Chapter 36
thirty-six
EDEN
“Jesus Lord, where did you learn to cook?” Autumn asks Bennett, rubbing her stomach with a satisfied sigh. He surprised us both by offering to make dinner when we got back to the North House, then pretty much blew our minds when he cracked out probably the best pasta pomodoro I’ve ever tasted.
“My mom said that no son of hers was going to live on burgers.” Bennett shrugs. “Anyway, you both need some food.” He looks pointedly at my plate. I’ve managed to eat half of it, if that.
“Can he move in with me and Parker?” Autumn asks. “It’s not fair that I don’t get some Bennett cooking every night.”
“Speaking of Parker, any news?” I ask. There have been no calls at all. Not from Hudson, Parker, or West. And I hate the way that hurts me. The way I miss him, even though I keep telling myself not to.
“Still nothing.”
I sigh. I don’t know why I let Hudson persuade me not to get on that helicopter with them. Even if my carbon footprint is getting bigger than a dinosaur’s, I would have done it.
“Stay here and let us go to him,” Hudson said when it arrived on the lawn of the hotel. “Me, Asher, and Parker will handle this. You know what he’s like, if he thinks you’re in any danger he’ll either close down or do something stupid.”
Because I’m half scared – that West really will do something stupid – and half annoyed at being frozen out again, I agreed. And now I’m regretting it.
“If they don’t call soon, I’m going to catch the last ferry,” I say. “Because this is just stupid.”
Autumn reaches for my hand. Or at least I think she does, but instead she swerves around it and grabs my plate. “Waste not want not,” she says, shoveling my chicken into her mouth.
I look at Bennett. “Would your uncle really do something to hurt West?” Because that’s what I can’t get my head around. Yes, Leona died, and by the sounds of it, there was some shady stuff going on at the Abbott house, but West was a kid. Why would Vin punish him for that?
Bennett wrinkles his nose. “I… think so. He’s big on an eye for an eye. I mean, my mom didn’t speak to him for years. After Leona dying, and then Vin stealing stuff from her… they fell out big time.”
“That must be hard.” Autumn gives him a reassuring smile. “Having your family torn apart.”
“Yeah, well I guess he’s not going to be talking to me after he finds out I snitched,” Bennett says softly. Autumn exchanges glances with me.
He feels guilty. Oh god, the poor kid.
“You know West will never let anything happen to you, right?” I ask him. “Nor would Hudson or Asher. You’re part of this family now.”
For the first time since I met him, he looks his age. A scared kid. Aching to be part of something, afraid he’ll never be.
“If Vin is such a piece of shit, why did your mom hook you back up with him?” Autumn asks.
“Because I got into trouble. She decided that his kind of trouble was better than mine. Mine could get me killed. His…” he trails off.
“I don’t know.” He scratches the back of his neck.
“My mom, she gave me some… advice, I guess. She said, ‘Don’t let Vin see you weak, Benny. And don’t you ever call him weak either, unless you want the devil himself breathing down your neck.
’” He clears his throat, then half smiles.
“She once told me the worst thing you can call him is a chicken. Said it’s like waving a red flag at a bull. ”
“He sounds like a dream,” Autumn drawls.
Oh, West. Be careful. My stomach tightens even more, making me regret eating anything. But Bennett’s words still buzz in my mind. His mom must know Vin more than any of us.
“What are you thinking?” Autumn asks, her brows furrowing. “I swear I can hear the cogs in your brain moving.” She looks at Bennett. “Did you know she has a stupidly high IQ? Her and Asher. The goofy twins.”
“I’m just wondering if there’s something we can do other than sit here.”
“Hudson will go ape if you go to New York,” Autumn points out. “So will West, and the other two come to that.”
“I wasn’t thinking of going anywhere,” I murmur. The idea is starting to take shape. I glance at Bennett. “Does your Uncle know you’ve told us everything?”
“Not unless West’s told him. I’m not talking to him, remember?”
“Can you check with Parker to see what Vin knows?” I ask Autumn.
“If you tell me why you’re asking, yes.”
“I’m thinking this is a lovely house.” My stomach tightens because I know what I have to do. “And maybe we should invite a visitor over.”
“You want Uncle Vin to come here?” Bennett asks. I like the way he gets me.
Autumn, on the other hand, glares in response.
“What?” I ask. “Don’t you feel completely impotent here, doing nothing? Wouldn’t it be doing something if Bennett asks him to come here? He still owns part of the resort right now. Can’t Bennett give him a heads up that he’s needed on the island?”
Bennett blinks. “Are you sure?” He glances around the kitchen, like Vin might already be standing in the doorway. “He’ll lose his mind if he figures out what’s going on. And so will West.”
I nod slowly, trying not to show what a mess I am inside.
So full of fear and fury and something I don’t even want to think about.
I hate that I love him. That I let myself fall so hard for him.
That I feel weak and useless without him here.
“I think I am.” I shoot a look at Autumn.
“We just need to know what’s happening in New York. ”
Autumn sighs. “Okay, I’ll call Parker. Hang on a minute.” She walks out of the room, her phone in her hand and I turn back to Bennett.
“If you don’t want to be involved in this, it’s okay,” I say softly. “I understand. He’s family. And he’s not a nice man.”
“I want to do it,” he says quickly. “For you. For West.” He lets out a long breath. “You’ve taken care of me. You’ve showed me there is so much more. I appreciate that. A lot.”
I give him a soft smile. God, I think I love this kid. Is it okay to adopt a grown adult who’s only a few years younger than you?
Autumn walks back into the room, shoving her phone in her pocket.
“Long story short, Vin is definitely blackmailing West, but not for any reason other than to hurt him. He’s been planning it for a long time, and West thinks he has a lot of dirt on him.
” She clears her throat. “Either he walks away from everything he loves, or Vin will steal it all away.” She looks at me. “Including by hurting you.”
Bennett lets out a low growl. “He’s such an asshole.”
A chill runs through me, but under it is something sharper. Stronger. I’m so tired of running away from problems. “Then it’s time to call his bluff,” I say, sounding more confident than I feel.
Bennett nods. “Okay, I’ll call Vin.”
WEST
I’ve spent the past few hours trapped in the kind of scene I used to thrive in. Staying up past midnight, surrounded by too much whiskey, too many masculine voices, and an almighty mess that needs cleaning up.
Except the mess is mine, and I have no idea how to make it go away.
It’s so ironic that I thought I’d left it all behind. The backstabbing, the moral bankruptcy. I thought I was better than that.
Turned out, the problem was me all along, and now I’ve infected the people I love with it.
Eden. My stomach tightens.
I flick to my messages, seeing the last one she sent. Asking me to call her. Panicking because I was at Vin’s and I didn’t know what he was about to unleash.
Her first thought was to alert me. To save me. To protect me. She’s a good person, and I don’t deserve that.
Parker’s fallen asleep on the sofa, an empty glass clasped tightly in his hands. He’s gotten about a dozen calls from Autumn, and I think they’ve worn him out.
As for Hudson, he’s sitting in my study, talking quietly to somebody. Likely Asher, who left earlier to head down to his security company’s office to head up getting some intel.
Walking into my bedroom, I stare at Eden’s message until the words blur. My thumb hovers over the call button. If I had an ounce of sense, I’d delete her number and pour another drink.
But I don’t. I press the screen, lift the phone to my ear, and wait.
She picks up on the second ring. “West?”
I close my eyes, wanting to savor her voice. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear it until now. “Hi.”
“What’s happening?” she asks, breathless, like she’s as desperate to hear my voice as I am to hear hers.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” I lie, because I’m selfish enough to want to hear her… not hating me for one more time. To remember how she sounded, when she loved me.
“Don’t,” she says quickly. “Stop shutting me out. West, I can handle this if you let me in.”
Her words shred me open. She knows more than I wanted her to, and she’s still standing in front of the fire willing to burn for me.
But I can’t let her. She lost everything years ago, trying to do the right thing. I’m not taking that away from her again.
“You shouldn’t have to handle it,” I say, pressing my palm against my bruised jaw. “This is my problem, nobody else’s.”
“You’re wrong,” she whispers. “Whatever it is, we can face it together. And… I might be able to help. Just let me.”
“What do you mean help?”
She hesitates for a millisecond. “Nothing,” she murmurs.
“Where are you now?” I ask.
“At home. Autumn’s here, too. Already asleep in the guest room.”
She’s safe. I let out a breath. “Stay there, don’t go anywhere.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” Her tone is too careful, threaded with something I can’t pin down. Maybe I’m paranoid. Maybe I’m hearing ghosts in the line.
“When are you coming home?” she asks, her voice lighter, as if we can sidestep the minefield between us.
My throat closes. I want to get on a helicopter, crawl into bed with her, and never leave. But the picture Vin painted is burned into my mind, and I can’t risk her seeing me through his lens.
“Soon,” I say instead, hating the emptiness of the word. “We’ll talk then.”
“Okay.” She doesn’t sound like she believes me. And isn’t that the kick in the gut it should be? Because I don’t believe in myself either. “Goodnight, West.” The call clicks off.
But I still hold the phone against my ear for longer than I should. Pretending I can breathe her in, pretending I haven’t already lost her.
EDEN
I put the phone on the table and look across it to Bennett, my jaw locked tight to keep the emotion buried. Just hearing his voice was enough to make my hands shake.
Bennett looks at me, his expression full of sympathy. Because he knows what it’s like to be an outsider in your own life.
“You sure you still want to do this?” he asks.
I nod. “Yes.”
He waits for a beat, like he’s hoping I’ll say more. But I’m all talked out.
“Okay,” he finally says, checking his phone. “My uncle will be here in the morning. I think we should both try to get some sleep.” He stands, crosses the room, and pulls me into a hug. His arms are solid, grounding, and for a second the ache in my chest eases.
And although I lean into him for a moment, appreciating his solidarity, my heart thumps against my chest, it knows these are the wrong arms. Belonging to the wrong man.
He kisses my brow, the way he’s seen West do, and it just about kills me.
“Good night, Eden,” he says. “Go get some sleep.”
But of course, I don’t.