Chapter 12
brAXTON
It takes me a full minute to gather my wits and slide into the Jeep to take a proper look at the youngest Hutton sibling.
Her baby face and innocent blue eyes are no more.
Instead, her features are sharp, and her eyes are wild and spark with crazy stories that I ache to hear all about.
The loose waves that hang over her shoulders are a platinum-blonde colour with hot pink and teal highlights throughout in true Adalyn fashion.
A healthy flush softens the sharp lines of her jaw and cheekbones, and her glossy lips break out in a grin, revealing straight white teeth.
“You’re gorgeous,” she says before surprising me by throwing herself over the centre console and pulling me into her arms. “I missed you.”
“Me? You’re stunning.” I ease my arms around her petite frame and squeeze her tight. “And I missed you too. So much.”
We hug for longer than probably necessary, but it still isn’t long enough. When we pull back, I can’t seem to stop smiling. Addie falls back in her seat but keeps her body turned toward me. Her eyes hold mine, and I reach out to grab her hand.
“I still can’t believe that you’re back. When Dox told me you were, I kicked him in the shin and told him not to lie to me about you,” she says.
I laugh at the image before smashing my lips together. Guilt swirls. “I should have called. I guess I was too scared of what you would say when you picked up.”
She nods thoughtfully. “I’m mad at you, but I’m more hurt than angry. Now I understand why you left, but back then? God, I thought you were such a bitch.”
“I don’t blame you for that.”
She squeezes my fingers. “We can’t change anything now, and you’re helping my brother when he needs all of us rallied around him. That’s all that matters right now.”
“I need you to know how sorry I am, though. You didn’t deserve to be left with questions. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt anyone. I just . . .”
“You couldn’t stay. I know. I get it.”
I blow out a breath. “Yeah.”
“We forgave you a long time ago, Brax.”
“Everyone but him.” I force myself to keep from rubbing at the growing ache in my chest.
“You know why he hasn’t,” she says softly. “Give it time. After everything is said and done with this mess he’s found himself in, I’m sure the past will be left in the past, and you can both move on.”
I give her a grateful smile. “Thank you, Addie. But I want to hear all about you. Tell me everything.”
“That’s a dangerous thing to say, babe. I’m a talker.”
“Don’t care. Give me the full rundown. Don’t miss anything.”
We release each other’s hands, and she adjusts herself in the driver’s seat before pulling the Jeep onto the road.
The sun is setting in front of us, casting a beautiful glow over the horizon.
With the sunroof open, the radio playing a country song, and the comforting company of an old friend, I feel good.
I tuck the memory of this feeling away for later tonight when I’m sure I’ll need it.
“Well, I signed up to be a Girl Scout about two months after you left and only managed to last three weeks before I was kicked out for refusing to listen to the leaders on a camping trip. Then I joined a few school sports teams, but nothing really stuck.”
“I can’t picture you as a Girl Scout or on a sports team.”
She laughs, the sound so pure and carefree. “Me following a stern set of rules and a schedule? I was setting myself up for failure.”
“You’ve always been a wild child. Everyone else should have known better,” I tease.
“That’s what I said! Anyway, Cooper and Dox taught me to skateboard when I was fourteen, and I broke my ankle a month later and then my wrist a few weeks after that.
Dad hid my board for a while so that I couldn’t hurt myself again, but after I got my first job at that adorable little cupcake shop on Clover Street, I bought a new one.
Surprisingly, that hobby has stuck around over the years. Have you ever skateboarded?”
“No way. My balance is awful to start with.”
“You should try it anyway. I can teach you sometime.”
I glance at her and smile. “I would like that.”
“It’s a date.” She changes lanes and steps heavily on the gas. I jerk in my seat while she taps her hands excitedly on the steering wheel. “Do you remember when I said I wanted to skydive?”
“Of course I do. You scared the crap out of me when you told me that.”
“Well, I did it! You should have been there, Brax. There’s nothing like it. Nothing.”
My jaw hangs open. “You actually did it? Your dad let you jump out of a plane?”
“After he knew how happy it would make me, of course he did.” She winks. “It helped that Cooper volunteered to join me. I’m sure Maddox would have, but you know how terrified he is of heights.”
“Cooper jumped out of a plane?” I sputter.
“It was him or Noah, and Noah wasn’t in the right space to be doing anything like that.”
My heart warms. “Cooper did it for the both of you.” God, I love that guy.
Addie’s neck and ears are pink when she says, “What about you? Besides slaving away at school, what have you been doing?”
“Well, I definitely wasn’t doing anything as exciting as jumping out of a plane. I spent most of my time rushing between school and work, but after I graduated, I did take a trip to Spain with a few friends. It was probably one of the best weeks of my life.”
My college dormmate spent two days convincing me to come with her and a few of her friends on a trip to Madrid, and while we were all dirt poor and had been living off ramen noodles for the past couple of years, she managed to get me to come.
I still don’t know how she managed to do it, but I don’t regret my decision. Not even a little.
Besides my decision to pack up my life and go to school across the country, it was the most impulsive I’d ever been.
“Oh, my God! Where did you stay? Barcelona is on my list of places I’m going to travel to next year.”
“Right. Your big trip, right? We stayed in a hostel in Madrid. If you don’t mind rooming with strangers and having to share a bathroom, it’s not a bad option.”
She shudders. “Sharing a bathroom?”
I laugh. “Maybe budget to stay in hotels.”
“I’ve been saving money for this trip since my sixteenth birthday. Everyone thinks I’ll change my mind about leaving, but it won’t happen.”
“Do you have anyone to go with you? I think you going alone is what’s freaking everyone out.”
“Yeah, right. Maddox will be in the middle of the hockey season, Noah would rather chew off his own finger than travel with me, and Cooper is too damn old now to be any fun. Unless you’re going to volunteer, I’m shit out of luck.”
I frown. “If I could, I would. Your brothers are out of the question, but Cooper would pout so hard if he heard you call him ‘too damn old.’ He’s only two years older than me, for the record.”
“Two years is a long time in old man years.”
A laugh slips out before I can stop it. “Fine. What about your friends? I’m sure there are a bucketload of teenage girls wanting to go scout out sexy European men.”
“The people who pretend to be my friends are social climbers. They’re not interested in a real friendship.” She twists her mouth and glances at me. “Have you really not kept up with any of us? Not even on social media?”
“No. I should have, but I knew once I went there once, I would have fallen down that rabbit hole and ended up doing something stupid like drunk call your brother.”
She fights back a smile. “Right. Well, I have a decent following on social media, so most of my friends from school or online are either after me for a quick jump in their follower count or to get close to one of my brothers. So, yeah. That’s a no on bringing any of my friends with me.”
I double blink. “Oh. How many followers? I thought that was an Instagram handle on your back window, but I wasn’t sure.”
“A couple million. Honestly, the self-promo was Maddox’s idea. He’s the one who kind of got my career up and running.”
“Your career? A couple million? Gosh, Addie. You haven’t even graduated high school yet.”
She shrugs. “I just do some modelling and small things like that. Really, I use my page to show off all of the crazy things I do. It started out as me just posting the footage from my skydive and a few tricks on my board, but things kind of spiralled from there. When you have a famous dad and brother, a large following kind of just falls in your lap.”
I can’t tell if she’s happy about that. The last thing a young girl needs to worry about is social media and everything that comes with it. I’m not sure whether to be angry at Maddox for encouraging this or proud that he’s trying to help her out.
It’s not any of my business, I remind myself.
“Oh no, I know that look. Trust me, I’m happy doing what I’m doing,” she adds.
I stay silent and watch her for a few moments as she turns down a road behind the arena and finger waves at the security guard standing at the entrance to an underground parking garage.
He waves back and ushers us inside, and a second later, Addie parks.
There’s no hint of a lie in her open expression, so I decide to believe her.
Adalyn Hutton isn’t the type of girl to settle.
If she were unhappy with what she was doing, she simply wouldn’t do it.
Her courage is one of the most special things about her. Would it be weird to say I look up to someone so much younger than me?
“Okay. I believe you.”
She grins. “Do I say thank you?”
“No. Definitely not.” I snort a laugh.
I take a look out the window and blow out a long breath as the current situation comes racing back. We’re here, and there’s no turning back now.
“You look like you could hurl,” Addie notes, a twinge of sympathy in her voice.
“I’m nervous to see everyone,” I admit.
“Don’t be. They’re excited to see you. Well, Mom and Dad are. They forced Noah to come tonight, so just ignore him. He’s in a bad place.”
Great. “Okay. I can do that.”
“Oh!” She reaches into the back seat and pulls a huge pink purse onto her lap. Rifling through it, she clicks her tongue. “We have to take a photo and post it before we go in. My brother’s orders.”
“Seriously?”
She pulls her phone out of the bag and swipes the screen, pulling up the camera. “I know it seems over-the-top. But they want to spark the rumours, and this is the fastest way.”
“Fine,” I relent.
“You can give Dox shit later. I actually encourage it.”
I shake my head, smiling. “Just take the photo.”
Not needing to be told twice, she leans toward me as I do the same, and we both pose for the photo. She snaps it quickly and starts typing furiously before shoving the phone back into her bag.
“There. Now we can go.”
Addie turns the car off and hops out, but as I go to follow her, my phone pings. I slide it out of my jeans pocket, and my eyes widen at the message.
Maddox: Breathe. You’ve got this.
Me: Thank you. Good luck.
I breathe deeply and, with newfound confidence, join Addie outside.