Faker (Havenbrook #4)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

NAT

If there was one thing I loved about my life, it was that I was under no one’s thumb. I was free to do what I pleased, when I deemed to do so. That simple fact couldn’t be overemphasized…not when I’d grown up in the Haven household and under the watchful eye of my daddy.

But I’d seen to it that Richard Haven no longer had a say in my life. Even if it had taken me halfway around the world to do so.

It’d been nearly a decade since I’d moved away, my bags already packed before the last name in my high school graduating class had even been called. I’d flown away from Havenbrook and didn’t look back. Not even once.

Or, at least, I hadn’t . But I’d been back more times in the past couple years than I had in the previous six combined. First, for my gran’s eightieth birthday party. And then because my pigheaded daddy had gone and had a heart attack—probably just to screw up my shooting schedule, knowing him.

And now, ever since that scare, I’d felt obligated to make an appearance more and more. I’d popped in a handful of times over the past few months—over the holidays, for a birthday, because I had a two-day break in my schedule. That didn’t mean I’d liked it.

It wasn’t Havenbrook’s fault, though. It was just me. It was how I was built. I’d hated cages since I could walk…even before. I’d started climbing out of my crib before I turned one, and I’d never stopped. And if one place in the world felt like a cage to me, it was my hometown.

My phone rang as I packed up my gear for my upcoming shoot in the Iruya Valley during the golden hour. I glanced down at the name flashing across the screen, a wry smile tipping my lips.

It wasn’t that long ago that a call from my eldest sister, Rory, would have been ignored without a second thought. But, beyond all belief and rationale, the two of us had developed a sort of truce I certainly hadn’t seen coming, but I was inclined to let it continue. And not only because it made one of my best friends and Rory’s new beau happy.

“Never fails to make me laugh when I’m notified Miss Stick Up Her Ass is callin’,” I said without bothering with a hello .

“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing I didn’t hand the phone over to Ava like she wanted,” Rory said dryly, referring to her eldest daughter.

I snorted a laugh, not feeling an ounce of the remorse my sister no doubt hoped I would. “C’mon, Rory. There’re no illusions here. Your girls have already heard everything from me you’d rather they didn’t.”

An ideal, responsible adult, I was not. Nope. I was the fun aunt. The one my nieces could go to when they had boy—or mom—trouble. I’d commiserate and dish all the sordid details I could. And, in a few years when the time came, I’d slip them condoms and tell them all the nitty-gritty details their girlfriends—or the internet—wouldn’t bother to.

“Hence why I’m callin’ first.” Rory cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’m sure you’re busy doin’ whatever it is you do.”

“Photography, Rory. I do photography. I’m a photographer, so, yes, that’s what I do.”

“Well, your niece is officially a babysitter. She was hopin’ for some tips from you.”

I couldn’t hold in my bark of laughter. “Do you not like these people she’s babysittin’ for? Is that why you’re callin’ me for advice? Because I can promise you, any of my tips are not gonna be favored by parental figures.”

“Believe me, this call goes against my better judgment.”

“Love that I always know where I stand with you, sister dearest.”

“As I was sayin’…” Rory said primly. Her boyfriend and one of my best friends, Nash King, might’ve worked hard to remove that stick from her ass, but some things were lodged deep. Looked like he still had a little work cut out for him. “These are extenuating circumstances. The people she’s babysittin’ for are the Haywards, and Ava really wants to make a good first impression. I figured you might have some tips or tricks. Maybe details about a few of June and Owen’s favorite things that you wouldn’t mind passin’ along to your niece?”

Ah…it all made sense now. Just because I wasn’t a maternal figure didn’t mean I didn’t make exceptions for a few select miniature people. Four, to be exact.

Ava, age eleven. Niece. Daughter to Rory. Lover of dance and all things pink and sparkly. Libra, natch.

Ella, age eight. Niece. Also daughter to Rory. Adored bugs, exploring, and forging her own path. Sagittarius, through and through.

June, age four. Niece to my other best friend, Asher. This month, she was currently enamored of the circus, playing school, and baking. One hundred percent an independent Aquarius.

And, finally, Owen, the tiniest of them all at eight months. Nephew to Asher and completely mesmerized by bubbles. He was a Leo, and I couldn’t wait to see that regal leader come out in full force.

Being on the other side of the world half the time meant conversations happened whenever they were most convenient. Sometimes that came in the middle of errands or playdates or parties. And since I had a steel trap of a memory—my one saving grace in school—that meant even the smallest detail mentioned about these tiny people got locked up in my brain for future reference.

“I might know some things,” I said. “When’s she due over there?”

“Not till tomorrow night. So we’ve got plenty of time to run to the store and grab some things if we need to.”

“Well, June’s been super into—wait. Let me just talk to Ava, and then you don’t have to rehash everything I said and no doubt get it wrong.”

“Your faith in me is truly astounding. Love you, too,” Rory said flatly before passing the phone off to Ava.

I grinned, my smile only growing when I heard my niece’s excited voice.

“Hi, Aunt Nat!”

“Hey, you. I hear you’re entering the world of the workin’. You sure you wanna do that already?”

“Yes! I’m so excited. Thank you for helpin’ me. Will and Mac gave me some ideas, but I really wanna know what you think. I want everything to be perfect and don’t wanna mess it up.”

“You’re gonna do great. Don’t stress. There’s nothing to be nervous about. Aubrey and Nathan are awesome, and their kids are pretty great, too.”

After filling in my niece on what I figured would be sure to win her Babysitter of the Year, I made Ava promise to call me after the big night and tell me all about it.

While it was true that I had been gone from Havenbrook a long time, there were moments like this, when my whole ecosystem was going on without me, that I started to feel just a little bit homesick for the place I no longer thought of as home.

Before too long, that tinge of melancholy was overridden by a wave of excitement as ideas for my upcoming shoot fired in rapid succession in my mind. Proving, once again, that leaving Havenbrook in the rearview mirror was the best decision I ever could have made.

I woke in the middle of the night to Asher’s ringtone. As always, it took me a minute to remember where I was—Iruya, Argentina—and adjust to my surroundings. Blindly, I fumbled for my phone on the nightstand and cracked open one eye to glance at the time. It was 4:26 a.m. where I was, which meant almost 2:30 in Nashville.

Middle-of-the-night calls weren’t anything new for me and Asher. With our lifestyles, they were pretty much a prerequisite, seeing as he often didn’t get home until three in the morning or later when he had a gig, and I was almost certainly in another time zone, if not halfway around the world. That meant finding time to connect was challenging, so exceptions had to be made.

“Don’t tell me you’re nervous about that meetin’ with the label tomorrow,” I mumbled, my voice scratchy from disuse.

“Nat…”

At the mere sound of Asher’s voice, I jolted up in bed, my senses on high alert. I’d known this man for over twenty years, and, as such, I knew his every tone. Knew how he sounded when he was excited, when he was exhausted…when he was nervous or indifferent or stressed. Knew his mad voice, his apprehensive voice, his cynical voice.

I’d never heard him sound like this.

“What’s wrong?” My heart seized, and I could barely choke out my next words. “Is it Nash? Is he okay?”

Nash had been my best friend since our first day of preschool. The two of us had been inseparable since then, and when Asher moved to town in first grade, we’d taken him into our fold—actually, more accurately, I informed Asher he didn’t have a choice but to be our friend because our names were all so similar. And from that moment on, it’d been the three of us against the world.

“No, it’s—” He broke off before clearing his throat, his voice still rough and low. Weak. “It’s my sister.”

“Aubrey?”

I didn’t know if it was the hour, or that I had been woken from a dead sleep, or that I’d been running on nothing more than adrenaline and coffee for days while I’d been here, but none of this was making any sense.

A brief memory of Ava calling to ask about June and Owen flickered in my mind. That was right—Ava had been scheduled to babysit. Was that last night? Days got all jumbled and tended to run into each other whenever I was traveling.

“There was an accident,” Asher said, his tone all wrong. “Sheriff Halsey called ’cause I’m Aubrey’s emergency contact. She must’ve listed me after Dad and Momma died. Even if I don’t live in Havenbrook anymore, I’m the closest…”

“Wait, just slow down. I don’t understand. The closest for what?”

“I need to get there. June and Owen…your sister’s stayin’ with them for now, but they’re gonna be so scared when they wake up and their parents—” Asher’s voice cracked on the last word, and I felt the urge to go to him as clearly as if there were a string as strong as steel tied to us both, tugging me back. “I’m packin’ a bag, and then I’ve gotta go. I’m sorry. I know it’s late. I just needed to call you.” His voice was watery, and there was no denying his tears now.

With every word he spoke, my stomach sank more and more, the situation crystallizing in a way I desperately wished were a dream. A call from the sheriff. An accident. June and Owen being scared…

Realization settled deep in my gut at the same time Asher uttered a broken, “She’s gone, Nattie. Aubrey’s gone.”

Throwing back the covers, I leaped out of bed, my phone clutched in my hand as I listened to Asher’s near-silent cries on the other end. I didn’t say anything. What could I? My words would be nothing but empty platitudes that wouldn’t help fill the void he was suddenly facing. So instead, I allowed him to unleash his grief without interruption and took his pain into myself, wishing I could bear this for him.

With Asher’s cries filling the empty air as I clutched the phone between my ear and shoulder, I was a tornado whipping through my room, gathering random items strewn here and there. After tossing all the clothes I could find into my suitcase, I gathered my toiletries from the tiny bathroom sink and then dumped them in, too.

In all the years I’d been traveling, I’d never once resented being so far away—not even when I’d gotten the call about my daddy’s heart attack. Somewhere, deep down, I’d known the man was too stubborn to die and I would get home with plenty of time to yell at the jackass for being so careless with his health.

But this…now? Listening as the other half of my soul’s heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, I’d never been more frustrated than I was now.

I mentally calculated how long it’d take me to get to Mississippi from the remote town I was currently in that wasn’t easy to get to even with extensive planning. First, I’d have to drive six hours to the nearest big enough airport, then hope I could get an immediate flight out. Best-case scenario, I was looking at a solid twenty-four hours before I’d be in Havenbrook. Worst-case? It could be three or more days.

Regardless, it didn’t matter. If I had to max out all my credit cards…hell, even if I had to call my daddy and beg him for money—something I’d never once done in all the time I’d been on my own—I’d do either in a heartbeat if it’d get me to Asher quicker.

“I’m comin’, Ash,” I said, my voice firm thanks only to my resolve. “Just hang on a little while. I’m comin’ home.”