Locking her phone screen, Aubrey sets it back on the table. “Sounds like a done deal. Let’s book those tickets. Oh wait, should you check with Wyatt?”
“No, I have his schedule already. He’s off on Saturday, but I’ll tell Kane that he’s on his own here.”
Me:Are you good being here on your own Saturday so that the family can go on a whale watch?
Kane:Sure, I’ll just have Wyatt tell the chief to keep my number unblocked. I haven’t seen any activity lately. Not even any cameras around the area in Massachusetts, where Hugh was picked up before.
Me:Fantastic. Thank you so much, Kane. We really owe you one.
Kane:No worries. I think that Wyatt already has payback dealing with everything going on in Hemlock Cove. The least I can do is sit on this comfycouch enjoying baseball games while waiting for some fucker to show his face.
Wyatt has been fairly quiet about the task force. I just assumed it was because he couldn’t talk about it. But I wonder if it’s worse that he’s letting on, and he’s not saying anything to me because of James and my father.
“Kane said he’s good with it. He just wants Wyatt to tell the chief. So let’s book it.”
Aubrey nods in response and picks up my phone. “Good thing we have such a big family. If we book over 15 tickets, we get a group rate.”
“How many people are we?” The two of us begin counting on our fingers. “Nineteen people?”
“Yes. Thatiscorrect. Holy moly, that’s a lot of people in one family.” Her eyes go wide at the realization that nineteen people are coming with us.
We’re going to need something bigger than Anna’s Suburban.
“Right? Who would have thought thatme and youwould be in a family with nineteen people?”
“Certainly not me. But your family is huge. You just don’t enjoy spending time with anyone besides Ryder.” She chuckles.
“I don’t think that Uncle David counts as a family member one would want to claim.” I roll my eyes at her.
My familyisbig, but that family is also on Hugh’s payroll. So, are they really my family?
We book the tickets for the whale watch and then send them off to each of the women in the group chat. Because she doesn’t trust anyone else to do it properly, Emma takes charge of telling her parents to block off the day. But it came with a threat to the large group chat with all the boys to keep their fucking mouth shut. Running the inn and her family is definitely her strength.
“Who do you think will break Emma’s rule and tell Anna first?” I ask.
“Honestly, my money is on Wyatt. But we might be safe because he’s working so much lately. If he’s not working, he seems to be completely preoccupied by something here in the house that keeps him from leaving or communicating with anyone outside these four walls…” She stares at me.
“Wyatt definitely can’t keep secrets. Which is unfortunate, because he loves to do things for and give to his people. One day, his children are going to be the most spoiled children in the world.”
“You meanyourchildren are going to be the most spoiled?” Aubrey giggles. “Have you guys talked about any of that serious stuff?”
A blush heats my cheeks. “No, not really. Everything is still kind of new. We wanted to wait until things with James and Hugh were done to even tell anyone we were dating. Clearly that didn’t work.”
“Girl, you are forgetting how well I know you. That red creeping up your neck tells me that there’s more to the story. Spill it.” Aubrey pushes her plate away.
“Well, I am a little bit nervous.” I hold my fingers up to show a sliver of space between them.
“That night after Rebels was kind of intense.” When I see a frown start to form on Aubrey’s face, I backtrack, spitting out, “Intense in a good way.”
“What do you meanintense?” She and her narrowed eyes are skeptical of my word choice after James.
“Intense as inhot as fuck.And rough. We started in the car, then made our way into the garage where he tied me to his pull-up bar… Do you want me to continue?”
Aubrey rests her head on her arms, sitting forward on the table. “Is that even a question? Hell yeah, I do.”
Telling her the whole story of the night, even through him telling me that he loved me, I now have to tell her the part that I’m ashamed to admit. “In all of the haziness from being tipsy added to a lust-fueled night, neither one of us thought to use a condom. I don’t think he’s even thought twice about it though, because the next night, he told me that he got more condoms.”
Aubrey’s eyebrows shoot up to the ceiling. “And you’re concerned because you missed your period?”
