Chapter 15
DORIAN
Harper had been correct.
Only it had taken three days for my entire family to show up.
In those three days, I had barely seen her. She had multiple events at work, and I was later going to be forced to attend the St. Patrick’s Day prep event. I didn’t even know that Cage Lake did things like a St. Patrick’s Day party.
I was pretty sure I had never been there in the month of March. But the whole town was treating me like I would always be there.
I ran my hand over my chest. I’d have to figure out exactly what I was going to do soon, because I wasn’t letting Harper go.
In those three days, I had come back to the house rather than stay at Harper’s apartment and now Lucky and I were working on the staircase.
“A hammer no, that’s a wrench. I need a hammer.”
Lucky just tilted his head, expressive eyebrows saying far more than a bark could.
“Yes, I know I could reach it myself, but I thought we were learning something. We’re creating a bond.”
Again. A tilt of a head. This time I felt judgement.
“I’m sorry you saw me naked before, it was an accident. We’ll make sure you’re safe in the other room from now on.”
“Can you make this promise to all of your siblings?” a familiar voice said from a distance.
I froze, wondering why I was surprised he was here. Ford came around the side of the house. The sleeves of his Henley pushed up even though it was getting damn cold with the storm rolling in later that evening.
Then again, knowing how Cage Lake weather worked, the storm could wait a couple of days. It’s just what it did.
My youngest brother, or at least the youngest brother I had grown up with, moved closer and leaned against the side of the house.
“You don’t call, you don’t write, you don’t answer the damn doorbell,” Ford muttered.
“Shouldn’t you be with your husband and pregnant wife?” I asked.
At that, Ford’s smile grew wide and his entire expression brightened. “I have sonogram photos. Do you want to see?” Lucky moved past me to Ford and my brother leaned down, running his hands up and down Lucky’s body. “I’ll show you, not Mr. Grumpy Gus.”
“Why do people call me grumpy? I thought that was Hudson.”
“You are out grumping me. That’s got to say something,” Hudson snarled as he walked around the house.
I sighed as nearly all of my brothers came forward. The only one not here was Kyler, but from what I remembered of his schedule, since I was keeping up with him on social media, he was in New York right now.
I looked over at my six brothers and frowned. “You leave the girls at home?” I asked, wondering why it felt like we were missing so many siblings.
It wasn’t as if we had all grown up together.
It hadn’t been that long since I’d even found out that Isabella, Sophia, Kyler, Emily, and Phoebe existed.
And yet not having them here when there were so many of us felt off—like we were hiding something.
At least one good thing had come from Loren Cage’s infidelity and the other Cage mom’s secrets.
We’d made our own family. Even if sometimes I didn’t feel like I could be part of it or even that I should be part of it.
“They’ll be along soon.” Aston said as he studied me. “Kyler would’ve been here as well, but he has a sold out show tonight.” A small smile played over his face. “When he and his band come to Red Rocks, I’ve made sure to get us the space we need to attend.”
My lips twitched. Of course he did. He was the big brother who always fixed things, but I didn’t think he was going to be able to fix this.
“How is your leg doing?” Flynn asked softly, and it surprised me. He wasn’t as bouncy as usual, but maybe again, none of us were acting the way we were supposed to these days.
I shrugged. “Better than before I did my physical therapy, and working on the house here has helped.”
“And you’re not doing a piss poor job of it,” Hudson said.
I stared between the two and wondered when they had decided to be the exact opposite of twins. Flynn’s hair was getting slightly longer, but Hudson’s was down to his shoulders. Flynn also tended to shave, but he’d let his beard grow slightly.
My lips curled. “Thank you, I live to serve.”
James cleared his throat. “I hear that you’ve been saying something like that to a certain Ms. Wellesley.”
“If you’re going to dig into my personal life, I’m going to need a beer.” I stomped off, Lucky at my side.
“Even the dog loves him more, that’s the Dorian I know,” Theo teased.
I sighed and let the familiar sound of my brothers piling in after me fill my ears.
When we had been kids, we’d been together always.
Yes, I had Joshua, and each of my siblings had had their own best friends.
Hell, Ford even married his best friend, but we were a tight crew as Cages.
No matter that our parents tried to split us apart.
Hell, my mom loved me but hated Flynn and now Aston. My dad could barely stand me but also hated Hudson. It never made any sense to me, and it wasn’t like we told each other those things. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe it was time to just tell them.
Theo leaned forward. “Oh, the good stuff. I love Ashford Brews.”
It wasn’t a local company, but still a small town around here. It was damn good, and we had a family connection through Phoebe and Ford in the careless way of family trees.
“So… do you want to tell us what the hell’s going on with you?” Hudson asked, staring at me.
“Since when did you get so chatty?” My jaw clenched and it took all within me to force myself to relax.
“Since you stopped speaking to us,” James whispered. “I know that you went through an unimaginable hell. I can’t even begin to imagine.”
“No, you can’t. None of you can,” I snapped.
“No, we really can’t,” Flynn said softly, “but we’ve giving you time to try to figure out what the hell you want. Or even just to heal. But maybe we gave you too much space.”
“Like enough rope to hang myself?” I asked.
Theo’s eyes widened. “Don’t even joke like that.”
I held my hands up, my beer dangling from my left. “I’m not going to hurt myself. It’s not like that. I promise.” I’d already lost my best friend, and I wasn’t about to hurt anyone else in my life by going in a direction that would be the end. That, at least, I knew for sure.
“You know the reason we’re here is because we’re worried about you,” Aston said in that deep fatherly voice he had learned over time.
Maybe it was because he had been more of a father even with such a small age gap between us than our own father. Father. What a word. It didn’t mean much. Especially to me.
Aston continued. “I have been truly worried for a while now. How I could help you, how we were failing you.”
I swallowed hard. I knew I’d been caught up in my own mess, my own healing, but I hadn’t realized how hard I’d been on everyone else even if they’d been quiet about it.
“You weren’t failing me. You gave me a place to stay.
My house had too many stairs and you let me growl and be mean at your place. ”
“And you still ran away here.” Aston met my gaze, and it took all within me not to flinch.
“And why here?” Hudson asked suddenly. “Why this place? The piece of land that we didn’t even know about until you said you were staying here. It’s between two pieces of Cage family land, part of the main trust, but it’s a different slice. So what the hell?”
“You don’t need to tell us everything, but we’re here for you,” Ford said. “We’ve all kept our secrets, sometimes for good reason, but we’re worried.”
“I was far more worried before,” Aston added. “Until I saw you with Harper.”
“Yeah?” I asked, my voice biting.
Aston just raised his brows. “She might be too young for you, but what do I know? She makes you happy.”
I snorted. “You’re going to pull the age card?”
“Blakely and I don’t have that much of an age gap,” Aston said with a shrug. “And frankly, you don’t have one either. Not in the way you’re thinking. You two fit. I have no idea how you’re going to make it work once you’re ready to head back to the city, and I know you’ve been thinking about that.”
“I’ll figure it out,” I put in quickly.
“I hope so. Because like I said, I’ll kick your ass if I have to,” Theo put in, his gaze on mine.
“I’m not going to hurt Harper. I love her.” I pressed my lips together, annoyed with myself for even saying the words out loud. I hadn’t even said them to her.
“Damn,” Flynn said, sounding like his old self before he whistled through his teeth. “Each Cage is falling quickly. Surprising.”
“Of course you love her,” Hudson said. He rolled his eyes and took a sip of his beer. “Everyone in Cage Lake knows it.”
“Is there a small town paper that tells everyone these things?” James asked, looking intrigued.
“Yes, but you just need to ask Ms. Patty and she’ll let you know everything,” I added dryly.
That made the others laugh since we all knew of Ms. Patty, even if we hadn’t lived here full-time.
“Why this house, Dorian? Why did Dad leave it to you?” Hudson being Hudson pressed once the laughter died down. He was like a dog with a bone. That should have annoyed me since the man kept his secrets close to the vest…but I was too tired to anymore.
I swallowed hard before chugging the rest of my beer. “Dad left it to me because I kept his secrets while he kept mine.”
Nobody said a thing and I knew they were letting me breathe. Finally. “Dad had more than one mistress, not just Constance. He slept with dozens of women all over the world. I don’t know how he found the time, but he did.”
“He was always a bastard,” Flynn growled.
“Completely. But this is one of the places that he would meet women. Usually from the resort. He’d pick them up, bring them here.
Then one day Joshua and I came out to play in the small creek in the back.
It was between two Cage houses, so we just walked over the land like we owned it.
” I snorted. “I just didn’t realize that Dad did own it. ”