18. Jake
18
JAKE
“Is that the last one up?” I ask Mason as he rounds the other side of the house, dusting off his hands.
He nods once. “Yeah, that’s the last one,” he replies. “We’ve got coverage on every corner of this place now. Nobody’s coming or going without us knowing about it.”
Internally, I let out a sigh of relief. Ever since Vanessa came clean to me about her reasons for coming out here, I have been scared shitless that something might happen to her. I found the article she wrote about the cartel, and if it’s anything to go by, I can’t see them letting her get away to start a new life quite so easily. They don’t seem like that kind of group.
And even out here in the forest, there are some things my brothers and I can’t ensure her protection against.
“I’ll run a test when we get back, but that should be it,” Killian adds as he joins us. “We’ve got it all under control.”
“Right,” I mutter, pushing a hand over my head.
Mason reaches out to lay a hand on my shoulder. “Hey,” he reminds me. “This is what she wanted us to do. We can’t do more than that. Okay?”
“Okay,” I reply. I know he’s right, of course. As much as I’d like to have a full-time security patrol outside this place on top of the cameras, overstepping her boundaries is only going to push her away from us and make it harder for her to come to us if something actually happens. No, better to stick by the rules she’s laid out, even if I want nothing more than to lock things down completely.
Before I can say anything else, she emerges from inside the house and waves at the three of us. I notice at once the way Killian grins when he lays eyes on her, and I can’t help but chuckle. He’s clearly down bad for this woman, though he’d never admit it. He likes to think he’s some playboy who never gets attached, but he’s probably more of a romantic than Mason or me.
“Dinner’s ready,” she tells us, jerking her head inside. “And Callie has another table decoration made for the occasion, so make sure you say something nice.”
“As if I’d need to be told,” Killian shoots back, and she grins at him as he brushes past her into the house. I wait for the stab of jealousy to rise in me at the sight of the two of them being so friendly with each other, but it doesn’t. I don’t know why, but there’s something about sharing her with my brothers that doesn’t feel like the imposition it might if she were with other guys. They’re my closest friends, my family, after all. There’s barely a damn thing in our lives we haven’t split with each other.
Inside, the table is laden with dishes—Korean food, she tells us, or her take on it. In the middle, there’s a decoration made out of what looks to be bubble wrap with little dots drawn in the center of each bubble. Killian is the first to clock it for what it’s meant to be, raising his eyebrows at Callie.
“Is this the frog spawn we saw at the pond?”
She nods, clapping her hands together.
“You’ve done a great job,” I remark, leaning down to inspect it. “Looks like these things could come to life any second.”
“I hope not,” Vanessa cuts in as she takes her seat at the table. “I only made enough for the five of us…”
As we all settle in around the table and start serving up the food, the conversation turns to the hike Callie took with Killian and me yesterday—nothing too intense, since she’s so little, but she really seemed to enjoy it. Sometimes I forget what it must be like to grow up in the city, so far removed from this life. Our foster dad was always so insistent on bringing us out here and getting us to connect with nature, and there’s something I like about sharing that with another generation of kids.
“I’ll have to go out with you next time,” Mason remarks as he plants down his fork next to his empty plate. “We could go bird-watching together.”
“Isn’t that a hobby for retirees in Florida with nothing better to do?” Vanessa teases, and he laughs and shoots her a look.
“Hey, maybe if you’re short on imagination,” he replies. “But I happen to think it’s a damn good time.”
“Maybe you could show me sometime,” she replies, tilting her head to the side and grinning. I sense a flicker of something in the air between them. Though Mason didn’t say anything about the specifics of how their interview went yesterday, I get the feeling that something more than just question-and-answer might have taken place.
The conversation flows with ease long after the food is finished, and I realize all at once that I’m not thinking about anything that exists outside of this house. No, for once, I’m actually in the moment. Surrounded by my family, by Callie and Vanessa—eating good food as the sunlight filters through the window behind us and the darkness begins to settle in for the evening. I can’t remember the last time I felt this way—hell, I’m not sure I have since I stood in the ashes of the home I had once called my own, and took in the nightmare of what remained.
“You want a hand clearing up?” Killian asks, glancing around the laden table.
“I don’t care whether you say yes or not,” I cut in. “We’re helping.”
“Hey, I can handle?—”
“You did the cooking,” Mason replies, standing up as he starts to gather a few pieces from around the table. “Only fair that we do the cleaning.”
“Agreed,” Killian replies. “And you did the table decoration, Callie. So you get a pass too.”
Callie beams at him, and Vanessa leans over to put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders, squeezing her in tight. I can tell at a glance how much she adores her; it’s clear that the two of them share a deep bond, especially after the loss of Callie’s father. For a moment, I feel a connection to Callie—losing my own dad the way I did was hellish, and she’s had to grow up without one at all. Is it harder to lose one you knew, or to never have one in the first place…?
I push that to the back of my mind as I go to give my brothers a hand with the dishes. We bicker over who does the washing and drying, just like we did when we were teenagers.
“No, I know how this ends,” I protest. “Mason and I wind up doing all the hard work while Killian stands and watches.”
“Supervises!” Killian corrects me, rolling his eyes—though there’s no malice behind it. “Come on, get to work. The sooner we start, the sooner we’re done…”
“You sure you guys don’t need a hand?” she calls over to us, and I shake my head.
“No, we’ve got it,” I promise her, and I raise my eyebrows at my brothers, indicating for them to get into it. And we do. It doesn’t take long when we’re all working together, and by the time the plates are stacked neatly in the cupboard, the sun has just begun to dip behind the trees outside.
“We should be getting back,” I remark, a little regretful. I’d like to stay longer, but I know we have to keep on top of everything at the cabin. Now that we’re getting into the hottest part of the year, the chances of wildfires or accidents is even larger than normal, and we can’t let our guard down for a second.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Mason replies, and Callie gets to her feet.
“Can we walk back with you?”
I glance over to Vanessa—I’m not going to go agreeing on her behalf. But with a shrug, she flashes me a grin.
“I guess so,” she replies, rising to her feet. “Make sure they get back in one piece, huh?”
“You’re the one who got turned around from the trail the other day,” I remind her, and she waves her hand.
“Or maybe I was just testing you,” she fires back. “I think I can manage the walk to your place and back. Let me just get Callie dressed and find my shoes…”
They gather their stuff, and Mason, Killian, and I wait by the door. I peer out to check on the cameras—I can see the red lights blinking as the darkness begins to settle in, and that’s good enough for me. I know it’s going to be tough not to find myself hanging over them every damn second when we’re back at the cabin, but at least we have some kind of coverage on this place if something does happen.
They join us, and Callie grips her mom’s hand. She looks between the three of us, a smile stretching so wide over her little face that it seems as though it could break in two.
“I think we’re ready,” Vanessa remarks, and she lets her hand brush against mine for the barest moment. I know we can’t exactly hold hands in front of her daughter, not without raising some serious questions, but even that touch is enough to draw a smile to my lips. I wrap my fingers around hers briefly and squeeze tight, letting her know that I feel it—letting her know that I’m glad she’s here, beside us.
“Then let’s get out of here,” Killian replies. “Callie, lead the way…”
And as the little girl drags her mom out of the house and onto the trail, I can’t help but smile. Tonight has been…good. The kind of good I’m not sure I’ve felt in a long time. The kind of good I’d like a whole lot more of in my life.
And the kind of good I could get used to, if I didn’t know that Vanessa and Callie are heading back to the city just as soon as they get the chance.