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Chapter10
Luke climbed into his pickup and headed home.
After talking to Quinn, he felt more stable. Okay, that was probably a lie—he felt horny as fuck—but his head seemed to be on straight again. As if the ground that had been cracking under his feet had reformed with a tentative seal.
The woman was a goddamn fighter pilot. How had he not known that before today?
More importantly, why had he kissed her again? It was a good question; the problem was he had no answer. He’d just felt like he needed to. Felt like her being there before him made sense out of everything; and kissing her made him feel better.
He’d learned that under her clothes, Quinn Harper had a body that when naked would turn him inside out. His hands had itched to slide under her clothes and touch her skin.
“And what you did just complicated everything,” he muttered. Like life hadn’t already been turned on its head.
She’d stood there in front of him in that opening between shops, as comfortable as he was with the emotions he was feeling. Hands in her pockets, cap pulled low. Hot as fuck. The woman did something to him. Plenty of women interested him, but rarely did they do something to him inside. He felt that tightness in his gut when she was near. So he’d kissed her… again.
“Not your wisest move, bud.”
She’d held his hand in the cafe. Told him to breathe. He’d done what she’d directed and felt better for it.
She’s a fighter pilot. Luke wondered if anyone else in town knew what she did. They all knew what Matt Harper was up to, because Mrs. Harper was always talking about him. But not Quinn.
Is there another Trainer brother out there?
His thoughts returned to what he’d been avoiding. Just the thought of a child suffering as he and his brothers had made him want to be sick.
He drove down the long driveway to his family home. To the right were the stables Jack ran his business from with the help of his wife Rory, when she wasn’t working as a vet. All the Trainers rode horses, but Jack was the best. He trained horses and gave lessons in the huge stables. He also ran a trekking business.
Turning into the drive that went to the main house, he saw that his family’s cars were parked there. Chief Blake’s cruiser too.
Parking behind Dylan, he got out. The house before him was a product of hard work and time spent reforging bonds with his brothers. This place had brought about so much change in their lives.
Making his way to the front door of the first real home he and his brothers had had, he entered and let the calm he always got here settle around him.
Every inch of it had been painted, repaired, and loved by the Trainer brothers. They’d gotten this place and the land together. Aunt Jess and Pip were part of that too. This house was deep inside him and always would be. It had been part of the healing process for him, Joe, and Jack.
He walked along the paneled hall to the kitchen, which was the hub of the house. He heard the voices as he entered. They were all here.
Joe and his wife, Bailey. Jack and Rory. Piper and Dylan. Aunt Jess and her husband, Mr. Goldhirsh. There were always scents of baking and coffee in here. Aunt Jess had stepped into his life when he’d needed her most, and he loved her fiercely for giving him his first real taste of love.
“Where are the ankle biters?” he asked.
“Maggie and Fin have them,” Piper said.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” Aunt Jess walked up to him. Big, rawboned, with long silver hair she always wore in a braid, she enfolded him in her arms. “This is so hard on you all.”
He inhaled her scent and calmed. Aunt Jess was here; they were all here. His people. They would face whatever happened together. Nothing would separate them; nothing would make them anything less than what they were: a family with strong bonds.
“Show Luke the photo, Chief Blake,” Joe said. He sat at the table with Bailey. His arm was around her shoulders. Bailey and Joe had formed a strong bond of friendship as kids, and then she’d left. When Ryker called her home, they’d found love.
Chief Blake was standing. He pulled out his phone and found what he was looking for and handed it to Luke.
The boy who stared back at him was thin. His eyes seemed too big in his face. Luke knew that look.
“He’s sad,” Luke managed to get out. “Hurting.”
“He also looks like you did as a boy,” Joe said.
Luke nodded. He’d known as soon as he looked at the photo that Nixon was one of them.
