck are you doing right now?”
“He’s being smart,” Eric said. “Unlike the Justa family.”
“What’s the offer?” I asked.
Giles cleared his throat. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me.
“That’s a first offer,” Eric said. “Feel free to come back at us.”
I looked at the number.
I showed it to Tyler.
Tyler did a double take.
It was a lot of money.
The kind of money that would let me buy a piece of a land and build a house without needing to touch any more of my own money.
They were desperate for the house.
I could sense that’s how this family was.
I folded up the paper and handed it back to Giles.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay?” Giles asked.
“Okay,” I repeated. “Okay… as in… okay, you showed me you have a lot of money. Okay, I know you want this place. Okay, you want to make a spectacle out of the Justa family. Now. They aren’t my family. But I’m having a baby with one of the Justa sisters. So that makes me kind of family. Which means… get the fuck out of here.”
I took a step and both Eric and Giles moved back.
“Think about this, Silas,” Eric said.
“There’s two ways this ends,” I said. “One. I call the police. I call up Jace and let him handle this. I get my lawyers involved. Things get messy with paperwork and all that. That’s the boring way. The second way this ends… you want to be here so badly? How about Tyler and I get shovels and we bury you two in the backyard. I won’t even charge you rent to stay.”
Without another word, Eric and Giles walked off the porch and down to their luxury SUV.
I noticed they drove off a little quick.
Maybe they were mad.
Maybe they were scared.
“Nicely done,” Tyler said.
I nodded at him.
I didn’t quite understand this war with the Lovor family and the Rohrick family.
It didn’t matter.
I was smack dab in the middle of it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
MILA
I had to admit that I loved the ranch.
I loved that Dad wanted to be spontaneous and crazy, even if the ranch ended up as a massive financial burden to the entire family.
Things were a little bit calmer than they were.
Still far from normal.
And for Crosby… I really had no idea what his plan was for the ranch.
I knew nothing about it or how it could make money or if it ever would make money.
What I knew was that the second I got out of my car and saw the big, country house with the big barn and the fences with the animals, I smiled.
Cows out in one of the fields, grazing.
Three of the horses at the fence, all staring at me.
Crosby came out of the house, the old, wooden door slapping shut.
“Mila?” Crosby called out.
“Were you expecting someone else?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “What’s going on? You okay?”
“I just wanted to come to visit. See the animals. See you. You haven’t been around much.”
“Oh. Yeah. I…” Crosby hurried down the steps. “How’s being pregnant?”
I turned to the side. “Look at me. I feel huge.”
“You have a baby growing there. You’re supposed to get bigger.”
“You sound like Silas.”
“Am I wrong?”
“No,” I said.
“Look at you though,” he said with a smile. “You look so pretty, Mila.”
“Thanks.”
“I know better than to touch without asking,” he said. “But…”
“You want to touch my stomach? Go for it.”
“Can you feel him?”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “It used to be flutters at first. I could feel it but Silas couldn’t. Now it’s real kicks. He’s really in there.”
Crosby gently placed his hand to my stomach.
He stared down, grinning.
“Nothing,” he said. “That’s okay. He’s probably sleeping. I can’t wait to meet him. A nephew. I’m going to teach him a lot of stuff you’re going to hate me for.”
“I know,” I said.
“How about a drink? Uh… lemonade or something?”
“Sure,” I said.
“I’ll be right back. Go walk around. Make yourself at home.”
Crosby hurried back to the house.
I walked to the horses but they had already begun to move away.
They had no interest in me.
I walked to the other side of the barn just as the side door opened.