Chapter 8
Trent
The vibration of the phone against the nightstand roused me from sleep just enough for the sound to be annoying but not enough to make me open my eyes.
When it abruptly stopped, I slipped right back under as though I hadn’t been interrupted at all.
Until it happened again.
This time, the sound didn’t stop, the continuous vibration enough to make my eyes open. It was morning. I could tell that much by the light in the room, but it wasn’t as bright as it usually was when my alarm went off.
I willed myself to silence the noise, but doing so required moving, and I quite liked where I was.
Gazing down, I took in the little peanut wrapped around my side, one leg thrown over mine. A brown bear was on my stomach, her arm tossed over both. Drew squished against my other side, his head pillowed on my shoulder, bedhead tickling my face. His arm was wrapped around Andi, the bear, and me.
Basically, I was the filling in a family sandwich.
Buzzzz, buzzzzz, buzzzzzz.
Drew groaned and brought his hand up to his face, trying to cover his ear. Dude was the worst morning person ever.
Sliding from under him, I snagged the phone and moved to silence the alarm. Except… my alarm wasn’t going off. It wasn’t supposed to go off for another forty minutes.
The buzzing was from a missed text, a couple Google alerts, and a missed call.
What the hell is going on?
Yawning, I swiped the sleep out of my eyes so I could read the screen. Before I could even pull up the notifications, the screen lit up in my hand.
Gamble’s name flashed, and I sat up. Andi made a sound, so I quickly accepted the call to silence the ring.
Before answering, I got out of bed, nearly tripping over Ketchup’s dog bed and a random shoe.
Cursing, I made sure Andi was covered and then headed for the hall.
“Ron?” I whispered the second I cleared the door. I’d been working with Gamble so long at the NRR that somewhere along the way, I stopped referring to him by his last name. “Is everything okay?”
“You’re asking me?” he said, sounding more awake than Drew would ever be.
“Uh, yeah? You’re the one calling before eight a.m.,” I said, going downstairs. Goose bumps prickled my skin upon meeting the cold morning air, and I stopped to gaze out a window like I expected to see snow or something.
There was no snow, but the sky was overcast and gray. The leaves on the trees looked more golden than the day before, and a thick covering of fog made everything outside appear to be floating.
On my way to the kitchen, I flipped on the fireplace to help chase the early morning chill from the house and snagged a zip-up hoodie off the back of the sofa.
“What the hell is this, Mask?” Gamble demanded, which, by the way, was not an explanation.
“I’m afraid I don’t follow,” I replied, pushing one arm into the dark-colored sleeve.
“Well, that makes two of us then because I would have thought that if Drew was going to retire, he’d have the decency to call me before he made an announcement!”
My bare feet made a high-pitched squeaking sound when I halted. “What?”
“Look at your phone, Sleeping Beauty.”
I pulled down the device and swiped to read my notifications. The first one that caught my eye was an alert for an article that went live less than an hour ago.
The end of the road for an icon?
Confused, I swiped to another.
Drew Mask retirement shocker!
“What the fuck?” I spat.
Is Drew Mask putting the brakes on his career?
Pushing the phone to my ear, I said, “Listen, Gamble, I have no idea how the press got wind of this. He literally just talked about it with me last night.”
“So it’s true?”
“We’ve talked about it.” I hedged.
“You already said that.”
“I think Drew should be the one to have this conversation with you.”
“As if you two morons don’t share a brain,” Gamble muttered. “Is this because of what happened yesterday?” He went on.
“Yesterday?”
“Yet another thing no one called me about and I had to read in the papers.”
I said nothing.
His sigh was exaggerated. “Look at the rest of your messages.”
Daughter of NRR champion traumatized!
Attempted kidnapping foiled by sixteen-year-old boy—“He tackled her!”
Drew and Trent Mask’s daughter in danger!
Drew forced from racing to protect his only daughter!
I let out a long line of expletives. “How the fuck did the press get ahold of this already?” I demanded.
“Witnesses from the ice cream shop,” Gamble replied.
“They’re printing photos, for chrissakes!” I roared, squeezing my phone so hard I was surprised the screen didn’t crack. “She’s a child!” I demanded. “A minor! So is Travis.”
“I already have my lawyers on it.” Gamble informed me.
“People have no fucking morals,” I snapped, stomping over to the coffeemaker to brew a pot. “We haven’t even spoken to the police.”
His voice was sharp. “You didn’t call them?”
“Of course we did. But we’re meeting later this morning. The girls were too upset last night. So was Travis.”
“Girls?”
“London was with them.”
This time, Gamble cursed. “Why didn’t you call?”
“It was late. Drew called Lorhaven for the PI’s number. I called the cops, and Romeo and Braeden upped security.”
“Good.” He was gruff. “Still should have called me.”
“I was going to call this morning.”
“How are they?”
“Upset. The woman tried to drag Andi to her car. Travis got physical, stopping them.”
“This about those bullshit letters?” he asked.
The entire family knew. Gamble, Lorhaven, Joey, Arrow, and Hopper, along with everyone up at the main house. Romeo’s and B’s parents knew too.
“Maybe we should have taken them more seriously,” I whispered, looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was down here listening.
I didn’t want anyone to think I doubted our decisions. Drew had enough going on in his head. I wasn’t putting that on him. Besides, rationally, I knew we did the right thing. It was just hard because, well, we’d been wrong.
Gamble made a sound. “If we took every letter, call, or email we got seriously, we’d all be in early graves by now. I didn’t make it this long in life by kowtowing to criminally insane demands. Hell, I’d be nothing but worm food by now after the first death threat I got in the nineties.”
“I haven’t even had coffee,” I said, recoiling from that visual.
“You did what you thought was right. It’s not your fault she’s off her rocker.”
“She had nightmares last night. Crawled into bed with us because she couldn’t sleep,” I confessed.
“I’ve already called my most reliable PI and a few others too,” Gamble said. “They’re already on her trail, and with the photos witnesses sold to the vultures, they have enough of a description to go on.”
“I really appreciate it.”
“That’s what family does,” Gamble deadpanned. “Anyone who traumatizes my grandkids will get my foot up their ass!” he declared. “And you tell Travis I’m proud of him! You know what? Never mind. I’ll call him myself.”
“He’s still in bed.”
“Young people these days. No respect for daylight. How do you think I got so rich? Sleep is for the lazy.”
I made a noncommittal sound and poured some coffee. The rich scent permeating the room was a balm to my frazzled nerves.
How the hell did the press get wind of Drew considering retirement?
We’d only just talked about it ourselves. And in the comfort of our own bed.
Jesus, did someone have some kind of tap on our phones?
“Now what’s this about Drew retiring?” Gamble cut into my thoughts. “I need to know if it’s just fake news.”
The diner.
I must have made a sound when it dawned on me because Gamble spoke again. “Trent? What is it?”
“We went to dinner last night,” I said, then hastily explained, “Before Andi.”
“Obviously, I know you weren’t out after your daughter needed you.” He confirmed.
“Right before we left the diner, Drew mentioned retiring. It was brief. We left so we could talk about it in private.”
“Well, someone heard and decided it was their chance at a payday,” he surmised.
I sipped my coffee without bothering to add creamer. I needed the jolt of caffeine right about then. “I’ll have Drew call you after we deal with the police.”
“Take care of the kids first.” Gamble agreed. “We’ll have this wrapped up before Travis’s birthday party this weekend.”
My stomach tightened a little thinking about the party. So much had happened since last night. I hoped adding a party wouldn’t be too much.
“I bought him a car.”
Coffee spewed from my mouth and rained over the counter. “W-what?”
“It’s his birthday.”
“You can’t just buy him a car.”
“Why not?” He wondered. “It’s a grandfather’s right.”
Drew’s and my biological fathers might not be around, but our kids didn’t lack for family. Between Gamble, Romeo’s parents, and Braeden’s mother and stepfather, Andi and Travis had three sets of “grandparents.”
No one went by blood around here. Not even Rome’s mom, Valerie. That woman was a kid hoarder.
“We, ah…” I began, rubbing the back of my neck. “We already got him one.”
I mean, technically, we hadn’t called or gone to pick it up. But… details.
“What kind?”
I told him.
“Does it even have an engine?” he asked.
“That’s part of the fun. Rebuilding it with him.”
Gamble made a noise. “Well, he can drive this one while he rebuilds the other one with you.”
“I don’t—”
“It’s a done deal.”
I sighed. “What kind of car is it?”
“A Black Diamond Bronco.”
I set down the coffee. No point in trying to drink it during this conversation. “You’re telling Drew,” I said.
“It’s a Ford. He’ll be fine.” When I didn’t say anything, he went on. “Listen, I’m going to go. Check in and make sure those PIs are doing their jobs. I expect results. Call me if anything happens, and I’ll do the same.”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely.
“It’s too early for that,” he replied gruffly. “Take care of those kids. Drew too.”
Just then, Drew walked around the corner, hair a mess and expression disgruntled. I opened my arm, and he made a beeline for me.
“I will,” I promised Gamble.
He hung up without a goodbye, and I set aside the phone so I could wrap both arms around Drew.
“Who was that?” he asked.
“Gamble.”
He groaned.
“You want some coffee?”
He grunted.
Laughing, I turned toward the pot, and he went with me, clinging to my body as though he wasn’t almost as big as me. I patted his head and then poured more coffee in my mug, then shuffled to the fridge for the creamer. Once it was added, I held it in front of Drew’s face like a bribe.
He lifted his head but kept his arms around me.
I shook my head, holding it so he could take a sip. Only then did he pull back and take the mug for himself.
“Thanks, frat boy.”
“Anything for you, baby.”
“I’m assuming if Gamble was calling this early, there’s drama.”
I grimaced.
“Family all good?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He nodded and grabbed my wrist, towing me to the couch where he pushed me down and climbed into my lap. “Good. Let me drink this coffee in peace before shit hits the fan.”