Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
“You’re good with this?”
“Fuck, yeah. Want to hop on a group text and settle it now?”
Gannon rolls his eyes. “This isn’t the kind of thing you can handle on a group text.”
“You just say that because you’re old.”
I whip my phone out. I have a text sent before Gannon can stop me.
Me: Hey, fam. Gannon wants to retire. Here are our options—one of you takes over Brewer Group, we sell it all, or sell it all minus whatever you want to keep. Brewer Air is already exempt because Jason wouldn’t let Dad incorporate it into BG. (Nerd.)
“Dammit, Tate,” Gannon says as his phone goes off.
Carys mouths, “Thank you,” from across the room.
“You’ll thank me when this is over in ten minutes,” I tell my brother as a host of dings break through the air.
I unlock my screen.
Jason: This NERD had forethought. Whatever you guys decide works for me.
Bianca: It’s about damn time. (I don’t want anything.)
Renn: Let me talk to Blakely, but we might want to keep the Royals.
Tate: I don’t want anything. I never liked working anyway.
Bianca:
Jason:
Ripley: I see a lot of potential in the Arrows. Let me get back to you.
Gannon looks at me and holds my gaze. He doesn’t say thank you, but I know he means it.
Gannon: Let me know, Renn and Rip. I’ll get with the attorneys next week and get this process started.
“You’re welcome,” I say, locking my screen and shoving my phone in my pocket. “Now that I’ve solved all of your problems, you can help solve one of mine.”
The anger I’ve battled all night and this morning rears its ugly head.
I grab the collar of my shirt and pull it away from my face. Carys looks toward me with a curious, yet worried look in her eye. She grabs Gannon’s arm as she stands next to him, across the counter from me.
“As you know, I met my future wife,” I say. “No Kelly jokes. Now isn’t the time.”
Gannon holds his hands in front of him. “Not saying a word.”
“Guess who she is.” I pause but can only manage to wait a couple of seconds. “Time’s up. Her name is Aurora Johnson.”
“Who?” Gannon asks.
Carys’s jaw drops. “You’re kidding me.”
“I’m not. I am, in fact, banging your hot stepmommy.”
Gannon’s lip twitches. “Only you, Tate. Only you.”
“I’m … shocked,” Carys says, looking bewildered. “I haven’t talked to her since she called to apologize for how Dad’s birthday dinner went and to tell me she was divorcing him.”
“Nice segue.” I turn to my brother. “Do you know where the motherfucker is?”
“Why?
“General question.”
“That I’m not going to answer as long as you’re looking at me like that.”
I hop off the stool, unable to sit still any longer. My fingers flex to hit something. My skin is too small for my body. Adrenaline courses through me as I think about Aurora’s ex-husband’s hands on her.
“Did you know that your father abused Aurora?” I ask, licking my lips.
Carys’s eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “No.”
“Did he ever touch you?” Gannon asks, his eyes darkening.
“No,” she says, shaking her head again. “No. Absolutely not.”
My brother and I exchange a look. Between the two of us, Kent Johnson’s days are numbered.
“Apparently, there was a dinner she was making for you, I think. Pot roast? And—”
“Oh my God. Yes! She had hurt her back somehow. I think she said she fell.”
“Yeah, well, your dad did that to her.”
Carys covers her mouth. “Is she okay?”
“She’s okay. Your dad is a dead man as soon as I get my hands on him.”
“Tate,” Carys says, “you can’t do that. Not because he’s my dad. Fuck that. But you can’t get in trouble over someone who isn’t worth your time.”
I glance at Gannon for support. He winks.
“Yeah, Tate,” he says, pointedly. “Let’s use our heads here.”
Ivy’s cries ring through the baby monitor propped up on a fruit basket.
“Let me get her,” I say, knowing Gannon needs a few minutes alone with his wife.
I head down the hall and open my niece’s door. She’s sitting in the middle of her bed, sniffling. Her dark hair is wild, sticking everywhere but down.
She’s the cutest little thing ever.
“Rough nap, baby girl?” I ask.
She smiles when she sees me. “Ta! Ta!”
“Yeah,” I say, chuckling. “Tate. Can you say Tate?”
“Ta!” She reaches for me. “Up.”
“You learned a new word, you little smartie.” I lift her out of her crib and kiss her chubby little cheeks. “You have a soggy bottom. Let’s change your diaper.”
“No.” She shakes her head just like her mother. It makes me laugh. “No.”
“Yes,” I say.
“No.”
“The one word you can say as clear as a bell.”
I lay her on her changing table and make quick work of cleaning her up. She manages to chant her displeasure the entire time while trying to wiggle off the table and pull anything off me she can grab.