CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN #2
I laugh it off. “Oh, that’s Summer. She’s good for me. It seems everything I try I’m insanely good at. I think I relationship better than you guys.”
“Oh, I won’t argue with that, but she’s not the reason.
You’ve always had this side to you. You just hid it really well behind sarcasm and dirty innuendoes.
” He slides the chair closer to the desk, and this time when I meet his gaze, I find his eyes watering with unshed tears.
“Thank you. Thank you for bringing that idea to me because I never would have thought to do that. I’ve just been feeling so lost, weighed down by needing to be everywhere that I didn’t really stop to think about anything else. ”
I shrug, playing it off, when really, I begin to wish I had headed straight to the supply room. “Someone has probably already suggested it, so I wouldn’t go throwing praise around.”
He shakes his head. “No, they haven’t. And when I bring it up to Lily later, I will let her know who suggested it.”
“Please don’t. It’s nothing.”
He rolls his eyes, but then gets that look he gets when I’m about to get a lecture. “I like Summer.”
“I do too. Probably a little more than you. Or like, a lot more.”
His lips twitch. “I would hope so. I never thought I’d see you settle down. I thought you’d fight it until you were in a nursing home, and then you’d only give it a try because it’s the only thing left that you haven’t done.”
I nod in agreement because he isn’t far off. The other me, the one who sought out excitement, would have done that. This me only wants Summer.
“Be honest, how many of you bet it would just be a fling?” I question because I’ve been dying to know.
“We made bets before you were official. Wyatt and the twins were the only ones who said she wouldn’t give you the time of day,” he admits.
“Eli, Luke and Isaac all gave various dates of when you’d have your one-night stand.
Paisley wouldn’t get involved because she wants you to be happy, but Landon said he gives you a month before you fucked it up. ”
“Prick!” I hiss.
“Evie and Becca said the tension would turn into a relationship. Lily said you two will be happy, so we didn’t count hers since she never gave a timeline or state if you’d be happy together.
Granddad said she’ll be carrying your baby in a few years, but to be fair, he made his bet after the night you took her there for a date—which by the way, surprised everyone since we had bets on where you’d take her. ”
I roll my eyes because I know about that one.
The only reason I didn’t get payback is because I won three hundred quid since none of them guessed right.
The rules are, if you aren’t close, the person you’re betting on, gets the money or the one who makes the bet.
“And you and Mum?” I ask, paying more attention to this answer.
“Pretty sure Mum has a joint burial plot picked out for the both of you. That’s how long she sees you two together.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Seriously? Dead? Nice.”
He chuckles. “Think she saw it as forever. She even made sure you’d have space for your kids.”
Morbid. Still, I have to question, “How could she have known?”
His lips pull out in a smirk as he shrugs. “It’s Mum. She has a second sense, I swear. She made her bet the day Liam’s house exploded. Said she just knew.”
“And you?” I ask, my stomach twisting.
He grins now. “Brother, I knew the moment you drove her and Milly back to their farm.”
“No, you didn’t,” I argue, but inside, my heart is racing. Because he believed I could have this. He believed I was good enough for someone.
“Yeah, I did. You want to know why?”
“Yeah.” No. Maybe.
“Because you fight with Hayden like she’s a relative you want to rage bait into losing their cool. Summer, you bantered back and forth with because it was foreplay to you.”
I nod. “She liked the tit for tat.”
He scrunches his nose up. “And you came back home. Any other girl, you would have flirted your way into her knickers.”
“You clearly don’t know Summer. It took more than flirting,” I tell him.
He chuckles. “Obviously. There’s a reason you are an item and not fuck buddies.”
His phone blares at the same time mine vibrates in my back pocket. I pull it out, seeing Isaac’s name flash on the screen.
“It’s Isaac,” I announce.
“It’s Liam,” he breathes, quickly answering his call.
I step away to answer Isaac. “Yo,” I greet.
“You need to get to Tom’s house. We think he’s here.”
“Who?” I ask as my heart begins to race.
“Black.”
“Jaxon, it’s Black. He’s at Tom’s house,” I yell, but his expression pales as I grab my keys off his desk.
“The bed and breakfast is surrounded,” he announces, moving into the space we call the staff room.
“Fuck!” Isaac yells.
“Can you get somewhere safe?” I ask him.
“We’re in the fucking panic room. Like a real panic room with the big, solid, steel door. I thought it was him. Maybe he’s there.”
“Stay there. Call the police. We have to go,” I tell him, feeling my chest tighten.
“Go help Paisley. Wyatt is on the way here. Evie called him.”
“Be safe,” I warn him and end the call.
But the second it ends, my phone lights up once more as Jaxon steps out with a crowbar. His phone blares again. “It’s Lily,” he tells me, and I see him sway on his feet. “Baby?” Whatever she says has him racing out of the door. “Stay here. I need to get to Lily. He sent people there.”
“I’m coming,” I yell at him as my phone continues to vibrate.
“No. Stay with Mum. Liam and Landon have the bed and breakfast covered. He has people coming to help.”
I step back to answer the phone when it begins again. Seeing it’s Summer, I answer without question. “Summer, it’s not a good time,” I tell her, which freezes Jaxon in place.
“I came back to the farm to grab a change of clothes for Milly. She’s with your mum. Malia called. She’s at the bed and breakfast,” she rushes out.
“We know. We’ve got help coming,” I promise her. I hear glass smashing. “What was that?”
“Um, that’s the thing. We have a group of late teens outside throwing bricks, and they’ve tried to petrol bomb the house.”
“I’m coming,” I yell.
“What?” Jaxon asks, stopping me on the stairs outside the factory. The rain is barely a drizzle now.
“They’re at Bluebird Farm too.”
“Stop!” Summer yells. “Stay there. We have this covered.”
“Excuse me?” I ask, pulling my phone away for a second.
“We’ve got it covered. Magnolia has taken two of them out.
She has them tied up in the chicken coop.
Makayla has two trapped in the basement.
There are only six left. But, um, can we phone the police?
” She clears her throat and whispers down the line, “Magnolia wants to bury them alive, so I think the police should be called this time. Please?”
My eyes clench shut because we did this. We made her think she had to cover us for everything. The police should have been the first thing she did. “Call them. Just don’t mention who sent them there.”
“Stay with Milly,” she orders.
Is she fucking crazy?
“No, I’m coming to you,” I tell her.
“Please, you’ll be wasting your time here. I promise. Got to go, love you.”
I end the call and Jaxon’s hands begin to shake. “I really have to go. Stay with Mum.”
I nod and instead of going for my truck like I desperately want to, I race toward the main house, heading through the front door.
I barely make it inside before something hard smacks me around the back of my head.
As my vision blurs, I see the sight of my mum in the hallway on the kitchen floor on her stomach.
Blood, sweat and dirt stick to her face as she struggles against the man pinning her arms behind her back.
I can taste her fear, see it like it’s an entity on its own.
I want to squash it, make it disappear so it never comes back.
I fight to stay conscious. To reach for her.
But it’s too late.
Everything fades into darkness.